Three runs over 23, 28th and 30 May 2013

I did another 5km easy Thursday 23 May, with first one 30sec speed run, then 4x20sec with 30 rest with people from work.

I missed the ParkRun on the weekend, slept in.

Did a run on Tuesday 28 - 5km easy plus 1km at sub 4min/km pace. Then 6x 20 speed with a 30sec walk rest. Ran with people from work

Finally I did a fairly fast 5km at 4min30 average pace - with a 4:12 last 1km. I then did 5x20 sec fast with a 30 sec walk rest. I then did one 200 fast  with Andrew from work.

The regular speedy runs are certainly getting easier. I may step it up a gear, do some 300's and 400's once a week

Tuesday 21 May 2013, easy 5km with 10x30 speed after

Did an easy 5km again today, about 27 minutes or so. Then did 10x30 speed with 30 second rest.

Ran again with a few fellows from work. Slightly younger than I am but quite fit. They sure can hang in there for the speed work, and don't seem to be suffering.  But they do pull out earlier, so me the old dog can work a little harder !!

These ones I managed to hold the pace much better than the last ones. Still no-where near as fit as I need to be aerobically. I can make gains on aerobic fitness with shorter faster running, but it really does not feel as effortless as it does when I have a lot of mileage done.  I am making progress with fitness, and will see how fast I can get without resorting to high mileage.

Parkrun 5km, Saturday 25th May 2013

I had a reasonably hard week, zapped my muscles a little. Thursday we went to a trivia night. I had a few beers and that always seems to sap my running abilities somewhat.

The race - Got there late, missed the start by about 30 seconds. Took off fastish, 4:10's for the first 2km, then slower. Managed 21:41 by my watch, which is not too bad considering I was not fresh at all. A meagre improvement from the last one.

5km easy plus 10x30 with 30 sec walk rest

I ran with a couple of fellows from work on Thursday, 16 May. Nice easy 5km of about 5:35 pace I think.

I then did 10x30sec fast, with 30 seconds walk rest. It sure does stack up doing these with a shorter rest. I know that in the later stages of the training for my first marathon in 2010 I was able to go as fast but jogged the 30 second rest periods.

One of the fellows, Andrew, did 5 of the 10 speed runs with me. He followed very closely, so effectively matched my pace, and hung in there really well. I know he's not doing as much running as me, but he did so well. Some people are just born runners I guess, it takes me at least a few weeks to build to where I am now  :)

Anyway, it feels really obvious that I am making gains in fitness. There is the Goodwill Bridge that I run across and it is feeling completely easy to cross now compared to a month ago. Injuries are good, few niggles but nothing bad. Just normal soreness from working a little harder.

Race 5km Saturday (Tomorrow)  not sure if I will be fresh enough to go well, but I am looking forward to it..

Approximately 11kms easy, Monday 13 May and a speed run Tuesday 14

I did a much needed 11km run last night. No watch, no tech to track it what so-ever. I did a sort of breathing exercise where I tried to achieve a pace that allowed me to breath comfortably in and out over about 4 strides.

This is by far the longest run I have done this year, and I am feeling it today  a pleasant tiredness in the muscles. I felt the first signs of cramp after I finished, walked the dog and that was relieved.

I also did a 1min10sec fast, 1min walk speed session today. The legs were certainly not up to the usual pace today, but it was good to do something. Only did 4 of the reps, starting at 3:40 pace, slowing to 3:51 and 3:57, then did a couple of faster ones in the 3:30 range. I turned around and reset the watch for 30 second reps with a 1min walk. Did 6 of them, all 3:22 pace or quicker.

These types of speed sessions _should_ contribute a little to my ability to hold a 4min pace run but I still really need to get some long runs done over a good couple of months to make any significant improvements I think.

Legs are sore, day off from running tomorrow. Then I plan an easy run Thursday of about 6km, rest Friday and a 5km race Saturday. Not sure what I am capable of right now, but I should be better than 21:50 now.

Thursday 9 May another 1min speed, 1min rest session

I did another speed like session today. This time I managed to do 1x1min at around 3:30 pace with 1min walk rest. I then did 9 x 30 at around 3:15 pace .

I felt that it was 'easier' today but the Garmin recordings show I was pretty much at a similar pace to the ones I did on Tuesday. I was a little tired on Tuesday having done a race Saturday and Sunday.

I felt a whole lot better today and did a lot more repetitions, yet I don't feel that its smashed me as much. I doubt that I have improved that much in two days, so perhaps I have managed to recover a little and felt better today.

I am going to do much more speed workouts for the next month or so, at least one a week like this. 3:30 pace feels like a nice loping along speed, I need to train myself so that I can maintain it. I will build up gradually so that I can do 1min @3:30 with a walk rest of 1 minute, and cover 10kms. Then drop the rest periods back a little. I think at some stage I will eventually capable of 3km, 5km at 3:30 .. And then 10km at 3:30 pace !!

Slightly harder run today, 5 x 1min fast with 1min walk, and 8 x 30sec fast with 1min walk

Decided to up the intensity a little with 5x1min fast, 1 min rest, and then 8x 30 with 1 min rest.

For the first lot 1min fast with 1min rest, all of them were about 3:30 pace with one at 3:44,  I was blocked by walkers on the pathway. The second lot 8x30's I went a little faster - slowest 3:28 pace, and fastest 3:06 pace.

I find this sort of running exhilarating and energising. Of course it zaps muscles in a totally different way to easy pace longer distance. But that is why I do it. I want to be able run 3:30 pace over long distance. I need strength to do it, as well as gobs of aerobic conditioning. The only way to build the strength is to run fast frequently. Used carefully I can build up to be capable of sustained 3:30 pace over say, 5km and more. I am WAY off that but I want to try.

I also need to balance the need to remain doing relatively low km's to avoid regressing injury wise. Hence speed focus really has to be a priority until I am in the clear and able to run the long distances safely.

Anyway it was a good run, very enjoyable.