It’s a weird time of year as it feels like we are working hard with a busy schedule with little to show. But these really are the key weeks building that foundation. Pudding Dash is a little bit of a nuisance but if you push hard it will be a good session in it’s own right. Looking ahead how important is Seaford XC? I’d quite like to an extra marathon session in there but we’d need to ditch Seaford. We only have 2 big marathon sessions due to the number of races, which to be honest isn’t ideal. Most of the plans would have 4+. Let me know. Any problems with this week just shout.

145 Points Target

An OK week, I don’t like missing sessions but I’m pretty sure S&C on Monday would have been awful and would have not set me up well for the rest of the week. I really do need a day’s rest after a race, although I was fine with 90mins easy after the pudding dash, so it’s not always the case. I would have struggled (more) with efforts had I done S&C I’m sure. Legs feel like they’ve been working hard but not too bad, breathing still not great due to persistent congestion but it’s not affecting me too much unless I push very hard.

Sunday’s marathon session looks like hard work, I’m hoping it doesn’t shatter me out too much as I really want to get a decent long run in on Jan 1st. We’ll see…

I think you know best when it comes to listening to the body and it’s an approach which has worked well to now. So the odd missed session shouldn’t make much difference. I got quite anxious about a lot of my marathon sessions in the build up to Chester but in the end they all went really well because once you settle into the pace it invariable feels relatively comfortable. Hopefully enough recovery between the two runs. It was something I was concerned about too but ultimately well need to get these key marathon sessions in there ahead of Seville. Well done though Sam, another strong week ticked off.

MONDAY

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TUESDAY

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26pts | 8 Mins & 60s

26 POINTS

Recoveries: Take 2-3 mins after the 8 min rep and 60s in between the 60 second reps.

A tough 5k session and the challenge is to see if you can hold your 5k pace in the 2nd 8 min rep when the legs are tired and you’re feeling fatigued.

26 Points
TR 80%
A tough session overall, first 5k rep was fine and I was on pace, 8 x 1 mins were really hard work but short-lived… then that final 5k rep was really tough indeed – you said it would be and you were right. I couldn’t keep up at my 5k pace, was struggling a bit. Legs mostly OK but I’m a bit congested in the chest still, seems to be getting a bit worse. Yuck. I think I would have struggled much more if I had done S&C the day before.
This session is a real shithouse to be honest. That last 8 min rep is pretty evil. But glad to hear the effort was there, that’s the most important thing. One of those to tick off and not let the slightly off pace rep bother you as pretty much everyone that has left feedback this morning has said the same. Good thing about my approach is we don’t do the same sessions very often, so that one can go back into the session vault for at least 3 months 😂 Great work though Sam and love the Orange. And I mean what a said, form is great these days, you make it look easy.

WEDNESDAY

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22 Points
TR 85%
A pretty chilled group run with too much stopping for me (big mixed group so there was re-grouping after the big hills, and some people wanted to take photos of the silly xmas lights for ages!). Annoyingly it meant that my moving time was only 55 mins, not 60! Balls. Strides were good, pretty quick. Felt fine doing these, hamstrings pretty sore today though.
Love your feedback, cracks me up. Have you ever done a run with Nigel? He might not be too bad these days, but when I first started with the club he’d stop you 6-8 times on a 60 min run, huddle everyone round in a group and give a detailed description of the next stopping point, even including the name of roads we were not going to run down, as if we were lost tourists. I remember it well, the group all standing there awaiting his instructions whilst I ran around them in circles to keep moving 😂 And then there was Steve Uzzell who found it funny to deliberately not tell you which way we were heading and then laughing if you guessed the wrong way. FFS!!! 😡 At least this was a one off with Paul’s group. Max points as the strides were so epic and your feedback made me laugh.

thursday

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15 Points
TR 60%
I almost didn’t do this, I set everyhting up to go but felt so wobbly and crap that I wasn’t sure if I needed to get to bed… decided to take Beattie out in the shitting wind and rain and it did me some good, felt a bit refreshed when I got home but soon felt shite again. Anyway, I got on with it and felt better as the session went on. Got through it all fine, quads a bit tight but no other niggles. Did too many deadlifts as managed to swap arms but not legs going from one side to the other… idiot (so did 17 of each instead of 12).
Some bonus deadlifts nice. To be honest when I look at you now you can see the difference the S&C has made. You look strong and ready to take on any challenge. I know you hate these but without them I wonder how many of those PBs this year would have been narrow misses 🤔 Great stuff Sam. Hope you better soon.

FRIDAY

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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!”

TR 80%
Went to the pub.
Decent way to spend a rest day. Hope you had a nice time?

SATURDAY

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32 Points
TR 85%
I didn’t go nuts on this one and enjoyed it much more, stuck behind Paul for half the race, could have got past him but decided to stick on his tail as I suspected he had more in the tank. We had a nice chat! Soon as we got in the woods he took off, he had much better traction so was fully committed on the downhills, I was slipping about a bit. Saw him catch and take the HY guy (Stuart Piper?) which was cool, I didn’t quite have enough left to take him myself but taking it easier early on meant less pain and a stronger finish than usual. Walked up the big hill like Paul so lost a bit of time, but it meant I could push a bit faster at the top which was cool. Very pleasant race, happy with 6th (again), my average pace was 18s/km quicker than previous pudding dashes, but 8s/km slower than this years Pett XC so I know I can go quicker.
Sounds like a good fun morning of running. I think that’s the best way to treat a race like this. There’s a time and a place to go eye balls out and this just ain’t it. Enjoying it has to be the priority and nice to see the improvement on last year. Feel like you’re still running really well at the moment which is great. This race is beginning to piss me off a little now. Thank god it’s no longer in the Club Championship and Stu has gone to the MV50 category. Well done Sam, another strong performance.

SUNDAY

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27pts | 90 Mins Run

27 POINTS

90 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Keep this nice and easy. Focus on good form & efficient running economy. RPE should be around the 3/10 which means you can run and chat.

27 Points
TR 75%
A nice easy paced 16k in 91 minutes. Hit a few hills (245m) and kept it nice and steady at my 50k pace. No niggles, felt pretty tired in the last half hour but didn’t slow too much.
Great work Sam. I saw your comment on the Sunday group about getting in at 2am and initially worried that meant no run. But glad you were able to get out and get it done. Decent elevation as well.