Simon Coaching - velloo

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  • Good job on the 3 x 1 mile. I'm starting to think that a longer warm up is better for sessions. I personally prefer to get going quite quickly, but I've had feedback from others that they feel they need more of a warm up. And it's not as though warming up more is going to hurt - it's all extra miles inthe bank.

    It is a bit of a tough week. But I forecast that after the Q3 session you'll feel exhilerated (or annoyed at me).

    I think the most important thing with quality sessions is making sure that there are easy days either side. And making sure that those easy days are easy. So, no problem swapping the days about. I often make the hardest day a Sunday - the idea being that on a weekend one has more time to rest up and then Monday is usually a complete rest day.

  • First road race since November done! I'm really out of race practise as these terrible splits show, 6.33, 6.29, 6.27, 6.11, 5.57. It was an out and back course with a slight uphill at the start and downhill at the end. I was much too cautious at the start and finished the race feeling fine rather than totally spent, although I'm pretty tired now. Great day for racing though, sunny, light breeze, and not too cold. Won first old woman prize and I think it's a PB but not by much.

  • velloo, that's an excellent result. The pacing isn't too bad - better to start cautiously than to go out too hard and blow up. Obviously you could have gone out a bit harder in retrospect, but as you say that's just race rustiness and it's extremely promising to PB despite that. Well done on your win.

    Your pace judgement can't be too bad:

    Simon Edward wrote (see)


    2-3m warm up; 3 x 1 mile @ LT with 90" recovery; 5' jog; 800m hard; 1-2m cool down

    There's no pace prescription for the 800m - just run at a good hard pace - maybe how would like to attack the last 800m of a 5 mile race.

    Your notes for that session say you ran the 800m at 5:57/mile. Exactly the same as you did the last mile in today.

  • Congrats, velloo. A PB this early in the season bodes well for good progress to come as Simon's plans no doubt start to sharpen you up further.

  • Thanks guys. Official time was 31.22. BBB I notice on another thread that you've had an excellent race, well done!

  • Forgot to ask what you think might have been possible with perfect pacing?

  • I really don't know, maybe 31.00. I left it too late to start chasing people down, I wrongly thought the woman in front of me was a much faster runner so initially didn't try to keep up with her - now that I've stalked her on po10 I see that I've got faster times across the board, until now! 

  • Good race then velloo!

  • Iron I'm quite annoyed with myself, but it was a good day out with an excellent post-race spread and cash prizes.

  • So today's session was a sub LT run before breakfast. 3 miles easy 5 miles 7.06, 6.55, 7.03, 6.58, 6.42. 2 miles easy. It was an out and back route but I'm sure the wind changed direction as I felt like I was running into it both ways… I rarely run on an empty stomach but felt ok. I'm trying to change my diet at the moment as I don't eat enough protein and have too much fat and sugar, hopefully it will have a positive affect on my running.

  • I take it this evening's run felt better than the last Sub-LT venture?

    How have you determined that you're not getting enough protein? I find it quite interesting how different people respond to varying ratios of the basic food groups. I personally do very well off a high carbohydrate diet, but have noticed several other runners who cannot tolerate too much.

  • Yes today's sub L-T felt much more comfortable than last time.

    I know how much protein I'm eating because I've started to log everything I eat with an app, diabetes runs in the family so I wanted to check how much sugar I was eating and it turned out to be quite a lot, mostly in bread and hot cross buns. I'm still going to eat a mostly carb diet, just up the protein a bit.

  • Rubbish reps today, I mean I was rubbish not the session. Went out last night, had two small glasses of wine and woke up with a hangover, my tolerance has gone right down! I was supposed to do a pyramid session at long interval pace 6.00 - 5.50 but it came out a bit slower, the 600s were really off so I might've mis-measured them..

    400m 1.26 (that's within range), 600m 2.20 (well out), 800m 3.01 (3 secs out), 1000 (3.43 within range), 800m 3.02, 600m 2.19, 400m 1.27. No more drinking the night before a quality training session.

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Interesting you mention the drinking. I have been reviewing my last 3 races (half, 10k and a 5k) that have all gone wrong. The half was just not my day and I got injured in the first half. The 10k and 5k there were no external factors. However I did note that within 36 hours of both races I did drink. The friday night before the 10k (sunday am) was my work xmas party. I didnt get hammered by any means but had a decent drink. Then on the thursday night before my recent parkrun i drank a bottle of wine.

    What I have been pondering is how long before a race can alcohol float about your system sufficiently to mess with performance? I appreciate that it can easily be argued that any is detrimental, but most of us are not that serious to give it up. But with a race pending, how long should we go between having a few drinks and race day?

  • Easy way out.   Go tea total

  • DT19 I don't know…it's the dehydration that causes the performance dip I think. (I've still got a storming head-ache 19hrs since I had the wine). Although I've had some really awful races when hung-over I also got my HM pb after having a glass of wine the night before. Seeing as I'm monitoring everything I eat/drink/run at the moment by the end of the year I should have some data to work on...  

    spen71 I wouldn't cut out drinking altogether, but I'd certainly drink less if bars served decent non-alcoholic drinks. 

  • Sorry  just Me on my high horse as I quit over three years ago

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Yes I know the easiest option is to quit but I enjoy a drink too much for that to happen. With one eye on a half on Sunday, I've not drunk since Saturday but fancy a couple tonight so trying to establish how long after would it inhibit ability. 

  • WJHWJH ✭✭✭

    Think it depends on the individual DT...heard a rumour/gossip that a runner from a club local to me drinks a bottle of wine a night before a race, yet still manages a time below 34 minutes for 10k!!!! If that is true that is indeed mental!Having more than just a few in the days before probably won't benefit most though but a glass or pint may help aid sleep the night before! Maybe the amount consumed is a partial reason for recent races being below expectations (apart from the 5k with marathon trained legs)? 

    Shame on the reps Velloo but congrats on the 5 mile PB! image

     

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    I'm just trying to find explanations, beyond personal ability, for this racing down turn despite a training upturn!

  • It's the marathon training you're doing. Despite running more miles than ever doing P&d last year I was slower in all my lead up races. Some people get faster from marathon training but I certainly wasn't one of them, apart from the actual marathon of course.



    a bottle of wine before a race, that mental!
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Yep, the p and d thread last Sunday was bursting with pbs. A few have said (inc simon), that its post marathon the benefits are likely to come. Anyway April 13th is guaranteed to be a pb dayimage

  • It will be, just don't drink a vat of wine the night before image

  • I've become a bit of a lightweight since taking this up. I can feel a single beer the day after. Luckily a good stint over Xmas meant I could have a beer or two without feeling crap. 

    For an A race I'd be teetotal the week before. 

  • Iron most of my friends are total booze hounds so all socialising is risky… I also live in Scotland.

  • WJHWJH ✭✭✭

    Same here with the beers, more than a few are enough for me. One of my brothers who runs as well has gone tee total over the past year, but he did like a bit too much prior to taking it up!

    As for this runner, I don't know him in any way personally, but know of him through other running friends mentioning so won't say too much on a public forum...but he does seem to defy logic. His build in no way represents someone of the times achieved either and is one of the top runners for his age group in my area. 

    DT, last year I managed some pretty decent PBs pre Brighton....very different story this year though as noted already! Some of that does come down to the windy conditions though which have played a part in almost every race/Parkrun so far this year (also loved the cold and dry conditions last spring). Definitely felt a bit a benefit post Brighton though and the month or two following was the strongest I'd felt all year but more likely compromised much of the remainder of last year with no enforced break. image

  • WJH there's a really fast V50 guy I know vaguely, who looks like he's got a right beer gut yet his times are great. It never ceases to amaze me how many people can run really quite impressive times despite looking heavy. Obv they'd be faster if they lost the lard..but they can still run faster than me!

    Gentle 7 miles for me today, it's so windy outside that even walking is an effort. 

     

  • velloo, doesn't sound like the session went too badly. I wouldn't fancy doing it with a hangover. Alcohol definitely affects people in different ways. I seem to recovery quite quickly whereas my wife suffers for about three days.

    DT, the athlete I'm coaching for the Brighton marathon has been a little concerned about his lack of higher-end paces. However, from my perspective it's obvious why he's not feeling quite as speedy: highest mileage he's ever done, tough training sessions, the focus on marathon pace. I can't imagine PB-ing in the lead up is easy if you're really training hard.

  • Morning folks good to see this thread still going strong. I haven't followed since it was kicked off, so I suppose I should read back. Velloo when are you racing next? Is the focus still on 5 - 10k?

  • Hello, you've changed! The focus is on 10ks, next one is April 6th, last one will probably December, by then I should have the hang of them.. I almost don't want to run 5k ever again after going sub 19 last year, I fear I'll never get a time like that again! I've got some HMs too but I'm ignoring them. How's the build up to Edinburgh?

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