From 20 a day to 3:30...

JohnDozer wrote: »

Wednesday 9th August

Plan was 14 miles MLR. Set up the watch as follows, with a view to behaving myself:- 3 miles at 8:52 to 9:12 pace, 3 miles at 8:42 to 9:02, 3 miles at 8:32 to 8:52, 3 miles at 8:22 to 8:42 and the balance at any pace. This seemed like a great idea in the morning, given my recent history of running faster than this. Met one of the lads after work after setting up a nice route on Strava around the back roads of Limerick, a little lumpy on the first half but flattened out then. 19/20 degrees was showing on the car temperature gauge but we felt it should be manageable enough. Headed off and made a fair effort to keep it slow, but only managed to slow it to an average of 8:48 for the 3 mile section so the watch kept beeping and beeping and beeping. Was very close to just resetting the workout and going as normal. Very annoying to be running like this, but obviously it did its job (eventually!). Anyway, after the first 4/5 miles it became clear the few hills and the temperature, along with the effort of yesterdays workout for me, were taking their toll. The remainder of the run was just a slog, despite slowing down and the route flattening out. It was just one of those tough runs where nothing either of the two of us did could distract us from the hardship. So... instead of keeping the first half slow and speeding up towards the end, today I managed to start out the run at a slow pace and do the second half even slower! Not a bad thing to do on a once off I suppose, but wouldn't want to be repeating that pattern too many times. Paces for the sections were:- 8:47, 8:47, 8:41, 8:46 and a 4.6 mile section averaging 9:07. The first section only clocking in at 0.9 miles for some reason. Another watch malfunction. Might need to go shopping!

Mixed feelings about the run. Obviously I'm very happy with the overall average pace of the run. Not the happiest that it wasn't a progression of pace, but the opposite. Found it a good bit tougher than expected, probably the toughest 2 hour-ish run since starting the plan.
14 miles, 8:52 pace, avg HR 144

Thursday 10th August

Very strange nights sleep. I think I had two different dreams where I dreamed I was running my recovery run. Needless to say, when I woke and found out I still had to run I was none too happy. Some residual soreness in both quads this morning. Little bit of stretching and out the door. Headed off to the rugby pitch around the corner to get the miles done, with a view to doing much more of my recovery runs on the softer surface. 5 miles clicked by easily enough, assisted by a few Paddy Casey songs followed by the soundtrack from O' Brother Where Art Thou. Happy daze. Normally a recovery run would move the soreness on, not today! 5 miles, 9:43 pace, avg HR 137

hot buttered scones wrote: »

I'm probably repeating what everyone else has said - the book says long runs are to start out at MP+20% and to gradually build the pace so that you finish out the last few miles @MP + 10%. He also says that long runs a race (3 tune up races in the plan) should be started off like a recovery run and if you loosen up then finish it out at MP+15% to 20%. The long run is really your second session of the week (or your 3rd if you count the medium long run).

JohnDozer wrote: »

Wednesday 16th August

Straightforward enough MLR on the club 5 mile loop apart from a couple of pauses to pick up and drop off other lads. Did a 1 mile out and 1 mile back with one of the lads and then picked up another guy for the first loop. We hadn't met him since his recent-ish Ironman exploits so settled into the easy pace, easy listening role and the time passed quickly with very little checking of the watch. The pace felt just right although the sweat was pouring off me due to the humidity. Picked up one potential little nugget of wisdom from the chat, it seems carrying a few Rennie's might be useful if the stomach got a bit upset from the gels. Reassembled at the meeting point after 7 miles and picked up one more after guzzling some water. The pace stayed nice and steady and just didn't feel like increasing it at all. The climb on both loops made sure there was an equal amount of decent effort and gentle freewheel each time around. 12 miles, 8:45 pace, avg HR 150.

Thursday 17th August

Rest was recommended but I've been running 6 days a week for most of the year so I'm not willing to break that pattern just yet. Plagiarising an idea I've seen around these parts and sticking in an extra 5 mile recovery run. Based on a conversation with the physio last week, I'm also going to try and keep these recovery runs very slow. The physio was basically saying that it doesn't sound like i do anything in the endurance/ zone 1/ fat burning zone and that I should be doing much more, and to start training towards it. So for the recovery runs I'm going to try and keep a number low and hold it for as long as possible. P&D would say my recovery runs need to be less than <144. Strava has my Endurance zone at 123 so I'm quite a bit away from that. Garmin has my Zone 1 at an upper limit of 131 so that's. more doable for now. I just wonder is this the wrong time to be trying this, as it seems so far below the intensity P&D suggest it gets done at.

I've also had a swing in that I've had a dramatic shift in thinking, going from having to drop plans having had fears I'm doing too much, to looking at the plan and wondering if I'm doing enough. Strava's Fitness and Fatigue numbers would even suggest the training load is a little light but I'm not sure at all how much attention I should pay to that. I'm willing to put up with it this week as I have my second last LT session tomorrow and a 20 miler Sunday so maybe it's just as well. The numbers on Monday should be fine then!!

Anyway, today's run. Managed to keep the HR In the blue numbers on the watch for about 2.25 miles. It started to drift then so I got frustrated and just let it off. I figured that was a decent start and I could aim for 3 miles the next time. I did try and focus on a forefoot strike for most of the run to keep the mind occupied, and managed to do so for a reasonable amount. I did lose focus a good few times but nothing major. All in all, a good run, but starting to have the doubts that it may be a little slow. Pace works out around 2 minutes below MP. Average HR works out about 10 bpm below P&D upper limit. 5 miles, 9:37 pace, avg HR 134.

LT session tomorrow. Not too many more chances to get it right. I'm really going to try and keep the pace at the slower end of the range for the first mile or two and hope the physio has done some magic!