Midweek Run - Plan Advice

[SlowMow]

Hi TheEd,

Things are going pretty well, I am mostly recovered, I am taking care to stretch well and warm up and cool down properly which seems to be helping.

I ran ~18K on Sunday with my local club at a nice relaxed chatting pace and another 10K at lunchtime today. I feel pretty good all in all and I am looking forward to the intervals tomorrow.

[TheEd]

try to relax up as you seem to still be doing a fair amount

today is the 1k session and the pace you can look at is 3.55 to 4 minutes per k

you should actually be around 4.05 per k currently, so see what you can do and thereafter cut back and allow the body to absorb the training

keep the feedback coming

TheEd

[SlowMow]

Hi TheEd,

I ran the 1K intervals today as suggested, they felt very hard, probably as hard as the 2Ks last week. My times were:

Time Avg Max Rest
00:03:52 162 169 132
00:03:56 164 170 137
00:04:00 164 170 140
00:03:56 164 170 143
00:04:02 164 170 143
00:04:03 164 170

It was seriously windy today. Intervals 3, 5 and 6 had a significant headwind due to the out and back course I was running. The headwind legs required so much effort that I just wanted to stop and give up. Additionally, I felt as though I was struggling to get my breathing right towards the end, do you have any tips?

In terms of reducing the running a little, does 30 mins tomorrow and 40 on Thursday sound acceptable? Or should I cut back more?

Additionally, this weekend I am probably going to struggle to fit in both the 5K and the 1hr run due to family commitments, if I have to choose one, which one should I do?

[TheEd]

your session is quite solid and the wind would have played a major factor

in the future try to change matters where you not hammering yourself into a headwind as this can create a great amount of fatigue

the 30 and 40 minute runs look good and for the weekend consider the 1hr run with the first 45 minutes relaxed and the last 15 minutes a slight pick-up so you finish feeling sprightly

enjoy

TheEd

[SlowMow]

Hi TheEd,

I hope you're well. I had a gentle 30 min run on Wednesday and ~48 minutes on Thursday a little longer and slightly quicker than I intended(running with friends).

On Saturday I ran for an hour as recommended with the last 15 minutes faster. My target pace for the last 15 was 4:15/k but I found it very hard work to maintain. While I managed it, it felt at least as hard as the 1K intervals.

Sunday was occupied with family commitments, so was a rest day and yesterday was 30 min easy. Today's session was the 400m intervals, I started out a little fast, but the whole session felt easy, although I was starting to fatigue a little towards the end.

Time Avg HR Max HR Rest
00:01:22 160 166 128
00:01:22 156 166 129
00:01:25 156 167 128
00:01:25 154 165 126
00:01:27 156 168 133
00:01:24 158 167 136
00:01:27 157 167 137
00:01:26 156 167 135
00:01:26 159 170 143
00:01:23 162 170

During this session I concentrated on keeping my cadence up which has been dropping off recently. This appears to have made a positive impact on the ease of the session.

In addition to the planned race on 7th July, I have a club handicap race (5 miles) that I would like to take part in on Sunday 3rd. How should I approach the training over the next few days?

Thanks for all your help and feedback...

[SlowMow]

Hi TheEd,

I ran the 5 mile handicap race yesterday, which went relatively well considering the very tough course, 1/4 off road on deeply rutted farm tracks and a couple of steep hills to climb.

The off road sections and the hills threw off my rhythm and I seemed never able to get back to a relaxed 4 min/k pace after the first off road section.

The splits looked like this:

Code:

Avg Pace Avg HR    Max HR
03:54     161    168
03:58     167    169
04:13     168    170
04:27     166    169
04:13     165    167
04:22     165    167
04:31     164    167
04:04     166    170

Finishing time 33:43

The 3rd km was uphill as well as off road and I put in too much effort trying to overtake people in this section. This race really was a lesson in how much harder it is to maintain pace and rhythm off road (and up hills).

Despite all of this, I did manage to place, 1st male, in the handicap, so I can't be too hard on myself :yes:

I have another race on Thursday, so I was thinking 30 min recovery today, 40 min with 6x1 minute fast tomorrow and probably a gentle 30 min on Wednesday. How does this sound?

Next week I intend to start on another cycle of the programme.

[TheEd]

be very cautious with the 6 x 1 minute fast / 1 minute slow that you do not run too hard

after a hilly terrain race the legs can take a little longer to recover, so keep things far easier than normal and then your race should be OK

enjoy

TheEd

[SlowMow]

Thanks for your feedback. As you suggested I was still a little tired today, so I took it pretty easily, ~40 minutes, with a pick up for the last 3 minutes or so.

I'll let you know how the race goes on Thursday.

[SlowMow]

Hi TheEd,

Just an update, the race on Thursday was incredibly busy with about 7,500 people running, which made for very congested conditions. It was a nice run, but at no point was I really able to stretch myself which was a great shame as I was hoping for a good performance. The splits were:

Code:

Distance Pace    Avg HR    Max HR
1     04:03    160    168
1     04:28    164    169
1     04:36    165    169
1     04:17    166    171
1     04:07    167    170
0.57     03:56    168    175

For a total time of 23:43 over the 5.6K course.

I'll be starting a new cycle on Tuesday as usual, I'm hoping the 2K intervals will feel a little easier this time around!

[TheEd]

as long as you happy with the run and may the 2k challenge be a success

enjoy the weekend

TheEd