Sunday, November 30, 2008

I Ran (So Far Away)

A Flock Of Seagulls - 1982. A classic 1980's one hit wonder.

98km week @ 4:46 - that's big for me!

Distance Pace Av HR
Monday 10.7k 4:53 154 Recovery Run
Tuesday 12.3k 4:20 180 (intervals) 153 (w/up,c/down)
Wednesday 11.25k 4:43 158 Recovery
Thursday 10.6k 4:57 153 Recovery
Friday 10.5k 4:28 170 (5km of tempo 4min/k) 150 (other)
Saturday 10.4k 4:56 151 Recovery
Sunday 32.2k 4:54 No monitor


Tuesday intervals were tough - 12x400m total.
400 hard, 100jog, 400 hard.
90sec rest, then repeat
4x400 with 2 min rest between
400 hard, 100jog, 400 hard, 90sec then repeat

82/84/78/81/78/79/76/77/81/80/80/84
HR max 192 in all after the first 2 intervals
Was buggered at the end!

Friday tempo was pretty average (3k@400, 2k@3:55) Effort felt much harder than HR which only peaked in the mid 170s. will keep trying a second quality session

Sunday long run with a nice pace progression over 5k splits -
5:03/4:57/4:54/4:52/4:50/4:47
Rob took a short one after a tough week, but I managed to run the 19-30k section in a good rhythm without a stop, and finished off strong after a quick walk at 30k.

I am entering Sling's territory in terms of shoes now, 8 pairs in rotation:
Asics 2110 (x2) Asics 2130, Adidas Supernova Control, Brooks Adrenaline, New Balance 1224, Asics DS trainer, Mizuno Idaten. The first 4 are pretty similar with the asics having a more cushioned ride, whilst the NB are very stable and cushioned but heavy, and the final 2 are for speedwork - yet to run properly in the Mizunos.

I've decided to just have a 2 week taper for sixinch as I'm not intending on running it 'all-out' and want to use my current motivation and mild weather to log some decent kms. So one more big week.

The plan the following week is to race 4k at City Beach and 2 days later race 3000m track at the Interval Group's Perry Lakes time trial. Will be interesting how I back up, and how far behind the speedster I am.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

We Run This

Missy Elliot 2006. To paraphrase Mr Burns, 'I'm no music critic, but I know what I hate... and I don't hate this.'

I'm quite hppy with this week given my illness. Felt like crap until Thursday, so I put on the HRM and tried to run with HR under 150. This resulted in some fairly slow times.

Tues pm 13.3k @ 5:06. The last 3k had to be at 5:25s to keep the HR down
Wed pm 13.3k @ 5:12. Even slower!
Fri am 11.1k @ 5:02 - starting to feel brighter
Sat am 28.4k (approx) - long run on same course (sixinch) as a couple of weeks ago, with Rob. We headed out quite a bit quicker than last time, and I felt OK until the 18k mark. Then I felt I was pushing too hard and we took plenty of breaks on the return. Took a wrong turn on the way back but could see the error on the map and ended up running about the same distance.

Sun am 13.1k @ 4:59. Slightly higher HR in the second half than earlier runs in the week kept a very consistent 5min/k pace throughout. Felt surprisingly good after the hills of yesterday - was glad we took the second half fairly easy.

Hopefully can return to normal this week, although I am going to wear my HRM for all slow runs and enforce a low HR policy. This should allow me to up the km's and not get sick. If you notice me speeding up in the slow runs, feel free to tell me about it.

Edit... Clown found the Sat run very easy - he even had time to fall over a couple of times. I am definitely the underdog.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Running on Empty

Jackson Browne 1978 - not my favourite of his, but a great songwriter.

Virus (again) - combination of overtraining in terms of intensity combined with looking down sick peoples throats all day has led to too many infections (more importantly my inability to learn from history and not reduce my training intensity)

Given the severity of my August infection and subsequent sinusitis, I'm going extra cautious - dont want to go back there again.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Born to Run

'The Boss' (Bruce Springsteen) 1975. Hmm... perhaps I'm giving away my musical tastes with my first 3 post titles - need to find something more recent to appeal to the younger audience.

Lower mileage this week (76k total)- entirely due to laziness - couldn't get myself out of bed in the mornings so no run Mon or Friday as I worked too late.

Tues Intervals - 1600 hard. 3 min rest. 1600 of 100hard/100float, 3 min rest. 1600 hard
1.62 in 5:48 (3:34min/k)
1.62 in 6:01 (3:43min/k) - includes the 'floats'
1.62 in 5:45 (3:33min/k)

Happy with the session - especially that the fast/slow one was only a little slower.
12.6k all up

Wed 12.56k @ 4:28 - progression run to 10k, then eased back
Thurs 8.17k @ 4:19 - started after work at 7pm - so kept it short
Sat 29.3k @ 5:16

'recon' run of part of the sixinch course. Ran the 1st half as a group - return run with Nathan faster (1st 10k 5:31min/k, 2nd 10k 5:13min/k, last 9k 4:59min/k)
Very enjoyable to be out there - trialled a belt pack ($17 Target) holding a 600ml bottle (and another bottle in my hand) and it was much more comfortable than a camelbak.
The legs really felt the hills, kinda forgot just how hilly it is!
Somewhat delayed return to Perth as a couple of the guys decided to take an unplanned detour - alls well that ends well! I also discovered that the Garmin has a 'breadcrumbs' function to follow a previous track - how could I have had it so long and never used it - I guess because it's hard to get lost running the same 3 or 4 tracks all the time.

Marshalled at Founders 10 miler this am and had the job of timekeeper - those times are the most accurate you'll see on the calendar - had 3 timers going at once to ensure precision, and I stood exactly at the finish line to ensure accuracy.

I might do Penninsula next weekend - the only problem is that I want to do the 10k, but if Rob does the 5k there is no way I'm going to be able to hold myself back from following him at the start. Having said that, its not a 2 lap race, so my issue with giving up after 5k/one lap will not be an issue.


Sun 13.2k @ 4:41 - easier run

Total 76k for the week

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Running to stand still

U2's The Joshua Tree (1987) is a classic album, and certainly one I listened to quite a bit in my final year of high school. Obviously the famous Number ones - 'with or without you', 'where the streets have no name' and 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for' are best known. 'Running to stand still' is about drug addiction, but the phrase is applicable in the everyday life of many, working hard just to make ends meet.

On to the running week -
89.35k @ 4:43min/k

Tues - intervals 'whistle session' including the fast and slow sections
1.95k@ 3:37min/k
1.95k@ 3:36
1.92k@3:39
3.3w/up, 2.5w/dn
Wed 15.3k @ 4:42
Thurs 10.4 @ 4:43
Fri 10.4 @4:53
Sat 11.28@4:37 (with 3k @3:55 aborted tempo)
Sun 30.3k @4:53

Sunday run with Rob, and Homo for the first 10k - legs felt pretty tired from the higher mileage week but carried through OK - took our share of short breaks.

Congrats to SlingRunner for Marathon PB!