Wednesday - 8.4km recovery run. After reviewing my optimal training paces using the McMillan Running Calendar, I decided to slightly increase the pace of my recovery runs. I have at time run as slow as 5.30/km on recovery runs but McMillan indicates that the slow end of my recovery run range is 5.17. This run was 43mins @ approx 5.07/km. As a result my average HR was up from the high 120s to 137.
Thursday - Ran scheduled LT workout with Simon. Have to say that when I woke up I was dreading this session. I knew it would be hard and for some reason, just couldn't get excited about it.
Lactate threshold run (5km easy, 15mins @marathon pace + 1 min easy, 15mins @ half marathon pace + 1 min easy, 15 mins @ half marathon/10km pace, 5km easy -21km total).
The 3 x 15 minute segments for me were paced as follows: 3.53-3.55/km (a bit quicker than marathon pace); 3.45 (a bit quicker than half marathon pace ie was about 10km pace); 3.50-3.52/km (half marathon pace). So I ran the first two a bit quicker than I should have which resulted in me running the last one at the slower end of the range.
Simon dropped me on the second rep by about 10 secs and by about 25 secs on the third rep. I was having to work pretty hard to maintain my pace after the first rep and was a bit annoyed with myself. Then I remembered a table from Pfitzinger and Douglas which provides the number of days after a particular workout before you are recovered enough to race or do a similar workout. For a threshold workout, the period is 5 days. If I count Sunday's race as a threshold workout, then today was only 4 days after. Once I realised that, I relaxed a bit and decided to run as hard as I needed to effort wise but not lose the plot if I couldn't hit the pace. Simon probably lifted the bar a bit higher than I'm up for at this stage in any case.
All up, I have this run as 21.8km in 1 hour 27 mins (3.59-4.00/km pace) so a really solid workout whatever way you look at it. Although I didn't hit the paces exactly as dictated/intended for the session, I was still in the right ranges and certainly felt like I had done the work required.
In other news, Ben had his school sports day today. Unfortunately, I was on a course at work so couldn't attend. Ben had a 75m sprint in B division and won!! He came third in B division last year after being in C division in previous years so that's a huge improvement. We keep telling him he is fast, maybe now he will believe us. I'm really disappointed that I missed it, not only because he won but because I know he tried his hardest. Apparently he got a bad start but not only caught up but when he was passed, dug deep and passed back just before the finish. Awesome!
Recovery run tomorrow.
3 comments:
CONGRATS to Biscuitboy!!!! :)
You said:
'Although I didn't hit the paces exactly as dictated/intended for the session, I was still in the right ranges and certainly felt like I had done the work required.'
It reminded me of when I was training in my late-teens/early 20s my coach would get pretty feisty if he ever caught us checking our watches. All sessions were based on honest effort. Five-eighths, three-quarters and seven-eighths were his favourites. It makes a lot of sense. The fact that you don't nail a prescribed pace doesn't devalue the session if you nail the intended efforts (cause the prescribed pace doesn't consider what else you've been doing). By the same token, if you're running out of your skin, you could nail the prescribed pace but potentially be bludging.
With GPS and every kind of measurement device, it can be pretty easy to concentrate on time and distance so much that we don't actually acclimatise to the 'callousing of the mind' that comes from sustained efforts - watch or no watch.
Just a thought...
Agree, it's easy to get caught up with the numbers (and I'm obsessed with them) and when we do we tend to look at them ignoring our recovery state. As you said though, the workout will have achieved it's goals, and I reckon the C2S race is one of the best training runs ever - so you've had a good week! And go, the biscuitboy! Takes after his dad, clearly.
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