Friday recovery - 10km easy

Very happy to complete my first proper week back at training! Sore this morning, as to be expected. Got out for two easy laps of my usual route. Saw Justin three times, the first two of which he was going hard! I was slightly concerned as I naturally assumed that he would be racing the C2S on Sunday. Upon seeing him the third time, we both quickly informed on another that neither of us will be racing. We must be the only two runners in Sydney not going!

Thursday morning session - Deek's Quarters

Again, just happy to get this session done and dusted. By no means was it close to PB pace, but signs are nonetheless encouraging, in that similar to Tuesday it's clear that the speed is still there, it's just the speed endurance and the ability to back up for each 400m repeat following minimal recovery that I am currently struggling with. It's very much different to the fatigue that I had been experiencing for the past 4 weeks, which thank god appears to be improving. 15:49 was the total time today. Upon breaking it out and comparing it to my best time of 15:21 in late June, the differences in average 400m pace was 78 vs. 76 seconds, with the 200m floats at 41 vs. 40 seconds. It's amazing how much closer it looks when analysing it that way! Ran home for 17km all up.

Interestingly, my HRV was at it's lowest this morning since I started recording it a week ago, measuring a 76. The app itself claimed I my sympathetic nervous system was overactive today, and suggested an easier day of training. Haha, I actually felt great this morning, just simply not race fit!

Wednesday morning run - 20km steady

Back to the traditional Wednesday morning medium long run. 4 laps of the usual Queenscliff to Shelly Beach and return loop. Pretty boring, but got it done. Each lap just under 19 minutes, but felt fine and not strenuous. Just under 76 minutes all up. Pretty cold out there, the digital thermometer at Manly LSC reading 1 degree Celcius!

Tuesday session - Mona Fartlek

The speed is still there, I just need the endurance now! I set myself no expectations today with regards to distance accumulated for the session, I just simply needed to get it done and build from here. And up until the start of the 30 second efforts, I was holding good pace. I got out 3.08km for the first 10 minutes, so not all is lost. But upon turning around underneath the stone hedge for the start of the 30 second efforts, I was spent. Running into a headwind didn't do my dying cause much help either. Finished slowly with 6.03km all up. Definitely not my greatest, but happy nonetheless to be back after a patchy few weeks, and looking forward to building from here. The big aim for me now will be the Melbourne Half Marathon on my birthday in October. The C2S for 2015 is looking unlikely - I am not in peak condition, and do not want to be set back with further lingering fatigue and forgoing another few weeks of quality training. Ran home for 17km all up.

Monday morning run - 15km steady

It must of been the 1/2 a pound of Jerk Pork I ate at Jonkanoo last night (along with all the sides)! It felt bloody easy this morning, and I could have kept going for much longer. Didn't wear a watch, but got home in around about 56 minutes (again, too fast but effort wise felt great). Another beautiful morning to be out there pounding the pavement. I am still in awe of my mate Dave for eating a full pound of Jerk Pork - the man is a machine! I guess that is what it takes to be a Australian champion in surf boat rowing!

Sunday Long(ish) Run - 24km

It was going to be 24km regardless of whether I race next weekend or not. If I do, then 24km is the furthest I would run long 7 days out. If I don't race, 24km was going to be sufficient based on my patchy four week block of training. Staying at South Curl Curl this weekend, so headed north to North Narrabeen, turning around back to my place at Pine St, then back to South Curly. I think it was just shy of 1 hour 33 minutes, probably slightly faster than needed to be. Quite a warm morning for this time of year, with a predicted top of 26 degrees today!!!

Started to experiment with heart rate variability as a measure of my readiness to train each morning, as a prophylactic measure to prevent overreaching progressing to overtraining. This involves strapping on a Polar H7 Heart Rate Monitor prior to getting out of bed each morning. I sync it via Bluetooth to an app called HRV Elite, and simply lay there for 2.5 minutes whilst it records a number of stats - the most important of these being the difference in time intervals between each successive heart beat. In essence, the greater the difference, the better. Sounds illogical, but what this suggests is that there is a relative equilibrium between both the sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight engine) vs. your parasympathetic nervous system (your rest & digest engine). Everyone is different, so comparing my score to someone else's is pretty fruitless. The key is to monitor your HRV over a period of time to determine a baseline to which you can detect significant deviations as markers and warning signs of progressing towards overtraining. So far I have recorded this metric each morning since Thursday with the following numbers - 75, 83, 82, 81. This morning's score was quite good considering I returned to training yesterday, so was anticipating something quite lower. Tomorrow will be interesting!

Saturday morning session - 2km repeats at Centennial Park

Back running again this morning after two days of complete rest and a blood test (no results yet). Massive dinner last night providing plenty of fuel to get through the run today (thanks mum)! The session was up to 4 x 2km reps on a 9:30 minute cycle - an extra 30 seconds than normal in light of the City2Surf next Sunday. Definitely ran the first rep too fast, the result of being well rested and not looking at my pace for the first 500m or so. 2:57 min/km pace it read at this point, confirming that I was far too close to Matt Hudson than I should be. Backed off slightly, but not enough - finishing in 6:11. Started feeling the effects of the first rep halfway through the second, finishing in 6:17. Third and final rep was more or less run just above threshold pace in 6:32 - following Sean's advise to hold back a bit. In all honesty though, I was spent at this point and decide to call it a day. Did a fourth rep with Barry as a cool down, followed by another easy lap of the white fence with Matt & Hamish. All up, satisfied with the run - by no means a perfect session but certainly more encouraging than anything I have done over the past fortnight. Looking back to when I last did this session (a week before the SMH Half in May), my times were 6:21, 6:13, 6:14, and 6:21 - all on a slightly shorter course (got consistent 1.98km back then compared to 2.01km today - Sean has made inroads on this over the last month). So all in all, just lacking that top end endurance - which is no surprise given my training this past week (or lack thereof). Will get out a steady 24km tomorrow before making a call midweek on whether to race next Sunday.