Going for 21k in May 2011

[K4marathon]

Hello TheEd,

The 5 * 1000 went well last week, with the following times:

Lap 1: 4:48, average HR 154 bpm
Rest 93s, HR down to 120 bpm
Lap 2: 4:43, average HR 162 bpm
Rest 88s, HR down to 133 bpm
Lap 3: 4:49, average HR 164 bpm
Rest 91s, HR down to 136 bpm
Lap 4: 4:47, average HR 167 bpm
Rest 92s, HR down to 124 bpm
Lap 5: 4:56, average HR 168 bpm

After this I have taken easy runs: 5k on Sat, 8k on Tue and a 6.5k walk on Wed.
Now I am ready for the 5k paced run tomorrow, with the aim to be under 25 min!


Speak to you soon

K4m

[TheEd]

good to see you get through the cycle with no setbacks and once you have been through your first cycle uninterrupted the running development should become easier and smoother

nice going

TheEd

[K4marathon]

Thanks. Yes the program is going quite well I believe, even if it is hard to see any improvements yet obviously.

I did the 5k paced run today. The weather is cold, snowy and very windy so I did it on the indoor 400m track. Except for the first lap (2:05), all laps were between 1:53 and 1:57 so I kept the speed well now. The end time was 24:04, and I believe I cannot do much more than 5k at this speed at this point really. Almost from start my HR was 160 and growing steadily lap by lap toward reaching 179 in the last lap, even if I kept the speed constant. Since my max HR is 182, I think I could not have gone on with that speed for more than a lap or two more. The move is stored in Movescount under 905624.

Hard to imagine that I will try four times the distance at almost that same speed in only five months...

Tomorrow I will keep a day off running and instead watch some great floorball here!

[TheEd]

k4m .. you very new to running and running is so much about experience and learning how to run

one step at a time .. you now on your way with the 5k paced

as you develop and do more 2k sessions you will see the change taking place

exciting times, despite the weather

Cheers

TheEd

[K4marathon]

Hello again,

Yes, I think I am fine back on track now. Occasionally I change a 30-minute run to a 70-minute walk based on the snow conditions or if I have some company to join me (which is quite rare).

Today I did a long run, 18k in about 1:54:00, meaning an average speed of 6:20 or so per km. It went fine despite the cold temperature (it was -13 degrees). I felt surprisingly fine after the run, despite my average HR coming out slightly higher than I aimed. The average was 142 bpm, when I aimed to keep it at 140 bpm or below. This made me feel that I have had some development in this slow running. At least I am now able to do such a long run without having to slow down or anything along the way. Quite encouraging for the half Marathon. The main thing will now be to increase the speed. I target 1:50 or less on the half Marathon so there is still plenty of work left.

I did the long run now as I had to skip it last week due to our vacation. Now my target is to take a few easier days and have the "race day" according to the program on Thursday. What kind of race should I go for? The program says "up to 15 km", but what would you recommend?

Looking forward to your response!


K4m

[TheEd]

this is very good to read .. by adapting to the slower paced runs you will be able to absorb the faster paced training days and as you develop you will begin running at a faster pace yet at the same pulse which you consider a slow pace currently.

It is very important for you to be able to develop the easy runs as it is a cornerstone in your long-term development

well done, this is a very definite step forward in your development

do remember you have truly not been at this long, so to make this progress is excellent

TheEd

[K4marathon]

Hello TheEd

Hope your New Year has started well. Since my last post in December I have largely followed the program with slower runs in wintry Finland and the interval runs on the indoor track. Now since 26th December we have been on vacation with the family in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The weather has been perfect for running here, with 23-25 degrees every day, and I have done 5 runs in 9 days, including 5- 10k runs and a 3*2000m session in Dubai. Today was the most pleasant of all: a barefoot 5.5k run barefoot on a perfect soft beach here in Sohar, Oman. You know that kind of beaches that you have over there, the only difference being that here the sand is a bit darker brown but just as fine...
I think I will log another such tomorrow before we start heading back toward Dubai the day after for returning back to the winter.

All the best to all of you.

K4m

[TheEd]

great stuff k4m .. Piia is getting ready to go for her 1hr run in -16 so enjoy the heat of Dubai while you can

onwards and forwards

TheEd

[K4marathon]

Hello TheEd,


I'm going on with the program. However I've noticed a bit of a decrease in my performance in recent weeks. Since we're back from the vacation I feel that I need more energy to keep the same pace and that I tend to run a bit slower. Maybe it's because of the hard practice or maybe it just feels this way after the nice summer weather there. Anyway, I'm confident that this is for good in the end. And I still have more than 3 months to the 21k target so a lot can happen I hope.

Next week I will do the first Fartlek. So far I've substituted that practice with another interval or paced run, but now I plan to follow every detail of the program so I should add that. But I'm not exactly sure what this means. The program says "start with 3 x 5min @ 10k pace with 1min easy F". Does it mean that the whole exercise is only about 3 km with a 1-minute slow jogging between each 1k?


Looking forward to your advice on this!

K4m

[TheEd]

best to monitor your waking pulse and log the amount of sleep you getting each night

Q:
"start with 3 x 5min @ 10k pace with 1min easy F"

A:
3 times 5 minutes of fast running at 'anticipated' 10km race pace with 1 minute in-between each 5 minutes of paced running. F stands for Fartlek

Tip: don't start the first 5 minutes too fast all you will regret it for the rest of the session as the 1 minute recovery goes very quickly

Enjoy

TheEd