Yearly training summary 2011-2020

Year	Run			Bike			All training*
	km	hours	m+	km	hours	m+	hours
2020	2181	237	40919	1502	62	13608	405
2019	2030	217	33114	606	36	8001	355
2018	2521	262	45922	48	4	1273	301
2017	1315	126	21208	39	2	550	172
2016	917	83	12787	2040	119	45321	223
2015	1871	183	26449	268	14	5497	199
2014	1074	137	27423	551	35	10335	222
2013	1747	159	22581	1302	66	14771	236
2012	2862	258	39828	2419	128	35134	386
2011	972	91	3566**	8582	387	58168**	535

* Running and cycling plus swimming, strength training, Concept 2, kettlebells and everything else I recorded. I only started recording all strength activity in 2020; perhaps also in 2019. I didn't do much strength training in 2011 and 2012 anyway, but I did a fair bit from 2013 to 2018 not recorded above.

** Probably more than this as I was using a watch that did not record elevation for much of 2011.

2020 was my:

• third biggest year for distance and time running
• second biggest for elevation gained running
• fifth biggest year for all cycling stats
• second biggest year for all activity (remembering the caveat in *)

Impact of the Spanish lockdown

Because of the strict lockdown for the pandemic here in Spain, there were six weeks I couldn't train outside (and run).

If I'd run the average for the rest of the year in those six weeks (47km, 5hrs and 890m+ a week), my running figures for the year would have been 2463km, 267hrs and 46,259m+.

This would have made 2020 my second biggest year for running distance and my biggest year for running time and elevation.

Not a bad year! And the best thing about it is the base and plan I have built for 2021. 

2021

To beat 2020 in 2021, I'll have to average over 7hr 47min of total activity a week and run more than 4hr 33min, 42km and 787m+ a week.

No! You don't need a new GPS watch!

That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

The plan was to keep my current watch (a Garmin Forerunner 935) for at least three years (up until the end of 2021).

But every so often, I get the bug for a new watch.

What triggered it this time was the altimeter on my 935 not working. Even though this turned out to be a solvable problem, the seal had been broken on my desire for a new watch.

The candidates were the Coros Apex Pro and Premium, Garmin Forerunner 945, Polar Grit X, and Garmin Fenix 6 Pro. The most likely being the 945 and the Apex Pro. The Grit discarded because of poor navigation; the Fenix 6 because of weight.

What would I want from a new watch?

Longer batter life, wrist HR in the pool and good navigation, possibly maps.

Thus, the watches I most liked out of the above candidates were the 945 and the Apex Pro --- the 945 because of its light weight and maps; the Apex Pro because of its looks.

But I don't really need a new watch.

The 935 does everything I need. I might push the battery life in an event I want to do in October 2021, but that will only be one day. One day is not enough reason to buy a new watch (even if I could use it as an excuse). Particularly as I should be able to get by on that day with the 935, albeit at the watch's limit.

Also, the watches I'm looking at aren't that much of a jump up from the 935.

So I'm standing firm and not buying a new watch now. But I am changing my pledge to make the 935 last three years. Instead, I'm going to buy the next new release I like as soon as it comes out, be it the Forerunner 955, the next iteration of the Apex Pro or something else.

Just call me the no-vert man!

No. of weeks with over 2000m climbing (running) 2012-2020

2020	1
2019	3
2018	1
2017	0
2016	0
2015	0
2014	2
2013	0
2012	3

Wow!

You wouldn't think I've got a multitude of 500m climbs at my door. It's not even 5 km to the top!

The Parc de la Serralada Litoral, straight up from my place!

 

I didn't think I did so little climbing.

Maybe I've stumbled on the reason for cramps in the later stages of trail races, especially over marathon distance. 

Well, 2021 will be different. If all goes well, most of my weeks will be over 2000m+.

But I'll ease into it, even more so with the figures above in mind.

Say "tissue senstivity" not "injury" or "tissue damage"

Lots of wisdom here that jives with my experience with pain and (phantom) injuries.

So often, based on pain (or should I say "tissue sensitivity"?), I've self-diagnosed what appears to be an injury that the Internet tells me will be around for a while.

But after a few days of rest followed by easy running or cross-training and maybe rehab exercises, the issue fades.

The pain seems more a warning than anything else. It might be nociceptive or even inflammatory pain as described in the post linked to above (in the later case, there might be a slither of damage). There may be no actual or at least significant damage; just pain.

And hear what the author (a physio) has to say about overuse injuries:

If there is no pathoanatomical basis for the athletes pain it should not be labelled as an injury. Wording such as ‘overuse injury’ can be associated with tissue damage when none has occurred. 

Relapses especially, I've often felt, may be nothing more than cautious, brain-made pain. While the initial injury may have taken time to get over, I find relapse "injuries" or pain can pass in a matter of hours.

The above site also has as comprehensive and insightful as you'll find page on calf rehab. Not the usually recycled, out-of-date, non-runner-useful fluff Google normal serves up.

Solution to wonky Garmin Forerunner 935 altimeter

In windy conditions, when the altimeter can go haywire, wear the watch tighter on your wrist and possibly cover the watch with your sleeve.

That was easy. Whew! I was thinking I might need to buy a new watch. (Any excuse will do!)

No sleepy head on the weekend!

 

View going up the mountain behind Premià de Dalt

 

I have no problem getting up early on weekends to go for a run. 

In fact, I've always had the opposite problem: I can't help getting up early on weekends to go for a run.

So I love it when I have to go for a long run.

I have an excuse to be awake at too-early o'clock!

I normally just get up, have a coffee and sit around until a half-normal time before getting out the door.

But now — back doing long runs in the mountains and with some extra long runs coming my way — I'm going to take advantage of my mad-runner weekend enthusiasm and just get straight out the door when I get up at ungodly hour.

After my coffee, of course.

The tricky part of injury recovery: keeping up with rehab exercises

Up or down?

It's easy to rest the first few days after an injury or niggle. Well, it's not that easy. But you can learn, and it's easy to tell when you've rested enough for mild injuries and tweaks (usually one to three days).

It's easy to start running again. You find a distance or time you can manage and build from there. This is usually a steep curve: you're tentative at first, but within a couple of weeks, you're likely to be back to where you were before the injury.

The tricky part

The not-so-easy-part is to keep your guard up after the first two or three weeks. It's easy to slip into doing hard sessions too quickly. There's no pain, so you totally forget you're still recovering from an injury.

But the hardest thing to do is to keep going with the rehab and strength exercises that probably sped up the recovery or at least reduced the pain during the early stages.

I always fall at this last hurdle.

I strengthen the injured area just enough to get by and then drop the rehab work because everything is going good.

What I should be doing

• keep the daily rehab exercises going and build on them until I've equaled if not surpassed my previous level of strength in the injured area
  

Key foam rolling exercise for runners: the hips, quads and IT band

Fixes your lower leg, too!

This page prescribes rolling the front and side of your upper legs and hips for alleviating not only IT band tightness and knee pain but also Achilles tendon pain and plantar fasciitis.

I wouldn't have thought these exercises would directly affect the last two issues. I normally roll the bottom of my foot and lower calf for these problems. Although I always start with my quads and hips as they are always tight.

Another key area for me to roll and stretch are my shin muscles. This can alleviate ankle and top-of-the-foot pain.

Roll the shortened muscles; not the overstretched ones

The page in the above link contains a further gem of wisdom: 

...in general the basic goal with foam rolling is to lengthen short muscles so that the lengthened muscles can also relax.

This vital point is illustrated with a typical complaint for runners: a sore hamstring. Stretching and rolling may do nothing because it is the opposing muscles, the quads, that are tight. The hamstring hurts because it is overstretched; not shortened.

In this case, you need to stretch the quads to relieve the pain. And sure enough, as soon as you touch the quads, you realise how tight they are. Ouch!

Nearly everyday

I've found preventative rolling and stretching can do so much to help dodge injury. Niggles sneak up on me when I get slack with it. I need to do it just about everyday, at least on my quads and hips. It's also a matter of staying alert and noticing the first inkling of tightness.

 

 

How not to do an AeT test

By AeT test, I mean the HR drift test mentioned here.

Instead of using a HR target like they suggest in the article for the outside test, I decided use a power target.

Why? Because I have a pan-flat, out-and-back course along the coast. I thought I could use power like the fixed speed you would use doing the test on a treadmill. As my power meter (Stryd) takes wind into account, I thought power would be a better target than pace.

In hindsight, I should have aimed for a HR target.

I’ve done three tests now and still haven’t found my AeT. I seem to be getting fitter each time I do the test. I up the power target, but my HR stays the same or drops for a higher average pace.

According to the AnT test I did a few days ago, my AnT is 165. So I don't think I'm mistaking the two thresholds.

On the positive side, I’ve found a workout I respond to! This might be because I've done next to no zone 2 work or higher for a long time. Just easy runs with strides and hill sprints occasionally with some harder running in my long runs.

Anyway, although these tests may not have given me the info I wanted, I will repeat the last iteration of them some time into the Big Vert plan I'm doing to see how the training is going.

So at least I have a benchmark.

The perils of following training plans

Training plans are great if you don't get injured and can follow them to the letter.

This happened to me once, and I had a great road marathon as a result.

But I was spoiled by that stroke of luck. Other times since I've kept on trying to do a plan even though I was getting injured. Like banging my head against the wall. The results haven't been good.

Although at least on one occasion I remember, I did manage to adapt the programme and do the event I was signed up for (my second marathon) all right.

Everybody tells you not to follow their training plan to the letter. They say it's just a draft and that you need to tweak it as needed. But I have found it hard to get the message into my thick skull.

I have trouble diverging from the crappy little plans I cobble together myself or even changing what I say I'm going to do for the next few days, let alone stepping off the path of a serious training plan bought through TrainingPeaks.

But not this time...

I'm on week one of a new training plan, and I'm fully prepared to change it at the drop of a hat.

This should be easier on this occasion given that I'm going to run through the same programme twice. The first time just to get a feel for the workouts and to build up my weekly mileage and climbing.

This time, I'm going to be smart...