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.