@Joe - not sounding good. You spend any time rolling it? I get those funny little knot spots too from time to time. Rolling them always seems to clear them out - usually in about a week I can be back to 90%.
@ Gordon - what ever you did last night with my borrowed mojo really helped. Kinda like you gave it a major tune-up... thanks!
Chilly clear night at the HS track. 36* when I left, 34* on return. It was one of those runs that you want to continue cause it feels so right..... the stars were nice too.
Plan called for 1x0.5 & 2x1 @ 7:36 Warmup was 1.6 mile run to the track
Decided to do the mile repeats first and got right to it. Didn't look at pace or time except on start/finish line each lap. Did that for all my TP repeats. After the first one I started to consider3x1600 instead of the plan. By the end of the second 1600 I was thinking "maybe I'll go for 4.." Each repeat was followed by a lap (400) at a comfortable pace. In the end I did 4 - although I have to admit, I was seriously considering a fifth but figured that was stupid.
Solid run, paces were slightly faster than called for but it just felt right. Not too hard, never struggled, and was still eager for more when done.
Total run: 69' for 8.5 miles @ 8:07 (MP)
4x1600 @ 7:21; 7:26; 7:19; 7:19
recovery 400's @ 2:11; 2:21; 2:19; 2:13
No arora but Orion was rising just above the home stretch - nice!
Bring on the 30/30's (but will likely do them as 60/60's)
3 x 1 mile @ 6:45, 6:49, and 6:59...probably overcooked it...haven't tested run yet, so just guessing on VDOT...47?
Assuming 6:59 is the pace you should be doing your TP intervals @ ... that's the same as mine, and I call that a 48.6 VDOT. I'm a firm believer in: if your last interval is not (just barely, with an all out effort @ the finish) the fastest interval, you were doing the earlier ones too fast/hard. Ideal might be something like 7:00, 6:59, 6:56.
Another great run tonight! Did my full 15 min WU, crushed my first 1/2 mile and was consistent with my MS miles at 13 sec/mile average lower than my target. I'm have kept the MS miles between 7:23 - 7:26min/mi over the past few workouts. I hope this is ok, it feels great!
Being in the west coast and doing my workouts at night really makes me fall behind with all of your posts! I enjoy reading through them thought, you all are doing awesome!
3x1 mile as 6:51, 6:49,6:45. Felt like I did some solid work, but not to the point that I was trashed. Being very careful not to overachieve so that I don't screw up workouts later this week, and to really ease off during the rest intervals so I can hit each mile repeat with full force. Post-workout fueling with choco milk and toast+PB, yum!
Got a headstart on the planned Saturday run and did it this morning. I am on daddy daycare patrol all weekend while the wife is on a Girls Weekend so I do not have time for both tomorrow. Plus - the legs are recovering very well this week so no issues there.
50' steady run - 6.77 miles descending mile splits from Mile 2-6.
29 degrees and frost on the rooftops but no wind so actually pretty good conditions.
Saturday run done. Hard, but good. Never quite sure how to feel about Saturday performance until it's time for the Sunday run and I see how much I have left in the tank... So far, so good.
Got the run done. Set out about 2hrs after I finished the bike and I wasn't sure it was even going to be possible to hit the paces but I managed to do the first 25' at mp and the next 25' just faster than hmp.
Late to post, but I got up way too early this morning to get in both the run and bike before a fun day at work. The bike was very rough (details in the bike thread) but the run felt pretty good oddly enough. I was right in line/a bit fast on my paces but felt good. A nice run on these brisk mornings is pretty refreshing. Besides pace I have been trying to work on cadence and that has been averaging 90 or more which I am pretty happy with. All in all, a nice run, looking forward to the interval/long run tomorrow.
Did aqua-jogging on Wednesday because I felt a calf strain on Tuesday. Wore my CEP socks Wed - Fri at work, did Epsom salts X2, and lots of self-massage. This morning I did the Sunday run because of weekend chores today (Church Work Day) and it felt a little tight. But after a good warm-up, the calf tightness faded into the work-out.
Target was 7:19/mi for 3 X1mi (4'). Did 7:28 and felt safe so I pushed it to 7:05 and since these were both in the Z3 AVHR range, I pushed it to 6:55 and felt strong. Finished with a 2mi cool down and with the 2 mi warm-up, totaled 7mi.
Good lesson learned - aqua-jogging in-lieu of an actual workout was a smart decision! No sense in letting this little niggle become a full blown injury!
Well, lesson learned, planning a bike ride in the morning and doing in the run in the evening just ain't gonna happen. Too many things to do in the afternoon and hard to get back in the mindset for a second workout in the evening (did my bike in the morning). A brick clearly works much better for me. Looking forward to tomorrow's run though!
swapped out today's run for 45 minutes in giant inflatable "jumping castles" with my kids and their friends for my daughter's birthday party. very good trade off and i still worked up a sweat and felt the burn...
looking forward to MOAR INTENSITY during tomorrow's run. hope to stretch it to the full 90 minutes
Did the run first today. ~2 mile warmup (with strides, which I usually forget and which really seemed to help) then 25' @ MP. Paid a lot of attention to form, and it is something to behold in those fleeting moments when everything clicks! There were times when I was gliding along in the 6:30's (target MP is 7:09) and the HR actually decreased! But those moments of perfect form usually don't last long, then the grind of practicing returns.
Took the mental approach that these Sat runs are really progression runs - so that make it easier to execute. Didn't have to nail paces spot on, just as long as the run progressively got faster over the total 50'. In the end, the MP portion was pretty close (7:14 vs target of 7:09), and HMP was as well (6:57 vs target of 6:53). Took three weeks, but finally figured out how to execute these runs for solid results.
Took the mental approach that these Sat runs are really progression runs - so that make it easier to execute. Didn't have to nail paces spot on, just as long as the run progressively got faster over the total 50'. In the end, the MP portion was pretty close (7:14 vs target of 7:09), and HMP was as well (6:57 vs target of 6:53). Took three weeks, but finally figured out how to execute these runs for solid results.
Tomorrow's run will be tough, though.
Sounds like a good idea, which I;ve shamelessly stolen. Works better than trying to do the whole second half @ HMP. The only worry I have about tomorow's run is whether I'll finish before the rain starts, or if it will stop by the time I start... this is the Pac NW, after all, finding a window in which to run outdoors without getting soaked is the hardest part of the workout.
Finished off week three strong. The hamster wheel felt a little fast on the first one but I settled in for a good workout.
3X1 mile @TP (10:02) with 4' walk. Given my knee was a little sore at the start I called it at 48' for 4 miles. The knee felt fine on the run but I know it will be stiff on the flight to Ottawa late this evening.
That's it for week three. Next week will be mixed up as I'm still on work travle so probably a run on Tuesday then back to back bikes on the trainer.
I got up early today (seems to be a theme) to get in my run before the day starts. Hit the split paces well (a bit too fast actually, but they felt really good). Stretched it to about an 80 min run, and by the end keeping it in Z3 was rough. I am keeping focus on speed not distance at this point, so I think it was a good run. See you all in week 4!
Week 3 Sunday run in the books. Did the intervals a bit faster than prescribed, but was able to pretty much hold pace for both the .5 miles and the 1 mile intervals. I've come to the conclusion that I now no longer trust either the treadmill nor the footpod for distance/pace, so I'm doing my next run test outside to get an accurate vdot (knowing my luck, it'll snow on the next test day...), since I do both my Saturday and Sunday runs outside. We'll see what that strategy brings. If nothing else, I'm logging 4 runs/week without injury or niggles, and am definitely getting faster on the interval, so there's goodness there...
Fit in the run before sunrise - up at 5, LSRHS track by 5:45 - 25-degrees and a solid frost on the grass when I arrived, Venus bright to the east, Jupiter still visible to the west, sky just light enough to run without a lamp. Beautiful, if a little chilly.
Surprisingly, I had the track to myself
Drove to the track rather than locking myself into a long uphill run home; chose the track to avoid any dark icy leaf-covered spots.
Warmed up long after the long Saturday workout - 5x around the track each with a 30s progressive stride beginning on the back 100.
Overcooked the splits for a change: 3:35 on the 2x1/2 and 7:20 on the 2x1.
The funny thing is that I used my timer to try to stick to pace - 56s for a half-lap - and I still went too fast on my intervals by about 15s/mile.
At least I'm consistent.
Sounds like I'm not the only one trending fast on the intervals.
That said, a wide open track is inherently faster and more predictable than the roads where I run my 5k, so it's tough to say with certainty that I'm risking much. Nothing hurts, and now we get a break, so everything is good.
Cooled down with another 4x around with a progressive 30s stride on the back 100, really working to get my stride-rate up.
I find it a struggle to hit 88.
Walked to the car just as the sun was rising and headed home in time to make breakfast for The Boy and go stack Christmas trees for the Boy-Scout annual sale that starts next week.
Total mileage - 5 and 1/2-ish, 3 on the high side of threshold and the rest wherever.
Enjoy the remainder of the weekend - and see you all in week 4!
Another Sunday in the park with my boy on his bike. I'm hacking Turkey week (no rest day tomorrow) so I just got the main set in and called it a day. A total of 6 miles on 51 minutes with 3x1 miles (6:23/6:24/6:23 on 6:26 target). Getting better at keeping the intervals in check.
Another great week in and lots of solid work coming in. Keep that mojo coming!
Today was my best and longest run in months. Ran outside, was probably about 35-36 degrees, forgot my hat and gloves but was warm enough. Based on Normalized pace, my IF for the intervals were 1.10, 1.07, 1.01 and 1.02. Made it a total of 10 miles, felt great really enjoyed the easy pace running afterwards and didn't feel trashed. Loved it, my best and most fun run in months!
Got the run in, legs felt great which was suprising because I thought I beat them up a bit yesterday. I was too fast on the 3x800 and 1x1600 by 4-5sec/km so I really have to watch that. Afterwards I did 15' at zone 2-zone3 to get to 60 then another 10 at zone 1-2.
Was really looking forward to today - forcast clear blue sky, light breeze, dry and cool @ ;43*. After spending the morning burning brush I got to work. Also decided to switch for Int to Adv 'cause after 3 weeks, I am finding myself needing more. No signs of fatigue so far and I will continue to pay close attention to sleep, resting HR and recovery HR for the tell-tale signs I am all too familier with.
Warmup is a 1.6 mile run to the OHS track - beautiful Sunday and had the place to myself. Plan calls for 3x1@ 7:36. Like Wednesdays intervals I ran by feel and only checked my time/pace at 400 splits. After the 3 planned intervals I went for a forth and held my consistant pace till the final straight and pushed hard to get an additional 5 secs to what had otherwise been dead even splits.
Here are the 4x1600 (400) with all splits:
1:52 3:44 5:34 7:23 - HR 158 / rpm 90
1:52 3:43 5:33 7:23 - HR 164 / rpm 90
1:52 3:42 5:33 7:23 - HR 164 / rpm 90
1:52 3:42 5:31 7:18 - HR 166 / rpm 91
After that I added another 5+ miles all at or near MP
Have a question about pacing. Today was first run session of OS. Plan called for 2x 1 mile at TP. My problem is that I was running them approximately 30-40 seconds faster. While running intervals, the focus is technique and just running. I have my Garmin running but don't always look at it. Should I focus on trying to maintain my TP or just go with what my body puts out? Had the same problem last year
@John... Did you have any trouble with fatgue developing over thecourse of th OS, fatigue which forced you to skip or go easy on some workouts? That's one risk of over-achieving on hard intervals.
Short answer is stick to paces and avoid over cooking them and yourself. How did you feel last year? Did you dig a deep fatigue hole or was it all good? How was your 5K test - did the result make sense? Do you need to retest like I do?
Over achieving, esp the run can bury you in fatigue faster than just about anything else. Paces marginally faster than prescribed oftern do not provide any added fitness and come with significant recovery costs.
Having said that, I have been routinely over clocking my intervals but my current VDOT test is about 2 points lower than it has been the past 2 years - I need to retest but for now I am just going to SWAG it based on my running background (19 marathons in past 8 years). I feel I have a very good feel for where my run is and how to gauge the fatigue.
did my run this afternoon at the local track. after reading Sukhi's advice on Withrow's thread on strides, i decided to walk the rest intervals and increase my focus on form -- no jogging. i shortened the rest intervals by ~30-45 seconds, but the work felt quite easy -- probably due to the walking, but hopefully due to some increased fitness
2 x 0.5 miles at 6:27, 6:24
2 x 1.0 miles at 6:22, 6:29
vs 6:32 target
finished the run with a big uphill back home and 4x30' strides for 67 minutes total. cadence feels good, and every time i check it, i'm above 90 spm
due to the holiday, i'm going to bike tmw + Tuesday with the run either Wed or Thurs
Woke up feeling tired...and after a tired brick run yesterday was cautiously concerned about building fatigue...but after walking the dog and starting my run...well I felt great...almost a plateau cracking/mental breakthrough run....9mi. total with 4 @ TP....Now if I can just survive Thanksgiving week................
Comments
@Joe - not sounding good. You spend any time rolling it? I get those funny little knot spots too from time to time. Rolling them always seems to clear them out - usually in about a week I can be back to 90%.
@ Gordon - what ever you did last night with my borrowed mojo really helped. Kinda like you gave it a major tune-up... thanks!
@Ben ;- sounds delish!
Chilly clear night at the HS track. 36* when I left, 34* on return. It was one of those runs that you want to continue cause it feels so right..... the stars were nice too.
Plan called for 1x0.5 & 2x1 @ 7:36 Warmup was 1.6 mile run to the track
Decided to do the mile repeats first and got right to it. Didn't look at pace or time except on start/finish line each lap. Did that for all my TP repeats. After the first one I started to consider3x1600 instead of the plan. By the end of the second 1600 I was thinking "maybe I'll go for 4.." Each repeat was followed by a lap (400) at a comfortable pace. In the end I did 4 - although I have to admit, I was seriously considering a fifth but figured that was stupid.
Solid run, paces were slightly faster than called for but it just felt right. Not too hard, never struggled, and was still eager for more when done.
Total run: 69' for 8.5 miles @ 8:07 (MP)
4x1600 @ 7:21; 7:26; 7:19; 7:19
recovery 400's @ 2:11; 2:21; 2:19; 2:13
No arora but Orion was rising just above the home stretch - nice!
Bring on the 30/30's (but will likely do them as 60/60's)
Assuming 6:59 is the pace you should be doing your TP intervals @ ... that's the same as mine, and I call that a 48.6 VDOT. I'm a firm believer in: if your last interval is not (just barely, with an all out effort @ the finish) the fastest interval, you were doing the earlier ones too fast/hard. Ideal might be something like 7:00, 6:59, 6:56.
Being in the west coast and doing my workouts at night really makes me fall behind with all of your posts! I enjoy reading through them thought, you all are doing awesome!
Got a headstart on the planned Saturday run and did it this morning. I am on daddy daycare patrol all weekend while the wife is on a Girls Weekend so I do not have time for both tomorrow. Plus - the legs are recovering very well this week so no issues there.
50' steady run - 6.77 miles descending mile splits from Mile 2-6.
29 degrees and frost on the rooftops but no wind so actually pretty good conditions.
ran first today, cycling later - 25'@8:06, 25'@7:48...short break then onto coaching my daughters U9 championship soccer match...Go Mustangs!!!
Saturday run done. Hard, but good. Never quite sure how to feel about Saturday performance until it's time for the Sunday run and I see how much I have left in the tank... So far, so good.
Got the run done. Set out about 2hrs after I finished the bike and I wasn't sure it was even going to be possible to hit the paces but I managed to do the first 25' at mp and the next 25' just faster than hmp.
Did aqua-jogging on Wednesday because I felt a calf strain on Tuesday. Wore my CEP socks Wed - Fri at work, did Epsom salts X2, and lots of self-massage. This morning I did the Sunday run because of weekend chores today (Church Work Day) and it felt a little tight. But after a good warm-up, the calf tightness faded into the work-out.
Target was 7:19/mi for 3 X1mi (4'). Did 7:28 and felt safe so I pushed it to 7:05 and since these were both in the Z3 AVHR range, I pushed it to 6:55 and felt strong. Finished with a 2mi cool down and with the 2 mi warm-up, totaled 7mi.
Good lesson learned - aqua-jogging in-lieu of an actual workout was a smart decision! No sense in letting this little niggle become a full blown injury!
swapped out today's run for 45 minutes in giant inflatable "jumping castles" with my kids and their friends for my daughter's birthday party. very good trade off and i still worked up a sweat and felt the burn...
looking forward to MOAR INTENSITY during tomorrow's run. hope to stretch it to the full 90 minutes
Slept in and took it easy in the AM but had to rush the run after the bike. Simple steady MP brick - 4 miles.
Looking forward to running outside tomorrow.
Brick run on the treadmill 25' split between z2 and z3. Uneventfully and looking forward to tomorrows z4/TP workout.
Gordon
Took the mental approach that these Sat runs are really progression runs - so that make it easier to execute. Didn't have to nail paces spot on, just as long as the run progressively got faster over the total 50'. In the end, the MP portion was pretty close (7:14 vs target of 7:09), and HMP was as well (6:57 vs target of 6:53). Took three weeks, but finally figured out how to execute these runs for solid results.
Tomorrow's run will be tough, though.
Sounds like a good idea, which I;ve shamelessly stolen. Works better than trying to do the whole second half @ HMP. The only worry I have about tomorow's run is whether I'll finish before the rain starts, or if it will stop by the time I start... this is the Pac NW, after all, finding a window in which to run outdoors without getting soaked is the hardest part of the workout.
Finished off week three strong. The hamster wheel felt a little fast on the first one but I settled in for a good workout.
3X1 mile @TP (10:02) with 4' walk. Given my knee was a little sore at the start I called it at 48' for 4 miles. The knee felt fine on the run but I know it will be stiff on the flight to Ottawa late this evening.
That's it for week three. Next week will be mixed up as I'm still on work travle so probably a run on Tuesday then back to back bikes on the trainer.
Gordon
Week 3 Sunday run in the books. Did the intervals a bit faster than prescribed, but was able to pretty much hold pace for both the .5 miles and the 1 mile intervals. I've come to the conclusion that I now no longer trust either the treadmill nor the footpod for distance/pace, so I'm doing my next run test outside to get an accurate vdot (knowing my luck, it'll snow on the next test day...), since I do both my Saturday and Sunday runs outside. We'll see what that strategy brings. If nothing else, I'm logging 4 runs/week without injury or niggles, and am definitely getting faster on the interval, so there's goodness there...
Hi all!
3 weeks down - 11 to go!
Fit in the run before sunrise - up at 5, LSRHS track by 5:45 - 25-degrees and a solid frost on the grass when I arrived, Venus bright to the east, Jupiter still visible to the west, sky just light enough to run without a lamp. Beautiful, if a little chilly.
Surprisingly, I had the track to myself
Drove to the track rather than locking myself into a long uphill run home; chose the track to avoid any dark icy leaf-covered spots.
Warmed up long after the long Saturday workout - 5x around the track each with a 30s progressive stride beginning on the back 100.
Overcooked the splits for a change: 3:35 on the 2x1/2 and 7:20 on the 2x1.
The funny thing is that I used my timer to try to stick to pace - 56s for a half-lap - and I still went too fast on my intervals by about 15s/mile.
At least I'm consistent.
Sounds like I'm not the only one trending fast on the intervals.
That said, a wide open track is inherently faster and more predictable than the roads where I run my 5k, so it's tough to say with certainty that I'm risking much. Nothing hurts, and now we get a break, so everything is good.
Cooled down with another 4x around with a progressive 30s stride on the back 100, really working to get my stride-rate up.
I find it a struggle to hit 88.
Walked to the car just as the sun was rising and headed home in time to make breakfast for The Boy and go stack Christmas trees for the Boy-Scout annual sale that starts next week.
Total mileage - 5 and 1/2-ish, 3 on the high side of threshold and the rest wherever.
Enjoy the remainder of the weekend - and see you all in week 4!
Another great week in and lots of solid work coming in. Keep that mojo coming!
Got the run in, legs felt great which was suprising because I thought I beat them up a bit yesterday. I was too fast on the 3x800 and 1x1600 by 4-5sec/km so I really have to watch that. Afterwards I did 15' at zone 2-zone3 to get to 60 then another 10 at zone 1-2.
Was really looking forward to today - forcast clear blue sky, light breeze, dry and cool @ ;43*. After spending the morning burning brush I got to work. Also decided to switch for Int to Adv 'cause after 3 weeks, I am finding myself needing more. No signs of fatigue so far and I will continue to pay close attention to sleep, resting HR and recovery HR for the tell-tale signs I am all too familier with.
Warmup is a 1.6 mile run to the OHS track - beautiful Sunday and had the place to myself. Plan calls for 3x1@ 7:36. Like Wednesdays intervals I ran by feel and only checked my time/pace at 400 splits. After the 3 planned intervals I went for a forth and held my consistant pace till the final straight and pushed hard to get an additional 5 secs to what had otherwise been dead even splits.
Here are the 4x1600 (400) with all splits:
After that I added another 5+ miles all at or near MP
Total run: 12.2 @ ;8:06 (MP) in 1:38
Awesome run!
@John... Did you have any trouble with fatgue developing over thecourse of th OS, fatigue which forced you to skip or go easy on some workouts? That's one risk of over-achieving on hard intervals.
Over achieving, esp the run can bury you in fatigue faster than just about anything else. Paces marginally faster than prescribed oftern do not provide any added fitness and come with significant recovery costs.
Having said that, I have been routinely over clocking my intervals but my current VDOT test is about 2 points lower than it has been the past 2 years - I need to retest but for now I am just going to SWAG it based on my running background (19 marathons in past 8 years). I feel I have a very good feel for where my run is and how to gauge the fatigue.
hello folks,
did my run this afternoon at the local track. after reading Sukhi's advice on Withrow's thread on strides, i decided to walk the rest intervals and increase my focus on form -- no jogging. i shortened the rest intervals by ~30-45 seconds, but the work felt quite easy -- probably due to the walking, but hopefully due to some increased fitness
2 x 0.5 miles at 6:27, 6:24
2 x 1.0 miles at 6:22, 6:29
vs 6:32 target
finished the run with a big uphill back home and 4x30' strides for 67 minutes total. cadence feels good, and every time i check it, i'm above 90 spm
due to the holiday, i'm going to bike tmw + Tuesday with the run either Wed or Thurs
g'night
Woke up feeling tired...and after a tired brick run yesterday was cautiously concerned about building fatigue...but after walking the dog and starting my run...well I felt great...almost a plateau cracking/mental breakthrough run....9mi. total with 4 @ TP....Now if I can just survive Thanksgiving week................