Improving 10k time at altitude

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Unfortunately the cold got worse again the day after the 5k paced run, I must have gone out again too soon. No runs since then. Frustrating, but focussing on trying to get better at the moment - resting and plenty of hydration. Hopefully I'll be able to start running again when I get back to the UK. I was going to enter a race on 31 July but think I'll leave that one now. Might do a 5k park run on 3rd August so that will likely be the first race.

Will update soon.
cheers

[TheEd]

Hi markco, this is a learning process .. you obviously in shape and now a little more susceptible to colds etc

you should recover quickly and not lose much

keep us informed

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Thanks, yes only a week off so hopefully haven't lost much ground. Have been feeling better the past two days (other than the jetlag!). Went for an easy run yesterday, was aiming for 30 mins but got lost and ended up doing closer to 50 mins. Felt fine during the run and more importantly still feeling fine today. One thing I did notice though is that my heart rate during the run was much higher than usual (average 155, max 170), despite running at my usual easy pace (5:15/km) and it feeling pretty easy. I did read something a while back that this can happen on return to sea level even though instinctively one may think with extra oxygen available the heart rate would be lower! Not sure if it is re-acclimatisation related, or other factors (it was quite hot with direct sun the whole way, and also first run back after virus, and also running in new trainers for the first time!).

I'm planning to do a 5k park run race this Saturday, so going out for the 3 x 5 min session today (planning to do those at 5k pace rather than 10k) and as per the programme in the days up to the race - sound OK?

cheers

[TheEd]

Hi markco, you should soon find out where you stand after the Park Run

hopefully all goes well

enjoy TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

The last few days have been much better, HR has settled down to normal on recent runs. Have gone back to my usual trainers for now as legs were quite achy after the run in the new ones, so I'll introduce those gradually when I haven't got a race coming up.

The 3x5min went nicely - the intervals were about the same speed as the previous cycle but felt much easier on the lungs than at altitude, despite the hills in South London and headwind at times.
Interval / dist / pace / Av HR / Max HR / Min HR after rest
1 / 1.08km / 4:37 / 158 / 167 / 150
2 / 1.09km / 4:34 / 160 / 171 / 162 (steep uphill during recovery minute!)
3 / 1.15km / 4:19 / 171 / 178 / 160
Av pace during intervals: 4:30/km.

Previous cycle:
Interval / dist / pace / Av HR / Max HR / Min HR after rest
1 / 1.08km / 4:36 / 156 / 166 / 146
2 / 1.10km / 4:32 / 160 / 166 / 151
3 / 1.12km / 4:25 / 164 / 173 / 154
Av pace during intervals: 4:31/km.

Today I went for a 40 mins easy run, including a lap of the circuit the race is at on Saturday. 7.7km in 40:02 (5:11/km). Was feeling good so decided to do a fast km towards the end - started out at 5km pace and steadily built up speed - km in 4:02 which felt good but wouldn't be sustainable for 5k. Decent confidence boost for the last km push though. My plan for Saturday is to start out at 4:20-4:30/km pace and hopefully increase from there. Hoping for sub 22 mins.

Cheers

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Race yesterday went pretty much ideally! 3 laps of an almost flat, smooth course with no sharp turns so perfect conditions to run fast. I was hoping cautiously to go sub 22 mins and the plan was to set off at 4:20-4:30/km pace. The start was very fast and I unfortunately got caught on the outside of the first half lap which probably cost me a little time, but after that I settled in to a nice pace, slightly increasing until a hard effort for the last km - splits below. The last km is particularly pleasing and I could really feel the benefit of running at sea level, just way more in the gas tank and I flew past several club runners during the final sprint - great feeling

KM / pace / Av HR
1 / 4:19 / 155
2 / 4:17 / 163
3 / 4:17 / 166
4 / 4:10 / 170
5 / 3:55 / 171

Official time 21:15 (gun time)

Calves are slightly achy this morning, I think from the mechanics of going that bit faster, so I'm going to rest today and go for an easy run tomorrow I think. There is a possibility of a 10k race this Wednesday, or next weekend.

Also wanted to say thanks for all your coaching and encouragement to date. A really good result there and I owe a lot to the programme and your help on the forum, the structured approach has definitely helped my running a lot

cheers

[TheEd]

nice going Markco, and congrats on keeping it together after getting sick

you can only improve on things

well done

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Thanks TheEd.

I'm now looking forward to a 10k race I have entered for this Sunday. It's a fairly flat course and based on my 5k race time last weekend (21:15) I am hoping to complete it in the 43:30 - 44:00 range. My all time PB is 45:06 back in 2012 so hopefully that record will fall!

I haven't been doing as much training as usual the past couple of weeks due to being on holiday with family and friends but I've still managed to run pretty much every other day. I have put on about 3kgs probably partly due to that, and partly due to eating and drinking more than usual also! Hopefully it won't affect my performance too much at the weekend.

Here's what I've been up to the past few days...

5 August:
Easy but hilly run. 5.44km in 29:52 (5:30/km).
Average HR 137 but quite variable due to the hills (couldn't not run a hilly course where we were staying!).

8 August:
Another easy hilly run. 7.18km in 35:52 (4:59/km).
Was feeling good on this run so decided to test my speed and ran the 6th km pretty much all-out in 3:20. It was a downhill section with an elevation loss of about 40m though!

10 August:
5k pace run with easy 2km warm up and 3km warm down (total 10km in 49:18 - only 20 secs slower than the 10k race I did in May!).
I was aiming for 4:20/km pace for the 5k but ended up going quicker, in fact a similar time to the race last weekend but with more consistent splits. I misjudged really, in the end it was not far off race pace - possibly could have gone 20 secs quicker.

km / pace / Av HR
1 / 4:19 / 154
2 / 4:11 / 163
3 / 4:15 / 166
4 / 4:10 / 167
5 / 4:12 / 170
Total time: 21:14 (4:14/km)
1 second quicker than my official race time last weekend, however that was a gun time and my GPS watch had the race at 21:03, so pretty sure the race was still the harder & better effort as it was on the same course.

Here's the last 5k pace run from last cycle (at altitude though) - big difference!:

km / pace / Av HR
1 / 4:45 / 150
2 / 4:43 / 158
3 / 4:31 / 159
4 / 4:34 / 162
5 / 4:20 / 166
Total time: 23:02 (4:36/km)

So my plan now for race prep is as we did before, i.e. the last week of the programme with the final few days replaced with the below. Does that sound OK, or any other advice? Many thanks.
Thur: 20 - 30 minutes easy
Fri: warm up then 6 x 1 minute @ anticipated race pace with 1 minute easy
Sat: Rest
Sun: Race

cheers

[MarkCo]

12 Aug
12km easy in 1:00:58 (5:04/km)
Av HR 145
Hilly last few kms so felt slightly tired afterwards and decided to rest the following day.

14 Aug (today!)
3 x 5 min intervals. Was aiming for 4:25/km initially increasing to 4:15/km to get a feel for planned race pace on Sunday. Pace judgement was OK but did feel a bit heavy legged at times. HRs also low compared with last 3x5min session. Will see how I feel tomorrow and may rest if still feeling a little tired.

Interval / dist / pace / Av HR / Max HR / Min HR after rest
1 / 1.14km / 4:22 / 154 / 158 / 146
2 / 1.14km / 4:23 / 159 / 164 / 141
3 / 1.17km / 4:16 / 159 / 167 / 151
Av pace during intervals: 4:20/km.

Same session from a couple of weeks ago:

Interval / dist / pace / Av HR / Max HR / Min HR after rest
1 / 1.08km / 4:37 / 158 / 167 / 150
2 / 1.09km / 4:34 / 160 / 171 / 162 (steep uphill during recovery minute!)
3 / 1.15km / 4:19 / 171 / 178 / 160
Av pace during intervals: 4:30/km.

[TheEd]

Hi markco, great to see you ready to go

you certainly have come on quite a way

on race day, make sure not to go out to fast

all looking good so make sure to enjoy

and good luck

TheEd