The past week was a bit of a struggle after the time away. Monday morning came far too soon and trying to get back into the routine of things took me a couple of days. However I was still able to get training in as usual although there was a considerable drop off in the amount of miles I did. Being a race week I was tapering down fortunately, this allowed the latter part of the week to be a lot easier. When I taper before a race usually my last session will be the Wednesday night, the following days will be easier runs where I go no faster than 6:30 min/mile and I won't do any strength and conditioning work.
Luckily for the past 8 or so months I have steered clear of injuries and any major illnesses, bar the odd cold, however since 2006 when I made a big jump in performances I was dogged for 3 years with my body breaking down in one way or another.
In 2007 I was coming to the end of the cross country season and was invited to a UKA endurance meeting in Birmingham, part of the session consisted of splitting into your relevant discipline and having some specific coaching. The steeplechase coaching consisted of 'water jumping' into a long jump pit, however we were going over one after the other and leaving holes in the sand. I raised my concerns that it may cause someone to turn their ankle but this was ignored. Needless to say I was the one that turned their ankle and was out for around 8 weeks, wrecking my track season.
2008 was another problematic season this time caused by my choice of footwear. I had been going well at the start of the track season, running a PB in my first race, but over the next few weeks I began developing Achilles pain and by the middle of May I could barely run. I went to my physio who in turn referred me to specialist who identified the problem as tendinitis. I took the necessary advice and started the rehabilitation, after it had improved I returned to training only to find the problem returning. I decided to visit the podiatry department at Salford University. They diagnosed the spikes I had been using as the culprit (a lack of a heel and support coupled with my foot pronation was putting excess pressure on the Achilles tendon), but because of the damage they had caused I had to be fitted with orthotics to counteract my pronation. I wasn't running properly until the end of September.
2009 was looking promising, a PB over 5 miles and highest ever positions in cross country races, but this all began coming unstuck around the end of February. The 2008/2009 winter had seen me up my weekly mileage to around the 80/90 mark, a lot higher than I had ever experienced. I was feeling stronger but at the same time tired, just thinking this was a result of the miles I soldiered on. The first signs of something going wrong was the week after the Northern cross country championships I raced in a 5 mile race in Alsager. I ran 26.22 this was 1 minute 33 seconds slower than the 5 mile race I had done 3 months previously. My coach and I thought this was just the result of 2 races in quick succession. However as time went on sessions were sporadic as was my racing. The final straw came in early May when I raced a flat 3k, I finished in 8:54, 7 seconds slower than my PB in the steeplechase. I asked the advice of my friend and UKA doctor John Rogers, we did some preliminary blood tests and simple mood gauges. Nothing came back from the tests and John indicated that this was pointing to a condition called 'Overtraining syndrome'. The condition is pretty self explanatory, but not only was it affecting me physically mentally I was low and unenthused. I had to stop training and gradually work my way back, I took a week off everything and then gradually had to build back. This took close to 2 months before I was back in full training and by then it was the middle of July and I had missed a lot of training and had lost a lot of endurance.
All these experiences has made me listen to my body more, resting when I was tired, not doing the extra reps in session if I didn't feel like it and cutting back the miles to a level which has allowed me to optimise my training.
Sunday 11th April: 8:42 (1:17:29, 10.95 mi, 7:04 min/mi) Out with Matt Barnes, Dave Norman and Matt Bond. A lot slower than my last Sunday run, grateful of the pace. After run went to bed for an hour was drained!
Monday 12th April: 12:44 ( 24:47, 3.71 mi, 6:40 min/mi) Today was a huge effort, didn't want to get out of bed for the morning run, so went at lunch.
19:11 (WU 15:03, 4*800 (2:10, 2:09, 2:11, 2:10) 3/2 min recovery WD 11:45) Not a good session tonight, felt tired and lethargic. Work had been a daze and had carried through to the evening.
Tuesday 13th April: 8:01 ( 19:17, 2.70 mi, 7:09 min/mi) Still felt tired, out of routine which didn't help.
17:39 ( 38:10, 5.75 mi, 6:39 min/mi) Felt better than the morning, but still not quite right. Had a massage and then an early night!
Wednesday 14th April: 8:05 ( 19:29, 2.74 mi, 7:06 min/mi) starting to feel better, massage definitely helped.
18:53 (WU 15:32, 7*300 (46, 45, 45, 46, 45, 45, 45) 45 sec rec WD 15:25) Felt controlled during the session all fairly consistent and wasn't pushing it.
Thursday 15th April: 12:57 ( 40:01, 6.09 mi, 6:35 min/mi) Starting to ease off for the weekend, felt good during this run up and down middlewood way.
Friday 16th April: 7:56 ( 22:23, 3.28 mi, 6:50 min/mi) Steady morning run after dropping off car, feeling quite relaxed.
13;16 ( 21:13, 3.24 mi, 6:32 min/mi) Run to pick up car after it had been cleaned, same distance but downhill thus the quicker time. Still felt good.
Saturday 17th April: National 12 stage relays 3rd leg
(WU approx 10 min, 27:15 (5.4 miles), WD 25min approx 3 miles). Took over in 3rd i was oddly on my own for a majority of the race. Passing second place shortly after the start i then had to aim at Notts in first who were about 100m ahead. Through the stage i worked towards him but was passed by Shettleston after about 2 miles and Dave Norman came past me with about a mile and a half to go. Coming into the final hill i gave it all i had and took the Notts runner and got within 20m of Dave. Happy with the run, although would have liked to have had someone with me to pull me under 27... Next year!
Weekly total Approx 60 miles
Normal-ish mileage for a race week, will be getting a good few weeks in now before my first track race at Stretford!
Should post on time next week!
Bailey
