The plan this week was for a cut-back week, but I was struggling with the heat in a big way. I couldn't quite figure out why I was having so much trouble with it until a comment from a friend about pollen levels made me realise that I hadn't been using my asthma inhaler over the last while. I started using the inhaler as a pre-emptive measure, and sure enough the next run was much better.
Unfortunately it was a case of too little too late as the next day I suffered probably the biggest asthma attack I have had since I was diagnosed. I suspect this was partially cumulative but also partially triggered by some maximal effort (see below).
Monday: 8.3m easy.
Tuesday: am: 5m+ easy, 4m Time Trial (21:22), 1m easy.
pm: 6.05m easy.
Wednesday: 13.18m jog.
Thursday: 14.42m steady / pm: 750m bike sprint.
Friday: 6.15m steady - aborted 1m effort after about 350m.
Saturday: 2.04m jog.
Sunday: off.
Total: 60.25m.
So Tuesday's time trial was supposed to be around 10m race effort, but it may well have been a touch quicker. Either way it was still a good effort, especially as the route included two decent hill climbs.
On Thursday we had Wattbikes in work as part of our work sponsorship of the RideLondon event with a 750m sprint challenge. As it was all for a bit of fun I decided to have a go, despite being about as far away from possessing a fast twitch fibre as it is possible to be. I guess having a go shortly after a 14m+ steady run was never going to make for a fast time, however even at that it was still particularly slow. At the same time, there was no faulting my effort as I pushed quite hard.
In hindsight, probably a bit too hard. The next morning I planned to do another test effort - 1m hard, however it was obvious straightaway that I was immediately struggling to move properly as my chest got tighter and tighter. I shut down and finished up.
As the day progressed things simply got worse and worse and I ended up with, as mentioned, probably the biggest asthma problems I've had since I was first diagnosed.
Saturday morning showed things were no better so I turned around just after the mile mark and came home.
I will be one of those looking for a change in the weather over the next week or so to hopefully help me get back to normal, but better to encounter these problems now than in a few weeks time.
Monday, 22 July 2013
Emmet: July 15 - July 21st
Similar to last week the hot weather continued & I started to feel it just a little bit more.
Overall my weeks mileage is pretty similar to last week although it is a little bit less productive with no long run & a failed attempt @ a high tempo pace half marathon distance due to the weather being too hot and what felt like lack of power in the legs.
Hopefully the weather will cool a little bit next week to allow for more productive mileage and a bigger increase.
Monday:5.1 miles @ 8:54 pace {general}
Tuesday: Off.
Wednesday:10.31 miles @ 8:19 pace {Tempo}
Thursday: 5.00 miles @ 8:27 pace {general}
Friday: 6.00 miles @ 8:19 pace {general}
Saturday: 8.05 miles @ 8:29 pace {general}
Sunday: 5.76 miles @ 8:37 pace {recovery}.
Total Mileage: 40.24 Miles.
Overall my weeks mileage is pretty similar to last week although it is a little bit less productive with no long run & a failed attempt @ a high tempo pace half marathon distance due to the weather being too hot and what felt like lack of power in the legs.
Hopefully the weather will cool a little bit next week to allow for more productive mileage and a bigger increase.
Monday:5.1 miles @ 8:54 pace {general}
Tuesday: Off.
Wednesday:10.31 miles @ 8:19 pace {Tempo}
Thursday: 5.00 miles @ 8:27 pace {general}
Friday: 6.00 miles @ 8:19 pace {general}
Saturday: 8.05 miles @ 8:29 pace {general}
Sunday: 5.76 miles @ 8:37 pace {recovery}.
Total Mileage: 40.24 Miles.
Monday, 15 July 2013
Emmet: July 8th - July 14th
Very hot week & living in Ireland never helps our capabilities but with a good plan in order I managed on Friday my longest run of the year so far. Left at 7.40 am, 3 water stations, 23 miles & 21°c later it was done.
Although the complete tiredness of the legs never allowed me a recovery so had to rest all weekend.
All in all still pleased with this week.
Below is my training for the week:
Monday: 7 miles @ 8:20 pace (general)
Tuesday: 7 miles @ 8:31 pace (general)
Wednesday: 6 miles @ 8:28 pace (general)
Thursday: Off.
Friday: 23 miles @ 8:59 pace (long run)
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Total mileage: 42.15 miles.
Although the complete tiredness of the legs never allowed me a recovery so had to rest all weekend.
All in all still pleased with this week.
Below is my training for the week:
Monday: 7 miles @ 8:20 pace (general)
Tuesday: 7 miles @ 8:31 pace (general)
Wednesday: 6 miles @ 8:28 pace (general)
Thursday: Off.
Friday: 23 miles @ 8:59 pace (long run)
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Total mileage: 42.15 miles.
Keith: July 8th - July 14th.
"I train for good luck" - Arturo Barrios
Monday: 3m easy, 13m progressive @ 80% (6:12 per mile), 5.17m steady - 21.17m.
Tuesday: am: 7.2m steady, 2.91m tempo (5:33 per mile) - 10.11m.
pm: 6.12m easy.
Wednesday: 15.28m steady.
Thursday: am: 4m+ easy, then 8 x {340m+ fast, 340m+ jog}, ~2.7m steady - 10.27m.
pm: 6.15m easy.
Friday: 6.18m jog/easy.
Saturday: 20mins warm-up, then 3 x {10mins @ Half-Mara effort, 3mins recs}, cool-down - 10.43m.
Sunday: 1m easy, 3m steady, 6m @ 80% (6:06 per mile), 2.57m @ 90% (5:46 per mile) - 12.57m.
Total: 98.28m.
I wanted some quicker running during Monday's long run again, as per last week. I started outdoors, but quickly realised that the heat of the day was not conducive to quicker running. At this stage I decided to divert to home and use the treadmill based on the logic that I could have as much water as I needed to hand, plus I could sponge myself down if I got too hot.
As it happened, I completely forgot to take into account that, as our treadmill is situated in the conservatory, it is incredibly humid, and it's location means that it gets the main heat right throughout the day, but magnified.
All in all, I'm sure that it will count as good heat training/acclimatisation!
As the week progressed, I kept with my aim to get either a little bit of effort or an endurance run in most days, with a good finish to Tuesday morning's run, and then a very pleasing set of grass reps on Thursday morning.
The reason for the random distance is because I used some local playing fields and was working on a 'run one, jog one' approach, so half of the field comes in at just over 340m.
I executed them with very good control (which is not to say that I wasn't running hard, as I was), and the equivalents splits for 400m would have been about 68s, 67s and then the rest at 66s, bar one @ 65s.
A family day trip with a late finish on Friday meant I left my planned session until Saturday morning instead, which, despite the accumulated fatigue from the last two weeks of quicker paced running, went quite well again. The 10min reps started on the road, and then progressed to grass, where the surface, as it always does (at least for me), meant a slight slowing in pace for effort, but, particularly at this stage, it is the effort that is important.
Sunday then saw a solid finish to the week, with my legs responding quite well when I looked to wind up the pace a little.
This week the mileage is a bit lower, but still within what I consider my optimal range (see last week's post), but that was deliberate as I fine tune what I can do with that optimal mileage range.
My average pace has dropped from 7:26 per mile for June, to 6:54 per mile last week, and 6:44 per mile this week, and I feel better and more lively for it, which fits with my experimentations over the last few years.
However, I know that I need to have a down week occasionally as well, especially as I return to this more steady general running, so am trying a 2 weeks up, 1 week down, approach. The down week will not, necessarily, see any less volume, but will see a sizeable reduction in intensity.
The first two weeks of this approach have been quite pleasing as I have approached it in a progressive manner, rather than just 'dropping' it on my body and expecting it to adjust. Last week, out of 102.9m, just under 21m of it was quicker running, and the rest was steady or easy. This week, just under 32m was quicker running, with ~10m of that averaging 5:22 per mile, and the other (just under) 22m of quicker running being more marathon specific.
In future weeks I would hope to see the volume of quicker running pick up a bit more until I reach the optimal level of quality to go with my optimal level of quantity, but, as with everything, progress will be dictated by how my body responds.
Certainly though, it is a good start to the change in training approach.
Monday: 3m easy, 13m progressive @ 80% (6:12 per mile), 5.17m steady - 21.17m.
Tuesday: am: 7.2m steady, 2.91m tempo (5:33 per mile) - 10.11m.
pm: 6.12m easy.
Wednesday: 15.28m steady.
Thursday: am: 4m+ easy, then 8 x {340m+ fast, 340m+ jog}, ~2.7m steady - 10.27m.
pm: 6.15m easy.
Friday: 6.18m jog/easy.
Saturday: 20mins warm-up, then 3 x {10mins @ Half-Mara effort, 3mins recs}, cool-down - 10.43m.
Sunday: 1m easy, 3m steady, 6m @ 80% (6:06 per mile), 2.57m @ 90% (5:46 per mile) - 12.57m.
Total: 98.28m.
I wanted some quicker running during Monday's long run again, as per last week. I started outdoors, but quickly realised that the heat of the day was not conducive to quicker running. At this stage I decided to divert to home and use the treadmill based on the logic that I could have as much water as I needed to hand, plus I could sponge myself down if I got too hot.
As it happened, I completely forgot to take into account that, as our treadmill is situated in the conservatory, it is incredibly humid, and it's location means that it gets the main heat right throughout the day, but magnified.
All in all, I'm sure that it will count as good heat training/acclimatisation!
As the week progressed, I kept with my aim to get either a little bit of effort or an endurance run in most days, with a good finish to Tuesday morning's run, and then a very pleasing set of grass reps on Thursday morning.
The reason for the random distance is because I used some local playing fields and was working on a 'run one, jog one' approach, so half of the field comes in at just over 340m.
I executed them with very good control (which is not to say that I wasn't running hard, as I was), and the equivalents splits for 400m would have been about 68s, 67s and then the rest at 66s, bar one @ 65s.
A family day trip with a late finish on Friday meant I left my planned session until Saturday morning instead, which, despite the accumulated fatigue from the last two weeks of quicker paced running, went quite well again. The 10min reps started on the road, and then progressed to grass, where the surface, as it always does (at least for me), meant a slight slowing in pace for effort, but, particularly at this stage, it is the effort that is important.
Sunday then saw a solid finish to the week, with my legs responding quite well when I looked to wind up the pace a little.
This week the mileage is a bit lower, but still within what I consider my optimal range (see last week's post), but that was deliberate as I fine tune what I can do with that optimal mileage range.
My average pace has dropped from 7:26 per mile for June, to 6:54 per mile last week, and 6:44 per mile this week, and I feel better and more lively for it, which fits with my experimentations over the last few years.
However, I know that I need to have a down week occasionally as well, especially as I return to this more steady general running, so am trying a 2 weeks up, 1 week down, approach. The down week will not, necessarily, see any less volume, but will see a sizeable reduction in intensity.
The first two weeks of this approach have been quite pleasing as I have approached it in a progressive manner, rather than just 'dropping' it on my body and expecting it to adjust. Last week, out of 102.9m, just under 21m of it was quicker running, and the rest was steady or easy. This week, just under 32m was quicker running, with ~10m of that averaging 5:22 per mile, and the other (just under) 22m of quicker running being more marathon specific.
In future weeks I would hope to see the volume of quicker running pick up a bit more until I reach the optimal level of quality to go with my optimal level of quantity, but, as with everything, progress will be dictated by how my body responds.
Certainly though, it is a good start to the change in training approach.
Monday, 8 July 2013
Keith: July 1st - July 7th
"You find out by trial and error what the optimal level of training is. If I found I was training too hard, I would drop it back for a day or two. I didn't run for five days before the sub-four-minute mile." - Sir Roger Bannister
Monday: 5 easy, 5 steady, 10.21m @ 6:19 per mile (20.21m).
Tuesday: am: progressive steady surging any uphills - 1st 5m @ 7:00, last 5.12m @ 6:28 (10.12m).
pm: 6.07m easy.
Wednesday: am: ~4m easy, 2m Time Trial, 2m jog, 6 x ~420m hills (with jog down recoveries) @ 5k-5m effort, 5m steady, 1m+ easy (17.52m).
pm: 2m jog, 3.18m easy (5.18m).
Thursday: pm: Steady run, surging the uphills @ ~ Half Mara effort - 8 hills for 2m+ (10.53m).
Friday: am: easy with 6 x {15s stride / 45s float} (6.19m).
pm: Progressive from easy to steady with 3 longer pickups totalling 2.18m @ 5:46 per mile - hot! (13.5m).
Saturday: rest.
Sunday: 13.58m progressive steady - last 1.58m @ 5:58 per mile.
Total: 102.9m.
This was a good solid week with some form of quicker running every day. In all honesty, this is possibly the best I have ever felt at the end of a 100m+ week.
The only thing really missing was a longer reps session, which was what I had originally planned for Friday, but between the heat in the afternoon and feeling a bit tired (lack of sleep) it was better to just leave it. Ideally next week will see similar, but with the addition of some longer reps.
Wednesday's 2m Time Trial was at ~5km race effort and I was pleased to hit 10:20 for it (5:10 per mile - equivalent to a 16:03 5km). For me, given my conversion to marathon from the shorter distances, that means I'm pretty much knocking on the door of 2:30 shape, but with 15 weeks still to go.
Mileage/optimal training level:
The more eagle eyed may notice that the effort level of my general runs is different this week.
Previously I would run easy, or jog, if I wasn't doing a session. So what's changed?
As some of you will know, I have experimented quite a bit with my training over the last few years in terms of volume of running, paces, types and volume of effort runs, etc, etc.
The early parts of this campaign have served to assert two things about my training.
1) My optimal mileage range seems to be roughly in the 95-110mpw range (+/- 5mpw); this is (considerably) lower than I thought (especially as my highest weekly mileage was 148m), but then again this was never about hitting numbers just for the sake of it.
2) I react better to running my general runs a bit quicker and throwing in unplanned efforts (in addition to planned efforts) as and when my body thinks it's a good idea.
I've found that slower running to try to hit bigger mileage invariably doesn't work for me as the extra time on feet deadens my legs and hinders attempts at getting some good quality work in (plus I tended not to hit the mileage I aim for because of the same fatigue).
Over the last few months or so I have seen the effects of this as my rate of improvement has tailed off. Conversely, I have come out of this first week running a bit quicker with my legs feeling more lively than they have done in quite a while, which tells me I'm going in the right direction, so hopefully that should kick start some improvements over the coming weeks.
Monday: 5 easy, 5 steady, 10.21m @ 6:19 per mile (20.21m).
Tuesday: am: progressive steady surging any uphills - 1st 5m @ 7:00, last 5.12m @ 6:28 (10.12m).
pm: 6.07m easy.
Wednesday: am: ~4m easy, 2m Time Trial, 2m jog, 6 x ~420m hills (with jog down recoveries) @ 5k-5m effort, 5m steady, 1m+ easy (17.52m).
pm: 2m jog, 3.18m easy (5.18m).
Thursday: pm: Steady run, surging the uphills @ ~ Half Mara effort - 8 hills for 2m+ (10.53m).
Friday: am: easy with 6 x {15s stride / 45s float} (6.19m).
pm: Progressive from easy to steady with 3 longer pickups totalling 2.18m @ 5:46 per mile - hot! (13.5m).
Saturday: rest.
Sunday: 13.58m progressive steady - last 1.58m @ 5:58 per mile.
Total: 102.9m.
This was a good solid week with some form of quicker running every day. In all honesty, this is possibly the best I have ever felt at the end of a 100m+ week.
The only thing really missing was a longer reps session, which was what I had originally planned for Friday, but between the heat in the afternoon and feeling a bit tired (lack of sleep) it was better to just leave it. Ideally next week will see similar, but with the addition of some longer reps.
Wednesday's 2m Time Trial was at ~5km race effort and I was pleased to hit 10:20 for it (5:10 per mile - equivalent to a 16:03 5km). For me, given my conversion to marathon from the shorter distances, that means I'm pretty much knocking on the door of 2:30 shape, but with 15 weeks still to go.
Mileage/optimal training level:
The more eagle eyed may notice that the effort level of my general runs is different this week.
Previously I would run easy, or jog, if I wasn't doing a session. So what's changed?
As some of you will know, I have experimented quite a bit with my training over the last few years in terms of volume of running, paces, types and volume of effort runs, etc, etc.
The early parts of this campaign have served to assert two things about my training.
1) My optimal mileage range seems to be roughly in the 95-110mpw range (+/- 5mpw); this is (considerably) lower than I thought (especially as my highest weekly mileage was 148m), but then again this was never about hitting numbers just for the sake of it.
2) I react better to running my general runs a bit quicker and throwing in unplanned efforts (in addition to planned efforts) as and when my body thinks it's a good idea.
I've found that slower running to try to hit bigger mileage invariably doesn't work for me as the extra time on feet deadens my legs and hinders attempts at getting some good quality work in (plus I tended not to hit the mileage I aim for because of the same fatigue).
Over the last few months or so I have seen the effects of this as my rate of improvement has tailed off. Conversely, I have come out of this first week running a bit quicker with my legs feeling more lively than they have done in quite a while, which tells me I'm going in the right direction, so hopefully that should kick start some improvements over the coming weeks.
Emmet: July 1st - July 7th
And so it happened, the unplanned and unexpected week.
Unknown to myself at first my body was starting to feel the effects of two very good previous weeks.
Very sore/stretched heels led to a very sore week. Presumably the effects especially of the racing on the previous week.
Although by my previous standards not a bad week still.
Below is my training for the week.
Monday: 11 miles @ 8:37 pace (general)
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 8:13 pace (tempo)
Wednesday: 4.01 miles @ 9:05 pace (recovery)
Thursday: 3 miles @ 9:54 pace (again recovery)
Friday: 4 miles @ 9:19 pace (grass recovery)
Saturday: 4 miles @ 9:36 pace (grass recovery)
Sunday: off.
Total weeks mileage: 30.01 miles
Unknown to myself at first my body was starting to feel the effects of two very good previous weeks.
Very sore/stretched heels led to a very sore week. Presumably the effects especially of the racing on the previous week.
Although by my previous standards not a bad week still.
Below is my training for the week.
Monday: 11 miles @ 8:37 pace (general)
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 8:13 pace (tempo)
Wednesday: 4.01 miles @ 9:05 pace (recovery)
Thursday: 3 miles @ 9:54 pace (again recovery)
Friday: 4 miles @ 9:19 pace (grass recovery)
Saturday: 4 miles @ 9:36 pace (grass recovery)
Sunday: off.
Total weeks mileage: 30.01 miles
Monday, 1 July 2013
Emmet: June 24th - June 30th
This week is a very short and sweet week in writing as it almost went to plan.
Aside from not feeling in good condition on Friday (general tiredness presumably from being back to work) the long run was shortened significantly in the morning time. Although evening time led to me feeling minutely better, resulting in a 5km race and a new pb.
Below is my training for the week:
Monday: 12 miles @ 7:51 pace. (medium long run)
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 9:04 pace (recovery)
Wednesday: 3.01 miles @ 8:40 pace (general)
Thursday: 4.13 miles @ 9:35 pace (recovery)
Friday: (a.m.) 15.39 miles @ 8:44 pace (long run)
(p.m.) 0.5 mile @ 9:13 pace (warm up).
3.1 miles @ 6:23 pace (5km race - 19:45)
1.5 miles @ 9:23 pace (warm down)
Saturday: 4.65 miles @ 9:30 pace (recovery)
Total weeks mileage: 48.28 miles.
A minor decrease on last weeks mileage but still in around my mileage target. All is required is a little more focus to get the long run fully sorted in the coming weeks.
Aside from not feeling in good condition on Friday (general tiredness presumably from being back to work) the long run was shortened significantly in the morning time. Although evening time led to me feeling minutely better, resulting in a 5km race and a new pb.
Below is my training for the week:
Monday: 12 miles @ 7:51 pace. (medium long run)
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 9:04 pace (recovery)
Wednesday: 3.01 miles @ 8:40 pace (general)
Thursday: 4.13 miles @ 9:35 pace (recovery)
Friday: (a.m.) 15.39 miles @ 8:44 pace (long run)
(p.m.) 0.5 mile @ 9:13 pace (warm up).
3.1 miles @ 6:23 pace (5km race - 19:45)
1.5 miles @ 9:23 pace (warm down)
Saturday: 4.65 miles @ 9:30 pace (recovery)
Total weeks mileage: 48.28 miles.
A minor decrease on last weeks mileage but still in around my mileage target. All is required is a little more focus to get the long run fully sorted in the coming weeks.
Keith: June 24th - June 30th
“You must listen to your body. Run through annoyance but not through pain.” - Dr. George Sheehan.
This week I, unfortunately, ended up with a monster of a migraine. I do suffer with them occasionally, but it is a long time since I had once quite as bad as this. Some things you run through, some you do not. This one was one you do not (not that I could have even if I wanted to).
Monday: 25.01m easy.
Tuesday: am: 6.11m jog.
pm: 12.23m jog.
Wednesday: 6.5m jog.
Thursday: off.
Friday: off.
Saturday: 7.46m progressive steady run (last 0.46m @ 5:30 per mile pace).
Sunday: am: 2m jog, 3m easy, 6.35m steady (11.35m).
Total: 68.66m
So obviously a considerably lower volume week than I'd intended and no quality sessions at all, but not much can be done about it.
This week I, unfortunately, ended up with a monster of a migraine. I do suffer with them occasionally, but it is a long time since I had once quite as bad as this. Some things you run through, some you do not. This one was one you do not (not that I could have even if I wanted to).
Monday: 25.01m easy.
Tuesday: am: 6.11m jog.
pm: 12.23m jog.
Wednesday: 6.5m jog.
Thursday: off.
Friday: off.
Saturday: 7.46m progressive steady run (last 0.46m @ 5:30 per mile pace).
Sunday: am: 2m jog, 3m easy, 6.35m steady (11.35m).
Total: 68.66m
So obviously a considerably lower volume week than I'd intended and no quality sessions at all, but not much can be done about it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)