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Five Year Plan - help please
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All sounds good. Except: 'not that keen on cake'. WTF? You probably haven't put on two pounds though; some of that will be retained water. You know the way you get all bloated when carb-loading because the extra glycogen makes you hold on to water? You basically accidental-carb-loaded.
Good point Lit - I guess I did give myself a rush of carbs
Hopefully the weight will fall off again this week.
Small fluctuations in weight like that after "unusual" food intake aren't real weight gain- as Lit says above- it's all fluid and stuff. It's the same as when you seem to lose tons of weight in the first few days of a diet- it's not fat that you've gained or lost.
Well done on the sudden step up in level- the guys on the Hadd thread always said the same thing- you'd seem to plateau for a few weeks, then suddenly all your paces would improve for the same HR values. Long may it continue!
That is brilliant news on progression to the next level
I agree with ^^^ it will fall off I am on a healthy lifestyle and occasionally go off the rails and usually find I maintain my weight.
Miles makes smiles.
Progression
Tenjiso, have to admire your enthusiasm and your ability to stay positive.
Can't believe no-one has pointed this out before (my apologies if they have!), but if you're still aspiring to a GFA time, then it's 3:20 you need, not 3:15. And if you want to have an even longer-range plan, then this becomes 3:45 for a 60-year old man.
So you're already five minutes closer than you thought you were!
Thanks rodeoflip, though I can't claim to be positive all of the time. I do try, though. By the time I achieve a GFA I'll probably be 90
Just a quick update as I'm off to the airport shortly. Really looking forward to being reunited with my family. My young son has told me that the public are allowed access to a 400m running track just over the road from my flat, so hopefully I'll get in a couple of speed sessions while I'm away.
On Tuesday I ran my LT session and that showed a good improvement in pace to tick all the boxes for me. better still, I ran another 11m MLR yesterday and showed another 15 seconds-per-mile improvement in pace.
I'm taking running gear with me so I can try to keep up the improvements. It will be much hotter than in blighty, but I'll continue to train to heart rate.
Bye for now.
It was significantly hotter in China than the UK, so it's just as well I'm used to early morning runs. I started them at around 6:30am when the temperature was a more palatable 20C (70F). I was actually quite lucky that the temperature was lower than usual for the time of year.
Out on the road I was stunned by the pace of development. Five years ago the road I ran along was almost devoid of cars, cutting through the mountains across some beautiful countryside out to the next town, which was 10km away. Now the entire route was lined with new skyscrapers and businesses and the increase in traffic is phenominal. Any semblance of countryside has pretty much vanished.
The first week, due to travelling I only managed a couple of runs of eight miles and twelve miles respectively. The second week I was able to train more consistently and ran 30 miles over four runs. The stadium across the road from our flat was open to the public early, so I was able to run my LT and shorter sessions on the 400m running track. I also ran a half-marathon distance, with a stadium finish
Training on the track was an experience. There were in excess of 100 people on the track. Young children, old people, runners, joggers, walkers, the occasional cyclist, the occasional dog. There was no reason for anyone to feel intimidated using this track. Around the outside and inside of the track there were people practising various forms of Tai Chi (some with weapons), table tennis and basketball. The basketball players wanted me to join in and threw the ball to me as I ran past. They would not be impressed by my basketball ability (though it's fair to say I had a significant height advantage) so I politely declined.
I ran for a while with one of the running coaches and his students. I watched the youngsters training and saw that they did a lot of plyometric exercises, lunges and the likes, in addition to the sprint sessions. During a recovery session I ran with my son. He really enjoyed running with me on the track and we certainly got a lot of attention.
Before flying home to England, we took the bullet train to Shanghai. The journey by normal train is in excess of 24 hours. The bullet train took 9 hours, travelling at speeds up to 306Km/h. Our hotel was on the Bund, so we had stunning views of the financial district (Pudong) across the river.
I had a week-off from running due to travelling and jet-lag. However, I've run 33 miles this week and all of my runs show continuous improvements in pace. I will now start training specifically for the half-marathon in December and am hoping to be able to follow the 31-47 mile schedule in Pfitzinger's new book. It depends whether I can keep on top of studies and work, plus the dark mornings! I have an exam in just three weeks and my next module starts at the same time. No rest for the wicked
I've just completed the first week of the half-marathon training schedule. My only tweak was to run 12m this morning instead of the scheduled 10m, since that is the level I'm already running.
I had to start running shortly after 5:30am for the weekday runs. I wore a head torch, though it was mainly to ensure that cars would see me on the roads. It was just about light enough to see the trail without the lamp.
On Tuesday I ran 6m GA with 8x100m strides, followed by 8m at long-run pace on Wednesday. Friday was 7m with LT intervals (14mins + 12mins @ LT pace with 4mins jog recovery between intervals). The week culminated with today's 12m MLR. Total 33m.
It hasn't been an easy week, but I've managed to complete week two of the half-marathon training plan. My only tweak was to extend today's long run from 11m to 12m. My total mileage has been 35 miles across four runs.
On Tuesday I ran hill reps on a hill of about 9% incline. I'm not sure if that was steep enough, but it felt like a pretty decent workout.
I'm happy with progress so far and I've been on the verge of booking a spring marathon. Hmmm...
Book it Tenjiso, it'll give your training more focus, although it sounds like things are going very well thus far! Do you have any time goals at present or just concentrating on getting back on track (pun unintended)?
Hi Peter. I've done everything bar book it, even to the extent of working out the training plan from now until marathon day
I don't have a time goal yet, though I'm on target to be shooting for a PB going by my current training times. I've got a half-marathon booked in December, and my intention is to use the result of that to set myself the marathon target.
London Marathon rejection email received this morning.
Milton Keynes Marathon booked this evening 
Hopefully the weather won't be biblical, like it was in 2012!
This morning's run was hampered a bit by Fog. It was just a bit too dark to see the trail clearly when running at lactate-threshold pace, but the light from the head torch reflected off the fog and didn't really help visibility. I used my hand-held torch to avoid tripping, but it's not particularly bright.
It's a typical Pfitzinger plan and has already got me running 8-9 miles on weekdays (hence I have to start at 5:30am). On Tuesday I ran eight miles with hill reps and strides and followed this on Wednesday with nine miles at long-run pace. Today's run was 8m with threshold intervals of 18 minutes and 15 minutes off four minutes recovery. On Sunday I have another 12 mile run, but with the last couple of miles at threshold pace
Next week is the first scheduled recovery week in the plan.
I'm enjoying it so far, in spite of the dark morning starts. At least it is still mild weather.
Another race booked - the Welwyn Half-Marathon on 20th March. Pretty low-key race that fits in with my schedule (six weeks before the marathon) with a minor amount of change to the P&D plan I'll be following.
The races are booked, the plan is in place, so all I need to do now is the consistent training
Given that I ran threshold-pace intervals only a couple of days ago, running two miles at threshold at the back-end of today's twelve mile progression run felt brutal
. It was the first time in this program that my body was lagging behind my heart - by which I mean that I felt physically unable to push myself to the very top of my LT heart range. My legs felt like lead.
Still, that's 37 miles in the bag this week, and three weeks of the schedule completed. The coming week is a recovery week, so mileage and intensity are reduced a little
Good things rarely come easy Tenjiso! Carry on...
Cheers Peter
During the early part of this week I could tell that I hadn't fully recovered from the previous weeks runs, but the latter couple of runs have felt good.
Next week I have a lactate threshold session on Tuesday, and will complete the week with a twelve mile progression run with three miles at lactate threshold
. I'm going to have to psych myself up for that one!!
Another week completed and the progression run is in the bag. To progress from easy LR pace through to hard LT effort meant running from 65% heart Rate Reserve (HRR), through to 88% HRR, which for me means 135bpm to 165bpm.
My average heart rate per mile was as follows:
134/138/142/143/145/148/152/154/157/161/162/164bpm (Peak 166bpm)
That was a seriously tough run IMHO! Mentally as well as physically challenging. It was also very satisfying to complete. My average pace over the twelve miles (9:08) was only a couple of seconds slower than my PB marathon pace.
I hope I recover enough for the coming weeks schedule...
Tue: 8m with hill reps and strides
Wed: 9m @ LR pace
Fri: 9m with 5x1000m VO2max intervals
Sat: 5m Recovery
Sun: 12m @ LR pace
Seven weeks to go to the half-marathon race.
Trying to run Friday's VO2max intervals according to heart rate didn't go so well. I just couldn't push the heart rate up and struggled to go much higher than I do for LT sessions (even though my pace was roughly 30 seconds faster than LT). Having checked my historical records, it appears that my heart rate never has risen much higher than LT level when running intervals to the prescribed pace. I suspect that they are just too short for me to be able to push it hard enough (without crashing and burning). Next time out, I'll run intervals to pace instead of heart rate.
I must be doing something right, though. Today's 12 endurance run was a full thirty seconds per mile faster than the exact same run (at the exact same effort) that I did four weeks ago. My average pace dropped from 9:44 to 9:14. If I can get all my ducks in a row with other sessions I will be on course to train for a new marathon PB.
Next week I have a tempo run on Tuesday, and a 13m progression run (eek!). My weekly mileage will be up to 45m.
Seems like my pace on the 12m run I mentioned above was an exception. perhaps because it was a cooler day with little wind. Nonetheless, my long run pace has still improved and is around 9:30 on average.
I was hindered a bit by a groin strain I picked up while running some strides. It took about a week of lighter running to allow it to recover.
This week I've just finished my highest mileage week of the program I'm following for the half-marathon (47 miles). I've been getting up at 4:45am to be able to finish my runs before breakfast on working days. My weekday runs this week have been 8m, 11m and 10m. Yesterday's 4m recovery run felt like it was over in the blink of an eye!
This morning I ran 14m in 27mph winds. It felt like running through treacle at times. I'm reasonably happy, though, that my pace was 9:34 in spite of the conditions.
My mileage tapers a bit now as the half-marathon approaches.
Sounds like your training is well on track! What are your targets for the half?
Good question Peter. I had hoped to run a parkrun to get a solid idea of where I'm at, but the groin strain prevented me from taking part. I'll just have to guesstimate a target nearer to the race based on training. I might try to fit in a time trial of my own next weekend, but it's not the same as racing.
I've really enjoyed reading this thread, might have missed you saying sorry if I have but what program are you using?
Hi Simo
I'm currently following the 31 to 47 miles per week half marathon schedule in "Faster Road Racing" by Pete Pfitzinger and Philip Latter.
All being well, for the spring marathon I will be following the 18 week up-to-55-mile plan in "Advanced Marathoning" (Pfitzinger & Douglas).