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The Middle Ground
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38.48 so quite a way off, however my course best is about 40.41 so a reasonable chunk off that.
Sounds like the paces are now a bit slow, assuming the effort felt right? Might be worth doing a parkrun this weekend if it is feasible?
Can't do one this Saturday (wife works Saturday mornings in school term times so I can only do parkruns in the holidays) but I have a 10k race a week on Sunday which hopefully will result in a time that will correspond to some new training paces.
Race is slowly uphill for the first 3.25 miles, then 2 miles downhill, then quite a steep uphill to the finish. Unsure how to approach a race with this profile? Hold back for the first 3 miles then try to make up a lot in miles 4 and 5, or aim for a more consistent pace? Either way, I need to save something for the uphill in the last mile. Any suggestions?
Target average pace is about 7.20 (for a finish around 45.30), but allowing for a faster final 0.2m I think average for the first 6 can be closer to 7.22/23. So I think I'll aim for 7.30 over first 3 and then two downhill miles at about 7.15 before trying to use the momentum and hold that pace for the final full mile before a kick finish.
When is your next race?
I guess it depends how big the ups and downs are as to how close to target pace you can sit. However I would look to push hard in the 2 miles down even if that is faster than planned, if I felt good.
Next for me is leg 19 of the Welsh Castles relay in a few weeks. It is the shortest leg and looking at the previous results, the leg most clubs put their weakest runner on which makes sense as there's less damage to be done over 7.7 miles, compared to 12. I'm by no means our weakest runner, I just had to run one of the last 4 legs as they go close by my parents so I can take the kids and have my mum drop me off and pick me up, and i've already done leg 20.
Is that road legs or trails/cross country legs DT? The club I used to be a member of takes part in the Round Norfolk Relay and I always fancied the thought of taking part - maybe if I ever rejoin them in the future then I'll give it a go!
Although Sunday's run felt good, I did have some severe DOMS on Monday. Feeling better now though after a couple of days planned rest, so looking forward to getting back into it tonight. 5 miles at easy 9m/m pace is planned.
It's all road/cycle trail. Much of the later legs spend as much time as possible on the Taff trail as there are no road closures for the race.
I did 5 miles yesterday. Felt very heavy legged.
5 miles easy last night came out very nicely - average 8.50 pace, so right at the quick end of easy pace range.
Tempo session tonight - same as two weeks ago (ie. 4x1mile) but will cut recoveries from 2 minutes to 90/105 seconds depending on how I am feeling.
So, tempo session last night. Two weeks ago I did the session off 2 minute recoveries which felt a little too long (heart rate and breathing was back under control well before the end of the 2 minutes) so I decided to do the session off 90 second recoveries last night.
As stated above, my current tempo pace according to the book is around 7.33m/m, but I have questioned if this is now a bit outdated and needs revising, which will hopefully happen after my next race. Also, I have assumed that tempo intervals are easier than a continuous tempo, so I decided that if my pace drifted below 7.30 then I wouldn't worry too much so long as the effort levels felt about right.
The 4 miles came in at 7.27; 7.25; 7.28 and 7.27. Pretty consistent and I was happy with that, especially as last night was probably the warmest I've run in so far this year.
Sounds promising, Andrew. The real test with Tempo runs comes when you string them together into longer blocks.
I would consider 1 mile reps more of a vo2 workout than a tempo session. Are you planning on slowly putting those miles as 1 continuous run? For me you then start bringing in a few more race specific factors such as the distance endurance at pace and the mental battle when it hurts. I find 5 miles in one block just about right. 4 leaves me feeling a little under stretched and 6 leaves me hating the session.
7 miles easy yesterday, and it was pretty humid.
Might pop along to parkrun in the morning.
DT - yep, I am currently doing 3 mile continuous tempos on alternate weeks to the mile intervals (as per the Daniels plan).
Will push this up to 4 miles continuous, but as my main focus this year is 5k (even though I will race a couple of 10ks too) I think that is far enough, or would you suggest trying to get to 5?
I suppose for 5k specific stuff 4 miles is adequate. I do find the 4 mile versions quite 'nice' as they are just enough to make you feel like you've done a session.
I need to decide when I start my 10k schedule. Probably week after next. I don't have time to do the full 12 weeks and plan to only do 8. Therefore I am unclear if I pick it up in week 2 perhaps and skip a couple of other randomly selected weeks or just do the first 8 or the last 8?
I think if you've got a good level of fitness already (which you obviously do) then the last 8 weeks should be sufficient.
No parkrun today. Was up most of the night with poorly child and didn't wake until 8.30.
Ended up going out for an easy 7 Saturday but unintentionally progressing it like by mile so last mile ended up 6.35 pace. Was nice to open legs up in training.
Hope poorly child is better now DT. Sounds like a good run in the end though.
I had cricket Saturday and 7 miles yesterday morning. Slightly sore right hammy this morning, but hopefully more DOMS than a strain.
DT: for the next 8 weeks you have the chance to experiment! Write your own progressive and consistent programme that you know will be achievable, building in a recovery week after week 4, say! You are adapting plans in any case!
And talking of cut-back weeks, my tired legs have called for a recovery week this week, which ties in with the National Masters relays, should I be called upon, which I doubt. Have worked quite hard for the last four weeks.
1. I am more likely to force a session of my schedule says I need to.
2 . why would my own schedule be better than one prepared by a professional?
Thanks Alehouse. I do feel like I have managed a decent 2/3 months progression. Hopefully that will start to show in my race times over the next couple of months.
As for the hamstring, it does feel a little better today, but I am a bit concerned about it especially with a 10k race on Sunday in mind.
I was planning a session tonight with a couple of tempo miles in the middle, as my last harder run before the race, but I think discretion is the better part of valour and it would be risking it too much to put any hard work through the hamstring while it is still sore.
I won't gain anything really at this stage by doing the session, and conversely won't lose much by not doing it, so I think I'll just do a short easy run instead. At the first sign that it is making any soreness in the hamstring worse I'll stop and call it a day.
DT - I'm surprised that you don't already put together your own training plans. You must have enough experience to know how one fits together and, as Alehouse says, you can build in more or less rest/recovery sessions based upon your knowledge of yourself (rather than a generic plan for a generic athlete).
Andrew, I'd be very careful tonight. You don't want to antagonise it. As you say, there is know physical gain to be had. At this stage, all you can do is damage your performance on sunday, not improve it. Why not run easy and perhaps for the last 0.1 of each mile stride out a bit faster than 10k pace? Very easy to knock that on the head after the first one and it won't do any damage.
The thing with writing your own schedules building towards a race is that you have to plan the various cycles within the schedule and effectively (more so for a mara) put the whole thing together from outset.
I think I will have a go on my own for next 8 weeks or so just because the schedules I see don't incorporate some runs I think would be helpful such as hill reps or even steady efforts over hilly terrain where I am not chasing a pace target as such.
Yes, I will probably take it easy for the first couple of miles and see how it feels. if it is ok then I may add some faster sections into the rest of the run.
On my way to Tescos and back at lunchtime it certainly felt a lot better than yesterday.
sounds sensible, Andrew. Need to make sure you have a decent warm up sunday so you get those stiff miles out of the way pre race.
I will be doing the 10k midweek series trail race tonight. I am not overly enthused, so hopefully I will feel a bit more competitive when I get there.
Go well tonight, DT: will make for a nice tempo if nothing else! And good that you are going to adapt things over the next couple of months, particularly with regard to hill work. I try to maximise time off road at this time of the year: whilst slower I think there is a greater training effect in terms of building strength.