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Marathon on 3 runs per week.
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Had a pretty good week; we've measured a 400 on hard-packed sand near the office and a few of us go out for the speedwork [on the Mall, if any London-based folk want to join us]. I seem to be okay for speedwork speed, but the Sunday run is hard to judge, off-road and hilly. I'm doing that by heart rate-ish, tho I guess I'll need to do a long-run time trial on a flat course in the next week or two.
Snaps, yes I think the 3 mile tempo should have 3 miles around it at easy pace.
Have a good week, all
Mind you, after my session today I begin to wonder. 3 x 1600 of 1 minute recs. So it said. For me that should have been at 7:03 to 7:08. Typically I started too fast and did the 1st at 6:39 average pace (HR ave 159, peak 166) and the second at 6:54 (HR ave 161, peak 170) ... do we see the writing on the wall or do we see the writing on the wall? The last was hell and I managed it at 7:07 (ave HR 162, peak 171).
I have never run 1600 reps that fast in my life though. So that's another first. On the other hand, that last one nearly killed me.
...The club AG champion was there and he came up to me afterwards and said "Yes, more training needed there"!
BTW IMHO the wu and wd is also part of one's weekly mileage....
we tend to be on the Mall opposite the ICA about 1:05 on Tuesdays. I've been doing the shorter threshold runs from there at the same time on Thursdays too
Congratulations on those mile times!
Also did the 3 x 1600m today with 1min jogs in between and just like you Snaps did the first one too quick. The second one was just right and the third one 10 secs outside my target zone. How can a minute go that quickly?? It felt a hard session but again really beneficial afterwards. Might put some steep hills into the 3m tempo run on Thursday (plenty of 'em in Bath).
Go well all.
Pyth, those look good times for the 1200 session. I did that last night but find it v hard to get my pace even faster over such a long distance. I can do my 10k pace for a 1600m session but can't knock 30 odd seconds off it for the 1200's! I'm with you though as this programme is giving me hope that I can beat my personal bogey time of 3.15.
Sean do you think that such a big reduction in 10k time over a long-ish distance is realistic or is it just me being a big jessy?
Due to work and family commitments I'm going to have to do the long run tonight which is not ideal given my last session was yesterday, but I will probably step the pace down a bit as I'll run with a work colleague. Keep it up everyone
400m rep - 1:30 to 400m jog
800m rep - 1:30 to 2 min
1000m rep - 400m jog
1200m rep - 2 min
1600m rep - 1 min to 400m jog
2000m rep - 400m jog
3200m rep - 800m jog
As it happened, I did the session with some people whose coaches required 2-min recoveries, but a slightly faster pace, and we managed to stay consistent.
Ebeneezer, do you mean 'is it realistic to knock 30 secs off your 1600 rep pace to do 1200s'. I think potentially, if the recoveries are the same.
In a rough way, I tend to be pleased if I've run the session at race pace for the overall distance of the reps in the session. eg 5K pace for 3x1600, though obviously that's not always what's demanded in the schedule
They do seem a strangely inconsistent set of recoveries but I'm sure there is science behind them!
Did my 3 x 1600m at 6:00am yesterday. Decided to tag 3 miles on the front and back as warm up and cool down and did it as a 9 mile run to work.
Probably the hardest run on this schedule yet. Not helped by the fact that I only got 4.5 hours sleep (thanksto son and daughter) and that it was 6:00am and -2 degrees.
Like others I did the first rep too fast in 6:47 (target was 6:50) then slowed to 7:01 and really struggled on the last with a 7:03.
Not going to get too hung up on it!
Aah kids, they really help training along don't they. My 4 year old son is telling everybody that he is not going to run a marathon not even when he is grown-up, its too far :-) I keep telling him the distance is ok its the speed that is the problem :-)
It seems everyone found the 3x1600 hard. I also did about a (slow) mile warm and down either side of it. The 3 mile tempo will seem like a doddle today which was why I thought I'd put a few hills into it. The tempo pace for that for me is 6:46 which is bang around my aimed for half marathon pace (to get under 1hr 30).
Luc - I agree with your son.
I did the long run last night. Should have been 15 but came in at just under 14. Kept the pace a bit lower as I'd done the intervals the night before. Tough call getting out of bed this morning!
Is anyone else following this programme for a marathon other than London? I'm doing Zurich on 9 April.
Just got in from 3 mile tempo run. Actually I did 5 k as we have a road route with no crossings and all the kilometres marked out on the cycle track/pavement. Nice smooth asphalt all the way. I warmed up for 2 miles; I felt my 13 k from yesterday but it was surprisingly easy to pcik up the pace (Yes, I know, everything is relative, you young speedsters!).
Splits:
4:58 (just starting out)
4:46
4:45
4:39
4:35
3 miles in 22:50 and 5 k in 23:44.
This is pretty close to target pace (7:43 per mile).
And now for lunch :-)
If you've calibrated it accurately for a running track you will probably find that the recoveries register correctly whereas the reps are short: e.g. if you program 800 metres into the treadie they'll show up something like 760 on your Polar; this becomes even more pronounced when you upload to your PC and the PC software performs its additional corrections.
I think there is a fairly simple reason for this discrepancy: your stride is generally a bit shorter on the treadie and you land slighlty less on your heel, more on your front foot. So the pod is coping with another running style, and this discrepancy increases with speed.
This is quite apart from factoring in the 30 metre drop-out which occurs when you change pace abruptly ...
You can compensate in several ways: I make sure my Polar S625X is calibrated accurately for road running and then let the autolap feature record my km splits on the treadie. I also use the Polar to tell me what pace I'm actually doing. Oddly, when i upload the pace indicated by the PC software is slower than that I read on the watch during the run.
As you say, your non-virtual time in Watford will give you a real idea. Remember to press the button every time you pass a mile marker, and remember to turn off your autolap if you've got it set to 1 k (well, turn it off anyway!)
However, if you comfortably did anywhere between 6:44 and 7:12 per mile on that 3 miler, I'd say you are heading for a very good result at Watford and I am extremely envious :-)
I did the 3 mile tempo last night. Ran it as part of the club run. 1m easy warm up and as usual went to the front of the group and started running at the target 7:30 pace. A few came with me and began running at the same pace and before I knew it the 3 miles were done. Actually felt pretty comfortable and I ran the 3 miles in 7:22's. This training must be working!!
Going back to the intervals I would suggest trying to run them with others if you can. I cant at the moment as I cant make the Club interval night on a Tuesday so have to run them on my own. When I was doing interval sessions before Christmas I was running 1500m reps in 6:00 mins - yet I struggled to run only 100m further on Tuesday morning at 6:50's. OK there were other factors playing on that but running intervals with others does pull you along.
Just a thought if you are finding them hard and do have the opportunity to run them with a group.
18 miles for me tomorrow. Again at PMP + 45 secs, so another 9:00 min mile run.
I've signed up today for the Lakeland Challenge in May (19th). This involves a 10.5 mile row across Lake Windemere followed by a 26.5 mile cycle over 2 1200ft hills that are 1:3 gradients, followed by a hike to the top of Scarfel Pike, followed by an 8 mile run/walk - all in 12 hours. You complete it in a team of 3 and have a driver to get you from event to event. Must start some rowing and cycling cross training - will definitely compliment this schedule!
Enjoy your long runs all.
Good Luck with the training (cross or otherwise).
Not posted before although following this program for London and doing okay (I think).
I was wonedring about the distance of long runs. The schedule in RW peaks at 2 x 20 mile runs. I was planning to do 2 x 20 and 2 x 22 mile runs but am now not sure. Am I likely to be over-training by doing 22 mile runs? 20 miles seems quite a long way short of the 26.2 mile target so I'm a little confused. Any help is appreciated!
I would stretch the 18 milers to 20's and the 20's to 22's. You wont be overtraining - in my opinion! I will also get up to 22 - 23 miles for my longest runs - just from a psychological perspective. I've had my best Marathon having trained up to 22 miles - think you need to push it that little bit further. As you say 6.2 miles left is still quite a long way - seems a lot further than just 4.2 if you've trained up to 22.
I woke up yesterday and was full of cold so postponed my 18 miler (plus it was freezing). Checked my resting HR this morning and it wasn't up and the cold had not moved to the chest so decided to run. Target pace was 9:00 min miles and I ran 17.5 in 8:55's. Was really tired towards the end (think the cold did take its toll) but pleased to have got the miles done. Not going to worry about the last 0.5 mile - was too tired.
Snaps - sounds like a great run!
I'm going in for a 5K race on Tuesday which will have to take the place of the speed work, hopefully there will be some speed in the legs.
Thanks for the advice - I did 17.5 miles yesterday in 2 hours 40 mins which is just outside 9 min/miles so a bit slower than you. Am looking to try to keep that pace throughout my long runs but build them to achive 5 long runs of more than 100 miles. 2 x 22 mile runs and 2 x 20 mile runs seems pretty sensible to me.
If I can do that then a 9 min/mile marathon seems possible.
My normal 10K is a shade under 48 mins hence 8 min/miling.
Am doing the mile rep effort runs at between 7.15 and 7.30 min/miling and tempo runs at 8min/miling which pretty much follows the advice in RW.
Sounds like your on track for a 9:00 min mile Mara!
Did a recovery run today, 6 miles first three at 9 mins or slower, partly because of snowy trails. But found myself drifting to just over 8 minutes a mile on the last three, HR not really rising much. That's a relief after my sessions on the treadie which have shown lots of cardiac drift upwards even at fairly slow speeds.
This morning I did the 10 mile long run and the only problem was that I couldn't stop myself from going too fast. I was trying to do 8.10/mile but ended up doing 7.38/mile. Incredibly, I finished really strongly.
Good luck to everyone for the next week of training.
Pythagoras, I always suffer that with the longs runs - I always either want to run faster or I find my mind drifting off and then realise the pace has dropped too slow. That's what the gadgets are for I suppose.