Wednesday 5 September 15km run

So far this week:

- Sunday 10km race 42 minutes
- Monday 16km easy 5:03 pace - It was not easy, much muscle fatigue and sore
- Tuesday full day off, but hit gym for strength work, it was good. Still slight sore in belly muscles as I worked them harder than usual
- Wednesday 15km over hilly course. 5:05 pace, but fatigue was quite high.
- Thursday today, no gym no run. Feel I needed the day off.


I will run tomorrow, Friday 7 September, a super easy 10km most likely, then I have the first ParkRun on Saturday. That will be my speed run for this week.

I have had a sore right hip since the run on Monday, and its still sore now, a good sign that I worked too hard this week. Hoping its not anything serious, it does not exactly bother me while running, but feels like if it gets worse it might.

As I write this today, Thursday September 6 I am actually feeling pretty crap, tired and slightly under the weather. So the day off may well be needed.

16km run day after the Bridge to Brisbane

Yesterday, Monday 3 September, did a 16km run. It felt pretty good, was supposed to be a recovery run, but I extended it to se how 16km feels these days.

I had not done that distance for quite a while, and with the muscle soreness from the race the day before, it all added up. Quite sore again, especially glutes. Energy levels were great, just leg fatigue.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/218215913

I hit the gym this morning for my new 'usual' routine and have had a day off running entirely. I will probably do another longer run tomorrow, hopefully 17 or 18km if I have the time for it.

Races I aim to do for the rest of the year - aim is to break 40min for 10km's

There are a number of key training runs and races I want to do in the next couple of months. I want to break 40 min for 10km. Given the progress I have made in the last few months, getting my 10km average PACE down from 4:27min/km at Gold Coast to 4:08 at the Bridge to Brisbane, I think its a distinct possibility I can do it.

So the key runs and races I want to to in the lead up to the 5km Wynnum Twilight 5km race:


- This week all easy distance runs, at least 10km each day. Recovery week, plus gym Tuesday, Thursday
- Saturday 8/Sunday 9 September On weekend  EDIT I want to hit the Gateway Bridge and do the hills there 4-5 times. I found that it affected my cruise pace significantly two weeks before the B2B Need more recovery, instead and doing the inaugural ParkRun Wynnum foreshore, a 5km 'race'. 

- Week beginning 10 September I fly to Mel, back on 12 in the afternoon. Want to do so serious speed work in this week, 400's 200's, with standing rest, really fast and probably 15 x 400, 20 x 200, plus my usual 10-16km easy runs.

- Weekend of 15 and 15 September EDIT  I want to hit the Gateway Bridge again, do the hills 4 or 5 times. Change of plan here too, another ParkRun on Wynnum foreshore, Saturday

- Week beginning 17 September I will do similar work to what I did last week leading up to the B2B as it seemed to work well. It was just a 12km mid week run, a set of 12 x 200 plus floating recovery and a 5 x 400 with float recovery

- Saturday 22 September        4:00PM  Twilight Wynnum            5km    . A tune up race, I fully expect to break 20mins for this run. If I don't something has gone wrong.

- Week beginning Monday 24 September, recovery week, a few 10-12km runs at easy pace and at least one 16km+





- I start my new job on October 2, but in that week I want to do a few absolute speed 200, 400 reps. Standing rest really fast, 15-20 x  200,   and 10-12 x 400  plus the usual weekly long




- Sunday 7 October            6:00AM  3x5km relay            5km    . We will likely just front up and see if we can form a team on the day.

- Week beginning 8 October,   12x200 plus float,   and 5-10 x 400 plus float. Plus an easy 12km, this is a taper week leading up to my 10km race in Toowoomba.







- Sunday 14 October            7:30AM  Toowoomba Marathon        10km    .  This 10km race will likely be the last official race I can enter and get the sub 40. Hoping the 5km tuneups will have helped me there.

- Week beginning 15 October, I will do recovery after the Toowoomba race, and do 10km easy runs, and a 16-18km long.

- Week beginning 21 October, is a raw speed week, since I am HOPING I will have done my sub 40 10km, and I can switch a bit to 5km race target. So I will do 200's, 400', 600's,  etc all max pace and standing rests.



-  Thursday 1 November        5:15PM  Cool Night Classic        5km       . This is the day I do my best ever 5km IF I can negotiate the crowd and the dinky paths.

- All easy runs in the next few days, leading up to another 10km club race


-  Sunday 4 November            6:00AM  BRR 10km  handicap        10km   - Another chance to break 40 ...

- I will be switching to all easy long runs from this point on, and once a week absolute speed  form runs, 200's and 400s  with standing rest



- Sunday 18 November        6:00AM  BRR 10km                10km     - Yet another chance to break 40.

- All easy long uns, and a weekly raw speed session, 200 or 400
- Sunday 2 December            6:00AM  BRR 10km                10km


From 2 December onward, I want to build distance with easy long runs, and a weekly raw speed run. I am hoping that by this tim I will have broken 40min for 10km at least once, - maybe fours times !! So I will have permission to begin my build up for a new round of marathon training beginning in January

Bridge to Brisbane 2012

Did the B2B this morning. Made progress, my PB is now 42 minutes for a 10km race. However my watch reads an extra 100 metres compared to last year., and the Garmin Connect data shows  41:28  for exactly 10km's.

Progress so far this year:

10km race GC at 4:27 average June 30
 16 days
10km race J2J at 4:20 average July 15
 6 days
10km race FUnRun at 4:18 average July 21
14 days
10km at Bris Run Fest 4:14 average  August 5
21 days later
5km TT   20.11 , 4:02 average pace
7 days later
10km race Bridge to Brisbane, 4:08 average on 2 September


I have done 5 10km races this year over a period just under three months, and average pace over the distances have come down - 4:27, 4:20, 4:18, 4:14, 4:08.  I think given this progress, and if I remain uninjured and do not get ill, its pretty good chance I can break 4min/km over 10km in the next month or so.

My training really is working, very satisfying.

5km Time Trial Sunday 26 August 2012

Did a 5km time trial to see where I am pace wise. Managed a personal best 20:11, by about 23-24 seconds. Previous best was from 2010 at the tail end of marathon training. I also managed to do 15:51 for the 4km during the run, the first time I have ever gone sub 16.

I am reasonably pleased, and given better pacing or even some extra effort in the last 1km I could have gone sub 20.

Looming big problem though, my right heel has flared, the bursitis that had stopped me training properly for the last 2 years. Its only the right heel whereas it was always both, and its nowhere near as severe as it has been. I am taking a day off running tomorrow, and icing, Ibuprofen and topical NASAIDS to see if it improves.

I suspect its been triggered by the shoes, I have been wearing the new Saucony Kinvara's I bought recently for the last 5 runs I have done. I think they have triggered the problem, so I will switch back to my worn out Nike Free 3 V3 shoes for the rest of the week and see how it goes.

If it leads to improvement, then I  have reasonably clear evidence that shoes are generally the cause of my problems. And I will have to go looking for something that works for me. If only Nike did not change their Free 3 range so much, and I would be fine.

Holidays - took 11 days off no running

Probably not the best thing to have done but I took 11 days off from running and I have been on 3 weeks holiday from work. Back to work Monday next week 27 August..

We had a big party on 11 August for Christine's birthday that was fun. And we had to clean the house and prep for the party, and that flattened me physically it was a huge amount of work. It was a big party and I took a few days to recover from the hang over too!

We went and stayed at Cooroy for the weekend, and saw Sarah Blasko at Pomona on the Saturday. My first run was on the Noosa Trails on the  Cooroy to Pomona track. I did not have my watch so I took phone with GPS and Garmin sports tracker software. The GPS would not lock on so no data recorded, ran it on Audust 18 2012 about 4km out and 4km back. It was fun and I felt I had not lost much fitness.

The next run I did was back in Brisbane, I attempted to run across the Gateway Bridge 4 times, only managed just short of three times. It was really tough - I have been pretty much been avoiding hills in my training up until the hill repeats I did on 7 August. The Gatway Bridge run set me up for some real fatigue for the rest of the week.

I did a 10km run really sore the next day, 20 August. It was tough, and I feel that muscle condition in legs was what I lost mostly during the 11 days off. I feel aerobically ok and can hold speed as well as I have in recent times.

The next run was a 14km slow - Again it was tough due to the fatigue I had accumulated from the Gateway Bridge run but it was a good one.

Since I was so rough the next run was short at 7km but I did a couple of fast 1km sections, where I managed a 3min46 and a 3min40 1km pace. I did those heading downwind as it was really windy that afternoon 21 August. It was nice o feel the leg speed while assisted by the wind, its a hint of how I want to travel once I am fit enough to do a decent 5 and 10km race. 3:40 pace is ultimately where I want to be and I tend to think its realistic and not really that far off :)

Finally I have started gym work again, mainly to maintain lean muscle mass in upper body and get a better core strength. It will help me hold form in the faster races I hope to do. I did a gym session Friday morning, 24 August, a little bit of core work, and upper body, but I also did a set of leg presses in a 'Hack' machine. This machine affects the exact muscles used for raw speed. I then stepped out and did 6km reasonably fast and went back to the gym to meet a personal trainer, he gave be a set of basic exercises I can do for assising and supplementing my running. I intend to do these sessions 2, 3 maybe 4 times a week, and run every day. Taking days off to recover as I need it

Brisbane Running Festival 10km race

A great event, beautiful crisp and cool morning, no humidity and it warmed just the right amout as the sun came out. Managed 4:14 average, and apparently was 15th in my age group. If I am running as well as I am now in 3 years I will be in the next age group up and may well be placing :)  Hmm!!!

I ran this race without looking at watch for splits, just ran to how I felt. I might have been able to push a little harder if I was paying attention. It was good to do 4:14's average without clock watching. I managed to get to the start with time to spare, after dropping off bag. Went to toilet, grabbed a small coffee. And lined up, only to realise I needed to go again. SO I dashed off to go, the toilets were near by and not crowded. Got back to the start area with 2 minutes to go, stuck WAY UP THE BACK. Took me over 1 minute to cross the start line, but I don't mind that, I go for chip time.

The first three km's were frustrating, I had to dodge and weave for a long time - first 1km in 4:08. I had some room to go onto footpaths there. As we approached the Story Bridge it got really congested, and I was forced to slow for the next 2km. Across the bridge, we were in a narrow path for pedestrians, and that slowed me even more. I was getting a bit annoyed with people proping at a pace even with everyone else and going two, three and four abreast. It resulted in completely blocking anyone that might need to pass. I had to shout out a few times 'A little difficult to pass here!!', and they kindly moved over and made room.

I lost heaps of time in the first three km, but that was probably a good thing, as it slowed me up and allowed me to warm up. When the path cleared I decided to hit it harder, and did a 1km split of 3:56 for the fourth.

The rest of the race I just tried to hold a decent pace, but again the course narrowed, and that plus a few hills and twisty bits meant I could not go as fast as I wanted. Anyway, only 2 seconds per km slower than my best ever today.

I am completely convinced now that if I did the Jetty2Jetty race today I would have done a PB, and if it was the 'ItsNotOK'  run I would have smashed it, that course was completely flat.

Progress:

10km race GC at 4:27 average June 30
 16 days
10km race J2J at 4:20 average July 15
 6 days
10km race FUnRun at 4:18 average July 21
14 days
10km at Bris Run Fest 4:14 average  August 5
4 weeks, 28+ days
Bridge to Brisbane, 2 September

In 38 days, have improved by 13 seconds per km. To do 4min km's I need to improve by exactly 14kms in 28+ days. It will be pretty close.

I am slowly improving, gaining fitness. I still have only 4 solid months of training, so I feel its justified that I can think I have much more to come. I need to build aerobic base on the speed/strength that I have been slowly building. I need to keep build the long runs up, and also hit the 1km and 2km cruise intervals harder, more of them rather than simple raw speed..

What I have been doing really is working, so I don't feel any significant need to change it around much.