Did the Sunday long run today. Not too bad. Took awhile to warm up. Hit my paces. Total mileage 8 miles which is a PR for distance for me. So very pleased with myself.
Kudos to those who ran outside in the cold weather. That has to build some extra mental toughness!
@Stefan, I don't do the incline run. I'll run at Z2 and do some pickups to Z4 for a couple minutes at a time.
Got the run done on the treadmill after work. 2 mile WU, 2 miles @ Z2 followed by 3X1 @ Z4. Run felt really good and I was able to increase the pace a little for each interval.
Got my run in this afternoon once it finally warmed up bit and got the kiddos settled so I could do my work. I was focusing on pacing the 3x1's and ending up with a negative split at least on the last one. I did exactly that.
Went out after work to do the run and my hamstring started getting tight again and wasn't getting any better as I warmed up. It's frustrating to not be able to run. I have a doctor's appointment set up for next week so I guess I'll play it by ear and see how it goes with rest and ice (I'm sitting on a ice pack right now). The good thing is that it doesn't hurt when I bike so I'll continue to do that and second thing is that it's not April or May so I have time to fix it.
Thanks for reading and keep rocking those workouts.
@Mark - be patient, avoid run speed work and focus on the bike would be my advice FWIW.
Got my workout at the track in the pouring rain and 41degs. Did a mile jogging to warm up, feeling tight in my hips and then right into it. Surprisingly I was able to hit my pace no problem. 3x1mile all a little faster than my Z4 pace but less than Z5.
It's starting to get a bit chilly out here in Utah so I did this one on the Treadmill. WU 1 mile. 3X1 @ 7:41, 7:35, 7:35 Remaining time Z2 6.90 total miles.
@ David, thanks I will, is just hard seeing all these great reports and wanting to get out there and just run. I can always drop into a bike focus and work on that since I would like to get a lot faster on the bike. My racing history has shown that I'm much better in the run than most in my age group but less so in the bike. Maybe the triathlon gods are trying to tell me something.
Did today's run on the treadmill at the gym. Legs felt very heavy, I ended up cutting it a bit short. Now that I'm home, I'm mad I did - I definitely could have pushed through and would have been fine.
Did the run on the TM at the gym after 14 hours at work. Cut it a little short (just did the intervals) to get home and eat dinner before 2300 or so. Picked up the last interval a little bit since the Z4 pace seems to be getting easier...
Dreaded the Wed run - but it turned out just fine. First time I didn't w/u on high knee elipitical machine. 10 min w/u working my way down to 8:30 pace then 3 x 1 mile repeats at 8:10 / 8:05 / 8:00 - 9min pace between sets for .25. Remaining time at 8:41 pace. My left hip flexor not giving me problems...ya!
Completed hill run on TM. Felt much better than last week. Completed time straight thru Zn2 @ 3-3.5%. Went to yoga class after the run. Instructor is an Ironman too, focuses on specifics for us-really good.
I have a confession to make... I am not doing the Tuesday and Thursday runs that are in the NOS plan. I have my reasons... I have been dealing with run issues of and on for a while and I think three runs a week is a good level for me right now. and also getting a second workout during the week in the OS has too much mental/physical cost to me. I need the time in between to recover somewhat. I am not really sure what the point of those runs is. They smell kind of of "volume" to me. I am trying to have my sessions be of a high quality when I feel rested enough to give 100% to the one workout each day and two on Saturday.
Wondering what the team thinks...Do you think this will be a negative for me to skip them?
@ David, I don't think I've done the Tuesday run yet this OS and I only do the Thursday run if I'm feeling good and have the time. My take on the OS is to make me faster, or at least not slow down, and get to the next race training cycle healthy. As an older athlete my body doesn't recover nearly as fast as it did when I was younger so I need that rest. Also, like you I've been having some run issues this year so I'm trying to limit my run exposure and make the run and bike workouts really count. I don't mind the mental suffering, at least that seems t get easier with age, but I have to watch those little muscular dings that can turn into train wrecks really quickly.
This is my second OS with EN. Last year I took a week off for the holidays to spend time with the family and rest from all the work in the first 8 weeks. Even with that time off my FTP increased 18% and I had a HM PR by 7 minutes. I'll be happy with that kind of improvement this year since I started this OS 12 watts above where I started last year. Work works, but you have to rest to let the body absorb the work.
@David - Similar to your thoughts I have the feeling that the Tuesday and Thursday runs are just there to keep the "run-frequency" up high ("run often" principle) as this has a much high impact to your run form than pure "volume" has! That said and taking into account that these 2 runs are only about 30' each I would do them BUT I would do them differently than written in the plan! I don't to brick-runs at all during the OS and I never did the last 2 years. For me it is too demanding in every way I can think of but especially because I can only ride after 5:30 PM a brick-run will happen in the dark (which is very prone to injury) or indoors (and I don't own a TM because I simply hate it)!
All that said here's my "interpretation" for these 2 workouts: TUESDAY - This is my lightweight start into the new week so I do it as a "Fasting run" right up in the morning after my first coffee. Pace is super-easy only focusing on great form. Bonus to add a few strides at the end.
THURSDAY - Again I try to do it as a fasting workout in the morning or at latest do be done before lunch. WU easy for 5-6' then I do the uphill time @ prescribed RPE (NOT pace!!). Uphill running is GREAT as the mechanical impact to your body is way less than running in the flat but still the training stress is there to boost your "stride-power". After the uphill segment I typically run the same way back (downhill) but very easy as DH-running is demanding in terms of injury!
@all - to calculate your estimated uphill-paces you can use this calculator http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html Simply enter your Z2 pace at the end of the page and select "Calculate equiv. paces at other incline... outdoors - level ground". On the received table simply go to the row with "Versus outdoors" matching the incline your desired one (+3,2% in my case) and use the pace to the right of it As an example my Z2 pace is 4:07/km and the "grade adjusted pace" for an incline of +3,2% is 4:14/km
Nice easy (Thursday) run this morning with some strides. I have some work to do on my cadence. This was the first run in <15 degree weather, and it honestly didn't feel as better as I was thinking it would when I rolled out of bed and checked the weather. <br /> Agree with all the above about Tues/Thurs being there for run frequency, but yes play it smart and rest if you need to or have an injury. I think of run frequency as a double edged sword- it can build up your durabilty and make you bomb proof.... or it could make you explode. Be smart people!
Ran out of time last night so I finished the run today. Started out on the Treadmill. Treadmill pace and my foot pod pace were not the same. After 4 miles on the TM, the sun came out so out I went. I calibrated my foot pod again and finished the run. Felt good to be outside. When I checked my HR for the outside versus inside, it was very close for the similar pace. I will have to watch the TM pace and what my Garmin says.
Did Wednesday's 3x 1mi @ Z4 pace. Tried to keep things somewhat in check as per Doug's advice (see in Week 3, duh again). Wanted to neg split the intervals and did. My tested Z4 is currently 8:17, my mile split paces today were:
8:15 7:49 7:18
Wanted to push the last one. All the intervals were well within my HR for Z4.
I really felt like the ol' body took a quantum leap this week. We'll see next week whether that was a fluke or a trend.
Swapped Sat & Sun workouts for the awesome reason of Cross Country! Course was multiple loops for a total of 5 miles plus w/u and c/d got me close to 80 minutes.
Did I remember my garmin? Of course not. But, I find in x-c it's more of a hinderance than a help anyway. Mostly I just get depressed that my pace suggests something very different than PE.
Course was undulating with some sharp inclines and descents. As is the British way at this time of year, the rain was MUDDY and boggy. I lost a shoe on lap 2 which lost me a minute or two, which was kind of annoying more than anything, especially because I specifically tightened my shoes before the start. I think what was the most annoying was that I'd settled into a really nice rhythm and was running quite well before the shoe incident.
5mile race time: 41:02, good for 31/66. My Run club placed 4th, which was nice! It was a smaller race as it wasn't part of the normal fixture schedule. Fun! Here's Beckie (pink shorts CLC vest) and myself (to her right) near the start of the race.
58dF and drizzling outside today - couldn't let that high of a temperature go by without running outside, even if it was a little wet.
Z2 out - 17' @ Z2-2" (although due to a big hill, the NGP was a LOT lower - Z2-40") Z3 in - 13' @ Z3-25" (although going back down the hill, the NGP was Z3-8")
Having unavoidable large hills just outside the door makes pacing a little difficult...
I'm getting all the brick runs done, but not always at the prescribed paces. I've had this experience before, and I'm ok with it. By taking it a bit easy on the brick runs (even just doing them at "easy pace" if I feel like it), I can continue to get the quality runs in. I've been very happy with the quality of my Sunday runs so far (which can suffer)...but we'll see what happens tomorrow.
Wednesday's run was 3 x 1 mi. It was kind of funny because I was time pressed and I had to get it done as quick as possible. Probably a bad idea, but I just did 1 mi warmup and jumped right in. I was just feeling so rushed, it was just run and not pay too much attention. Paces were faster than they should be (especially last two)...hope I recover ok. 3 x 1 mi at 6:47, 6:29, 6:31. Total run only 5 miles. Oh well. Got in the work.
I did my Sunday run today by doing a local trail 10k race, Hell of the Northwest. The first mile was a brutal hill with 30% slope in places. It was also some nice wet Oregon clay underfoot. At one point a conga line of runners ahead of me were sliding back down the hill towards me. The grip on my Hoka Stinson Trail shoes was working really well for me though. I tried to hang with my 13 year old son but he dropped me. I caught up after the hill leveled out, but I had to stop to take off a sock that was sliding down. I need some new socks. The Hokas were not ideal on the super steep twisty downhill where the additional height was not reassuring or stable underfoot. After the downhill my son was out of sight. The trai l leveled out and involved running throug a lot of water and mud. The rest of the course was not so steep but not flat either. The Hokas were good on the forest road section. I figured I was in the top area, there was one other older guy who I passed. When he tried to avoid a long puddle and I ran right through it :-). The rest of the race was more of the same. My son and I passed each other near the turn around but I kew I wasn't going to catch him. He is now faster than me at 10k. I reckon I could still beat him on a half marathon, but my days of being faster are fading quickly... I ended 5th overall, first old guy . My son was an impressive 3rd overall.
Comments
Did the Sunday long run today. Not too bad. Took awhile to warm up. Hit my paces. Total mileage 8 miles which is a PR for distance for me. So very pleased with myself.
@Stefan, I don't do the incline run. I'll run at Z2 and do some pickups to Z4 for a couple minutes at a time.
Got the run done on the treadmill after work. 2 mile WU, 2 miles @ Z2 followed by 3X1 @ Z4. Run felt really good and I was able to increase the pace a little for each interval.
WU-16 min
mile 1 - 6:40 Avg HR 164
mile 2 - 6:40 Avg HR 170
mile 3 - 6:35 Avg HR 169
Total 1:03 7.95 mi Avg pace 7:58 pace
Went out after work to do the run and my hamstring started getting tight again and wasn't getting any better as I warmed up. It's frustrating to not be able to run. I have a doctor's appointment set up for next week so I guess I'll play it by ear and see how it goes with rest and ice (I'm sitting on a ice pack right now). The good thing is that it doesn't hurt when I bike so I'll continue to do that and second thing is that it's not April or May so I have time to fix it.
Thanks for reading and keep rocking those workouts.
@Mark - be patient, avoid run speed work and focus on the bike would be my advice FWIW.
Got my workout at the track in the pouring rain and 41degs. Did a mile jogging to warm up, feeling tight in my hips and then right into it. Surprisingly I was able to hit my pace no problem. 3x1mile all a little faster than my Z4 pace but less than Z5.
http://www.strava.com/activities/221137159
WU 1 mile.
3X1 @ 7:41, 7:35, 7:35
Remaining time Z2
6.90 total miles.
Started with a 2 mile warmup at 8:34 then 3 x 1 @ 7:20; 7:24; 7:16 and finished the hour @ 8:00
Nothing fancy, not too hard. Just run and done.
Z1 w/u @ 11:46
3 x Z4 (4') @ 9:27/9:30/9:14
Now to sleep quickly!
Feels good to feel like a runner again, not just slogging through EP runs without purpose.
TP target 8:12 8:05/8:05/8:00, then did 12' MP @ 8:49
First time I didn't w/u on high knee elipitical machine.
10 min w/u working my way down to 8:30 pace then
3 x 1 mile repeats at 8:10 / 8:05 / 8:00 - 9min pace between sets for .25.
Remaining time at 8:41 pace.
My left hip flexor not giving me problems...ya!
Did the brick tonight on the TM at mostly Z2. The RPE was low Z3, I definitely felt the fatigue from this week's work. Glad for tomorrow's rest day.
I have a confession to make... I am not doing the Tuesday and Thursday runs that are in the NOS plan. I have my reasons... I have been dealing with run issues of and on for a while and I think three runs a week is a good level for me right now. and also getting a second workout during the week in the OS has too much mental/physical cost to me. I need the time in between to recover somewhat. I am not really sure what the point of those runs is. They smell kind of of "volume" to me. I am trying to have my sessions be of a high quality when I feel rested enough to give 100% to the one workout each day and two on Saturday.
Wondering what the team thinks...Do you think this will be a negative for me to skip them?
@ David, I don't think I've done the Tuesday run yet this OS and I only do the Thursday run if I'm feeling good and have the time. My take on the OS is to make me faster, or at least not slow down, and get to the next race training cycle healthy. As an older athlete my body doesn't recover nearly as fast as it did when I was younger so I need that rest. Also, like you I've been having some run issues this year so I'm trying to limit my run exposure and make the run and bike workouts really count. I don't mind the mental suffering, at least that seems t get easier with age, but I have to watch those little muscular dings that can turn into train wrecks really quickly.
This is my second OS with EN. Last year I took a week off for the holidays to spend time with the family and rest from all the work in the first 8 weeks. Even with that time off my FTP increased 18% and I had a HM PR by 7 minutes. I'll be happy with that kind of improvement this year since I started this OS 12 watts above where I started last year. Work works, but you have to rest to let the body absorb the work.
That said and taking into account that these 2 runs are only about 30' each I would do them BUT I would do them differently than written in the plan! I don't to brick-runs at all during the OS and I never did the last 2 years. For me it is too demanding in every way I can think of but especially because I can only ride after 5:30 PM a brick-run will happen in the dark (which is very prone to injury) or indoors (and I don't own a TM because I simply hate it)!
All that said here's my "interpretation" for these 2 workouts:
TUESDAY - This is my lightweight start into the new week so I do it as a "Fasting run" right up in the morning after my first coffee. Pace is super-easy only focusing on great form. Bonus to add a few strides at the end.
THURSDAY - Again I try to do it as a fasting workout in the morning or at latest do be done before lunch. WU easy for 5-6' then I do the uphill time @ prescribed RPE (NOT pace!!). Uphill running is GREAT as the mechanical impact to your body is way less than running in the flat but still the training stress is there to boost your "stride-power".
After the uphill segment I typically run the same way back (downhill) but very easy as DH-running is demanding in terms of injury!
@all - to calculate your estimated uphill-paces you can use this calculator http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html
Simply enter your Z2 pace at the end of the page and select "Calculate equiv. paces at other incline... outdoors - level ground".
On the received table simply go to the row with "Versus outdoors" matching the incline your desired one (+3,2% in my case) and use the pace to the right of it
As an example my Z2 pace is 4:07/km and the "grade adjusted pace" for an incline of +3,2% is 4:14/km
Agree with all the above about Tues/Thurs being there for run frequency, but yes play it smart and rest if you need to or have an injury. I think of run frequency as a double edged sword- it can build up your durabilty and make you bomb proof.... or it could make you explode. Be smart people!
Ran out of time last night so I finished the run today. Started out on the Treadmill. Treadmill pace and my foot pod pace were not the same. After 4 miles on the TM, the sun came out so out I went. I calibrated my foot pod again and finished the run. Felt good to be outside. When I checked my HR for the outside versus inside, it was very close for the similar pace. I will have to watch the TM pace and what my Garmin says.
Here's my final Week 4 post (over in Week 3):
OK, NOS Week 4 is a wrap!
Did Wednesday's 3x 1mi @ Z4 pace. Tried to keep things somewhat in check as per Doug's advice (see in Week 3, duh again). Wanted to neg split the intervals and did. My tested Z4 is currently 8:17, my mile split paces today were:
8:15
7:49
7:18
Wanted to push the last one. All the intervals were well within my HR for Z4.
I really felt like the ol' body took a quantum leap this week. We'll see next week whether that was a fluke or a trend.
Swapped Sat & Sun workouts for the awesome reason of Cross Country! Course was multiple loops for a total of 5 miles plus w/u and c/d got me close to 80 minutes.
Did I remember my garmin? Of course not. But, I find in x-c it's more of a hinderance than a help anyway. Mostly I just get depressed that my pace suggests something very different than PE.
Course was undulating with some sharp inclines and descents. As is the British way at this time of year, the rain was MUDDY and boggy. I lost a shoe on lap 2 which lost me a minute or two, which was kind of annoying more than anything, especially because I specifically tightened my shoes before the start. I think what was the most annoying was that I'd settled into a really nice rhythm and was running quite well before the shoe incident.
5mile race time: 41:02, good for 31/66. My Run club placed 4th, which was nice! It was a smaller race as it wasn't part of the normal fixture schedule. Fun! Here's Beckie (pink shorts CLC vest) and myself (to her right) near the start of the race.
Just finished the Z2 out Z3 back and was pleasantly surprised at how good the turnover went. Kind of looking forward to tomorrow's longer run.....
Z2 out - 17' @ Z2-2" (although due to a big hill, the NGP was a LOT lower - Z2-40")
Z3 in - 13' @ Z3-25" (although going back down the hill, the NGP was Z3-8")
Having unavoidable large hills just outside the door makes pacing a little difficult...
Got the run done on Wednesday, but just posting it now. 800x1 8:36 and 2x1 8:23 and 8:33. I just completed the main sets due to scheduling this week.
Did todays out and back Z2, Z3 run today as a brick. Tried out my new Hoka cliftons and I think I like them!
Last Sunday I hit the 2 mi at 7:16, 7:08 with a theoretical MP of 7:15. 2 x 1 mi at 6:33 (too fast for a longish run. oops) and 6:41
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/634941448
Wednesday's run was 3 x 1 mi. It was kind of funny because I was time pressed and I had to get it done as quick as possible. Probably a bad idea, but I just did 1 mi warmup and jumped right in. I was just feeling so rushed, it was just run and not pay too much attention. Paces were faster than they should be (especially last two)...hope I recover ok. 3 x 1 mi at 6:47, 6:29, 6:31. Total run only 5 miles. Oh well. Got in the work.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/637986194
The Hokas were not ideal on the super steep twisty downhill where the additional height was not reassuring or stable underfoot. After the downhill my son was out of sight. The trai l leveled out and involved running throug a lot of water and mud. The rest of the course was not so steep but not flat either. The Hokas were good on the forest road section. I figured I was in the top area, there was one other older guy who I passed. When he tried to avoid a long puddle and I ran right through it :-).
The rest of the race was more of the same. My son and I passed each other near the turn around but I kew I wasn't going to catch him. He is now faster than me at 10k. I reckon I could still beat him on a half marathon, but my days of being faster are fading quickly...
I ended 5th overall, first old guy
Results - http://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=33216&did=37271
Strava - http://www.strava.com/activities/222061897
@David - Nice one! Sounds like a fun race
congrats on a great result.
Did the run as a brick today. Looking at my garmin info, looks like mostly Z3 with a km at Z4 20:00 in.