37.30 Program

[RobS]

Hi The Ed,

The x-country was a strange one, I ran well enough and finished in a similar position to the first race back in November which hopefully means the fitness is back on track, but the competitive person inside feels a little gutted to have 4 team mates finish ahead.

On with the program. The days following were strangely easy, didn't feel tired and the pace felt so easy (with the hr remaining 65-70%) so this can only be taken as a good sign.

Sessions:

2k: 7.15, 7.18, 7.13, 7.21, 7.12
Long run: 16 miles @150 avg hr
1k: 3.30, 3.30, 3.28, 3.32, 3.37, 3.32

I decided to up the pace slightly and see how things went. I was only aiming for 7.20-7.25 for the 2k session but things just felt right and it wasn't really much of a struggle. I could have done another lap if not two more.

The long run was on Sunday again (day 6, day 4 & 5 rest day) and was just over 2 hours to help with the 1/2 marathon coming up, it also felt easy and I could have done more. Legs tired the next day but to be expected. Only did 30 mins on the Monday to help recovery before the 1k.

By the time the 1k session came round I was still feeling tired but gave it my all. It was very tough, much tougher than the 2k session (strange how these have swapped around in perceived effort - can only mean the speed stamina is improving) and the last 2 were almost 100% effort I would say and no chance of doing any more.

All in all very pleasing and on we go to the half marathon on 05th March - I will be doing another 12-14 miler this Sunday instead of the 60 mins.

Cheers!
Rob

[TheEd]

Rob, makes for great reading and to truthful, I would not recommend a run further than 10k on Sunday

rather go into the half feeling fresh and not trying to recover during next week

all the best

:jive:

TheEd

[RobS]

Hi TheEd,

Hope all is well with yourself and the Time-to-run community!

I'll try to keep it brief. I took your advice and only did maybe 6 or 7 miles on the Sunday, but that followed a very disappointing paced 5k which ended up at 20 mins, there was just nothing there. I couldn't do the half marathon on the 05th in the end due to other commitments so I decided to repeat week 3 and look for a race on the weekend. I couldn't find a suitable one to opted for a park run at full race pace, ended up with 18.35 so reasonably pleased just cant seem to improve the 5k pace at the moment.

Started a fresh program, with the following sessions:

2k: 7.13, 7.09, 7.15, 7.14, 7.16
Long run: 17.3 miles @147 avg hr
1k: 3.30, 3.28, 3.32, 3.29, 3.36, 3.30

Again the 2k felt good, the long run was easy and enjoyable although maybe a tad too far for my needs and the 1k was painful - was still tired and felt sluggish but pleased with the session as a whole.

It looks like the race day (02nd April) will be a 5k as part of a team road relay - Would have preferred to test out a 10k but we'll see how it goes.

[TheEd]

good to see you moving in a positive direction and with Spring upon us, you may find things start working out better again

onwards

TheEd

[RobS]

Hi TheEd,

I hope that you are family are keeping well during this difficult time.

It has been a few years since I was last on these forums, as you can probably tell from the last posts we shared.

A very brief history, Married May 2016, Child 1 April 2017, Child 2 June 2019, not much running and a whole lot less sleep!

Finding time to run and run consistently has been difficult and of course family has now taken priority, there had been some spells of a month or 2 where I've manged to run a few times a week (either to work or home from work) but I had a breakthrough back in January 2020 where I started to run to and from work consistently on pretty much the same route (2.5 miles) and early March had nailed it almost everyday. The runs were steady and just enjoyed getting some consistency back. I was ill end of March and I'll never really know what it was but it knocked me off my feet for a full week and then 2 weeks of being very tired, which just about coincided with lockdown here in the UK.

Then pretty much no running through working from home until July when started working from the office again. Since then its been pretty much the same running to and from work, 2.5 miles easy each way for a total of 5 for the day on average, trying to build up the consistency and the past couple of months its kicked in as I'm running faster, easier and it's very enjoyable! I'll hit 100 miles in October. I've even started an evening run with friends to get in a good hour each week. I feel the frequency of the running has helped bring the fitness back rather than the effort or the mileage.

I would like to target some races but as none really happening and park run off the tables I will just keep going with current schedule and see what happens in the new year, but I would like to start some speed work. I cannot fit in anything like what I was doing before so I am going to incorporate some smaller versions of the 2k, 1k and 400 sessions as and when I can.

I will of course be starting out slowly and just see where things go!

Thanks!

[TheEd]

wow Rob, I seemed to miss this post

how things now?

TheEd

[RobS]

Hi TheEd,

I figured you may have missed it and looking at other threads the notifications may not have been working so I wasn't sure what to do, but here we are now!

I have pretty much kept going with the same 2 runs, missed some here and there as the norm, and unfortunately the longer Thursday run has stopped for the Winter and with lockdown.

I was thinking that hopefully we could come up with a plan, all be it based on the limited time I have - Perhaps not a 10k plan, but rather a 5k plan, hopefully this would be achievable without having to commit to long runs over an hour.

What could work with the 2 daily sessions (~20 mins atm, but could potentially increase some to 40 mins).

Thanks!
Rob

[TheEd]

Hi Rob, great to have you running at least

the 5k plan can be developed using the 10k framework with longest run 1hr

lower the 2k session to 3 x 2k maintain the 90 second rest and every 2nd cycle we vary the 2k session

and then look to do a few closer towards 1500m type sessions

you can run every 2nd day and build up as you feel

chat more about routine

TheEd

[RobS]

Hi TheEd,

Hope you are well.
With the most recent lockdown in the UK and working from home the running took a backseat, but now I'm back to it.
Currently only have a few weeks completed, building up the miles doing a morning and evening run (to and from work) about 20 mins (2.5 miles) each, nothing fast.
I feel running this often has helped get back to fitness quicker and "touch wood" has not caused any injuries.
I think I will get a good month of running done first before starting any program but when I do you mentioned running every other day - I would like to stick to something similar as what I'm currently doing as the runs to and from work are the best time for me to fit them in but appreciate this may not be the best method if starting serious training.
Looking at a 5KM plan, how does the following seem? (knocking it back to the 45 minute 10k program for timings/pace etc). Changing day 1 to a Sunday.

01 SUN 30 mins easy run (AM)
02 MON 20 mins (AM) + 20 mins (PM) very easy
03 TUE 3x2k R90 8.20 (4.10 per k) T (AM)
04 WED Rest
05 THU 1 hour run
06 FRI 20 mins (AM) + 20 mins (PM) (Optional)
07 SAT REST or 30 mins easy run
08 SUN REST
09 MON 6x1k R60 4.00- 4.10 L (AM)
10 TUE 20 mins (AM) + 20 mins (PM) very easy
11 WED Rest
12 THU 5K paced run – aim sub 21:00 5k (AM)
13 FRI 20 mins (AM) + 20 mins (PM) very easy
14 SAT REST or 30 mins easy run (either or above)
15 SUN REST or 30 mins easy run (either or above)
16 MON 10 x 400m R 60 400/90sec – no faster P (AM)
17 TUE 20 mins (AM) + 20 mins (PM) very easy
18 WED 6x1min fast with 1min slow – 1min @ Race Pace F (AM)
19 THU 20 mins (AM) + 20 mins (PM)
20 FRI REST
21 SAT RACE - Likely a Parkrun 5K

Thanks.
Rob

[TheEd]

Great to have you back Rob

your planned routine looks good

just be aware of not going too quickly when you do the paced 5k, as you may feel good on that day and land up hitting that too hard

so with that said ... enjoy

TheEd
ps.. looking forward to the feedback