It’s one of those weeks you might look at and think “f**k this”. But actually when you break it down it’s not that bad. The S&C is getting easier. The two midweek easy runs are fairly straightforward. You’ll be working hard for 16 mins on Tuesday and then XC is only ever 5 miles of misery. So individually none of the sessions are that demanding, especially from a time point of view. It’s just there are a lot of them. But focus on 1 at a time and we can tweak it if the energy levels plummet. 140 pts is a decent total for you though.

140 Points Target
144 Points Achieved

A tough week, but just about manageable. 6 days on is a bit tricky to manage and I was feeling pretty sore/tight mid-week. Waking up with aching legs in the morning is a sign I’m training well, hopefully. Either that or they are about to fall off.
I wasn’t in the office this week so that made things easier, the drive alone totally wipes me out.

That is a quality week, but kind of what you’d expect during the peak of your marathon block. If you were waking up, leaping out of bed like Tigger, I’d be a bit worried that the training was way too easy. But equally I appreciate those weeks you are in the office we might want to reign it in a little. The key is always the sessions, so speed work, the races and the long runs/marathon sessions. The other stuff around that, the S&C and easy runs we can moderate depending on how you feel. But I think that’s where you do so well in that you have this ability to turn in on when it really matters. And that’s a great quality. Awesome work Sam.

MONDAY

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15 Points
Legs felt a bit tired after Sunday’s long run but it didn’t stop me getting through all the exercises fine. No niggles apart from my back twinge (heavy lifting on Saturday on the house and for a gig).
I feel like this has become a real strength of yours. I know you’ve never been a fan but it’s a decent level you’re working at here and you’re looking pretty toned these days. Great work Sam

TUESDAY

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26pts | 8 x 2 Mins Hill Reps

26 POINTS

Big session this! But ideal if you have a hilly race coming up. Focus on good form and don’t go off too hard in rep 1, let the hill make it tough. Good luck! You got this. Run tall & proud.

30 Points
A bit sore after stacking it but it didn’t stop me from running OK. I was more sensible in this session than usual, started each rep pretty easy then gradually started to speed up going up the hill, made it to post 14 most of the reps then let loose on the last one and made it all the way to the top – as I’d not pushed too hard on the other 7 reps this wasn’t too difficult, although I was pretty tired by the end. Added 11.5 mins to my warmup/cooldown to make up for missing the 10mins off Sunday’s long run ;-)
Sorry about the lack of wipes. That’s not good enough on my point. I know you’re not bothered, but I am, I’ll learn from that and make sure I have them in my bag in future. But well done, a really solid session. And one that doesn’t need to be eye balls out. I like your strategy of taking the steepest part a bit more gradual and then kicking on, makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the extra too. Great work Sam. Excellent start to the week.

WEDNESDAY

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22 Points
60 mins easy was fine, although felt a bit hot and wobbly in the last 1/4 but was fine to power up the hill at the end. Good group, took it easy mostly. Strides were OK too, much easier to get on with when in a group, although we were all swearing about having to do them, haha. Bit quicker this time, Batshit Beany was trying to race me so I pushed a bit harder (1 @ 17s, 5 @ 16s and 2 @ 15s)
“Batshit Beaney” 😂 He’s goes mental in the final rep on Tuesdays. He’s got a lot of potential, but yet to see it on race day, it will come. If you do run with him, chuck him a few compliments his way. Good to see the average pace for strides in the 2:ss. Plus nice to know loads of the team do them on Wednesdays. It just never used to be a thing. Well done Sam.

thursday

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15 Points
This was hard work, especially for the first half. Everything felt a bit sore and stiff and I was pretty tired, woke up with sore legs so I knew I’d been pushing it a bit. Laboured through it and some of it got easier as the session went on, but squats and pushups were a struggle.
Jax was talking to her osteopath the other day and he told her a story about how some his clients talk about the gym as their “Happy Place”…. and how his response to that is…..”well if that’s the case, you’re clearly not working hard enough”. Moral of the story, these shouldn’t be fun. So you’re doing it right. Great work Sam 😂

FRIDAY

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24pts | 60 Mins Easy to MP

24 POINTS

Rather than just head out and do 60 mins easy, this goes through the gears a little and will hopefully help you improve running economy as the speed picks up a little. It’s still a light session but makes the easy runs more interesting. Best done on the flat to hit consistent paces.

24 Points
This was not an easy session, even “easy” pace of 5min/km is pushing it somewhat, so speeding up I thought would be tough. It wasn’t that bad in the end, did the slower stuff into the wind then had it behind me for the faster sections. Had a few hills but mostly flat. Decided to bomb up London Road to finish off, that was hard work. Av pace of 4:44 which is about right (easy=5, steady =4:45 & marathon = 4:30). Working hard, but glad I got it done. Looking forward to my first rest day in 6!
You’ve certainly earned a rest day. Yeah this one can be a bit sneaky as sometimes us older lads need longer to warm up means easy pace takes a while to hit. But as you experienced once you did get into the stride the quicker pace wasn’t too bad. Much more fun that a normal 60 mins easy right? Great work Sam. Enjoy your day off. Feels like we’re hitting some solid training right now though which is great given Sevilla isn’t that far away.

SATURDAY

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Rest Day

0 POINTS

“Rest days are key. Our body adapts and gets stronger when we rest & recovery. Have a good one!”

Had a nice massage. But also, was doing house stuff up the scaffolding… so a mixed day.
Sounds relaxing and tiring at the same time 😂

SUNDAY

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38pts | X Country (Race)

38 POINTS

10 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

XC Event @ Varied Pace (RPE: 8)

10 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

XC is hard, but that also means it can be great for improving your fitness if you work at the right intensity.

38 Points
A new course. A fast course! Only ~90m of elevation and mostly compacted gravel paths so it was a quick-ish one. My shoes were not ideal but didn’t let me down too much, the Terrex would have been more suitable. Pretty long walk from parking to the start, felt much longer back, so got a nice easy warmup in before the proper warmup. Stampede start, was pretty mad as it was very fast (wide and slightly downhill). It got spaced out but was still pretty busy for most of it. Tried not to push too much early on, let Paul glide past and ran with him for ~500m or so before he pushed on. Kept him within ~20s for most of the race until the last few kms. I started to feel the burn later on and the few little hills coming back were tough work. Managed to overtake a handful of runners in the last 1/4 though which was good. I did a ~20min 5k in this race, so not hanging about! 40th overall, not bad considering the faster track runners dominated.
Doesn’t really sound like an XC. I might even do this one next year. I think it was Ant Anderson who I first saw and his pace was 3:38 and he was 5th. I couldn’t believe it. Makes more sense now and to smash out a sub 20 5k in XC is madness. I suppose nice to have that variation and not everyone to be a hilly mudfest. Good to see how close you were to Paul as well. Feel like you’re running at a really high level still which is great to see. Excellent work Sam.