7 Weeks of Training & A Seasonal Best ~ Learn From My Mistakes
Use my journey to not repeat my losses but wins — these lessons could improve your running too.
For 7 weeks I’ve been documenting my training progress the 10k Age UK Race. I’ve managed to get a seasonal best in not great weather conditions! But why document this & why should you care?
What I find interesting in life, with each success we only see the tip of the iceberg — but never see the countless hours, blood, sweat, tears and the journey behind that success. Theres valuable lessons we can take away and implement ourselves.
On Medium, I take the lid off so you can see what happens behind closed doors. Learn from my mistakes, wins, take away some tips, tricks and so on.
Results
Total participants: 3731
Total Male Participants: 2155
Weather: Heavy rain
For a majority of the race, I thought my shoe would slip off so I had to sacrifice speed so that wouldn’t happen.
Heres the original tweet which features Ronnie the Rhino! With every race I always do a sprint finish.
We’re still trying to figure out Twitter so a retweet/like goes a long way. My colleague told me I reminded him of the Terminator run — fair enough!
Still here? Brilliant! Let’s continue with the journey…
The 7-week journey overview
So in hindsight, how would I change/tweak this for a more successful run? What lessons can you take away? How would I change this for next time? I’m going to make this part brief but if you want a deeper dive, I’ll link each post in the resources. Let’s take a look at the journey and how we got here.
Week 1 Overview [3]:
Overall a decent week — a mixture of cardio & resistance training.
Positive: Stayed active for 5 days and was walking/running a fair distance.
- Outdoor 7.1km run | A.v. Pace ~ 5'40"
- Chest & Back
- Outdoor 6.5km walk
- Shoulders & Arms
- BurnIt Bootcamp
Improvements: Incorporate a Leg endurance workout from week 1.
Take away point:
By doing a leg workout early in the program, the body would’ve recovered quicker week by week. The walks would’ve acted like an active recovery.
Week 2 Overview [4]:
Not my best week due to work pressures and a lack of sleep. However with the lack of exercise, my body recovered by Saturday.
Positive: Surprisingly, I improved my functional fitness & running scores.
- Outdoor 7.1km Run | A.v Pace ~ 5'12"km
- Outdoor 6.2km Walk
- BurnIt Bootcamp
Improvements: Wanted to push myself with running and increase the distance week by week. Also, some calf strengthening exercises should’ve been introduced here.
Take away point:
Looks can be deceiving. My body clearly recovered and dug deep to get better results. Although, I’d like to keep a consistent regiment. Beating the scores is great but I think consistency & planning is key.
Week 3 Overview [5]:
This was the week where I began to become self aware. My cardio is generally ‘good’ but what lets me down is my muscular endurance in the legs.
- Outdoor 7.98km Run | A.v Pace ~ 5'24"
- Outdoor 6.57km Walk
- Legs Workout
- BurnIt Bootcamp
Positives: Increased running difference & started implementing an endurance-style leg routine.
Improvements: To be honest this was a strong week — it’s ‘on task’ and aligned with the goal. If anything, this should’ve been the routine from the beginning — but hindsights 20/20.
Take away point:
The more you do something, the more aware you become. From here, you have a better insight if what you’re doing aligns with the goal. If not adapt.
Week 4 Overview [6]:
This was an interesting week… in the original post it was termed a ‘rest week’ due to work pressures.
- Outdoor 8.8km Run | A.v Pace ~ 5'38"
- Outdoor 6.57km Walk
Positives: Managed to increase my running distance. Also, my Rate of Perceived effort (RPE) was actually improving. This means I thought I wasn’t working as hard as previous weeks. But the results were getting better — win here.
Improvements: I should’ve planned workouts surrounding the rest week. Maybe I could’ve worked on mobility and right knee strength — so I’m actually doing something.
Take away point:
Inconsistency with other workouts hindered my results. If this was a rest week, instead of doing nothing I’d plan around my recovery.
Week 5 Overview [7]:
We start to see the fruits of my labour — a good week. Active for 4 days and similar to Week 3. There’s a clue here…
- Outdoor 7.37km Walk
- Outdoor 8.7km Run | A.v Pace ~ 5'13"km
- Upper Body
- BurnIt Bootcamp
Positives: Increased my running distance and lowered my average pace (something’s working).
Improvements: Tuesday would’ve been the optimal time for a run so the legs recovered for Saturday — I kinda shot myself in the foot here. Learn from my mistake.
Take away point:
Planning ahead and timing workouts is more important than you think. Long term thinking, discipline, a structured regiment & action will see you towards your goal.
Week 6 Overview [8]:
The week before the race — knew I needed more leg endurance work so planned around it.
- Outdoor 9.5km Run | A.v Pace ~ 5'21"
- Outdoor 3.9km Walk
- Leg Workout
Positives: Increased my running distance with a good average pace. Did the run earlier in the week and leg workout on the weekend — learnt from my mistake.
Improvements: Light mobility work in between heavy workout would’ve gone a long way.
Take away point:
Listen to your body and plan ahead. When you write/log things, it can reveal patterns & clues. Running early week combined with a weekend leg workout was effective — the clue was week 3.
Week 7 Race Day:
Now, the last 6 week journey has brought us here... During this week I didn’t exercise to give my body the rest it needed. I also did carb-loading the night before.
This journey has resulted to a new seasonal best — let’s gooooo!!!
Week 1) Time 40:37 | A.v Pace 5'40"km | Distance 7.1km
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Week 7) Time 48:07 | A.v. Pace 4'49"km | Distance 10km
On reflection what would I change with my training?
More leg endurance workouts: I’d like to do more from week 1 & plan my weeks better. I’m happy with the result overall.
Run in wet conditions more: It’s the first time running in heavy rain and was afraid my shoes would slip off! So, make sure your laces are tied enough. It’s so simple but I overlooked this.
Scheduled workouts: Yep, the clues been there all along — plan ahead with these things… I think I would’ve got a better time if I was more organised with my training.
I made a quick compilation video of the event.
In closing
Theres been a few wins and losses with this 7 week journey. Please, learn from my lessons and don’t repeat my mistakes. Also if you’ve gained new tips, tricks from this — then power to you!
Writing this has been a revelation looking back. A common theme is inconsistency and the lack of a structured routine. What would’ve helped during this? A schedule — to be frank. Think it would help with the consistency of the training.
Thank you for reading, comment, share and let me know if you’ve resonated with anything I’ve said. To better health — Leon W.
Downloads:
If you’re curious about the workouts I used, these blogs go into detail with download links.
Other Resources:
