Bit of a frustrating week for me this past week. Suffered a slight tweak in my calf muscle towards the end of a 6 mile tempo session on Tuesday. At first I thought that my calf was just really tight and after Dara from DC Fitness Physio had a look over it he thought the same but after an easy run on Thursday I felt it really tighten up so think I have strained it slightly so took a few days off just to allow it to settle. Here’s a recap of a reduced training week:
Monday: 9.1 miles – 67.30
Tuesday: 6 mile Tempo – 33.39 with a 2.5 mile warm up and cool down. Actually approached this in a way that I ran the first 3 miles at a steadier pace before picking it up slightly for the last 3 miles. Happy with the below mile splits:
· 5.37
· 5.41
· 5.44
· 5.33
· 5.29
· 5.33
Wednesday: 7.15 miles - 55.15
Thursday: 6.11 miles – 48.20
Friday: OFF
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: OFF
So not an ideal week but these things happen. Calf actually feels a good bit better today but I’m using the advice giving to me many years ago by my good friend and mentor Johnjoe Rogers regarding injuries or enforced rest; “When you feel better give it an extra day” Think this is very good advice to heed!
The title of this blog post is: Accountability, and the reason for that is, when I decided to put together a weekly blog the main factor behind this was to give me a bit of accountability in my own training and not just to ensure that I trained hard but that I trained in the smartest way possible. I always try to preach to “Listen to you body” and I knew last week that I need to take a few days off but obviously was very tempted to just continue on running and hope for the best which would have been a terrible mistake and anyone reading this would of thought; jaysus hes always going on about listening to your body but doesn’t bother doing it himself. By having this blog its give me a degree of accountability that I think we all need!
Will build up cautiously again over the next few days but eager to get back into proper training mode especially after watching some unreal indoor performances by Irish athletes over the weekend. Standard in all events and particularly in the middle distance events has moved onto a whole new level which is exciting to see. I know there’s a lot of debate going around the last few days regarding shoe technology and I think it obviously has had a major impact in standards improving and I think you would be deluded to think otherwise. However I also think that athletes racing each other and seeing what their peers are running has made athletes jump to a whole new level also. In the mens 3k in the Athletics Ireland micro meet on Saturday John Travers ran 7.50 with Darragh McElhinney in close pursuit behind him also running 7.50. Both athletes badly wanted to win that race and that surely squeezed an extra second or 2 out of both of them. I think we need to get back to focusing on racing and not obsess about times and how shoe technology has had an impact and just focus on athletes racing each other on a more consistent basis. The best races we’ve all watched are when the clock is an irrelevance, and the focus is on who wins. Was having this debate with my brother last week regarding what's my favourite ever race and i think I have to go for 2004 Athens Olympics 1500m which was an unbelievable battle to the line between Hicham El Gerrouj and Bernard Lagat. I think a close second is the 2003 World Championship Mens 3000m Steeplechase and anyone who has watched this will know its one of the craziest races you'll ever see with a great backstory to it. If you haven't watched either of these races get on to Youtube and treat yourself 😊
Have a great week folks and remember to listen to your body 😉
Noel
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