Sunday, 23 June 2013

Emmet: June 17th - June 23rd

Holidays gave me plenty of time but nothing to do so I decided to test my capabilities this week and came up trumps in a sense.

Originally I had planned a build on Monday & although this increased a little bit i decided not to do what I had originally planned.
The more I thought about it I realised it is my longest run that will help me most so i decided to aim for an increase on Friday instead.

This week I've peaked in a sense that I've never ran 50 miles in a week ever before.
Although I've hit 50 miles this week it was my plan to reach 50 miles 12 weeks before Amsterdam.
It's a great feeling to have hit 50 miles {mentally} so at least now i know I'm capable of doing so but from next week on I aim to do it right {i.e. Monday's medium long run & Friday's long run need to hit the right targets}.

Still all in all a very productive week.

Below is my training for this week:

Monday: 7 miles @ 8:09 pace (General)
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 8:22 pace (General) A.M.
3.04 miles @ 8:29 pace (Recovery) P.M.
Wednesday: 5 miles @ 8:52 pace (General)
Thursday: 3.05 miles @ 8:48 pace (General) A.M.
3.00 miles @ 9:21 pace (Recovery) P.M.
Friday: 20 miles @ 8:49 pace (Long Run)
Saturday: 5 miles @ 8:50 pace (Recovery)

Total weeks Mileage: 50.11 miles.
Increase on previous week: 12.89 miles.

Keith: June 17th - June 23rd

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." - Thomas Jefferson.

Though there is a certain amount of luck required to run your best marathon on any given day, in reality you make your own luck by putting in the work beforehand. It really is as simple as that.

Mon: 24.04m easy
Tues: am: jog with 6 x {15 stride, 45s jog} - 8.16m
pm: 3m warm-up, then 12m progressive tempo (avg 85%) - 6:03 per mile, short cool-down (15.58m)
Wed: rest.
Thurs: am: 1m jog, 1m easy, 9.77m steady (11.77m)
pm: 8.14m jog
Fri: am: jog with 10 x {15 stride, 45s jog} - 8.21m
pm: 3.2m warm-up, 5 x {5mins @ LT  / 5mins steady - 5:30 and 7:00 per mile average respectively}, 3.2m easy (14.54m)
Sat: Progressive - 2m jog, 5m easy, 3.6m steady (10.6m)
Sun: 3m warm-up, 6m @ 5:46 per mile (estimated current Marathon Pace), 3m+ cool-down (12.37m)

Total: 113.41

Another solid week.

Tuesday's tempo was mildly progressive. The first 2m were @ 80%, the next 8m @ 85%, and the last 2m @ 90% (5:50 per mile). All in all, it felt good, despite it being quite muggy.

On Wednesday I had my latest osteo treatment, and, as has happened before, due to the manipulations, my legs felt very heavy and stiff over the following days (was like this until after Saturday's run). Due to the initial stiffness I took Wednesday as my rest day this week. The good news is, though, that I'm apparently almost back to normal (at least in that respect :-) ).

Friday's session was looking to work between 10m-HM effort and to get the body used to recovering at a pace quicker than a jog. Today, with my first attempt at this type of run and I was quite pleased with how it went, especially as I was still stiff from Wednesday. Over time, as this becomes more marathon specific the quicker section will become closer to marathon effort and the steady section will also get quite a bit quicker.

Come Sunday morning, I decided to do something I usually don't and ran to pace. I had estimated, based on the other effort runs during the week that current Marathon Pace was about 5:46 per mile. This pace felt about right for marathon effort, despite it being a bit windy and that I was wearing a little extra clothing.

With 17 weeks to go I feel like I'm getting things lined up nicely for a very good end result.

Sunday, 16 June 2013

Keith: June 10th - June 16th

Top athletes, and top coaches, MUST HAVE THE MENTALITY OF AN EXPLORER : they have to go in a DARK AREA, still unknown, in order to give new stimula for overtaking their current limits. With a conservative training there is no stimula, and at the end there is no training - Renato Canova (Italian coach of a multitude of top, mainly Kenyan, runners).

Ok, first things first. This week was supposed to be week two of my 'hill' phase, however I had a bad reaction after the first session, the previous Friday, as my back stiffened up after it, and it was still affecting me up until I managed to loosen it off during Tuesday's 80% run (see the linked explanation of paces: http://russells-vs-amsterdam.blogspot.com/2013/06/keith-training-paces.html).

The end result was I had to rethink my plans for the next couple of weeks as I can't afford the possibility of loosing time or getting injured from it.

Monday: 23.06m easy.
Tuesday: am: 8.19m jog with 6 x {15s stride, 45s jog}.
pm: 20mins warm-up, then 12m @ 80% on a mildly undulating loop (6:12 per mile), 5mins cool-down (15.22m)
Wednesday: 20.12m jog.
Thursday: am: 8.22m jog.
pm: 3m warm-up, then 3 x 3mins 'fast'/3mins steady, then, on a treadmill: 3m/2.5m/2m tempo with 0.5m jog recoveries on a treadmill, cool-down (15.71m).
Friday: am: 5m jog, 2m easy, 3m jog (10.08m).
pm: 6.62m jog.
Saturday: 3m jog, 10.24m steady (6:34 per mile) - (13.24m).
Sunday: off.

Total: 120.43m

So, a good weekly volume. On it's own the biggest mileage I've done in years, however....... the swap of rest day from Saturday to Sunday (Father's Day lie-in :-) ), meant that I ran for 7 consecutive days (i.e. including the previous Sunday), for a total mileage of 133.99m, which is up there with some of the biggest weeks I used to hit before my knee accident over 3 years ago.

I was particularly pleased as I seemed to get stronger as the week progressed, and, indeed, I have been feeling stronger week on week (bar the food poisoning week) for the last few weeks which bodes very well for when I get to doing the 'proper' work for Amsterdam in about 10 weeks time.

Tuesday's 80% run was pleasing. It was very smooth despite the stiffness in my back and the pace was more than acceptable for the fact that it was both windy and quite humid.

For Thursday's workout the initial plan had been for 10-12 x {3mins @ 10k-HM effort / 3mins steady}, but the wind was so ridiculous (mid 20mph range with gusts in the high 40mph range) and affecting the quicker running so much that when I was passing home at the end of the 3rd quick rep I decided to go in and get on the treadmill to be able to get some effort in without being buffeted by the wind.
I then proceeded to run:
3m @ 10.6mph (16:59 - 5:40 per mile), 1/2m jog,
2.5m @ 10.7mph (14:01 - 5:36 per mile), 1/2m jog,
2m @ 10.8mph (11:07 - 5:33 per mile).

Overall, including the original 3 x 3mins, the quicker running added up to 9.08m @ an average of 5:38 per mile, which is probably about current Half Marathon effort. Basically one big-ass session!

Recovery from it was good though, as indicated by the steady portion on Saturday morning feeling nice and relaxed.

All in all a pleasing week. As the quote indicates, sometimes you have to be willing to take a chance to improve. Though I have done this mileage, and more, in a 7 day span previously (personal highest weekly/7-day mileage is 148m), it exceeds my biggest week since my knee problems in early 2010 by over 15m.

Add in the large treadmill session at the end of the week and I take it's safe to say I have begun to regain my mentality to explore my body and it's limits. Additionally, being several years older, and more experienced, I think I have the perfect balance as I now have a very good understanding of what my body tells me in reaction to what I ask it to do and it should allow me to work harder and get the best result I can (longer-term, not just Amsterdam) from whatever small amount of talent I have.

Emmet: June 10th - June 16th

"Miles make champions, not speed" Arthur Lydiard.

After the few previous good weeks training I decided that I needed to start a building plan to capitalise on this.

Main points over the next few weeks is to build Mondays and Fridays runs to 13 & 23 miles respectively.

This week started with a build on Monday.

Below is my training for this week:

Monday: 6.2 miles @ 9:13 pace (general)
Tuesday: 4.16 miles @ 7:43 pace (tempo)
Wednesday: 3.03 miles @ 9.08 pace (recovery)
Thursday: 3.26 miles @ 8:38 pace (general)
Friday: 16.56 miles @ 8:36 pace (long run)
Saturday: 4.01 miles @ 7:59 pace
Sunday: off

Total weeks training: 37.22 miles.

Increase on previous week: 2 miles.

The build is on

Sunday, 9 June 2013

Emmet: June 3rd - June 9th

After the previous weeks training went to plan I hoped to emulate it as I hope every week to do so yet rarely see it come to fruition.
This week was one of these weeks!!
And to do it in the temperatures of 20°C and above was an extra bonus.

Some training I have now hopefully set in stone for distance and pace{roughly} is Tuesday-Thursday's & Saturday's.
This mileage will never change but paces may increase slightly.

At least now my main focus is to build a Monday medium long run to 13 miles & my main long run day on Friday to be built to 23 miles.

Below is my training for this week:

Monday: 4.03 miles @ 8:03 pace (tempo)
Tuesday: 4.02 miles @ 8:50 pace (recovery)
Wednesday: 3.12 miles @ 8:35 pace (general)
Thursday: 3.10 miles @ 9:14 pace (recovery)
Friday: 10.00 miles @ 8:35 pace (medium/long a.m.)
P.m. Runs: 1 mile @ 8:29 pace (warm-up), 5miles @ 7:21 pace (tempo/local race), 1 mile @ 9:15 pace (warm-down)
Saturday: 4 miles @ 9:27 pace (recovery).

Total weeks mileage: 35.27 miles
Total days running: 6 days.

Keith: June 3rd - June 9th

"Hills are the shortcut to success" - Arthur Lydiard.

I have now started the hill phase of my training (in so much as you can say that one hill session a week makes it a phase). My plan for Amsterdam is to simply do one hill session a week for 7 weeks (along with other efforts). In future build-ups I will increase the number of hill sessions per week and reduce the period I do them over, as well as increasing the intensity within each session as well, but it is something I want to do in a very controlled manner.

Monday: 13.15m very easy.
Tuesday: am: 8.19m jog.
pm: 3m easy, 10m hilly and steady (6:36 per mile), 2m easy (15.05m).
Wednesday: am: 6m jog.
pm: 17.07m easy, mildly progressive.
Thursday: am: 8.24m jog.
pm: 3.5m easy, 3m tempo (5:37 per mile), cool-down (8.77m).
Friday: am: 4m+ jog, then 4 x {280m uphill, turnaround jog, 280m downhill, turnaround jog}, cool-down (7.53m).
pm: 5.5m warm-up, then 6 x {0.22m uphill, 0.28m jog, 0.22m downhill, 0.23m jog}, cool-down (14.33m).
Saturday: rest day.
Sunday: 5m jog-easy, then 8.56m progressive steady - last 1.5m close to marathon effort (13.56m).

Total: 111.89m.

I started off the week quite easily as I was still feeling the effects of the food poisoning, so what should have been a long run on Monday was simply a medium and what should have been 10m @ close to Mara effort on Tuesday was kept to a steady effort instead.

Thursday's tempo effort would have been a time-trial effort if I felt good, but as I didn't..... The pace of the tempo showed continued caution was the right call because I would have expected to hit closer to 5:30 per mile for the effort, though the heat, wind and poor choice of course for the tempo (twisty, etc) would have accounted for some of the slowness, but my legs definitely were still not right.

Friday again, because of not being fully recovered, I split the session in two. This is my (current) variation of the Lydiard hill session. Going uphill the focus was on maintaining good form and a decent knee lift, whereas going downhill the focus was on striding out and getting a decent leg turnover.
This was good fun, and in the afternoon I was definitely feeling a bit better than on the previous day's tempo, though still a bit away from 100%. I covered ~4m of hill efforts across the day (obviously split evenly between uphill and downhill).

All being well, next week should see some better quality sessions and a little more mileage, so, fingers crossed!

I shall also blog at some stage, separately, on training paces, for two reasons - firstly, I have had some questions on training paces, and, secondly, with 19 weeks to go, my training will become more structured from now until Amsterdam, and I tend to use terms of effort, rather than race pace.

Monday, 3 June 2013

Keith: May 27th - June 2nd

So after having a good week last week I was looking forward to following it up with another one this week.......

And then I made the mistake of getting a takeaway which included some free food poisoning.....

Monday: am: 11.3m jog
pm: nothing - away for the whole day (bank holiday).
Tuesday: am: 8.19m jog.
pm: 13.47m easy - cut short as the effects of the food poisoning began to kick in with a vengeance.
Wednesday: off.
Thursday: off.
Friday: off.
Saturday: 6.15m easy.
Sunday: 9.22m progressive from jog to steady.

Total: 48.33m.

A few days of no running and I'm close to being back to normal, but still not feeling 100% so the next few days will be very much a case of play by ear. It's just as well there are still another 20 weeks to go to Amsterdam!

Emmet: May 27th - June 2nd

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail - 'Benjamin Franklin'.

Previous weeks have seen slight increases in mileage and my own general training. This week I've decided my goal was to get a week of my original plan completed.

It took a bit of extra effort and because of the weather being so changeable an extra dose of strong mentality (for me).

Below is my training for this week:

Monday: 4.03 miles @ 8:41 pace (recovery from previous Sunday)
Tuesday: 3.01 miles @ 9:55 pace ( still very slow but legs still felt a little tired from previous week so thought the need to keep it simple and think longer term)
Wednesday: 3.06 miles @ 8:34 pace (minimal tightness, back to some form of normality).
Thursday: 3.03 miles @ 8:06 pace.
Friday: Long run 13.00 miles @ 8:52 pace.
Saturday: Off
Sunday: 4.01 miles @ 8:17 pace.
Total mileage this week: 30.14 miles.
Total mileage with Aoife: 1mile.

Very productive week, midweek runs are low but steady and at the moment am happy with that, although the aim is to constantly increase my long run then start the focus on decreasing my long run time each week when I get to a constant level of long runs.