Improving

[Chrisrox]

Hi TheEd,

Thanks for signing me up and for the fantastic website!

I have seen the great results others in the forum have achieved with your feedback and would appreciate some advice. Also I guess this will serve to make me more committed! Short term I am hoping to break 38min on a 10k on the 30th of May. Before that I have a 10k race on the 20th and have started a cycle of your program targeting 20th of May as the race day.

Did the 5x2k shooting for 3:50 per km last weekend and got the following:

Time: Avg HR Max HR
07:39 173 177
07:41 175 180
07:41 177 182
07:41 175 181
07:34 176 182
38:16

Admittedly a slightly longer than 90sec break between 3 and 4 (150 sec?), which is evident from the data above I guess.

Had a long easy run of 14k with HR avg at 139 and pace 5:48/km on Tuesday (some hills involved) and did easy 11k with HR avg 143 and pace 5:23 today.

Due to work and some traveling, family life and weekend events I will need to tweak the program from time to time. I am therefore not able to strictly follow the days in the program. I plan to do the 6x1k tomorrow morning, meaning one day earlier than the program prescribes. I will report back after that.

Some other useful info: man 38 years, 175 cm and 70 kg. Reckon my current max HR is around 195 but have never really tested. Ran 1/2 marathon on 1:26:14 in September last year with average HR of 180. Have always been active, but have become a runner over the past few years only, starting in the summer of 2013. Did about 400 km that first year, not much really, but got the taste for it last year and upped the ante for a total of 1200+ km last year. A lot of those kms easy during the spring and summer, building a base. Did a couple of cycles of your sub 40 program just before the 1/2 marathon in September but have been off your programs until last week.

Raced a kind of hilly 10k on April 25th with poor preparations, 39:28 and had a few tough kms towards the end.

Thinking of racing my first full marathon in September (sub 3 hrs?), but have not decided yet.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks,
Chrisrox

[TheEd]

Hi Chrisrox and welcome to the forums, thanks for the compliments regarding site

OK . if anything, try to do Day 3 to Day 8 as close to the sequence as possible, that is the core of the program

don't get too hung up about it if you miss the other sessions, after May hopefully we can look to get some consistency

what is your 10k Personal Best (PB)

the 2k session looks very promising, the 1k pace should be 10 seconds per k quicker

the only area which will need to be worked on before doing a marathon is the long run

over to you

TheEd

[Chrisrox]

Thanks,

10K PB is the 39:28 from last month, actually only have two 10K races and two 1/2 marathons under my belt:

1/2 marathon Sept 2013: 1:31:14
10K April 2014: 41:04
1/2 marathon Sept 2014: 1:26:14 (slightly faster course than in 2013)
10K April 2015: 39:28 (same course as in 2014, which involves some hills; about 140m ascend and descend, start and finish same place)

The race on the 30th of May is known to be flat and fast, that's why I am targeting sub 38, although I realize it might be a stretch.

OK, did the 6x1k session targeting 3:40 pace today:

Time AvgHR MaxHR MinHR
03:42 174 179 135
03:41 174 181 140
03:39 177 183 143
03:36 178 184 144
03:43 178 183 148
03:52 178 185 148
22:13

The last two reps involved slight uphill, especially the last third of the last rep. Felt quite good overall but was running out of gas and got a bit demotivated seeing the pace drop in that last third. I guess half the extra time on the last rep is the uphill and half is me not quite able to push through. Overall satisfied though and legs feel OK.

Now for bachelor party weekend, aiming for an easy run on Sunday afternoon.

Your thoughts are appreciated!

[Chrisrox]

Decided against running on Sunday after a weekend mostly focusing on drinking (both Friday and Saturday night). The bachelor party involved a quite extensive hike though, about 2 hours uphill with a hefty backpack (ca 30-35 kgs?) on Friday and returning with a much lighter backpack downhill for about 1 hour on Sunday.

Went for a easy run today to get the last bit of the partying out of the system. 11,08km @ 5:25 min/km pace (time 59:58) with average HR of 144 to complete day 10 of the program. Same route as i did on Thursday (then 5:23 min/km and avg HR 143).

Planning for a rest day tomorrow and then hopefully able to squeeze in the 5km paced run on Wednesday. If not I will do it on Thursday, which is a public holiday in Norway.

Thanks,
Chrisrox

[TheEd]

Chris, will observe your feedback to see where you going with things

TheEd

[Chrisrox]

Did the 5 k paced run targeting 19:30 or slightly faster today:

3:49 175 185
3:52 181 185
3:54 185 188
4:00 186 189
3:46 186 189
19:22

Jumped off for a quick start the first 1-200 meters then tried settling into a rhythm. I ran 2 laps on a 2,5 km track on asphalt. Fairly flat track, roughly speaking the first half I slight uphill and the last half slightly downhill, meaning
0-1,25 uphill
1,25 - 2,5 downhill
2,5 - 3,75 uphill
3,75 - 5 downhill

This impacts the lap speeds slightly, so think I managed fairly well towards my planned pace. However, I do realize that even this pace is tough for the 10K race, so the 38min target is out the window for now I guess!

[Chrisrox]

Hi TheEd,

Ran 1hr easy today, 11,1k @ 5:27 min/km with avg HR 144 in my usual 11k route.

Legs felt kinda sore after the 5k paced yesterday and noticed my HR drifting more than normal upwards in the last third of the run. I am one day behind schedule relative to my race on the 20th (did program day 13 on what is day 14 today). Due to this I am thinking of doing the 10x400 tomorrow (skipping the 30 min easy run), then take Sunday off and follow the program the last two days before the race.

Any thoughts about the above plan highly appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris

[Chrisrox]

Hi TheEd,

Went for the 10x400m today as planned. Still felt the 5K paced before getting started, which I guess is mostly due to one less easy-run day in between. Looked for a pace around 3:30-3:35 min/km, meaning 1:24-1-26 min/400m. When I got started, legs felt very good and the session was much more comfortable than the 2k, 1k and 5k sessions. Had a great early morning on the track (tartan) and am very pleased with the feeling throughout.

Time AvgHR MaxHR MinHR
1:23,6 158 172 115
1:25,5 159 173 118
1:23,7 161 177 125
1:25,7 163 178 124
1:25,3 163 180 124
1:25,8 166 178 129
1:25,8 168 179 128
1:24,5 166 181 132
1:24,9 168 180 134
1:21,4 171 182 136
14:06 = 3:31,6 min/km

After the first few intervals I remembered to practice getting off to a quick start and then settling into rythm, which I practiced for the last six or seven intervals. On the last three I increased pace slightly in the last 50m, on the last even for the last 100m.

Looking to get some rest tomorrow, then going for 30 mins and fartlek on Monday (is this session 30 min easy plus the 6x1min @ race pace, or 30 mins including the 6x1 min?), rest on Tuesday and race 10K on Wednesday afternoon, unless you recommend something else.

Let me know if you have thoughts on target pace per/km for km 2-7 and target time for the race. I am thinking of aiming for 3:55 min/km (km 2-7) and a 38:50 finish time.

[TheEd]

how are things going, how did your legs recover from the 400m session

hopefully on the next cycle we can get a decent balance, so that our feedback can be beneficial

look forward to hearing how race plan went

TheEd

[Chrisrox]

Hi TheEd,

Legs recovered nicely after the 400m session, that session felt like a breeze :-)
I got a mild cold during the weekend however and decided to skip the fartlek session scheduled for Monday, in an attempt to get fully recovered for the race yesterday. I felt much better yesterday, but still have not recovered completely. Still am snotty although the worst is gone. Decided to go ahead with the race, felt quite good at the starting line and decided to give at a go as planned with 3:55 min/km pace.

Intended to jump out for that quick first 100m, but track was narrow and very crowded, hence didn't really make that happen. Posted a fast first 1km though, mostly due to that km being overall downhill. After that I felt that I was running fast but controlled and according to my garmin I was tracking quite OK towards my target pace. The route involves a couple of sections with narrow paths where the runners ahead clogged up somewhat, I think this is mostly the reason I did not quite meet the target pace in all of the kms from 2-7. Felt quite strong and with energy at km 7 and slowly started pushing harder. Definitely passed more runners than others passing me, but looking at the pace it never really improved. The last three kms are slight uphill though (especially the last), but still I do not really feel I have the ability to increase speed towards the end of a race, even after having this "controlled" pace in the mid section. Would highly appreciate your thoughts and advice on this, as I am sure I can improve this part of my racing.

1. 3:38,5 173 180 (downhill)
2. 3:59,3 178 180 (uphill)
3. 3:55,0 178 181
4. 3:56,7 179 181
5. 3:58,2 179 182 (narrow parts)
6. 4:03,8 181 184 (narrow parts + accelerating for 200m to get past the clog)
7. 3:55,0 179 182
8. 3:57,8 182 183
9. 3:54,8 182 184
10.4:01,1 183 185 (uphill)
+ 0:47,1 184 185 (210m extra)
= 40:07,3 180 185

Ended up posting 3:56 min/km, which is not bad, but my garmin stopped at 10,21 kms, hence adding 47 seconds towards that pace x 10. I was very disappointed with 40:07 at first, but when digesting it and speaking with some other runners, I realize that it was not that bad after all. The slight cold, the possible slightly longer route (others confirm the same from their watches) with narrow parts and lots of sharp turns etc...excuses or what?

The result was kind of discouraging and I have started thinking about that race on the 30th of May, do or don't? I do not have other races lined up before summer, so from that perspective I would like to do it, if nothing else it is good racing practice. It is either racing or starting a new cycle now, but I am leaning towards racing and then start a new cycle. What do you think?

By the way, the next races I have planned are in August and September (thinking of 1/2 and full marathon in those months), so there is plenty of time for more cycles of the program before that.

Looking forward to easy recovery runs the next few days, today in Helsinki :-)

Chris