Improving

[Chrisrox]

Hi TheEd,

I tested my hip on a short an easy 4k run on the 10th of June, but still felt pain and decided to take more time off running. Have been on a couple of bike trips a week since then, just to stay active.

Tried running again on Tuesday 23rd and the 9k easy went surprisingly well. Got a sore feeling in the hip midway through, but just for a few hundred meters, then it went away. Apart from that, the run was pure gold. During the day that followed I was kind of sore in the hip-area, but nothing like the pain from earlier. This morning I went for a 10k easy run with a steep 1k+ hill climb after 4k. I squeezed three hill intervals of 1:30 in on that hill, wanted to get my breathing up and thought uphill would be easier on my hip. Very happy with the run, no pain at all and just nice to be out on my feet again. No pain during the day neither even after walking some 8-9k also.

Now, I want to be sure I am fully fit before starting the program again, hence am thinking of doing easy short runs for a few days and if no problems arise I will start a cycle of the program on Tuesday.

Appreciate your thoughts on this approach.

Also, just before I got injured I signed up for the marathon on the 19th of September, which will be my goal if I can stay injury free. Assuming I stay injury free, there's room for 4 cycles before the marathon. I am planning a half marathon in the mountains on the 8th of August (after two cycles).

Ideas or suggestions for me?

[TheEd]

first things first, would be to get running injury free

I would not consider signing up for a marathon at the moment

ideally you should see if you can get onto a 10k cycle and then see how things go from there

over to you

TheEd

[Chrisrox]

Thanks for your feedback TheEd.

I am now in the last week of the cycle. I do not have HR data unfortunately, as I forgot my HR strap when I left for vacation. I did all of the the sessions below in around 30 degrees Celsius in south of Spain (with the exceptions of the last one, which is my usual 11 km run at home). Very pleased with my effort considering the vacation, but some sessions where skipped.

Day 1: no running, went for a 6 km hike
Day 2: 6,08 km in 31:06, avg pace of 5:07
Day 3: wanted to start of controlled, to verify the hip is OK, so decided to cut to 4 x 2 km and with increasing pace. Planned to start with 4:10 pace and cut 5 seconds in each interval, arriving at 3:55 for the fourth and last. Got the following paces: 4:08,2 - 4:03,2 - 4:00,0 - 3:56,0, so pretty much delivered according to plan. Happy with session, which was tough and done on a 1 km sand/dirt road along the beach, i.e. involving a U-turn halfway through each interval.
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: no running, but walked 5-6k with family
Day 6: moved the long run from day 5 to day 6 (could not make it on day 5 due to vacation plans with family) and did 15k in 1:22:30 for 5:30 avg pace on asphalt, hilly midsection
Day 7: no running
Day 8: 6 x 1 km targeting 3:50 pace on the same 1 km sand/dirt road as the 2k session. Splits: 3:43 - 3:46 - 3:45 - 3:53 - 3:57 - 3:55. The three first slightly faster than plan and the three last slightly slower. Again a though session (thats why the pace drops in the last three), but quite pleased overall, considering the heat and the sand/dirt road and avg pace according to plan.
Day 9: no running
Day10: 12k in 1:03:04, 5:15 avg pace
Day11: Rest
Day12: 5K paced on sand/dirt road targeting 20:00. Time 19:55, avg pace 3:59. Happy with session, hard but controlled.
Day 13: 11k in 1:01:36, avg pace 5:36 very easy run with avg HR of 141 back home.

Planning to do the 10 x 400m session as scheduled on day 15 tomorrow, probably will target 86 sec/400 pace, i.e. according to the sub40 program. Intend to do it on a tartan track.

As for the race day on Saturday I have nothing planned, hence intend to do a time trial on the tartan track. Do you think I should do a 4K time trial to assess my current fitness and adjust paces accordingly, or go for something longer, like 5 or 10K?

I have already signed up for the marathon on the 19th of Sept (did so before getting injured), so even if I realize that staying injury free is a must I am not prepared to let go of my goal of completing the marathon in September quite yet. However, I consider it more of a thing that I want to do if the rest of this cycle and the next leading up to a 23 K mountain trail race on the 8th of August go well, hence I have no problem letting the marathon go if things do not progress according to plan. I do like to keep it there as a motivation for myself though.

Christoffer

[TheEd]

Chistoffer, lets see what we can do for the marathon

do the 4k time-trial and we can see how we can balance things

would be great to get Day 3 to Day 8 of the next cycle and take things from there, if we have sufficient progress, then we can switch to the 6 week marathon schedule

on we go

TheEd
ps.. the lack of long runs is a concern however, lets see what can be done

[Chrisrox]

Completed the 4K time trial today, in windy conditions on a tartan track, so here goes the splits:

Split Time avgHR maxHR
1km 3:35 176 182
2km 3:43 183 186
3km 3:46 185 188
4 km 3:48 187 190
Sum 14:52 183 190

I was targeting 15 mins, so very pleased to beat the target. If I get it right, my paces for the next cycle should be:

4k in 14:52 = 3:43 min/km --> 5k in 18:35
18:35 X 2 +1 min = 10k in 38:10 --> 3:49 min/km, rounded to 3:50 for the 2k session.

Thinking of going for a long run on Monday (1,5 - 2 hrs easy) and also to increase the long run on day 5 to minimum 2hrs. What do you think?

[TheEd]

great Chris .. with the 2k session, don't hassle too much if you drift off from hitting the exact time, focus rather over the last 2 to be on target

you must make sure you recover from the long runs and that you do things to aid your recovery

then all should be good

TheEd

[Chrisrox]

Quick update ahead of the 2K session on Thursday. Did 20K easy pace on Monday, time 1hr 51min, meaning 5:33 min/km, with avg HR 142. Had a great day out running, felt good throughout alltough getting kind of stiff/sore feeling in legs at around 15k. Ran completely easy and controlled until the 17k mark, then increased pace for about 1,5k, bringing my HR up to around 165, before cooling down the last km.

Today, day 1 of the cycle, I did 10,25k easy in 1hr flat, meaning 5:51 min/km. I felt tired and sluggish after yesterday's long run and noticed that the speed/HR ratio was much worse than normal with avg HR of 144. Basically I ran considerably slower and only half the distance of yesterday, but still HR was higher. Hope this is normal after the long run on Monday, but definitively planning on very short and easy run tomorrow on day 2 (or possibly even take a rest day) so I recover the best I can for the 2K session on Thursday.

Really loking forward to the 2k session, but being on an island without road connection on vacation I am probably stuck with a slightly hilly dirt road which I do not know very well, meaning I need to be flexible with the pace and factor in perceived effort to some extent. In that case I will start the first couple of intervals with slower pace, probably in the 4:05-4:10 range, to factor in the hills, dirt road and also increasing the likelihood of progressive pace in the session. If I feel I'm in control, I plan to increase speed in get below 4 min/km for the latter intervals.

[TheEd]

as long as you keeping it relaxed and enjoyable for now and avoid problems, then the quality sessions between Day 3 and 8 are the primary concern

on we go

TheEd

[Chrisrox]

Thanks again for the feedback TheEd,

Did the 5 x 2k session today on a 1k dirt road route (u-turn after 1k):

Time AvgHR MaxHR
7:56 169 179
7:49 174 181
7:43 175 180
7:41 175 181
7:37 177 183
38:46 equals 3:52,6 min/km

Tough session as usual, but felt reasonably in control. It was very pleasing to be able to increase speed over each interval and to land the last one below target, even with the u-turn at 1k and slight uphill the last 200m before turning.

Will now focus on getting recovered for the long run on Saturday, where I am thinking of shooting for 25-30k with pace between 5:30-6:00 min/km. Let me know if you have any input with regards to the long run.

Chris

[TheEd]

good going the 2k is always the toughie at the start of the cycle

for the long run, focus on form over the last 5k, maintain good posture and foot placement

enjoy and good luck

TheEd