sub 40 or 45 min program?

[rook]

Hi Ed,

I hope everything is good with you. I just wanted to check in with you as I'm anxiously waiting to get back on the training schedule. I took about 5 days off from running after the race, and since then I did three 45min easy runs every couple of days. I've been focusing mostly on the weight training since the race, doing a bit of everything but mostly the legs.

I will do another 45-60min easy run Friday, a longer run Sunday (easy 1h30-2h00 trail running) and a 1hr faster run on Tuesday. Then I was thinking of doing a longer run on Thursday. What is the longest you think I could run safely, in terms of distance and/or time. I'm already thinking about the marathon and I would like to test my endurance before I start the 10K training. Maybe I could use my performance in that run to figure out just how much I can extend the longer runs of the 10K program.

Thanks.

[TheEd]

rook your 90 to 2hr run is more than enough

keep it simple

the 2000m session is the crux of the program

improve there and your 10k time will drop

Cheers

TheEd

[rook]

Ok I was anticipating that response... :p

The Sunday run should have a few breaks of a couple minutes or more, so it's not that hard, but I will try to do up to 2hrs without stopping on Thursday. I'll be careful not to push too hard. I just feel I need a bit of an endurance test. I'll give some feedback later next week. Thanks Ed.

[TheEd]

you can definitely stop for water breaks and highly recommended

keep it simple to avoid problems

TheEd

[rook]

Hi Ed,

I got back on the training program Tuesday. :mrburns:

Day 1: 70min at estimated 5:00-5:15 pace - AVG HR 154

Day 2: 30min easy

Day 3: 5x2k R90 with target time 8:10-8:20

8:08 - AVG HR 172, PEAK 185
8:18 - AVG HR 169, PEAK 191
8:10 - AVG HR 168, PEAK 178
8:10 - AVG HR 169, PEAK 187
8:09 - AVG HR 166, PEAK 180

HR went down to about 110 between runs. It was down to 86 5 min after the last run.

I felt strong during the 2k runs. I started to breathe heavier during the last 2 runs, but felt good. It's such a good workout! I can see why you say it's the heart of the program.

Saturday I have the long run and I want to make it slightly longer in anticipation of my marathon. BTW I never did the full 2 hour run last week because I was stopped by some heavy rain after about 75min. I only did the easy 2h with a few breaks the Sunday before. I want to run about 1h45 at a 5:15-5:30 pace. Sounds reasonable? Of course I will stop sooner if I need to, but the weather should be nice Saturday so I should be ok.

[TheEd]

if you working up towards a marathon you can consider doing a 32km training run as your long run

nice going in the 2000's that is a solid session

hope all works out OK

TheEd

[rook]

Do you mean I should work my way towards eventually doing a 32km long run?

I don't think I'm ready for that yet since my longest distance this season was about 20km. For this time I will try around 20-24km at 5:15-5:30 pace and see how that goes.

[rook]

My training went well during the most important days (3 to 8), but the temperature is ridiculously hot here :yikes: so I really can't train that hard now. It should start to cool down this weekend in time for the end of cycle race day.

Day 5: 23-24k in 2h (5:00-5:10 pace) Felt a bit tired in the last 30min but otherwise it went well

Day 6: 30min easy

Day 7: 10k at about 4:50 pace

Day 8: 6x1k R60-70 with target time 3:55-4:00

4:01 - AVG HR 165, PEAK 182
3:55 - AVG HR 176, PEAK (212)
3:58 - AVG HR 170, PEAK 188
3:58 - AVG HR 166, PEAK 180
3:55 - AVG HR 162, PEAK 179
3:52 - AVG HR 163, PEAK 174

HR went down to about 115 between runs. It was down to 80-85 5 min after the last run.

Day 9: 30min easy

Day 10: 45min easy (no time to complete 1h)

Day 11: Rest

Day 12: 5k paced run in 21:52. I was aiming sub 21:00, but it was very hot and I overheated after the first 1k so my goal was just to finish and not worry about the time.

Day 13: 1h slow jog with a few water breaks

[TheEd]

rook sorry for missing the earlier question about working up to 32km .. yes, you should look to slowly picking up the distance, especially every 3 weeks ... do it in increments with a number of water breaks

judging from how your pulse drops between the 1000's you seem to be coping with the session, is this correct?

for the 5k paced runs, always consider starting a little slower and building up the pace .. a good pace is 1/2 10k race pace

all looks good

TheEd

[rook]

Sounds good Ed. I did the 2h long run with a CamelBak so that worked well for hydration and I didn't need to stop.

Yes the 1000's went well. It wasn't easy but I felt strong and I had enough rest with 60-70sec to start fresh again after the breaks.

I might have done better by starting the 5k a bit slower, but really I just can't run hard in this kind of heat so I'm not worried about that time. It's almost 35C here, and it feels like 40-45C with the humidity! That's way too hot for a Canuck like me :noway: