Improving 10k time at altitude

[TheEd]

lol Markco .. I guess you would soon know how the legs respond

as long as we can keep the mind ticking over it is a good thing

good luck with the whole process

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Happily the legs were absolutely fine after the last stair jogging session, so they must have adapted quickly.

Quick update as to what I've been up to, trying to mix it up as I do find exercising indoors boring compared to running outside...

10 & 11 April
Rested both

12 April
45 mins body weight exercises and weights.
35 mins cycle machine. Have built up from 15 mins but still find this difficult!

13 April
1 hour X-trainer on easy-moderate setting (4 of 8)

14 April
Rest

15 April
Tried to roughly replicate the 2000 session but with lower intensity.
5 x 8 mins on the X-trainer at moderate setting (5 of 8), with 90 second recoveries.
No sportswatch anymore so no HR data unfortunately!!
Felt good to be doing something slightly different though.

cheers

[TheEd]

Hi markco, good to hear that all is good

hopefully things are not too hectic your side of the globe

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Thanks. Not really hectic here, the Colombian government locked down much earlier than most European countries to try to protect the health service from collapsing. Lockdown has been extended here again until 11 May and we've had our latest flights back to the UK cancelled again so still not sure when we'll be back! The GREAT news is that exercise will be allowed outside again from 27 April so after more than a month without running I can finally get back to it - can't wait! There are restrictions - males/females have alternate days they can go outside, so I'll only be able to run every other day, but not a problem as I can supplement by continuing with the X-trainer / cycle machine / body weight workouts which I've built up, and will provide a nice bit of cross training for the running which is always good anyway. Also only allowed max 1km from home, have to wear a mask (not sure how this will affect breathing yet!) and... the worst part... only allowed out for exercise between 5am and 8am! I'm not a morning person, let alone morning runner, but again good practice for racing when they finally come back.

Anyway, here's recent activity:

16 April
40 mins body weight exercises / weights

17 April
Rest

18 April
90 mins step machine in place of long run.
Noticed left step had more resistance towards the end, and when I finished saw a puddle of black oil under the machine so one of the seals must be leaking! Glad the machine gave up before I did though...

19 April
Rest

20 April
Worked out before starting today that I can still use my sportswatch, the display doesn't work at all but if I press the buttons in the right sequence it still records the session!
Body weight / resistance workout - 54 mins
Av HR 110
Max HR 159 (during last 4 mins "punisher" sets!).
Calories 456

21 April
Intervals 6 x 4 mins on X-trainer.
4 min WU and CD on setting 3/8.
Intervals on setting 6/8 with 60 secs recovery in between.

Interval / time / Max HR / Recovery heart rate (after 60 seconds rest)
WU / 4:00 / 134 / 108
1 / 4:00 / 160 / 126
2 / 4:00 / 165 / 126
3 / 4:00 / 167 / 133
4 / 4:00 / 169 / 135
5 / 4:00 / 168 / 138
6 / 4:00 / 175 / 140

Quite a hard session, I would say almost equivalent to 1000s but not quite. The HRs there are max, I couldn't set up proper intervals without the display, so no average HR! The last interval max HR reading was just a last 10 second push, otherwise the max was the same as the previous 2 intervals.

22 April
Press up workout I found on YouTube. I thought I was OK at press-ups until I tried explosive jumping, twisting, pseudo planch, and prowler ones! Got a feeling I won't be able to move my arms tomorrow :O
Finished with 40 mins easy on the cycle machine - Av HR 142, Max HR 154, Calories 540.

Will probably next report back after my first run back next week! Planning to start off with just a few easy 30-40 min jogs to get the muscles used to it again.

Hope you're keeping well and managing to keep the cobwebs away too!

cheers

[TheEd]

Hi markco, this is great to hear .. the lockdown is severe but it seems to be effective

stay well and stay safe

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Yes, the lockdown does seem to be working. It will be interesting to see what the UK government plan will be as we head into May, they are keeping their cards close to their chest at the moment! Went out for my first run in over 5 weeks this morning, a great feeling...

23 April
Rest

24 April
Approx 50 mins body weight / weights exercises. Av HR 105. Max HR 160.
30 mins Step machine. Av HR 138. Max HR 152.

25 April
Rest

26 April
19 mins intense bodyweight workout (20/10 principal - 20 seconds work, 10 second rest). Av HR 133. Max HR 161.
18 mins stair running (roughly in place of 5k pace run). 100 flights up and down. Av HR 159. Max HR 169.

27 April
RUN! 6.57km in 34:09 (5:12/km).
Av HR 154. Max HR 174 (only peaked during last couple of minutes uphill).
Felt OK, but can definitely tell the body is not used to running again - felt "rusty". Was great to be out in the fresh air though. HR higher than I thought whilst running (I can't check it until I get back as the screen on my watch is not working). Gutted to see when I got back that my estimated VO2 max has plummeted from 58 to 47!! That's what it was when I was pretty sedentary a couple of years back. However, it's only a one-off reading and may well have been affected by running early in the morning and also a couple of glasses of red wine last night, which I am not used to at the moment - have hardly drank any alcohol since lockdown started. Fingers crossed my body bounces back and "remembers" running quickly as I get a few more runs under my belt.

On a final note, we're hoping to get a repatriation flight back to the UK within the next week - fingers crossed.

Hope you're well.

cheers

[TheEd]

Hi markco, it has certainly been a strange time.

you will bounce back quite nicely, however there are no races or park runs at present, so we have to ride out the time and try to enjoy the running without stringent goals

onwards TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

I'm back in the UK, finally! Managed to get on a repatriation flight via Honduras, it took almost 24 hours door-to-door to get home, but made it in the end. It's great to be back and it really has been a pleasure running in the countryside, in glorious weather and being able to breathe so easily without being at altitude and having to wear a mask while running!!

Here's what I've been up to since my last post briefly:

29 April
Easy 7.8km in 42:27
5:26/km
Av HR 148

30 April
Approx 1 hour body weight / resistance workout

(flew back 1 May)

3 May
Easy 8.75km in 45:29
5:12/km
Av HR 148

5 May
Paced 8.74km in 40:48
4:40/km
Av HR 158
Had a real urge to run faster so did so without pushing it. Quite consistent splits, felt great.

7 May
Easy 11.36km in 57:36
5:04/km
Av HR 152
Picked pace up slightly for last 4kms. First run over 10km since 28 Feb!

8 May
Approx 1 hour body weight / resistance workout

Planning to take everything fairly easy for the next week or two whilst getting some easy miles back under my belt, and perhaps the odd pace run or milder interval session. Maybe a mini build up period, then hopefully start with a new cycle in a couple of weeks time.

cheers

[TheEd]

magic to hear you getting settled marckco

excellent .. enjoy the new relaxed environment

TheEd

[MarkCo]

Hi TheEd

Thought I'd check in and update. All seems to be going well and I feel I'm getting back into a running routine again. I've started back on the 10k program and up to day 8 today, although not been running every day - taking breaks when feeling a bit tired to aid recovery until my body is totally back up to speed.

Here's what I've been up to. All days not mentioned were rest days. It's a bit of a long post, so if you're short of time just fast forward to 23 and 26 May sessions which were the picks of the bunch.

9 May
Easy 7.06km in 36:19
5:08/km
Av. HR 144

11 May
Long-ish easy run 14.66km in 1:13:53
5:02/km
Av. HR 146

13 May
Felt like running faster again so hard-ish effort
5.23km in 22:41
4:20/km
Av. HR 161

15 May
Easy 11.49km in 58:13
5:04/km
Av. HR 146

17 May
Easy(ish) 12.77km in 1:01:51
4:51/km
Av. HR 148

19 May
NEW CYCLE DAY 1
12.40km in 1:00:01
4:50/km
Av HR 152
First run with new Garmin - got a bit carried away with feel-good factor and pace was "enthusiastic easy"

20 May
Missed today's run as feeling slightly tired and wanted to be rested for 2000s.

21 May
Set out for the 2k session with 5 intervals programmed, but left it open in my mind whether I'd do 4 or 5, given I had not done a 2k session since February and didn't want to overdo it. In the end, I was feeling quite tired in the 4th interval and it was warm and sunny, so decided to be cautious and finish after 4 intervals. Was 11 seconds per km quicker on average than my last 2k session at altitude - I was hoping to be quicker than that before the lockdown scuppered things, but given the circumstances I'm pretty happy with it as a first session back.

2km easy WU and CD.
Interval / time / pace / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (90 secs walking)
1 / 8:34 / 4:17 / 162 / 169 / 127
2 / 8:26 / 4:13 / 167 / 173 / 131
3 / 8:35 / 4:17 / 169 / 174 / 134
4 / 8:36 / 4:18 / 169 / 176 / 127
Av pace during intervals: 4:16/km

Previous 2k session on 28 Feb for comparison (at altitude):

1km easy WU and CD.
Interval / time / pace / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (90 secs walking)
1 / 8:43 / 4:20 / 157 / 163 / 122
2 / 8:55 / 4:25 / 161 / 168 / 134
3 / 8:55 / 4:26 / 166 / 171 / 140
4 / 9:04 / 4:31 / 168 / 172 / 143
5 / 9:11 / 4:34 / 170 / 177 / 139
Av pace during intervals: 4:27/km

23 May
Long run 23.33km in 1:59:59
5:09/km
Av. HR 142
This was supposed to be 1hr 30 only but I missed a couple of turnings and felt great, so carried on. Went through 1/2 mara in 1hr 48, not too bad for an easy run

24 May
Recovery 5.91km in 30:04
5:05/km
Av. HR 138
Legs a little heavy from the long run but generally felt good, HR stayed well in control.

25 May
Again decided to rest in this first cycle back, to be recovered for 1000s.

26 May
6x1km session. Given 2k session averaging 4:16/km, decided to start around 4:05/km and turn up the speed as I went if possible. Really pleased with the session, felt strong and was able to increase the pace for intervals 2, 3 and 4 then maintain that pace for 5 and 6. That altitude training is finally paying off I think - comparing to the previous session in Feb below, that is more like the difference I was hoping for between my altitude and sea level sessions. The HR is higher for this session so it looks like a harder effort, but on "feel" I would say the altitude session was harder.

2.5 km easy WU and CD
km / time / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (60 seconds walking)
1 / 4:06 / 156 / 165 / 129
2 / 4:03 / 159 / 168 / 131
3 / 4:01 / 163 / 174 / 137
4 / 3:54 / 166 / 176 / 140
5 / 3:56 / 168 / 177 / 144
6 / 3:53 / 169 / 178 / 144
Av. pace of intervals 3:59/km

Previous 6x1km session from 12 Feb for comparison:
km / time / av HR / max HR / min HR after rest (60 seconds walking)
1 / 4:18 / 153 / 160 / 123
2 / 4:22 / 155 / 165 / 127
3 / 4:20 / 158 / 168 / 135
4 / 4:23 / 161 / 171 / 140
5 / 4:25 / 163 / 171 / 142
6 / 4:22 / 164 / 177 / 142
Av. pace of intervals 4:21/km

Looking forward to the easier part of the cycle now. Will probably try a hard-ish effort 5k on race day to see how close I can get to that 20 minute mark.

cheers