1 hour Z1.5 run this morning before work. Got in 8 miles on the TM and felt good. Took about 2.5 miles to warm up fully. Will be hitting the bike tonight for the Z3 ride.
Did a short 5x1k @ z5 just to try how my body responds. Muscular this pace is doable for a 5k but my Lungs and especially my HR is still high. I will skip the test this week and push it out to one of the new-years-running events around here
Happy to be back in the land of the living. I finished my work week of nights yesterday morning. I just sat around and rested all day long. Today, I got up and headed to the pain cave. I warmed up and started my run test. I felt good through out and ran well. End results is my vdot went from 49.61 to 50.74. I really should have done my bike test this weekend instead of during the work week.
Finished my run test today. 23:26 leading to 7:33. Down from 8:00. New vDot 41. My initial run test was not great but improvement is improvement. Happy to run pain free.
I'm disappointed to say I had to abort mission on my run test today, 2 miles in. I guess I didn't have to, I just did. Not a rookie at this and I know the value of pacing. Knowing and doing sometimes are two different things. First test in week 1 I paced perfectly with a 7:46/mi pace and a VDOT of 40. Through the first 7 weeks of OS I easily hit all the target paces, probably over achieved most of the time. I really thought going in that I could do 7:38 and raise my VDOT to 41. Since I didn't do the test until today, I actually had 2 days of rest. Maybe too much. My legs felt great. Did a nice 15' WU that included 4 strides. Weather was perfect, low 50's, no wind. Same course as last time. Last thing I said before starting was "don't go out too fast." Well, I didn't think I had until I looked down at my watch after a couple minutes. It felt so easy, but I was just over 7' pace. I backed off but still after a 1/2 mile I was 7:30. Continued to back down and after a mile was at goal pace, 7:38. But I think the damage had already been done. I hung on to that pace at the halfway point but then my form started to break down and I was on life support heading to end of mile 2, where I was still at 7:38 and suffering. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a sufferer. I definitely need to work on that. I had some choice to make and I decided to call it a day as I knew I couldn't maintain where I was. Man! After a quick recovery, I did 2 x 1/2 mi at that same goal pace. Even though I didn't get the 5k in, I still got in some good work. I'm ok with keeping my same VDOT and building on that. I'll get that 41 VDOT next time.
Great job to those who have made improvements, very impressive.
I think I'm going to have to do my run test again for 2 reasons. First, on the TM, I usually do 1.5% grade, but I'm not convinced that it was actually set there today (seemed a bit easy). Second, I think I went out too easy (did I say that?) and left too much in the tank. Might redo it next week. However, I'm pretty pleased overall...
Overall 5K @ 27:00 = Vdot of 35 (up from 33), but mean HR only 159 for the 5K with max 173 (usually mean would be high 160s with max 175-8)
I didn't get a bike or a run in yesterday, one of my daughters had an outpatient procedure done- all is fine. So I did the Thurs. run this morning as kinda a recovery run, still a little sore and stiff from the tests.
After my failed test Wed I retested today and the results were awesome !
18:47 ! PR and 1 min better than the 19:50 from the Thanksgiving Run 3 weeks ago
Only question I have is... Test was on the Track instead of the road as before and I did it as usual stopping the Garmin when it hits 3.1mile mark now..to be a little skeptical... I am questioning accuracy of the Garmin GPS ... however .. I researched online and people are actually saying that the pace the GPS tells you on a track is in fact slower than the actual pace you would get running on a straight road. Anyone with experience or knowledge on this?
Looking at my new paces, wondering one thing ... I ran a 6:28/mi test. Yet my fastest zone 5 per the calculator is now 6:32/mi ... and most of the time we will not be running in Z5. If I take a page from the bike philosophy, shouldn't we have to run some short intervals FASTER than test pace to help improve it more dramatically? Similar to VO2 work on the bike at 120% FTP?
“If I take a page from the bike philosophy, shouldn't we have to run some short intervals FASTER than test pace to help improve it more dramatically?”
The answer is yes. But that’s if you want to “dramatically” improve your 5k time. I’m guessing that even though we say we are training to get a faster 5k, I think the training we do is actually geared more towards making your threshold pace faster. Your run test pace is not the same as your bike “test pace.” On the bike (although we do test for VO2) we are testing our FTP/LTHR, or the maximum power/heart rate we can sustain for 1 hour. And the primary goal during the OS is to increase that FTP/LTHR. On the run we are testing our 5k pace. For most people a 5k takes significantly less time than 1 hour. So, if you wanted to compare your run paces in the same way you are comparing your bike paces, you should be looking at Z5 compared to Z4/TP, not Z5 compared to your 5k pace (Z5.2?). I think we use a 5k as a test because it’s mentally easier to run as hard as you can for 20 – 40 minutes vs 1 hour; it is easier to recover from, and there’s probably less chance of injury. I would guess that generally speaking, for all but the fastest runners in the world an increase in your threshold pace will result in an increase in your 5k pace.
I guess the "big picture" is not so much to be able to crush a 5km and beat yourself to death in the process, but rather continue with progressive gains that are sustainable on both the run and the bike over the long haul.
Did the 5 K test today since I blew up on Wednesday by going out way too fast so shut it down after a mile. Did the test this morning first thing and tested pretty much the same as week 1. A little disappointing given how I was hitting my zones on my run workouts but it is what it is.
Got the Sunday run done early this AM. 12 miles. 1 hr 26 min.It was my first run > 1 hr in the past 3 weeks so defenitely feeling it in my legs. However it felt good, especially knowing the next 2 weeks will be somewhat less structured becuase of the Holidays and moving to Florida tomorrow. And by saying that , I mean today was my last run in 32 deg weather. From now on, running and biking in the 70's again
Did the Sunday run yesterday. Legs were a little dead. Using the same VDOT (40) as the first 7 weeks as I had to abort my week 8 test. Probably best. The 2 mi @ HMP seemed hard. Did the test on Thursday and the 40' bike at 0.86 Friday so I can see how I was a little fatigued. Did 1 mi @ TP and instead of doing another mile, I broke it up into 2 x 0.5 mi intervals. Also tried a few short intervals at MP but after 80's was pretty fried and called it a day.
This WORK is hard, but I guess it's supposed to be to get better!
Got the Sunday run in this morning on the DM. Did 2 miles at Z3 and then 2X1mile at Z4. Finished with about 20' Z2. Felt ok since my zones haven't changed. Looking forward to family dinner together (aka refueling) and a day of rest tomorrow.
Finished my Sunday run with my new zones. I was a bit intimidate when my vDOT jumped from 36 to 40 during the test but I was able to complete today's run without any suffering. I always thought my biking was stronger but surprisingly my running seems to have an edge over my biking now.
Finally got to my 5k test today... is it cheating that I used a 5k race, rather than my solo run week 1? It is oh so much "easier" to share the pain and follow a good pacer!
Very happy with results, pacing, and improvement...
Week 1: total time - 24:37 (7:51, 7:57, 7:59), avg hr - 169, VDOT - 39 Week 8: total time - 23:34 (7:42, 7:34, 7:30), avg hr - 165, VDOT - 41
@ Amuyla, great job. That's quite a bump. I thought I was a better biker too until I started looking at my race results and then I saw that I was better at the run.
@ Julie, races are fine. Just remember that you'll have to keep those new paces up for the rest of the OS. It's a mixed blessing.
So, it's nice to be back in the land of running. I haven't been doing much speed work until the test this week because of my hamstring. Today I did the 2 miles at Z3 and then started the 4Z intervals. Since that's where I ran into problems earlier in the year I decided to cut them down to 1/2 mile segments with 2 minutes rest in between and that worked fine. All in all I did 9.84 miles in 1:24.41. It's the first run that was significantly longer than an hour in a long time and it warranted a nice nap afterwards. We're heading out caroling in a little while so that should be fun.
Really felt the lack of a rest day during today's run. Soreness near the top of the leg from classic cross country skiing did not let up during the run. The headwind, blowing snow, loose footing, and Japanese tourist driving a van into the ditch and needing a push also did not help the possible tranquility of the run. The one mile warm up was nice, but the two mile Z3 I find hard to hit with the big hill in the middle. Z4 mile paces were OK - 6:56 and 6:55 I can feel good about. The rest of the run was tough to hit Z2 paces near the end. Right now the legs are up and I am staring at the hot tub on the deck that is about to become my best friend! AND today is the longest night of the year: that means the sun is coming back tomorrow! More sunshine soon!
I've been struggling to keep in the game this holiday season. Home life demands other priorities with my mother-in-law going thru the late stages of ovarian cancer. our house is upside down for weeks. This is also my busy season at work with a ton of year end updates and reporting. But I am realistic in my expectations, what we do is only a game.
Anyway, today I had the time and mental space to go for the 5K test I missed on Thursday, only I did it on the TM, a first for me. I really prefer to do them on a track so my results are a true reflection of not only my physical ability, but more importantly, my mental determination.
Started with 2 miles at mostly EP then reset the Garmin and cranked it up to 6:42. My goal was 21' flat and really didn't expect to hang on at 6:42 the whole way but I did. By 15' on the clock I was really hurting and was starting to see sparkles.... the suck was upon me but I can do most anything for 6 minutes.... or so I told myself. The last 2 minutes were killer, I kept wanting to grab the bar which would have been totally unacceptable to me. I think the only thing that kept me from flying off the back was the fear of a face-plant.
End result: 20:48; a 0:15 PR and 0:42 faster than 10/29
Comments
I will skip the test this week and push it out to one of the new-years-running events around here
Happy to be back in the land of the living. I finished my work week of nights yesterday morning. I just sat around and rested all day long. Today, I got up and headed to the pain cave. I warmed up and started my run test. I felt good through out and ran well. End results is my vdot went from 49.61 to 50.74. I really should have done my bike test this weekend instead of during the work week.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/652858580
23:26 leading to 7:33. Down from 8:00.
New vDot 41.
My initial run test was not great but improvement is improvement. Happy to run pain free.
I'm disappointed to say I had to abort mission on my run test today, 2 miles in. I guess I didn't have to, I just did. Not a rookie at this and I know the value of pacing. Knowing and doing sometimes are two different things. First test in week 1 I paced perfectly with a 7:46/mi pace and a VDOT of 40. Through the first 7 weeks of OS I easily hit all the target paces, probably over achieved most of the time. I really thought going in that I could do 7:38 and raise my VDOT to 41. Since I didn't do the test until today, I actually had 2 days of rest. Maybe too much. My legs felt great. Did a nice 15' WU that included 4 strides. Weather was perfect, low 50's, no wind. Same course as last time. Last thing I said before starting was "don't go out too fast." Well, I didn't think I had until I looked down at my watch after a couple minutes. It felt so easy, but I was just over 7' pace. I backed off but still after a 1/2 mile I was 7:30. Continued to back down and after a mile was at goal pace, 7:38. But I think the damage had already been done. I hung on to that pace at the halfway point but then my form started to break down and I was on life support heading to end of mile 2, where I was still at 7:38 and suffering. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a sufferer. I definitely need to work on that. I had some choice to make and I decided to call it a day as I knew I couldn't maintain where I was. Man! After a quick recovery, I did 2 x 1/2 mi at that same goal pace. Even though I didn't get the 5k in, I still got in some good work. I'm ok with keeping my same VDOT and building on that. I'll get that 41 VDOT next time.
Great job to those who have made improvements, very impressive.
Overall 5K @ 27:00 = Vdot of 35 (up from 33), but mean HR only 159 for the 5K with max 173 (usually mean would be high 160s with max 175-8)
Mile 0-1 @ 9:03/mi
Mile 1-2.1 @ 8:46/mi
Mile 2.1-3.11 @ 8:19/mi
Laps were set with ranges on 920XT to keep me in check; guess I should have let myself go a little harder!
Anyway, I think I'll try again after some rest to see how it goes. I think there's more in the tank.
I didn't get a bike or a run in yesterday, one of my daughters had an outpatient procedure done- all is fine. So I did the Thurs. run this morning as kinda a recovery run, still a little sore and stiff from the tests.
30' ZN 1-2 + 3 Zn 5 Strides
18:47 ! PR and 1 min better than the 19:50 from the Thanksgiving Run 3 weeks ago
Only question I have is... Test was on the Track instead of the road as before and I did it as usual stopping the Garmin when it hits 3.1mile mark
now..to be a little skeptical... I am questioning accuracy of the Garmin GPS ... however .. I researched online and people are actually saying that the pace the GPS tells you on a track is in fact slower than the actual pace you would get running on a straight road. Anyone with experience or knowledge on this?
link--> http://connect.garmin.com/activity/653419785
Finally got to the run test this week...
Overall pleased but would have liked to have found those extra 3-4 seconds out there!
5km in 20:03 (vs. 20:47 previously on 9/23)
vDot = 49.7 (4% improvement)
http://www.strava.com/activities/230886315
Looking at my new paces, wondering one thing ...
I ran a 6:28/mi test.
Yet my fastest zone 5 per the calculator is now 6:32/mi ... and most of the time we will not be running in Z5.
If I take a page from the bike philosophy, shouldn't we have to run some short intervals FASTER than test pace to help improve it more dramatically? Similar to VO2 work on the bike at 120% FTP?
“If I take a page from the bike philosophy, shouldn't we have to run some short intervals FASTER than test pace to help improve it more dramatically?”
The answer is yes. But that’s if you want to “dramatically” improve your 5k time. I’m guessing that even though we say we are training to get a faster 5k, I think the training we do is actually geared more towards making your threshold pace faster. Your run test pace is not the same as your bike “test pace.” On the bike (although we do test for VO2) we are testing our FTP/LTHR, or the maximum power/heart rate we can sustain for 1 hour. And the primary goal during the OS is to increase that FTP/LTHR. On the run we are testing our 5k pace. For most people a 5k takes significantly less time than 1 hour. So, if you wanted to compare your run paces in the same way you are comparing your bike paces, you should be looking at Z5 compared to Z4/TP, not Z5 compared to your 5k pace (Z5.2?). I think we use a 5k as a test because it’s mentally easier to run as hard as you can for 20 – 40 minutes vs 1 hour; it is easier to recover from, and there’s probably less chance of injury. I would guess that generally speaking, for all but the fastest runners in the world an increase in your threshold pace will result in an increase in your 5k pace.
I guess the "big picture" is not so much to be able to crush a 5km and beat yourself to death in the process, but rather continue with progressive gains that are sustainable on both the run and the bike over the long haul.
Did the 5 K test today since I blew up on Wednesday by going out way too fast so shut it down after a mile. Did the test this morning first thing and tested pretty much the same as week 1. A little disappointing given how I was hitting my zones on my run workouts but it is what it is.
Sunday run workout done using my new Garmin 310. Haven't got it quite set right, but pretty cool.
EN Run WU + 2 mi ZN 3 @ 9:30 pace, little slow; 1 mi ZN 1 rec. Then 2 X 1 mi Zn 4 @ 8:31, 8:32
Did the Sunday run yesterday. Legs were a little dead. Using the same VDOT (40) as the first 7 weeks as I had to abort my week 8 test. Probably best. The 2 mi @ HMP seemed hard. Did the test on Thursday and the 40' bike at 0.86 Friday so I can see how I was a little fatigued. Did 1 mi @ TP and instead of doing another mile, I broke it up into 2 x 0.5 mi intervals. Also tried a few short intervals at MP but after 80's was pretty fried and called it a day.
This WORK is hard, but I guess it's supposed to be to get better!
Got the Sunday run in this morning on the DM. Did 2 miles at Z3 and then 2X1mile at Z4. Finished with about 20' Z2. Felt ok since my zones haven't changed
. Looking forward to family dinner together (aka refueling) and a day of rest tomorrow.
Finally got to my 5k test today... is it cheating that I used a 5k race, rather than my solo run week 1? It is oh so much "easier" to share the pain and follow a good pacer!
Very happy with results, pacing, and improvement...
Week 1: total time - 24:37 (7:51, 7:57, 7:59), avg hr - 169, VDOT - 39
Week 8: total time - 23:34 (7:42, 7:34, 7:30), avg hr - 165, VDOT - 41
After my new zones yesterday and new zones for today's run, didn't make it the whole way.
70 mins and most of each of the z3 and z4 sets with lots of rest in between.
@ Amuyla, great job. That's quite a bump. I thought I was a better biker too until I started looking at my race results and then I saw that I was better at the run.
@ Julie, races are fine. Just remember that you'll have to keep those new paces up for the rest of the OS. It's a mixed blessing.
So, it's nice to be back in the land of running. I haven't been doing much speed work until the test this week because of my hamstring. Today I did the 2 miles at Z3 and then started the 4Z intervals. Since that's where I ran into problems earlier in the year I decided to cut them down to 1/2 mile segments with 2 minutes rest in between and that worked fine. All in all I did 9.84 miles in 1:24.41. It's the first run that was significantly longer than an hour in a long time and it warranted a nice nap afterwards. We're heading out caroling in a little while so that should be fun.
1 mile @ Z1 for WU
2 mile @ Z3 - 9 seconds (treadmill error...)
1 mile @ Z1
2 x 1 mile @ Z4 - 5 sec and - 7 sec
1.75 mile @ Z2 then CD
A bit more tiring than recent Sunday runs. I empathize with the nap comment above!
I got the run in today. After yesterday’s bike performance (lack of) I wasn’t sure how well it would go. Turns out I hit all my goals!
1.5 Mile WU. MS: 2 miles @ Z3 @ 8:36 1 mile @ Z1 @ 10:25 2 x 1/2 mile (2') @ 8:24 and 8:20 1 x 1 mile @ Z4 @ 8:14. Finished up with 15 minutes @ Z2.
Anyway, today I had the time and mental space to go for the 5K test I missed on Thursday, only I did it on the TM, a first for me. I really prefer to do them on a track so my results are a true reflection of not only my physical ability, but more importantly, my mental determination.
Started with 2 miles at mostly EP then reset the Garmin and cranked it up to 6:42. My goal was 21' flat and really didn't expect to hang on at 6:42 the whole way but I did. By 15' on the clock I was really hurting and was starting to see sparkles.... the suck was upon me but I can do most anything for 6 minutes.... or so I told myself. The last 2 minutes were killer, I kept wanting to grab the bar which would have been totally unacceptable to me. I think the only thing that kept me from flying off the back was the fear of a face-plant.
End result: 20:48; a 0:15 PR and 0:42 faster than 10/29
10/29 - 21:30; Vdot @ 45.76
12/21 - 20:48; Vdot @ 47.44
Here is a look at all my Vdots from marathons, half marathons and 5K runs: