Improving 10k time at altitude

[TheEd]

Hi markco, is that tower block race close to where you live? I know of the Empire State Building stair race, didn't realise there were more crazies out there

keep things going easy before upping the training again

on we go TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Yes, fairly close (well, in the same city anyway!). I've been looking for 5 and 10k events across the whole city, even in other areas of the country that I will be visiting over Christmas / New Year, but there is nothing that fits in with my plans annoyingly! I'm expecting to be moving back to the UK permanently early next year though, so will be planning plenty of races once I know exact dates.

28 Nov
Rested.

29 Nov (1 hour easy)
11.17km in 1:00:06
5:22/km
Av HR 142.
Felt easier than for several weeks - lower HR and slightly quicker pace. Maybe the effect of the speed sessions, or possibly I'm finally completely free of the cold.

30 Nov (3 x 5 mins)
Felt pretty comfortable and more 'on form' than recent speed sessions. On the face of it, a slight improvement over the last 3x5 min session I did at altitude in June, however on closer inspection I ran the warm up, cool down and recoveries quite a bit quicker this time (average approx. 5:15/km, compared with average 5:45/km in June), so feels like a reasonable improvement and the pace is nice and consistent...
Interval / dist / pace / Av HR / Max HR / Min HR after rest
1 / 1.11km / 4:29 / 155 / 162 / 148
2 / 1.12km / 4:27 / 158 / 165 / 151
3 / 1.11km / 4:29 / 161 / 170 / 158 (I think the 170 is erroneous as it was a very short spike, looks to me should be 166/167).
Av pace during intervals: 4:28/km.

Last 3x5min session at altitude (on 30/06/19):
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.

Planning 60 mins easy tomorrow. Not 100% sure whether to do a time trial on race day yet... I might just do a couple of easy runs on Monday/Tuesday and then start a new cycle on Weds (fits better with the program so I can do long run on sunday).

cheers

[TheEd]

HI markco, once you return to knowing a decent race calendar it should be fun. Try to learn in advance re: tracks in your area for future training sessions or is that all know to you already

well, enjoy the altitude training before returning to sea level

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Absolutely - really looking forward to getting some races booked in and hopefully breaking those PBs set in August! In the meantime I'll be trying to make the most of the altitude training whilst I can! Not 100% sure where I'll be living yet but will try to find a track nearby as soon as I know.

Here's my recent running...

1/12/19
12.70km in 1:09:08
5:26/km
Av HR 145
Felt a bit weary towards the end of this one and tired the next day, so took a day off as precaution due to on/off cold last couple of weeks, and started the cycle on 3/12 below...

3/12/19
11.00km in 1:00:57
5:32/km
Av HR 144

4/12/19
Rested

5/12/19
8.21km in 45:05
5:28/km
Av HR 143
Decided to limit to 45 mins, to keep fresh for 2000s.

6/12/19 - 4 x 2km
Felt a pretty good session with reasonably consistent splits and the first 2km interval I've done on the program in under 9 minutes. Intervals 1 to 3 felt mostly comfortable and I found a nice rhythm from the start, getting comfortably hard in the last 0.5km. The last interval was tougher, again it comes down to the breathing - I usually try to stick to a breath in every 2 steps and out every 2 steps, however for the last 800 metres I wasn't able to control it as well and it got tougher. That said, I managed a faster last 300m at 90% effort and despite the breathing, felt strong.

Interval / time / pace / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (90 secs walking)
1 / 8:59 / 4:28 / 157 / 168 / 123
2 / 9:07 / 4:32 / 160 / 167 / 132
3 / 9:05 / 4:31 / 162 / 171 / 136
4 / 9:09 / 4:33 / 165 / 176 / 134
Av pace during intervals: 4:31/km

Previous 4x2km on 9/11/19 below for comparison:
Interval / time / pace / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (90 secs walking)
1 / 9:10 / 4:34 / 155 / 162 / 115
2 / 9:03 / 4:30 / 159 / 167 / 125
3 / 9:10 / 4:34 / 160 / 168 / 128
4 / 9:06 / 4:32 / 161 / 173 / 129
Av pace during intervals: 4:33/km

Will report back after the 1000s (remembering 60 seconds rest this time!).

cheers

[TheEd]

all looks good markco .. just to get the 1st 2k time as the last 2k time .. real improvement comes when you hit 5 x 2k .. then you move into beast mode

nice going TheEd

[MarkCo]

Thanks. Yes, I was surprised at the 1st 2k, thought I had gone out pretty conservatively! I'll get there eventually. Might try to engage beast mode and attempt the 5 x 2k next cycle, depending on how the rest of this one goes. I'll aim to get the intervals more consistent for the 6 x 1k tomorrow

7/12
Rested

8/12 (long run)
Went for a slightly more conservative pace on this one, and was still feeling great at 90 mins so carried on a bit longer! HR stayed relatively low as well.
20.0km in 1:51:07
5:33/km
Av HR 140
(actually just checked and my previous long run was 5:34/k pace for just over 16k with av HR of 150, so definite improvement this time).

9/12
Mixed things up a little as I think replacing all the 30 min runs in the program with 60 mins might be a little bit too much for me at present. Went for a shorter run at slightly over easy pace to keep it interesting. Hopefully occasionally substituting one of the 60 mins with something a bit shorter won't affect progress too much.
7.8km in 40:02
5:08/km
Av HR 150.

cheers

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

6x1km today. Dropped the recoveries at 60 seconds as discussed. I tried to get the intervals more consistent than the 2k session and was a bit closer this time (at least the first and last were almost the same!). It was a hard effort and my breathing was getting ragged in the 5th and 6th intervals, but I'm very pleased with the decent improvement in average pace, especially given the recoveries were 15 seconds less. What are you thoughts?

km / time / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (60 SECONDS)
1 / 4:18 / 160 / 166 / 133
2 / 4:15 / 161 / 172 / 138
3 / 4:11 / 164 / 173 / 145
4 / 4:18 / 167 / 174 / 151
5 / 4:15 / 168 / 176 / 149
6 / 4:20 / 168 / 184 / 149
Av. pace of intervals 4:16/km

Previous 6x1km session on 23/11/19:
km / time / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (75 SECONDS)
1 / 4:21 / 161 / 169 / 130
2 / 4:18 / 164 / 173 / 133
3 / 4:24 / 166 / 175 / 140
4 / 4:30 / 169 / 176 / 149
5 / 4:33 / 170 / 177 / 147
6 / 4:35 / 170 / 181 / 146
Av. pace of intervals 4:26/km

[TheEd]

nice session Markco .. how did you cope with the short rest, after the session, were you more tired the next day or did you recover as normal? The recovery is important, and the 1k session will get faster as you will soon adapt to the shorter rest. With the shorter rest, you get more from the session and once you running the 1k at a faster pace with the shorter rest, there should be a jump in performance

hope things are going well now

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Thanks. I felt fine after the session, a little tired and so I rested the next day, but no more tired than usual after a speed session.

12 Dec
Rested

13 Dec
10.69km in 59:35
5:34/km
Av HR 145

14 Dec
7.66km in 40:15
5:15/km
Av HR 140

15 Dec
5k pace run
(warm up 3 km @ 5:28/km, cool down 4km @ 5:26/km).

I did notice I felt a little more jaded for this 5k pace run. It's a little disappointing to be slightly slower than the previous cycle, but I think the previous cycle I pushed a bit harder (perhaps a bit too hard for the pace run?), which is evident in the heart rate data.

km / pace / Av HR
1 / 4:37 / 149
2 / 4:31 / 163
3 / 4:32 / 164
4 / 4:31 / 167
5 / 4:34 / 169
Total time: 22:52 (4:33/km)

Previous 5k pace run on 27 Nov:
km / pace / Av HR
1 / 4:36 / 158
2 / 4:32 / 165
3 / 4:26 / 168
4 / 4:29 / 169
5 / 4:28 / 171
Total time: 22:39 (4:31/km)

16 Dec
Ended up having quite a few beers the previous night (I know, not great for recovery!), so as I was a bit tired during the pace run, thought best to rest. Planning to go out today (17th) for an easy run.

cheers

[TheEd]

HI markco, don't read too much into the 5k paced .. you have moved to a new training level re: 1k session and once you get to doing 5 x 2k is when you onto a new playing field ..

all heads up

TheEd