Thunder Road

Satanta

Background: Male. 36. 85Kg. 5'7"
I have been doing mainly resistance work in the gym for the last 10 years or so. Last year I got on a road bike to do a charity run and enjoyed it so I kept that up a couple of times a week, and this got me thinking about incorporating more cardio activity into my week, and reducing the resistance sessions. I started doing some running this year in February and was a bit ashamed to find that 2 miles was almost impossible. Before I retired to the gym I was able to run 7 miles hilly.

Anyway.... I want to keep a log now as I have a loose plan on doing the DCM in October. I always aspired to running one so I may as well give it a go. I worked up to being able to run 10 miles, and I recently ran a local 10k in 57 mins. And I ran a 5k in just under 25. After a bit of reading I decided to give a few weeks base training a go, so I dug out my HRM and began last week.

I am trying to keep my BPM in the 135-145 range and this is resulting in some pretty poor times. At the moment I am averaging about 7:30 per kilometre while keeping to this heart rate zone. I hope with the next 6 weeks or so of base training that speed will increase for the same HR. The target is 6:50 per kilometre to make it within a 4:30 for the marathon. Then I'll start the Hal Higdon Novice 1 plan

Last week I did about 6 hours of this type of training using a combination of running and the turbo trainer at home.

Soooooo. Starting this week:

Sunday: 1 hour on the turbo. HR at <140

Monday: 1 Hour 9 mins run
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/55466624

Tuesday:35 mins resistance workout (lunch time)

Satanta

Tuesday: 55 mins turbo trainer. HR <140

Satanta

Wednesday: 30 mins on dreadmill <140 bpm
I forgot my HRM watch and only had my strap with me today so I jumped on the treadmill for a half hour.

Satanta

Thursday: 1 hour 18 mins. Trying to keep hr below 145 today and ideally below 140. This was harder than my last run at the start of the week. I presume under recovery or lack of sleep had something do do with it. The last few km were uphill so that didnt help either
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/55466624

Satanta

Friday: Restitance training

Sunday: 1hour 50min run. 15km total. Keeping HR low was difficult today. Possibly a bad sleep combined with recovery debt from the gym on friday. for whatever reason it was quite disappointing.

Satanta

Monday: 40 min easy jog.

A bit annoyed today. Starting to get lateral knee pain. I'll not run now until Thursday and just see how the rest goes. I hope I dont have to take off much more than that.

Satanta

Tuesday: 40 mins resistance training. Mainly compound movements.

Satanta

Wednesday: 30 min run. No knee pain today. I might try an hour tomorrow.

Satanta

Thursday 1 hour jog hr <150

Friday Resistance/Weights

Saturday 1 hour jog hr <150

Satanta

Sunday: 1 hour easy Jog, 9.34k: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/59061860


Monday: 1 hour easy jog, 8.92k: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/59276925

Satanta

Tuesday weights at lunch time. Easy 40 min jog in late evening. 6km

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/59653672

couerdelion

Why are you trying to keep your heart rate in the range you've mentioned? How did you calculate that is where you are meant to be training?

What aim does each of your session have? I think every session should have a purpose other than just to run/cycle/swim etc.

You seem to me to be hammering your sessions. 140bpm for me is race pace but I realise that's pretty low for most and not everyone is the same hence my first question.

You also seem to be doing an awful lot without building up slowly (not sure of your background and weekly mileage prior to this). That could be why you have injured yourself so quickly(?)

I'd ditch the HR monitor based sessions (still use it to monitor and record after the session) and move to pace based sessions. Use the Mcmillan calculator and look at the optimal training paces he recommends. Train within them following something like Hal Higdon and you will improve without a doubt.

Good luck.

Satanta

Wednesday: 1 hour easy jog. Average HR 148. Average pace 6:46 min/km. 9.5 km


Thanks for the post couerdelion. To answer some of your questions:

Why are you trying to keep your heart rate in the range you've mentioned?
My base cardio is quite weak. When I started back running this year all my runs were averaging approx 170 HR. After 10 weeks of running I didnt see much of an improvement except for that I could run a little faster at that HR. To train at a lower HR I was basically moving at walking pace.

I did something similar for cycling last year (low intensity training) and seen good results. It is Arthur Lydiard type base training I guess.

How did you calculate that is where you are meant to be training?
I got a lactate analysis done last year for cycling. I know that running is different, and the guy that did the analysis mentioned my LT would be about 10 beats higher for running than the cycling. From there I calculated my zones based on Joe Friels formula

What aim does each of your session have? I think every session should have a purpose other than just to run/cycle/swim etc.
I am also a believer in following a plan and programming workouts. A the moment all the workouts are based on training within the target zone.

You seem to me to be hammering your sessions. 140bpm for me is race pace but I realise that's pretty low for most and not everyone is the same hence my first question.
On the contrary. At 140 I am barely moving and can breathe through my nose. At 149 I am a little more excerted but still easily able to hold a conversation. In fact, before this I was going out with a friend and averaging 165-170 BPM and able to hold a conversation. Although it was difficult.


Your cardio vascular fitness is well above what mine is.

You also seem to be doing an awful lot without building up slowly (not sure of your background and weekly mileage prior to this). That could be why you have injured yourself so quickly(?)
Very possibly. I have been building up since the start of Feb, but jumping from the 1.5 hour run to a 2 hour run might have been too much of a leap. I am not going to up above 1.5 hours again for the next couple of weeks.

I'd ditch the HR monitor based sessions (still use it to monitor and record after the session) and move to pace based sessions. Use the Mcmillan calculator and look at the optimal training paces he recommends. Train within them following something like Hal Higdon and you will improve without a doubt
Good advice, and I certaintly appreciate it. I am kind of commited to doing a couple more weeks of this base training as I want to see it through and I am interested in seeing the results. Once I start the Hal Higdon plan (Novice 1) in July I'll be running more on RPE than what the HR monitor says. Interestingly enough the mcmillan calculator actually matches up with the pace I was initially setting by sticking to the HR zone. I have improved that pace now though even though I am still sticking to the HR.

Satanta

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 1 hour 25 mins. Avg HR 148. Avg pace 6:57 min/km. No knee pain. New runners "could" have helped. Time will tell. That's 25 km in them so far.

Satanta

Saturday 2 hour cycle. Slow pace with some hills.

Satanta

Sunday: 1 hour jog

Monday: Stage 3 and 4 of this http://www.gaelforceevents.com/north/en/event_details/course_info.html

Satanta

Tuesday: Rest. Was fairly tore up after the last 3 days

Wednesday: 1 hour 25 min jog on a partly hilly route. Also came to the conclusion that endomondo is crap. I got a timex ironman global trainer over a week ago and have been running both together. Endomondo almost always calculates the route is longer than the timex does. The timex and mapmyrun seem to agree on the length of the runs.

Satanta

Thursday: 1 hour 4 min jog. Avg pace 6:38/km. Avg HR 149

Friday: 1 hour 8 min jog. Avg pace 6:41/km. Avg HR 148

Satanta

Sunday:
1 hour 20 mins easy jog.
12k.
6:53 min/km
Avg HR 151

Tuesday:
55 min easy jog.
8.6k.
6:23 min/km
Avg HR 148

Wednesday:
40 mins hilly route.
6.4k.
6:42 min/km
Avg HR 149

Friday:
1 hour 25 min easy jog.
12.75k.
6:41 min/km
Avg HR 153

Satanta

Sunday:
1 hour easy jog
9km
6:34 min/km
Avg HR 149

Satanta

Monday:
36 mins
5.8k
6.25 min/km
Avg HR: 150

Satanta

Tuesday:
Strengh training

Wednesday:
1 hour 01 min
9.6 km
6:24 min/km
Avg HR: 150

Satanta

Thursday:
Lunch time Strength training
evening run:
39 min
6.21km
6:22 min/km
Avg HR 152

Friday
57 mins
8.8 km
6:32 min/km
Avg HR 150
Horrible conditions

Satanta

Sunday:
10 miles/16 kilometres
1:48:47
Avg pace: 6:44/km
Avg HR 150

Starting the HHN1 training this week.

Monday
3 miles /5k
30:42
Ave Pace: 6:04 min/km
Avg HR: 157
*Went out with a training partner today. Going to have to get the pace slowed the hell down a bit. Maybe because I was under recovered from yesterday but this run was terrible.