Weekly Training Blog 7: 5k PB Attempt

Superbowl Sunday and, with the exception of the halftime show, the most disinterested I have been for a Superbowl for a long time. It still meant 4 hours of sleep before getting up and starting the week that would lead to my last swimming lesson and, more importantly, a 5k PB attempt in Clane

Monday, February 14th.

Not much to write home about today’s upper body session. Still working on improving my bench press and pull-ups. I am leaving the bench until the end of the session so I don’t have to lift as heavy to get fatigued out of it. It also allows me to be fresher for the chin-ups nearer to the start of the session, where I have more ambitious future goals.

After a quick protein shake, it’s straight to the pool for my last swimming lesson. Realistically, the goal in swimming a length is pretty far away. But 15 minutes into the session, I’m able to get 11 strokes before losing form and needing to stop. A PB by one. There’s plenty of time left in the session. Unfortunately, the session turns into getting used to swimming on my back. Even with the float and the head up, my ass is sinking. Beyond hopeless. Actually, no, I take that back. I’m still moving while on my back, albeit underwater. When the last 15 minutes switched to breaststroke, then I become absolutely hopeless.

Being nowhere near ready for the next level up for swimming and somehow being too advanced (advanced, while true, is not the right word again) for the beginner sessions, it’s on me to practice as much as I can for a swimming length goal by the next 3 weeks. Rather than practising at the end of the session, I hop into the sauna for 25 minutes. I have a bigger goal in mind. A 5k PB

Tuesday, February 15th

What a miserable day! After coaching the 6 am session, I force myself out to do 2 laps of the village, the route where the event will take place later that evening. More so than anything else, it’s a mindset thing. I am a big fan of visualising and positive affirmations. But I’ve also got a fair bit of nervous energy in me that I need to spend.

By the afternoon, work was non existed. I had worked myself up over the day I wanting the 5k PB, after talking about it on the podcast and to the members of the ABC Run Club. Truth is, nothing would change whether I got the PB or not. But I felt I needed that mindset to thrive come race time and to push harder than I ever had before in a 5k.

Did I mention it was a miserable day? It bucketed rain before that start line. A lot of the members had hats on, 3-4 layers of clothing to stay warm. This gobshite here? Well, I was at the starting line in a t-shirt and shorts, raring to go! I knew that any other layers, I would be too warm, I just had to get through the first km to warm up.

It was a crowded start, but I jumped up on paths and the other side of the road, which was not closed off, onto traffic that was not moving, to get ahead and try to keep the 4 min/km pace. The plan was to run hard for the first km. Check in with the body and adjust for the next 3 at the steady pace and finish strong. In the first km, I was pretty much at a 4 min pace. I felt good. I welcomed the rain and decided to push. 21:55 needed to be beaten today!

The second km had me at a 3:59 pace. I knew I couldn’t maintain it for sub 20 but sub 21 was on the cards. I kept going, gradually getting slow at 4:07 and 4:11 for the next 2kms. Sub 20 was out. I was ok with that. But I was getting very tired. Breathing became very heavy. I needed sub 21. My mind argued to pull back, take the PB that was there rather than push on. But we pushed nonetheless and by the time I crossed the finish line (technically for the third time, as it was a looped race), I was spent! Thrilled to come in at 20:40 but equally needing to find the nearest wall or tree to lie on for feat of just dropping on the wet ground. The first person I was was the boss man of ABC. I fell into his arms, exhausted, instead… probably should have lied here and said acted triumphantly, pounding my chest as I crossed the finish line but, unfortunately, that’s not the case.

I struggled for 2-3 mins to catch my breath before feeling somewhat better. The legs were shaking after. But it was fantastic to stay around see the members of the Run Club wait for each other to finish the race. No one would have blamed anyone for leaving as soon as the race was over, considering how miserable it was out. But everyone was all smiles and it lead to a great atmosphere to finish!

Post race ABC Clane Group picture

With the 5k PB attempt accomplished, it was on to the next target…

Wednesday, February 16th

Upper bid session again that afternoon. But with the legs feeling tired that night, after work, and with it getting late, wet and windy, it was the perfect time to force myself out and get a run in. And man, was I feeling slow. But the next challenge is all about working on tired legs. Because the next challenge is 4 x 4 x 48: Run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. Much more details on that HERE. And I have two weeks to build myself up to it!

Thursday, February 17th

A long day at work meant that I was on my feet from 5:30 am straight through to 9:30 that night. Literally no time for a workout. I had contemplated running that night but passed on it to get a lower body session the next day and then run on the tired legs.

Friday, February 18th

I was late to the gym and well behind time for my lower body session. I had built up my chin up EMOM to 6 reps for 15 minutes. So I tried 7 reps on the minute to start the session. I got up to 5 rounds in before I could no longer hit 7 full reps. I pulled it back to 5 until I hit 50 reps and then moved on to a lower-body workout. With time being a factor, what followed was not my best lower body workout. Mostly bodyweight and volume reps to get a pump and tire them out before running after. I had gotten advice on a few different routes throughout Clane, so I just decided to go for a wander and see where they took me. I thought I felt slow but my pace was much faster than what I felt. The goal is now to stay healthy while building my mileage over the next few weeks.

Saturday, February 19th

A 7km run with the run club started my day, as well as committing to two more running events with the Run Club. A 10k run in Straffan at the end of March followed by a half marathon in Clondalkin in May. There’s also the small matter of Quest in between that… and I may have signed up to a Ring of Kerry Cycle after the high of last Tuesday night’s 5k.

Speaking of the Ring of Kerry and cycling, it was back on the AirDyne bike Saturday evening, getting an extra 10-minute interval done (10 min warm-up - 10-minute intervals with 5-minute break x 5 plus 5-minute cool down). More motivation to do the bike with a 175k cycle coming up. And there’s the small matter of Quest Glendalough at the start of May

Sunday, February 20th

The legs were not feeling too bad this morning. Although the weather was not looking great. And it got progressively worse as the long run continued. But, as I mentioned on my Instagram reel HERE, it was a great run to not only build up endurance in the legs for the 4x4x48 Challenge but to build mental strength as well for when the challenge gets more difficult, with the lack of sleep, in the latter stages.