M AM 6.18 miles recovery (7:13mm avge), PM 4 miles recovery (7:05mm avge)
T 9.04 miles general aerobic (6:26mm avge)
W 9.66 miles, including 6X800m VO2Max Intervals (6:12mm avge)
T 7.17 miles recovery (7:15mm avge)
F AM 11.20 miles progressive (6:14mm avge), PM 4 miles recovery (7:04mm avge)
S 8.21 miles general, including 10X100m strides (6:21mm avge)
S 16.1 miles progressive (6:08mm avge)
Total 75.56 miles (6:31mm avge)
So this week was billed as a bit of a cut back week and to be honest I was quite pleased it was. After last Sunday's mammoth 13.1 miles at marathon pace at the end of a long run my body was sure to need a bit of a breather. It also rounded off a nice four week block of decent miles.
There's not much to report this week really apart from Wednesdays first VO2 Max interval session. These always tend to make my eyes water at the effort I need to put into them. Anyway, I did them on the road - I really think for the specificity of marathon running you have to be doing sessions on the road. I had scouted out a reasonable flat loop in Orpington that I would use which would be just the ticket. Off I went on the first rep and naturally overcooked it a little bit with a 2:21.7(4:45mm avge). P&D say you should recover between 50-90% of the time of the interval and so I had pre-programmed my watch for a 1m45s (about 70%) jog recovery and could always press lap should I want to start the next interval sooner. Unlikely! The next few were much more consistent 2:28.7(4:59), 2:26.1(4:54), 2:26.3(4:54), 2:27.7(4:57), 2:24.4(4:51). Although I was pleased when the efforts were over, I could certainly have done a few more if I'd needed to. So all in all quite promising to be running at this pace (avge of 4:53 per mile pace) on what was a pretty blustery and windy morning. This is an indication of my theoretical 5k pace although I wouldn't fancy putting six of them back to back and then a bit more...
The remainder of the week just seemed to be fairly toned down running effort wise so nothing hugely taxing. I did have a good run out on Sunday morning doing a 16 miler in 6:08 pace finishing with some very strong miles towards the end at effort well below marathon effort.
And so to next week where I have basically swapped next week's scheduled week with the one after. So in effect I am doing P&D's week 12 next week and P&D's week 11 in week 13 if that makes sense. I did this so I could accommodate a race next Saturday morning. This is a 10 mile race in Battersea Park and I will be giving it a fairly close to all out attempt. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be capable of but this run will give me a very good idea of what should be reasonable to expect at London in eight weeks time.
After this Hania, Mia and I went to watch the runners at the five mile point at the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon. The first guy was absolutely flying and must have been running around 4:45s (if my maths is correct which I doubt!) which is about a 62:30 half. I must be wrong though.... cant wait to see the results although they did still have the harder miles to come.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Week 9:13th - 19th February 2012
M AM 6.19 miles recovery (7:28mm avge), PM 4 miles recovery (7:15mm avge)
T 8.99 miles general aerobic (6:40mm avge)
W 15.14 miles progressive (6:12mm avge)
T 8.18 miles recovery (7:20mm avge)
F 13.20 miles progressive (6:22mm avge)
S 7.09 miles recovery, including 6X100m strides (7:03mm avge)
S 19.88 miles including 13.1 miles @ 5:36mm (6:03mm avge)
Total 82.67 miles (6:34mm avge)
So after last week's cross country 'tempo' that ended up being a bit more of a race than I'd planned and then a solid and not slow 22 miler on Sunday I wasn't surprised to get out of bet on Monday morning a little stiff. I decided I would set off on my run and if it was too much I would call it a day and shorten it. Being such a stubborn fellow I got the run done and by the end of it my legs seemed to be loosening up a bit but it was still markedly slower than other recovery runs for the same effort. I went out for a short run at lunch time too to see if I could further loosen the legs up and they were starting to come round but still a little 'groaney'.
Tuesday I had a 9 mile general run which was OK and my legs were definitely getting back to normal but it was still a little slower for the effort level than normal but I knew by Wednesday the residual tiredness would be cleared. Unfortunately on Wednesday I had a bit of a hangover to deal with - my company had been involved in a High Court legal battle in which I had given evidence last July and the judgement was handed down on Tuesday afternoon which we won hands down. A massive relief but needless to say, I'm a bit of a lightweight these days and 4 pints of strong German Bier was enough to ensure Wednesday's run to work was a bit fuzzy. I'm pretty sure the 3 McDonald's double cheeseburgers didn't help either! That said the run was good and pretty much the same pace and heart rate wise as the previous week which considering there was a definite headwind was certainly very positive.
Friday asked for another half marathon which was fine and completed on my usual route at a reasonable clip on an undulating course.
Then to Sunday which was the real only session of the week. I was really looking forward to this. The schedule called for 18 with 12 miles at Marathon Pace (embedded link below). Myself along with Chris Minns, Jim Addison, Steve Thackeray of Beckenham and Andy Rayner of Blackheath & Bromley had agreed to meet at Dulwich park to do the workout. Jim and Steve had planned to run together and will be shooting for sub 2:40 at London this year. Chris who is running his debut this year and myself are aiming for sub 2:30 and Andy who is also debuting is hopeful of something under 2:25 - he certainly has great pedigree and I wouldn't be surprised to see him run very close to 2:20 if not a touch under.
After a few miles warm up off we went and unfortunately Chris couldn't keep with Andy & I as he's been struggling with a bad cold and so cut his session short but made sure he still got some good miles in.
The miles kept flying by and it was pretty comfortable right until the last mile really. In a marathon pace run there are always 'dull spots' but these I think are more to do with momentary lapses in concentration rather that your body actually not wanting to carry on. We actually picked up the pace in the second half quite considerably too which is encouraging. As we went through 11 miles I had noticed that I could carry on to 13.1 miles and would actually have a good chance of going quicker than my half marathon PB, so that's what we did. I did find the last mile hard, perhaps my form was going a bit and I was starting to just go over marathon effort at this point but I was thrilled to run through 13.1 in 73:23 which is quicker than my PB by a massive 2 seconds - shame it doesn't count really! Then did another mile and a bit to cool down. A very satisfying session indeed.
So there's only nine weeks to go, I'm exactly half way through the schedule. I do feel fitter and stronger than I've ever been. Lets hope I continue to get stronger as the weeks go by.
I have been a little slack with my stretching and core this week so I hope to get that back on track. Running wise, this coming week looks quite an interesting one, there is a cut back in miles but there is going to be my first VO2 max workout which I expect will be pretty tough but fun. Can't wait. :-)
T 8.99 miles general aerobic (6:40mm avge)
W 15.14 miles progressive (6:12mm avge)
T 8.18 miles recovery (7:20mm avge)
F 13.20 miles progressive (6:22mm avge)
S 7.09 miles recovery, including 6X100m strides (7:03mm avge)
S 19.88 miles including 13.1 miles @ 5:36mm (6:03mm avge)
Total 82.67 miles (6:34mm avge)
So after last week's cross country 'tempo' that ended up being a bit more of a race than I'd planned and then a solid and not slow 22 miler on Sunday I wasn't surprised to get out of bet on Monday morning a little stiff. I decided I would set off on my run and if it was too much I would call it a day and shorten it. Being such a stubborn fellow I got the run done and by the end of it my legs seemed to be loosening up a bit but it was still markedly slower than other recovery runs for the same effort. I went out for a short run at lunch time too to see if I could further loosen the legs up and they were starting to come round but still a little 'groaney'.
Tuesday I had a 9 mile general run which was OK and my legs were definitely getting back to normal but it was still a little slower for the effort level than normal but I knew by Wednesday the residual tiredness would be cleared. Unfortunately on Wednesday I had a bit of a hangover to deal with - my company had been involved in a High Court legal battle in which I had given evidence last July and the judgement was handed down on Tuesday afternoon which we won hands down. A massive relief but needless to say, I'm a bit of a lightweight these days and 4 pints of strong German Bier was enough to ensure Wednesday's run to work was a bit fuzzy. I'm pretty sure the 3 McDonald's double cheeseburgers didn't help either! That said the run was good and pretty much the same pace and heart rate wise as the previous week which considering there was a definite headwind was certainly very positive.
Friday asked for another half marathon which was fine and completed on my usual route at a reasonable clip on an undulating course.
Then to Sunday which was the real only session of the week. I was really looking forward to this. The schedule called for 18 with 12 miles at Marathon Pace (embedded link below). Myself along with Chris Minns, Jim Addison, Steve Thackeray of Beckenham and Andy Rayner of Blackheath & Bromley had agreed to meet at Dulwich park to do the workout. Jim and Steve had planned to run together and will be shooting for sub 2:40 at London this year. Chris who is running his debut this year and myself are aiming for sub 2:30 and Andy who is also debuting is hopeful of something under 2:25 - he certainly has great pedigree and I wouldn't be surprised to see him run very close to 2:20 if not a touch under.
After a few miles warm up off we went and unfortunately Chris couldn't keep with Andy & I as he's been struggling with a bad cold and so cut his session short but made sure he still got some good miles in.
The miles kept flying by and it was pretty comfortable right until the last mile really. In a marathon pace run there are always 'dull spots' but these I think are more to do with momentary lapses in concentration rather that your body actually not wanting to carry on. We actually picked up the pace in the second half quite considerably too which is encouraging. As we went through 11 miles I had noticed that I could carry on to 13.1 miles and would actually have a good chance of going quicker than my half marathon PB, so that's what we did. I did find the last mile hard, perhaps my form was going a bit and I was starting to just go over marathon effort at this point but I was thrilled to run through 13.1 in 73:23 which is quicker than my PB by a massive 2 seconds - shame it doesn't count really! Then did another mile and a bit to cool down. A very satisfying session indeed.
So there's only nine weeks to go, I'm exactly half way through the schedule. I do feel fitter and stronger than I've ever been. Lets hope I continue to get stronger as the weeks go by.
I have been a little slack with my stretching and core this week so I hope to get that back on track. Running wise, this coming week looks quite an interesting one, there is a cut back in miles but there is going to be my first VO2 max workout which I expect will be pretty tough but fun. Can't wait. :-)
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Week 8: 6th - 12th February 2012
M AM 6.08 miles recovery (7:14mm avge), PM 4 miles recovery (6:55mm avge)
T 10.09 miles general aerobic including 10X100m strides (6:26mm avge)
W 15.13 miles progressive (6:11mm avge)
T 7.15 miles recovery (7:06mm avge)
F 9.00 miles general aerobic (6:38mm avge)
S 10.02 miles, including 5.3 miles @ 5:53mm avge XC (6:59mm avge)
S 22.12 miles progressive (6:23mm avge)
Total 83.59 miles (6:36mm avge)
I'm pleased to say training is still going in the right direction although I have felt quite tired this week but I suppose Sunday's run was my 56th day of running on the trot - I think my longest 'streak' ever. I guess also now is the time when I should be feeling my most tired as the training the schedule is calling for is both plentiful and being P&D fairly nippy! I shall however take a rest day if I feel I really need one but just now think I'm ok.
The schedule did call for me to do a 6 mile lactate threshold session on Friday within a 12 but I had the last Kent League cross-country race on Saturday so thought I would use that as my tempo run instead. This meant doing a bit of a swapsy with the schedule but I still got the miles in and got the right sorts of sessions in so all good. I also squeezed the strides that I missed last Saturday into Tuesday's run.
The cross country race was supposed to be roughly 10k, but when I arrived it said the course was 5.73 miles but then on the start they said they had had to shorten it yet further so that we didn't plough through the remaining women finishing their race! The intention had been not to go all out as it was again just a training run. I stuck to the task for all of about 1.5 miles when my competitive spirit kicked in and I started picking off runners. I moved from about 30th after the first lap of three up to finish 15th. I also managed to beat the V50 that beat me in the County Cross Country Champs at the beginning of January. I'm pretty sure it was him that made me run it harder than I was supposed to but knowing his devastating kick I had to make sure I dropped him about a mile out from home. Although the pace looks relatively poor the conditions underfoot were quite honestly atrocious with snow still on the ground in most places above a permafrost of deeply rutted tracks, fields and trails. I wore trail shoes rather than spikes which in hindsight was definitely the right decision and ensured I didn't end up with chewed up feet like last time. I know I could have gone a bit faster had I started a little more aggressively but all things considered I'm pleased with how it went. This was a little picture race and provided a slightly tougher workout than a lactate threshold run on my own and I have to keep my eye on the ultimate goal of going sub 2:30 in ten weeks time.
And so to Sunday's run which was scheduled to be a 22 miler run progressively. I was expecting to have to take it fairly easy given Saturday's tough run but things just seemed to go very well. Despite being caught in a hail storm and it being rather slippery (maybe I was ice skating?) I felt really quite strong from the off and indeed all the way, with my legs a bit tired but not too bad. Aerobically it was comfortable with my heart rate averaging not much over that magical 1000 beats per mile showing it was rather efficient.
I'm really looking forward to next week where there is yet more challenging runs in store but the highlight (depending on how it goes!) will be on Sunday when I'm running with a few local guys who are all shooting for a similar sort of time at London. The plan is 18 miles with 12 at marathon pace. And then it will be a cut back week to let my body absorb the hard work of recent weeks.
T 10.09 miles general aerobic including 10X100m strides (6:26mm avge)
W 15.13 miles progressive (6:11mm avge)
T 7.15 miles recovery (7:06mm avge)
F 9.00 miles general aerobic (6:38mm avge)
S 10.02 miles, including 5.3 miles @ 5:53mm avge XC (6:59mm avge)
S 22.12 miles progressive (6:23mm avge)
Total 83.59 miles (6:36mm avge)
I'm pleased to say training is still going in the right direction although I have felt quite tired this week but I suppose Sunday's run was my 56th day of running on the trot - I think my longest 'streak' ever. I guess also now is the time when I should be feeling my most tired as the training the schedule is calling for is both plentiful and being P&D fairly nippy! I shall however take a rest day if I feel I really need one but just now think I'm ok.
The schedule did call for me to do a 6 mile lactate threshold session on Friday within a 12 but I had the last Kent League cross-country race on Saturday so thought I would use that as my tempo run instead. This meant doing a bit of a swapsy with the schedule but I still got the miles in and got the right sorts of sessions in so all good. I also squeezed the strides that I missed last Saturday into Tuesday's run.
The cross country race was supposed to be roughly 10k, but when I arrived it said the course was 5.73 miles but then on the start they said they had had to shorten it yet further so that we didn't plough through the remaining women finishing their race! The intention had been not to go all out as it was again just a training run. I stuck to the task for all of about 1.5 miles when my competitive spirit kicked in and I started picking off runners. I moved from about 30th after the first lap of three up to finish 15th. I also managed to beat the V50 that beat me in the County Cross Country Champs at the beginning of January. I'm pretty sure it was him that made me run it harder than I was supposed to but knowing his devastating kick I had to make sure I dropped him about a mile out from home. Although the pace looks relatively poor the conditions underfoot were quite honestly atrocious with snow still on the ground in most places above a permafrost of deeply rutted tracks, fields and trails. I wore trail shoes rather than spikes which in hindsight was definitely the right decision and ensured I didn't end up with chewed up feet like last time. I know I could have gone a bit faster had I started a little more aggressively but all things considered I'm pleased with how it went. This was a little picture race and provided a slightly tougher workout than a lactate threshold run on my own and I have to keep my eye on the ultimate goal of going sub 2:30 in ten weeks time.
And so to Sunday's run which was scheduled to be a 22 miler run progressively. I was expecting to have to take it fairly easy given Saturday's tough run but things just seemed to go very well. Despite being caught in a hail storm and it being rather slippery (maybe I was ice skating?) I felt really quite strong from the off and indeed all the way, with my legs a bit tired but not too bad. Aerobically it was comfortable with my heart rate averaging not much over that magical 1000 beats per mile showing it was rather efficient.
I'm really looking forward to next week where there is yet more challenging runs in store but the highlight (depending on how it goes!) will be on Sunday when I'm running with a few local guys who are all shooting for a similar sort of time at London. The plan is 18 miles with 12 at marathon pace. And then it will be a cut back week to let my body absorb the hard work of recent weeks.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Week 7: 30th Jan - 5th Feb 2012
M AM 6.05 miles recovery (7:14mm avge), PM 4 miles recovery (6:57mm avge)
T 11.13 miles including 5 miles @ 5:23mm (6:06mm avge)
W 15.21 miles progressive (6:16mm avge)
T 6.89 miles recovery (6:53mm avge)
F 13.18 miles progressive (6:23mm avge)
S 6.19 miles recovery (7:11mm avge)
S 20.11 miles sort of progressive! (6:28mm avge)
Total 82.76 miles (6:32mm avge)
Interesting this week this week in that it was the first week that I was to do over 80 miles and also because it's the first time I've really deviated from the plan; once from not reading my schedule correctly and the second time because the snow made running truly progressively very difficult indeed!
On the whole it was a good week and I am most definitely feeling fit, in fact I think I am probably feeling fitter than I ever have before. Tuesday's run was an 11 miler with 5 miles at lactate threshold and doing this in sub zero temperatures at 5:30 in the morning was always going to be a bit of a struggle, but once you're on your way it's fine. I was really chuffed in that I actually beat my 5 mile PB despite only running at my lactate threshold. I hit 5 miles in 26:57 so in a race at a kinder time of day and with a number pinned to my vest, I may be able to go about a minute quicker than that. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a 5 mile race in before London but it'd be interesting to see how I would do.
Wednesday was another very strong run to work and I was hitting some really good paces with the corresponding heart rate showing again I am in good shape. This was especially pleasing considering I had done the hard tempo run the day before.
By Friday I had to do another progressive half marathon which was OK and quicker than last time for roughly the same effort but I was definitely tired which I put down to a late night at a work do on the Wednesday. Luckily I was to have a recovery day on Saturday...... or at least I did have a recovery day on Saturday despite the schedule calling for 8 miles general aerobic with 10 strides. I didn't read my schedule until I got back and saw the error of my ways. I was tempted to go back out and do some strides but felt that the crumpets and massive bowl of cereal I'd just eaten wouldn't have been too keen. Oh well, I'm sure Pfitzinger & Douglas wont mind if I deviate from the schedule on a couple of runs!
The snow had been forecast for Sunday pretty much since Thursday. A part of me was hopeful that it wouldn't arrive. Now, I appreciate it's very pretty but it makes everything so much more difficult. Getting around, going to work, shopping but most importantly RUNNING all become tasks that are a great deal harder! But snow it did and I went to bed on Saturday night a little grumpy about how tough the long run was going to be....
Normally I like to get the long run done and dusted by 9:30am, so I have the rest of the day to spend with my wife and daughter but today I went out at about 9:30 with an ETA of 'I don't know'. I just didn't know how I was going to fair in the conditions. I had been hoping to run fairly progressively and I suppose I did if you look at the embedded link below but it wasn't as planned. Truth be told, despite feeling incredibly strong aerobically the legs didn't like the snow at all and when I tried to pick it up in the last 6 miles or so there wasn't a great deal of pace there. The route I took was fairly clear but I probably still ran about 40% of the route on snow. All that said, it ended up being a good run averaging 6:28 per mile which I think is the quickest I've ever done that course with or without snow! It was a minute and a half quicker than when I did the run 3 weeks ago and my heart rate averaged 4 beats per minute less this time showing the improvements coming through in aerobic fitness.
So to sum up, very happy with the way things are going but I really hope the snow doesn't hang around for long!
T 11.13 miles including 5 miles @ 5:23mm (6:06mm avge)
W 15.21 miles progressive (6:16mm avge)
T 6.89 miles recovery (6:53mm avge)
F 13.18 miles progressive (6:23mm avge)
S 6.19 miles recovery (7:11mm avge)
S 20.11 miles sort of progressive! (6:28mm avge)
Total 82.76 miles (6:32mm avge)
Interesting this week this week in that it was the first week that I was to do over 80 miles and also because it's the first time I've really deviated from the plan; once from not reading my schedule correctly and the second time because the snow made running truly progressively very difficult indeed!
On the whole it was a good week and I am most definitely feeling fit, in fact I think I am probably feeling fitter than I ever have before. Tuesday's run was an 11 miler with 5 miles at lactate threshold and doing this in sub zero temperatures at 5:30 in the morning was always going to be a bit of a struggle, but once you're on your way it's fine. I was really chuffed in that I actually beat my 5 mile PB despite only running at my lactate threshold. I hit 5 miles in 26:57 so in a race at a kinder time of day and with a number pinned to my vest, I may be able to go about a minute quicker than that. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a 5 mile race in before London but it'd be interesting to see how I would do.
Wednesday was another very strong run to work and I was hitting some really good paces with the corresponding heart rate showing again I am in good shape. This was especially pleasing considering I had done the hard tempo run the day before.
By Friday I had to do another progressive half marathon which was OK and quicker than last time for roughly the same effort but I was definitely tired which I put down to a late night at a work do on the Wednesday. Luckily I was to have a recovery day on Saturday...... or at least I did have a recovery day on Saturday despite the schedule calling for 8 miles general aerobic with 10 strides. I didn't read my schedule until I got back and saw the error of my ways. I was tempted to go back out and do some strides but felt that the crumpets and massive bowl of cereal I'd just eaten wouldn't have been too keen. Oh well, I'm sure Pfitzinger & Douglas wont mind if I deviate from the schedule on a couple of runs!
The snow had been forecast for Sunday pretty much since Thursday. A part of me was hopeful that it wouldn't arrive. Now, I appreciate it's very pretty but it makes everything so much more difficult. Getting around, going to work, shopping but most importantly RUNNING all become tasks that are a great deal harder! But snow it did and I went to bed on Saturday night a little grumpy about how tough the long run was going to be....
Normally I like to get the long run done and dusted by 9:30am, so I have the rest of the day to spend with my wife and daughter but today I went out at about 9:30 with an ETA of 'I don't know'. I just didn't know how I was going to fair in the conditions. I had been hoping to run fairly progressively and I suppose I did if you look at the embedded link below but it wasn't as planned. Truth be told, despite feeling incredibly strong aerobically the legs didn't like the snow at all and when I tried to pick it up in the last 6 miles or so there wasn't a great deal of pace there. The route I took was fairly clear but I probably still ran about 40% of the route on snow. All that said, it ended up being a good run averaging 6:28 per mile which I think is the quickest I've ever done that course with or without snow! It was a minute and a half quicker than when I did the run 3 weeks ago and my heart rate averaged 4 beats per minute less this time showing the improvements coming through in aerobic fitness.
So to sum up, very happy with the way things are going but I really hope the snow doesn't hang around for long!
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
January 2012 Stats
The scores on the door are....
Miles 335.23
Avge Pace 6:42 per mile
Runs 33
Rest Days 0
Races 1
Podiums 0
Time Running 37hrs 24mins
Time Core, Flex, Strength 10hrs 20mins
Monstrous blood blisters 1
A very pleasing first month of the year. The miles are a little lower than last January but they have had a lot more quality in this time so that's good. All in all feeling very fit and healthy and building nicely for London.
Miles 335.23
Avge Pace 6:42 per mile
Runs 33
Rest Days 0
Races 1
Podiums 0
Time Running 37hrs 24mins
Time Core, Flex, Strength 10hrs 20mins
Monstrous blood blisters 1
A very pleasing first month of the year. The miles are a little lower than last January but they have had a lot more quality in this time so that's good. All in all feeling very fit and healthy and building nicely for London.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Week 6: 23rd - 29th January
M 7.18 miles recovery (7:27mm avge)
T 10.08 miles general aerobic, including 10X100m strides (6:35mm avge)
W 13.21 progressive (6:25mm avge)
T 6.04 miles recovery (7:15mm avge)
F 10.05 miles general aerobic (6:35mm avge)
S 6.00 miles recovery (7:15mm avge)
S 16.09 miles progressive (6:18mm avge)
Total 68.65 miles (6:42 mm avge)
Well this week was billed as a cut back week and indeed it was from the perspective of total miles and the pace and effort of the runs. With the exception of the strides in Tuesday's run there was nothing at a pace quicker than marathon effort. Having said all this, strangely this was the week where I had three fairly uncomfortable runs!
The schedule that I am following is from Pfitzinger & Douglas' Advanced Marathoning second addition. It's the 70 - 85 miles per week one in case you were wondering. Now as I have mentioned in previous blogs the book calls for lots of flexibility and core training which I am doing quite consistently and feel like I'm starting to reap the rewards from this tedium. You may recall that last week I said I was going to try the strength work out, well this week I did with the intention of doing one session on Wednesday and then a second on Friday. Now let me tell you, I was looking at the exercises in the book thinking oh this'll be easy, cant even see myself building up a sweat. Especially the fact that I only need to have 4.5kgs on the dumbbells! How wrong could I be? I spent Thursday (I had a trip to Edinburgh with work so it meant an evening run), and Friday walking around feeling like I'd been hit by a bus!
The exercises consisted of squats, lunges, push ups, and all sorts of other things but I really thought I had a good understanding of the muscles in my body, but I definitely learnt of a few new ones that I didn't know existed until Thursday! I can guarantee that they will be of some use but I will stick to only one session per week until my body adapts to it. I wouldn't say the session affected my runs too much on Thursday, Friday and even Saturday but I certainly didn't feel as smooth as I had done in my running of late. Still, none of this is supposed to be easy. It wouldn't be worth doing otherwise.
A brief comment on Sunday's run which was lovely and felt nice to be running very smoothly again after the beasting the strength session had given my body. It was nice to increase the effort throughout the duration of the run finishing with some surprisingly nippy miles for the effort. This run turned out to average 1008 beats per mile which tells me it was aerobically very efficient. I couldn't bring myself to log it as a long run though because it was only 16 miles but that's fine because the point of this week was to let the legs recover a bit after the previous few weeks harder training. Job done. :-)
Now it's time to crack on with the next phase of training, which looks the most challenging. 84 miles in store for me this coming week, with some nice testing looking sessions.
T 10.08 miles general aerobic, including 10X100m strides (6:35mm avge)
W 13.21 progressive (6:25mm avge)
T 6.04 miles recovery (7:15mm avge)
F 10.05 miles general aerobic (6:35mm avge)
S 6.00 miles recovery (7:15mm avge)
S 16.09 miles progressive (6:18mm avge)
Total 68.65 miles (6:42 mm avge)
Well this week was billed as a cut back week and indeed it was from the perspective of total miles and the pace and effort of the runs. With the exception of the strides in Tuesday's run there was nothing at a pace quicker than marathon effort. Having said all this, strangely this was the week where I had three fairly uncomfortable runs!
The schedule that I am following is from Pfitzinger & Douglas' Advanced Marathoning second addition. It's the 70 - 85 miles per week one in case you were wondering. Now as I have mentioned in previous blogs the book calls for lots of flexibility and core training which I am doing quite consistently and feel like I'm starting to reap the rewards from this tedium. You may recall that last week I said I was going to try the strength work out, well this week I did with the intention of doing one session on Wednesday and then a second on Friday. Now let me tell you, I was looking at the exercises in the book thinking oh this'll be easy, cant even see myself building up a sweat. Especially the fact that I only need to have 4.5kgs on the dumbbells! How wrong could I be? I spent Thursday (I had a trip to Edinburgh with work so it meant an evening run), and Friday walking around feeling like I'd been hit by a bus!
The exercises consisted of squats, lunges, push ups, and all sorts of other things but I really thought I had a good understanding of the muscles in my body, but I definitely learnt of a few new ones that I didn't know existed until Thursday! I can guarantee that they will be of some use but I will stick to only one session per week until my body adapts to it. I wouldn't say the session affected my runs too much on Thursday, Friday and even Saturday but I certainly didn't feel as smooth as I had done in my running of late. Still, none of this is supposed to be easy. It wouldn't be worth doing otherwise.
A brief comment on Sunday's run which was lovely and felt nice to be running very smoothly again after the beasting the strength session had given my body. It was nice to increase the effort throughout the duration of the run finishing with some surprisingly nippy miles for the effort. This run turned out to average 1008 beats per mile which tells me it was aerobically very efficient. I couldn't bring myself to log it as a long run though because it was only 16 miles but that's fine because the point of this week was to let the legs recover a bit after the previous few weeks harder training. Job done. :-)
Now it's time to crack on with the next phase of training, which looks the most challenging. 84 miles in store for me this coming week, with some nice testing looking sessions.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Week 5: 16th - 22nd January
M AM 6.03 miles recovery (7:21mm avge), PM 4.1 miles recovery (7:08mm avge)
T 10.06 miles including 4 miles @ 5:23mm (6:11mm avge)
W 15.16 miles progressive (6:33mm avge)
T 6.09 miles recovery (7:17mm avge)
F 13.20 miles progressive (6:28mm avge)
S 6.19 miles recovery (7:10mm avge)
S 18.05 miles, including 10 miles @5:41mm (6:11mm avge)
Total 78.88 miles (6:36mm avge)
This week has been the first week that I looked at the schedule and thought WOW that looks like it's going to be a bit of a stretch. Not only did it have a 4 miles at lactate threshold within a 10, but it also had the standard midweek 15 miler, a half marathon and then to round the week off the schedule asked for a long run of 18 miles which in itself is not too hard, but when you are supposed to run 10 of those miles at marathon pace/effort it does seem like a big week indeed. Luckily next week is a cut back and I will end up doing a touch under 70 miles. Most of which will be at a very easy pace.
Tuesday was a Lactate Threshold session. Lactate threshold is supposed to be the pace/effort at which you can race for one hour - it's great for building speed endurance which is very very important during the marathon, in fact it's nearly as important as the endurance you get from the long, easy miles. For me at this stage of fitness, on a good day is I think just over 11 miles per hour or lets say 5:25 per mile. It was an early start for this session and I was pleased to hit some decent mile splits (averaged 5:23mm) for a constant effort level. My Heart Rate gradually rose to 90% of max throughout the workout without increasing off the scale which shows that the effort was correct and my body was effectively getting rid of the lactic acid being generated in the muscles. It was nice to see that from an aerobic efficiency perspective this was my best run so far with my heart beating on average 966 beats per mile. I know if I start to see my heart rate going below 1000 beats per mile then I am running very efficiently and in good shape. So hopefully I'll see this a lot more over the coming weeks. I was lucky though that it was great conditions for the session, just above 0 degrees with no breeze to speak of.
The 15 miler the day after didn't feel fantastic but the pace and heart rate was where it should be so it didn't bother me too much but it just goes to show that you will always have a day when you just don't feel like you're having a good run. The trick here is to just get the run done, and move on. I may have still had some tiredness in the system from the previous days tempo run which may explain feeling a little lacklustre.
Friday by contrast was excellent, everything just clicked into place and I felt like I was running strongly, moving through the gears and despite it being a challenging route and it being really rather windy, the pace was very pleasing for the effort and heart rate level.
And so to Sunday, I set off to do 7 miles before I got to the 10 miles @ marathon pace/effort section. These runs are always funny because you know how tough it's going to be at the end of the effort section. So your early miles tend to be a bit slower than normal. Perhaps it's psychological but the body does seem to have a way of holding back when it knows what's coming. Anyway, I didn't feel too great in those early miles and I felt like I was working a little harder than the pace suggested I should be. It was a very windy day with 35mph gusts and it was again blowing in the 'wrong' direction from the south west like the the time I did 8 miles at MP at the end of a long run on New Year's Day.
The embedded link below shows that it was a strong run though and I was only really hitting true marathon effort levels for the last four miles or so. This resulted in an average pace of 5:41 per mile (56:52 for the 10 miles) which is very very encouraging given the weather conditions, where I am in the schedule, and that I also didn't feel like I was 'on fire' today. I would take that as an average pace on the 22nd April as it'll get me home in around 2:29. All going well.
I have again continued with the flexibility and core sessions - which I feel are really starting to play dividends in feeling fresher day after day. I've also bought some dumbbells so am now going to start doing a couple of strength sessions per week if time permits.
T 10.06 miles including 4 miles @ 5:23mm (6:11mm avge)
W 15.16 miles progressive (6:33mm avge)
T 6.09 miles recovery (7:17mm avge)
F 13.20 miles progressive (6:28mm avge)
S 6.19 miles recovery (7:10mm avge)
S 18.05 miles, including 10 miles @5:41mm (6:11mm avge)
Total 78.88 miles (6:36mm avge)
This week has been the first week that I looked at the schedule and thought WOW that looks like it's going to be a bit of a stretch. Not only did it have a 4 miles at lactate threshold within a 10, but it also had the standard midweek 15 miler, a half marathon and then to round the week off the schedule asked for a long run of 18 miles which in itself is not too hard, but when you are supposed to run 10 of those miles at marathon pace/effort it does seem like a big week indeed. Luckily next week is a cut back and I will end up doing a touch under 70 miles. Most of which will be at a very easy pace.
Tuesday was a Lactate Threshold session. Lactate threshold is supposed to be the pace/effort at which you can race for one hour - it's great for building speed endurance which is very very important during the marathon, in fact it's nearly as important as the endurance you get from the long, easy miles. For me at this stage of fitness, on a good day is I think just over 11 miles per hour or lets say 5:25 per mile. It was an early start for this session and I was pleased to hit some decent mile splits (averaged 5:23mm) for a constant effort level. My Heart Rate gradually rose to 90% of max throughout the workout without increasing off the scale which shows that the effort was correct and my body was effectively getting rid of the lactic acid being generated in the muscles. It was nice to see that from an aerobic efficiency perspective this was my best run so far with my heart beating on average 966 beats per mile. I know if I start to see my heart rate going below 1000 beats per mile then I am running very efficiently and in good shape. So hopefully I'll see this a lot more over the coming weeks. I was lucky though that it was great conditions for the session, just above 0 degrees with no breeze to speak of.
The 15 miler the day after didn't feel fantastic but the pace and heart rate was where it should be so it didn't bother me too much but it just goes to show that you will always have a day when you just don't feel like you're having a good run. The trick here is to just get the run done, and move on. I may have still had some tiredness in the system from the previous days tempo run which may explain feeling a little lacklustre.
Friday by contrast was excellent, everything just clicked into place and I felt like I was running strongly, moving through the gears and despite it being a challenging route and it being really rather windy, the pace was very pleasing for the effort and heart rate level.
And so to Sunday, I set off to do 7 miles before I got to the 10 miles @ marathon pace/effort section. These runs are always funny because you know how tough it's going to be at the end of the effort section. So your early miles tend to be a bit slower than normal. Perhaps it's psychological but the body does seem to have a way of holding back when it knows what's coming. Anyway, I didn't feel too great in those early miles and I felt like I was working a little harder than the pace suggested I should be. It was a very windy day with 35mph gusts and it was again blowing in the 'wrong' direction from the south west like the the time I did 8 miles at MP at the end of a long run on New Year's Day.
The embedded link below shows that it was a strong run though and I was only really hitting true marathon effort levels for the last four miles or so. This resulted in an average pace of 5:41 per mile (56:52 for the 10 miles) which is very very encouraging given the weather conditions, where I am in the schedule, and that I also didn't feel like I was 'on fire' today. I would take that as an average pace on the 22nd April as it'll get me home in around 2:29. All going well.
I have again continued with the flexibility and core sessions - which I feel are really starting to play dividends in feeling fresher day after day. I've also bought some dumbbells so am now going to start doing a couple of strength sessions per week if time permits.
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