Sunday session (1/9)

Mike S

Got out to the kite festival, which everyone loved. Spent much of the afternoon in semi-doze while Mrs S & the boys flew kites on Hoylake beach.
Got elder son to do another timed mile (felt he deserved it after his PS2 marathon yesterday) - running against a light breeze, he managed 8:17 - 40 seconds better than 9 days ago. Super performance. Only took 1 puff on the inhaler, but not in any real distress.
Finally got out about 1930 and found some surprising life in the legs. Against the backdrop of a glorious sunset, did a 5 miler in 31:14, getting faster each mile (6:18, 6:17, 6:17, 6:13, 6:09). Felt q hard by finish, but by no means an eyeballs out effort...not a bad day after all!

Vrap - non-food retailing has to count as "non-essential"! - my employers got out of food just before I joined them.

Laura - great stuff. You must be really pleased after such a dodgy week.

Drew - 10 x 800 off 90 seconds sounds lethal - how fast were the 800s? - I found 6 x 800 off 1 lap jog recoveries bad enough.

drew

Achilles, I think that the term "recovery run" is a misnomer. Conditioning run is a more accurate description since that's what you're really doing. I would be interested in your theory and promise I won't laugh as I can't think of any other realistic method of increasing weekly mileage apart for what you're doing. To achieve my long term goals 70 + mile weeks are a must for me.

Mike, the 800's were done at between 2:45 & 2:50 with an average pace of 5:44 for the session. I had to increase the recovery period for the last 3 efforts by 15 secs. What do you think of this type of session?

Mike S

Drew - pace of efforts compares with my last 6 x 800 session (early July I think). I remember how I felt when I finished - much respect for managing 10 of them!
Difficult to compare the recoveries - I assume yours were standing as opposed to jogging. The difference is that jog recoveries clear any accumulated lactic better, but the HR drops less quickly.
Because of this, I would always favour jog recoveries for reps or interval sessions if training for longer distance events - standing recoveries (to develop lactic tolerance) if I ever tried another mile or something even shorter!

[Deleted User]

Yesterday:
What: 18 miles in 2.49 along Rottingdean,Brighton, Hove seafront
Why: Because I'm doing Dublin marathon eo Oct...and I love living next to the sea.
Last Rest: Saturday
Last Hard: Wednesday 6 miler

[Deleted User]

Drew - that was a helluva good session by the looks of it, great work - it must have hurt!

drew

Mike, my recovery periods involve about 10 seconds gasping for air and then 80 secs jog/walk up and down the track.

[Deleted User]

Am going in for the Robin Hood half marathon on 15th, so this was my dress rehearsal. I aimed to do 12 miles @ 9:50 a mile, and came in one minute faster (1:57). Found the article in this week's RW by Ed Eyestone on racing tips really useful - I used the one about working out your splits in advance and then going for it. I usually do just under 10-minute miling, so sticking to 9:50 was pushing it. Keep your fingers crossed for the 15th!
This is my first e-mail - i've really enjoyed reading other people's messages It makes me realise that other people have the same problems (or similar) V. encouraging!
Sue