2015 NOS- run thread, week 14 - Graduation Day!
Hello everyone and welcome to week 14 of the OS. Congratulations on getting to this point as it is not easy (everyone is shaking their head saying no kidding!). Hopefully you have seen/will see with this week's tests the significant speed and strength gains. If nothing else, if you have made it this far, your mental six pack should be very strong. The mental strength that got you through so many repeats and trainer sessions will serve you well as we switch gears to our season specific plans. So again take a look at how far you have come and enjoy it!
If you are like me, much (if not all) of the OS work is done by yourself. This is the point of the year where I like to go for a ride or a run with the folks I used to and show off the new speed and power, I internally grin then, because I am now in a much better place than when last they saw me. It is amazing what crushing yourself for 14 straight weeks can create!
A quick word about transitioning to your next part of your season. You have just gone through a tough stretch of intense work (thank you captain obvious). Make sure to give yourself the time needed to absorb the work you did. Most (if not all) of us are the type A personality. In fact you might say we are type A+, because if I can get that extra plus by god I will do it! That is a powerful trait but also a dangerous one right now. If you don't take the needed rest, you will be digging a hole that later in the year you will strongly regret (I assure you this comes from a bit of hard personal experience). At that time, though, finding you time to rest is very difficult without boogering up your plan. So stick to the plan (just like the OS) and save your over achieving for later when it can be better applied. If it feels too easy for a bit, that is by design and a good thing!
What you have done is no small feat and you will reap the gains the entire year. Kill it this testing week and good luck with the rest of your year!
One last thing: I want to thank Doug for his work in the bike thread. Not only could we all follow him as he defied what a normal human can do by absolutely destroying his bike, but his words helped keep us going as things got darkest. Thanks Doug!
Comments
https://www.strava.com/activities/246887351
I moved my workouts ahead a day since I have a half marathon on Saturday instead of the Sunday listed in the plan. Plan called for 6X90. Wasn't sure what the 90 was supposed to be (steps, minutes, seconds, miles
Yes, thanks a lot Scott, it has been very helpful getting your weekly messages.
Got my run in at lunch time - https://www.strava.com/activities/247022561
I will do the bike after work.
Scott, Thanks for being our OS run captain, and giving us weekly motivation.
Wed. run done. 30' ZN 1 + 6X90' Zn 4 all 8;30 pace.
I plan to run the Game Day 10k in Newport News on Sun. for my run test.
I have been having a tough week physically as I have been working nights. I get minimal sleep that only just allows me to function as a person. This week, that shift has really hit me hard. I was having a hard time getting through workouts that should not have been a problem. When I woke today, I was not feeling very much better. I got some inspirational texts and decided to give the run test a try. Well, the end results were I posted my best ever test. I went 34 seconds faster than my last test. I finished 3.11 miles in 19:07. This is a big bump in my vdot.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/684934809
I got up early and tested before work today. 5k just hurts. I always wish my chest was just a little bigger so my heart and lungs have a little more space to move! I improved by 18 seconds since the last test and 84 seconds from Week 1. VDOT improved from a 52 at the beginning of OS to a 56. Pretty happy with the results.
SOOOOO, did my run on the TM. My watch had me a full 2 mph faster than the mill! I'm faster than I thought. The mill also had me at 0.84 miles when my watch told me 1 mile. I think i'll believe my watch. Because then I get to say i'm faster!!!!
Hope everyone gets a good nights sleep. Tomorrow we kick ass on the bike. GO TEAM!!!!
Looking at my training plan Saturday's 3x12' Z4 75min bike ride looks like quite an effort for the day before a running race. I am inclined to make that an easy ride instead. I am curious what others think about this especially after such a hard ride today.
@David,
It does seem pretty daunting to see a bunch of Z4 on the day before a run test, but by some magic it works. Make sure you recover well, but you shouldn't have any issues pushing a good run test on Sunday. I ran my best Cross Country race of the season last weekend and it was with me doing my Saturday bike on Friday night. I've had a bunch of runs off the back of a tougher bike and for whatever reason they've gone really well. Don't worry
Unfortunately we just got 30cm of fresh snow so I won't be able to do my run-test tomorrow ... rather than that I'll do the bike workout tomorrow but I'll dial down intensity to Z3 and just a bit of Z4.
Hope I find a snowless 5k on Sunday
I will see how I feel tomorrow and aim to get it done early in the day. My race on Sunday is not likely to be that meaningful from a vDot perspective since it is a really hilly course but I would like to give it my best anyway so I will likely be conservative tomorrow. Good luck racing and testing this weekend everyone.
Iv signed up for the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon on Sunday. Its has a net elevation drop of 157ft (Elevation: +432.2 ft / -589.8 ft / net: -157.6 ). Would that still be considered a good test? Any modification I need to do in calculating the vdot since there is more downhill?
My planned mid-OS test (5k race) was totally useless as we had super bad weather with -7°C, snowfall and very slippery and snowy roads. Since then we didn't have any snowfall here until yesterday when we got 20cm of fresh powder with a temperature drop of about 10°C in just one day.
Well I waited until late in the afternoon then headed out to my 5k-test-track and it was looking really good!! Did a good warmup of about 2,5k (as it was still pretty cold) then started my 5k.
First-k went totally awesome running just a tick too fast but my legs felt good and my HR seemed to be "under control" so everything alright here. The GPS beeps and the split was a 3:28 ... about 5 sec faster as I planned to run.
... but the road conditions changed very fast from super awesome to something between an ice rink, snow slopes and wet asphalt ... I gave it all to hang on but I had to reduce that "final push" at every stride to stay safe. RPE was rising fast and at that time I knew I can't hold that effort for more than 1-2k but I was still hoping for better road conditions upcoming.
Well I had no luck - the second k was already terribly slow loosing more than 10sec against my goal race-pace and so I pulled the trigger right then. There's just NO WAY to run at 100% or above if traction is not at 100%.
I did a few fast 1000m on the way back home thinking about how to go on with my run-training. As the weather forecast is terrible for the upcoming week I don't expect to have another chance to test so I just reflected the last training sessions I did and used "Jack Daniels" to help me find a vDOT that correlates with them.
Bottomline is now my new vDOT is set to 57 based on my outdoor training sessions especially based on my 1000m Z5 intervals I did every week.
Thx for listening and here you can find the protocol of this messed up test: https://www.strava.com/activities/248600762
@ Jason, my wife (also a team EN member) and I did the Geoduck Gallop today too. I wish I had known you were there so I could meet you. Congratulations on your PR. I have no idea where I came in regarding my AG or overall since I left soon after finishing. Susan did the 10k so she was ready to leave.
So yeah, I did the Geoduck Gallop half marathon today except that I did a 10k in the middle of the HM for time instead of the HM (if that makes any sense). With all the problems I've been having with my hamstring this year I didn't want to risk doing the HM as a race. So I used the first 3 miles as a warmup, walked for 90 seconds, and then started the 10k. My time for the 10k was 45:52 for a vdot of 44; however, the course was hilly with a 500'+ of elevation gain in that distance, so if I took my NGP of 7:15 per mile then my vDot is 45. My vDot was 45 when I tested in December with a 5k, so I'm going to keep it at that since I haven't had any trouble hitting my paces lately.
One of the best things about the race was that my hamstring didn't bother me at all during the race (nor after). Hopefully it almost back to normal.
Mark,where are you getting NGP from? How accurate is that? Can it be used for course with a variety of up and down? My race tomorrow is apparently straight up for 2 miles, down for 4 miles then rolling hills for 3.