Last week started with a lot of apprehension as my own training continues to build in volume. Looking at the week ahead I was a little daunted, and combined with a hectic work schedule, I wasn’t sure if I could complete it all.
Looking back I needn’t have worried. As I always state, we can only ever run one kilometre at a time, one step at a time if you really want to break it down.
I felt great pretty much all week long. A few niggles here and there but nothing to worry the physio about. I guess the lesson here is to just live the experience. I think we are all guilty of creating demons in our mind for what lies ahead.
More often than not, the actually reality is nowhere near as scary as what we’d anticipated. The same applies to our running and training plans. Don’t create those negative thoughts in your head until you’ve at least laced up the trainers and stepped out the front door.
The first 10 minutes of a run are there as a warm up. Until you’ve ticked them off, never make any judgement as to how you feel or whether you can complete that session. That’s why I always recommend a 10 minute warm up for an efforts or tempo session.
Speaking of minutes, that leads me on nicely to the title of this blog. When creating training plans for the team and setting the weekly sessions, there’s a reason each run has a certain time attached to it.
For example, 60 minutes easy, 120 minutes long run or 16 x 30 second hills. That reason is to ensure progressive overload in your training schedule. Without that you won’t make improvements.
The overload each week is normally minimal, so it could be an extra 5 minutes per session. So if you finish a weekly plan and run 55 minutes easy, 115 mins on your long run and 14 hill reps, the likelihood is you won’t have made any improvement with your fitness levels.
The small details make the difference as well. The warm ups, the stretches and the strides once a week. And don’t even get me started on Strength and Conditioning.
The last thing I want to do is nag. But believe me when I say, I care. I give a shit whether those who are part of the Team make the improvements they seek and if I feel 5 minutes here or there is preventing them from doing so, well then it would be remiss of me not to say.
Well done to Debbie Clark who completed her first training plan at the weekend. It was a 12 week taster to add consistency to her training and lay down the foundations to improve her Hastings Half Marathon time from earlier this year.
Debbie’s attitude was summed up perfectly last week when on Monday her track session was cut short through no fault of her own. Rather than get despondent, Debbie simply rocked up the following day for take 2 and successfully completed the session.
I’m delighted to say that after a well deserved week off, Debbie will be re-joining the Team to build up her fitness even more as we get closer to those spring races.
Last week marked the arrival of two new members. Berenice Consavela and Rachael Inns have both signed up. Brighton is the destination for both. Berenice in a bid to run her first ever marathon and Rachael to improve on her time over 13.1 miles. Welcome to the team.
Thank you for your continued support. Thank you if you’ve made it this far to the end of my ranting and thank you for running the allocated time in your sessions 🙄
