Training for the Scottish 5000m

This comes hot off the press since I ran the 5000m only this afternoon. The bare statistics are I finished 10th in 15:17:91. How do I feel about this? At the moment, feelings are mixed. I went with the leading group of 4 aiming for a medal and paid for it. On the other hand, the first 4 laps were run in 4:40 which is 70 seconds per lap and 14:35 pace for 5000m. The race was eventually won in 14:29. I'm being mega hard on myself but I feel I should have been able to cope with those lap times. I didn't and I was disappointed.

However, to be brutally honest, I feel tired and flat. My last two races, Sunderland and today, have felt that way. The zest has not been there. Before today's race I felt as motivated as I've been for a while. Yet, when I fell off the pace around halfway and others who hadn't followed the leaders swallowed me up, there was no response. I've listed my training below. I had planned two high mileage weeks back to back then a big ease down. I managed the first week's worth but not the second due to a niggling calf problem on the Sunday. Maybe I overtrained? Not enough recovery? Whatever it was, it didn't work.

What now? I have no more big targets this summer and simply intend to train and race without pressure. For now, it's the Costa del Sol on Monday for 10 days. I'm sure I'll work out a strategy over a San Miguel or two.

Hopefully I'll be saying goodbye to this for 10 days.

Sunday 26th June: Sunderland City 10k Road Race, 2nd in 32:34- very hot day and undulating course.

Week Commencing Monday 27th June

Monday: 8.5 miles easy (53:10)

Tuesday: Club, 8.5 miles easy (53:49)

Wednesday: Tempo run, 2 miles easy (12:54), 5 miles hard (27:36), 3 miles easy (19:47), total of 10 miles (1:00:17)

Thursday: Track, 6 x 600m and 1 x 400m, 200m slow jog recoveries, 9 miles including warm up and warm down.

Times- 1:43 for 600s, 67 seconds for 400m.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Hill reps, High Point, 2 sets of 3 x 3 minutes, 2 minutes easy between reps, 5 minutes rest between sets, 7.6 miles including warm up and warm down.

Sunday: Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm, 1 hour easy then 5 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins easy between reps, 16.4 miles (1:50:07)

Mileage: 60

Week Commencing Monday 4th July

Monday: Track, 15 x 350m, 50m jog recoveries, 8.8 miles including warm up and warm down.

Times- first rep in 58 seconds, remainder in 62-63 seconds.

Tuesday: Rest- enforced due to work commitments.

Wednesday: 10 miles easy (1:05:59

Thursday: Tempo run, 3 miles easy (18:40), 5 miles hard (27:50), remainder easy (21:29), total of 11.3 miles (1:07:59)

Friday: 6.8 miles easy (43:37)

Saturday: Hill reps, High Point, 2 sets of 3 x 3 minutes, 2 minutes easy between reps, 5 minutes rest between sets, 7.2 miles including warm up and warm down.

Sunday: 2 miles easy (15:25)- enforced, very tight left calf muscle, more of a fast limp than a run.

Mileage: 46

Week Commencing Monday 11th July

Monday: Track, 5 x 600m, 200m slow jog recoveries, 5.5 miles including warm up and warm down.

Times- 1:48, 1:46, 1:45, 1:45, 1:45- calf feeling okay.

Tuesday: Club, 7.7 miles easy (57:02)- accompanying new member on their first night.

Wednesday: Tempo run, 1 miles easy (6:33), 3 miles hard (16:56), 1 mile easy (6:12), total of 5 miles (29:41)- warm night, felt sluggish.

Thursday: 4.25 miles (25:51) including 2 sets of 4 x 30 seconds strides with 30 seconds running between reps and 5 minutes easy between sets- felt very fluent, based on a session in Charlie Spedding's book, kept the run sharp without draining me too much.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Race- Scottish Athletics Senior Championships 5000m, 10th in 15:17.91.

Race report to follow on my return.

The Road to Cambuslang Part 4- Post National

It was quite a while after the Scottish National Cross Country on 21st February 2009 before I raced again. From 5th-14th March, for the second consecutive year, I accompanied Calderglen Harriers coach Alan Derrick and former club member Jimmy Stewart to the 2:09 Events Spring training camp in the Algarve resort of Praia da Falesia in Portugal. The company is run by former UK international Mike Gratton who won the London Marathon in 2 hours 9 minutes, hence, the name. He is an ever present on the camps. Additional coaching help this year was provided by other former UK internationals, Paul Evans (1992 and 1996 Olympics 10,000m participant and former Chicago Marathon winner) and Bruce Tulloh (European championship medallist over 5000m).

Above, left to right: myself, Jimmy Stewart and Alan Derrick in Portugal, March 2009.

10 days of training twice a day (once in the morning, once at teatime) and enjoying some sunshine is a nice way to spend the early part of the year. I got some great training in, including a mile time trial on the track in 4:39 and a time of 27:37 in a 5 mile handicap cross country between runners on the camp towards the end of the time when I had quite a few miles in the legs. Wearing a kilt for the karaoke that night also went down well with very little of the local brew being needed to become a tad tipsy due to the level of training. I showed the versatility of a distance runner with a rendition of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" to start and a speedier little number later, "Waterloo" by Abba. I only ran once the following day! Alan provided backing vocals to a wide range of performers while Jimmy bailed out altogether.

Above: a lighter moment in Portugal.

I then had another 3 weeks of good training at home. The quality of my track sessions in particular were improving. For example, 2 sets of 5 x 400m all in 65-67 seconds and, on another night, 2 sets of 3 x 600m all in 1:42-1:44 were higher quality than anything I had done before. I was also attending other Cambuslang training nights on Tuesdays.

Finally, on Saturday 4th April 2009, I made my debut in red and white at the Scottish Road Relay Championships in Livingston. This is 6 stages for men, 3.15 miles and 5.8 miles alternately. I was assigned the long second leg in the B team. I took over in 12th place and, while in good shape, maybe started a little too enthusiastically since I got jaded towards the end. However, I ran 31:30 which was a big improvement of 1 minute 44 seconds on the previous year. According to my training diary, this was a "good debut, encouraging omens for the summer." Steven Wylie, Chris Wilson and Robert Gilroy all ran quicker than me on long legs in the A team which finished 5th overall. The B team were 17th. And so began a new chapter.

This concludes my little 4 part feature.While it won't reach any literature shortlists, hopefully you have enjoyed it all the same.

The Road to Cambuslang Part 3- Winter 2009/10

Photos courtesy of Calderglen Harriers.

Pitreavie had been my third tilt at the 5000m in the Scottish Championships. It proved third time lucky as it was the first time I avoided the wooden spoon. My times had improved each year, 16:53 then 16:19 and that year's 16:13. Based on my training and race results leading in, especially Arran, I gave a decent account of myself and showed Calderglen Harriers in a positive light.

Something bothered me though. Was this as good as it would get? Battling at my absoloute limit for the honour of being lapped by the 3 medallists and finishing second last? What training was John Newsom doing to finish 4th? Why was I around a minute behind the next runner closest to me?

My training diary shows that, one week after the 5000m, I finished 4th in the Round Cumbrae 10.25 Mile Road Race (see my post in September 2010 for a report on last year's race) in 57:04, a result according to my training diary entry I was happy with. I than had a week off. I can't remember exactly when but on one Monday night in September, Cambuslang head coach Mike Johnston happened to speak to me at the track about my 5000m. The topic of training with them came up but no commitments were made. I was already acquainted with a couple of Cambuslang athletes who had competed second claim for Whitemoss. I had also seen Cambuslang squads at the track weekly without actually joining in with them. In addition, I finished 8th in their 10k the previous winter so a few of them at least knew my face.

However it came about, a commitment to do the track sessions was made. On 20th October 2008, I did my first one, 8 x 300m with 200m jog recoveries all in 48-50 seconds. Not bad. I carried on with various sessions on a weekly basis, all the while doing my own thing the rest of the week and racing for Calderglen. I caused a few palpitations in the Cambuslang ranks at the West District Cross Country Relay. I finished 9th on first leg but not before leading Cambuslang's first team for a chunk of the 4km. The sessions were helping me a lot as the winter progressed. For example, I finished 26th in the West District Cross Country which I rank as my finest race in Calderglen colours. My training diary shows one session in December 2008 of 14 x 300m with 100m jog recoveries which I describe as "gut wrenching" and note I wanted to stop at 12 but was "ordered to carry on to 14." I remember it well.

Above: finishing 11th in the Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile Road Race in a then personal best of 56:34, showing the track sessions were helping.

Eventually however, a decision had to be made. Calderglen's membership fees came up for renewal in January. I had been a member for over 7 years. Naturally, talk started at the track on the matter of me joining. Was I prepared to commit to Calderglen for another year? Regrettably I wasn't and I took the horrible step of informing the committee I wished to leave. I did not though wish to jump ship immediately and promised to see out the winter, concluding with the National Cross Country in Falkirk in February 2009. Changing club in Scotland is not the most straightforward process. It involves an application to Scottish Athletics comprising a form signed by the Chairperson and Treasurer or Secretary of the club from whom you are resigning accompanied by a fee. To Calderglen's credit, they signed the form and my change of club took effect from 1 March 2009.

Before that I finished 27th in the National 4km Cross Country at Bellahouston, Glasgow then lined up for the National. I improved substantially on my 87th place finish the previous year, coming through 59th. It was not without incident. I was plodding along well enough and on the third lap of 3. If you've read this year's report, you will know the Falkirk course has a big dip into a ditch. In the previous 2 laps, I got bogged down in the ditch. This time, I tried to hurdle it. In so doing, my shoe came off. I was around 1km from the finish and made a split second decision to carry on with one shoe. It cost me a few places but I wasn't stopping for something so trivial. Future team mate Jamie Reid was one of the athletes to pass me. All but one of Cambuslang's runners that day beat me.

Above: running the National for Calderglen in February 2009, both shoes intact at the time.

Being in no danger of qualifying for the UK Inter Counties Cross Country, I took the following week off then launched into the fourth and final part of this feature.