So after today's run I hit 2,500 kms from Jan 1 to today. Woohoo!! My orignal goal was 2,011km as part of a 2011 challenge. When I exceed this in around the end of September I made into new territory. It's also the most running I've done in a year and builds on 2010's success of 1,767kms.
To get here I've had a successful year of relative injury free performance and a desire to be faster. It's amazing what a competitive mind can do. Running is not something where you're just competing against everyone else at the race can do, you're also competing against yourself, past and future, as well as everyone else's past and future. Complicated? If I've lost you this just means you're running for the best possible time, well if not competing to 'win' therefore your ultimate personal best is basically your lifelong work. This is mainly why older runners have regrets about slowing down - and when they accept it, they can at least compete against the age group predicted decline, as well as hope that some youngin ain't gonna beat their PB for some time.
I've had some rivalry in my family as my father was my biggest inspiration to run. He's an accomplished marathon runner with probably at least 20 under his belt, including a trip to Boston. His PB was 3:24, good enough for Boston's 3:30 for his then age group, and a challenge for me. As I was a youthful new entrant, I had some advantages, and while I could at this point beat him in the shorter races, it was around the half marathon that he could still edge me out. He had some other amazing shorter distance times and they had been milestones for me to achieve.
So concludes another great racing year. With a 3:09 under my belt this year, and a drive to get 'r done for a sub 3, we'll see what 2012 holds.
This week's workouts:
M: off
T: tempo run - 30sec/hard/30 easy x 16 + 5 hills
W: Progression run/feel good - started slow, and worked up to about a sub 4min/km pace.
T: Sick
F: Easy 8k
S: Easy 10k - working off food
S: Long distance - 10mi with a fast 5km finish
Weekly total 55kms.
This week was more of a recovery week from a hard week last
time. I also had a 24hr bug so I had to cancel one of my hard ones, but
you can always miss a few workouts.
That's all for now! This was pretty much a year in review post, next week to end the year I will look forward at 2012.
Cheers.
Monday 26 December 2011
Sunday 18 December 2011
Back to running week 3
Yay week 3!
I think one of the rules of thumb is it takes about 3 weeks to get used to something, so by finishing a 3rd week of running I am getting used to running, again. Although I've given up my weekend sleep ins, I am more happier to be hitting the road or trail than to do nothing.
So how was this week?
Mon - Easy run - just an average go out there and run it. Of course, with this awesome weather lately, it was more of a go on the treadmill and tough it out. Still, I am glad to see it becoming easier again to run your basic 10k.
Tues - An up tempo interval session. This is a 50% increase already (sounds huge!) from last week. What it actually is, is a 50% increase from 60seconds to 90 seconds at 10 mph x 10 repeats. A pretty good workout that shows me working at a fairly high end pace, but 'low enough' that I can keep doing it. To me 10mph is always been the barrier. For my goals, I really want to be above 10mph for long distances and I've always wondered the best way to break it (if you weren't born with the talent). While I can sustain something closer to 11 or a little higher for short periods of time (a few min) this seems to be a good place to train for now on my fast days. This workout also had a warmup and cooldown. Each rep has a 2min easier rest pace in between. 10mph is about a 3:44 min/km pace - pretty intense!
Note - this appears that it may one day become a Yasso 800 at 10mph - to indicate that I can run a 3 hr marathon - that would require 10x3min @ 10mph with 3min rests.
Wed -Just an easy run outdoors for 8k with a friend. Good to have someone to talk to!
Thurs - Off - holiday party is a great way to spend an evening
Fri - Make up session - two 3k up tempo sessions. I kept it at 9mph for 12:30 for each with a 1 min rest/walk between. To me the rest is probably more difficult because you need to start it up again. Needless to say, I was able to finish no problems. 9mph is a pretty decent pace. Not all out, but definitely up tempo. 9mph is about a 4:07 min/km pace. My goal pace would be about a 8.7mph pace for the marathon - a 6:53/mi or a 4:14/km.
Sat - Long day - Longest run yet - 13.1 mi/21.1km. Trail run. Thankfully a muddy trail froze over in the frigid -15c weather.... Did I mention that it was +10c on Thurs? Oh to live here... This run felt pretty good from an energy perspective, but I was wearing my winter shoes for the first time. These are trail shoes that are great for the snow as they have a gator (sp?) that gives you a nice waterproof layer over the shoe - and it's built in. I've seen mixed reviews of it, but I am a fan. Its the Saucony Razors. My feet felt like bricks, but there's some benefit to that too. Keep it slow and steady and you will get used to it.
Sun - Planned - going for a 13k run - just easy paced with a little faster (sub 5) for the last 6k. Should be nbd (no big deal).
Total kms for the week - 77.5. A little on the high side for coming back into it, but I will continue to read my body and progress at the right pace.
I think one of the rules of thumb is it takes about 3 weeks to get used to something, so by finishing a 3rd week of running I am getting used to running, again. Although I've given up my weekend sleep ins, I am more happier to be hitting the road or trail than to do nothing.
So how was this week?
Mon - Easy run - just an average go out there and run it. Of course, with this awesome weather lately, it was more of a go on the treadmill and tough it out. Still, I am glad to see it becoming easier again to run your basic 10k.
Tues - An up tempo interval session. This is a 50% increase already (sounds huge!) from last week. What it actually is, is a 50% increase from 60seconds to 90 seconds at 10 mph x 10 repeats. A pretty good workout that shows me working at a fairly high end pace, but 'low enough' that I can keep doing it. To me 10mph is always been the barrier. For my goals, I really want to be above 10mph for long distances and I've always wondered the best way to break it (if you weren't born with the talent). While I can sustain something closer to 11 or a little higher for short periods of time (a few min) this seems to be a good place to train for now on my fast days. This workout also had a warmup and cooldown. Each rep has a 2min easier rest pace in between. 10mph is about a 3:44 min/km pace - pretty intense!
Note - this appears that it may one day become a Yasso 800 at 10mph - to indicate that I can run a 3 hr marathon - that would require 10x3min @ 10mph with 3min rests.
Wed -Just an easy run outdoors for 8k with a friend. Good to have someone to talk to!
Thurs - Off - holiday party is a great way to spend an evening
Fri - Make up session - two 3k up tempo sessions. I kept it at 9mph for 12:30 for each with a 1 min rest/walk between. To me the rest is probably more difficult because you need to start it up again. Needless to say, I was able to finish no problems. 9mph is a pretty decent pace. Not all out, but definitely up tempo. 9mph is about a 4:07 min/km pace. My goal pace would be about a 8.7mph pace for the marathon - a 6:53/mi or a 4:14/km.
Sat - Long day - Longest run yet - 13.1 mi/21.1km. Trail run. Thankfully a muddy trail froze over in the frigid -15c weather.... Did I mention that it was +10c on Thurs? Oh to live here... This run felt pretty good from an energy perspective, but I was wearing my winter shoes for the first time. These are trail shoes that are great for the snow as they have a gator (sp?) that gives you a nice waterproof layer over the shoe - and it's built in. I've seen mixed reviews of it, but I am a fan. Its the Saucony Razors. My feet felt like bricks, but there's some benefit to that too. Keep it slow and steady and you will get used to it.
Sun - Planned - going for a 13k run - just easy paced with a little faster (sub 5) for the last 6k. Should be nbd (no big deal).
Total kms for the week - 77.5. A little on the high side for coming back into it, but I will continue to read my body and progress at the right pace.
Tuesday 6 December 2011
The bump post
Just bumping my blog out of oblivion. I didn't really forget about it, I just haven't been running much lately.
So now it brings me to today. I am again training. This is still a rebuilding phase but my training is starting to pick up. I appreciate that I really didn't lose too much fitness over my month off - still can run for over an hour, and still can dish out the speed when needed, and my weight was pretty stable.
My training now is designed to build up my base. I think I'm looking at around 50-60 kms per week of old school stuff (back to varsity style training). A few base aerobic runs per week, plus 2 speed workouts, a long distance/over distance run, a day for cross training and a day off.
So far its been as follows:
Sun - Long distance - 17k. I cut 1km short because the route went past my condo - can you blame me? It was a pretty decent workout at a 5:10 pace for about the first 10k, followed by a gradual pickup to some 4:45 pace work, with one fast 4:15 down a major hill. Overall average - 4:58.
Mon - 10k aerobic run - just going for a certain pace at a mid-level effort. I set the treadmill to an incline of 1, and warmed up for a couple min, followed by a quick progression to 8mph / 7:30/mi or 4:39 pace. My foot pod was telling me 4:47 so I was going with that. It's hard to say which was the accurate one, but both were being consistent, which is what you really want. My splits were 5:01, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:45, 4:45, 4:45. Average HR 160 bpm, but it was creeping up to 164-165 by the last few kms.
No problems from the Achilles tendon which is great - just a little sore in the front from increasing the use.
So now it brings me to today. I am again training. This is still a rebuilding phase but my training is starting to pick up. I appreciate that I really didn't lose too much fitness over my month off - still can run for over an hour, and still can dish out the speed when needed, and my weight was pretty stable.
My training now is designed to build up my base. I think I'm looking at around 50-60 kms per week of old school stuff (back to varsity style training). A few base aerobic runs per week, plus 2 speed workouts, a long distance/over distance run, a day for cross training and a day off.
So far its been as follows:
Sun - Long distance - 17k. I cut 1km short because the route went past my condo - can you blame me? It was a pretty decent workout at a 5:10 pace for about the first 10k, followed by a gradual pickup to some 4:45 pace work, with one fast 4:15 down a major hill. Overall average - 4:58.
Mon - 10k aerobic run - just going for a certain pace at a mid-level effort. I set the treadmill to an incline of 1, and warmed up for a couple min, followed by a quick progression to 8mph / 7:30/mi or 4:39 pace. My foot pod was telling me 4:47 so I was going with that. It's hard to say which was the accurate one, but both were being consistent, which is what you really want. My splits were 5:01, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:45, 4:45, 4:45. Average HR 160 bpm, but it was creeping up to 164-165 by the last few kms.
No problems from the Achilles tendon which is great - just a little sore in the front from increasing the use.
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