Sub 5 minute mile

I was meant to do a MilePace workout / fitness test yesterday but had to make do with setting out this cold morning. Very glad I did.

These were the trusty old 10x400m repeats Sacksian suggested many months back (on a walking path here). I don't know why but I decided to start with a 60 second standing recovery and inevitably increase it for the latter few runs. But, to my surprise I didn't need to. These were still tough from number 5 onward, and I did contemplate increasing the recovery towards the end but stubbornness won out.

10 x 400 m at MP with 60 sec recovery [71,72,73,72,75,75,74,74,76,72]

With, many clocking in quicker than target(75) at the start, it took me a while to get my pacing right. The one blip at 76 was when I hit some traffic so could not push hard for the last 20 metres, having to run out on the grass.

I really hope this is a good sign of solid progress.

I've been wearing the same pair of € 80 Asics since around December last year, be it running on grass, road, path or track.

Do I need particular runners for the indoor?

More or less stuck to plan last week with a day slipping here and there but the main sessions were done. Motivation was a little lower for some reason but Saturdays workout gave me a nice lift.

Again, plan was -
Monday - Hills
Tuesday - recovery run
Wednesday - Long Run (8-10 km)
Thursday - rest
Friday - A Milepace workout
Saturday or Sunday - Medium run (3-5 km)

Week 51

• Monday - 10 x 185m Hills w/ 70 sec recovery [33, 35, 35, 35, 35, 36, 35, 36, 35, 33] 2 km warm-up, 2 km cool-down. Very cold night. I felt good heading out but found the going tougher than expected. A big dinner of spag bol an hour and a half before probably didn't help.
• Tuesday - Missed recovery run A common theme it seems this training block.
• Wednesday - 9 km long run - 34:32 Another cold lunchtime run. My watch was covered by skins so I didn't check any waypoint times along the route, taking it nice and comfortable. Then I couldn't resist and checked with around 3 km to go. I was trying to just focus on consistent form and cadence but ended up picking up for the last km. Very pleased with the time which is a record for this route by 5 seconds without being at full tilt. The wind direction was also unfavourable today. Average pace of: 03:43/km with last 3 kms in 03:45/km so nice consistency.
• Thursday - 4.5 km v easy run - 21 mins Supposed to be rest but had to make up for missing Tuesday.
• Friday - Pushed session back a day
• Saturday - 10 x 400 m with 60 seconds standing recovery [71, 72, 73, 72, 75, 75, 74, 74, 76, 72] Reported already. Out on Saturday morning, the extra days rest probably helped the energy levels here.
• Sunday - 3.5 km moderate run : 13:38 Legs more tired than I realised from the day before.

That was week 51 so I'll probably be doing a mile run myself on the road before racing on December 3rd. You never know... Currently have a mild throat infection so we'll see how that plays out.

The structure of the previous month has slowly fallen apart. :rolleyes:

On a positive note I've been getting consistent kms in just not the sessions. I had planned on tapering a little during the week past anyway before running the indoor mile race this week. And I did manage to do that but my days were all jumbled up as I found myself on the road with work a little bit.

I won't even write what the plan was as I ended up doing what I felt like on each day.

Also, no mile attempt, for the 1 year anniversary, as my trusty route was flooded the couple of days I was in the office so I decided I'd have to save myself the drama for the following week.


Week 53

• Monday - 9 km long run - 34:37 Began by making up for missing my long run from the previous week and to sweat the remainder of the weekends beer out of me. Was aiming for sub 35. Got there, with a little more effort than I would have liked towards the end.
• Tuesday - 6 km easy - 23:42 New runners. Legs tired from yesterday, which wasn't too surprising.
• Wednesday - Rest
• Thursday - 8 x 185 m Hills w/ 70 sec recovery [32, 34, 33, 34, 33, 33, 35, 33] 2 km warm-up, 2 km cool-down. Attempt at tapering here so did 8 instead of the usual 10. So I ended up running these a little harder than normal. My average time turned out to be just over a second faster than my usual average time for 10 of these. Done at 9:30 pm after a daily round trip to Wexford.
• Friday - 5 km v easy - 25 mins Caught a little chill after the night before I think. Not helped by the fact I had some ice cream before jumping in the shower as I was waiting for the bathroom to be vacated :pac: . So I set off on this very easy. My left foot arch was sore setting out.
• Sunday - 3 x 4 minute tempos with 2 mins slow in between. 6.7 km in 28 mins. The end to an ill disciplined week. I'd intended on tapering by doing a lower volume of reps on my regular interval workout but didn't get any Intervals or MP workouts this week either. 10 pm getting out here and it was cold so settled for some tempo work to keep some sharpness in the legs before hopefully my mile attempt in a couple of days. Arch was sore setting out again and afterwards once I warmed down.

So I've got a sore arch on my left foot. I'm not sure it's down to the new runners which I wore on and off last week. I had started feeling it a little bit the week before without it being actually sore. It hurts a little to walk now and when setting out running but is not sore once warmed up and going.

Tomorrow's NIA is in sight now. I think the arch will hold up for a blast at it as long as parental duties don't intervene. Have spent a bit of time rolling a golf ball under it and will keep at that into tomorrow. If it does and I make the race I might give it a rest for a week or so, whether I get under the 5 or not.

5:02 - PB

No official time seen for this yet but that's what my watch tells me. My instinctive response was disappointment to only gain 4 seconds since my last track run during the summer. I thought I'd put the work in, albeit with a non-ideal last 2 weeks. But then on the drive home I realised I haven't been following a validated plan and shouldn't be too harsh on myself. I was coughing all the way home too and until I went to bed. That's some very dry air in the arena.

The Race
There was a bit of confusion about heats and who went where. I was due to run in the second heat but saw they were letting folks run in either. I was going to jump into the first heat as well, when the steward asked my name and said I should wait for the second. I might have set the bar too high for myself with the online entry putting in what my PB was as I could tell I was in with some serious runners. I was the only one sporting Asics, the rest were all in their spikes.
I took my start place on the outside, expecting most to tear off past me into the first bend.

Laps 1/2 - 1:12 (split 72)
The sprint to the first bend wasn't as intense as I expected and I found myself ahead of 3 or 4. It was all fairly bunched and I was sitting on the outside of another runner for the first lap. Falling in behind him during the second. Went through 3 seconds up, thinking "feic Ive gone out too fast again".

Laps 3/4 - 2:30 (split 78)
I let a little gap open up to the guy in front and was duly passed by two runners. I think I was passed by the final guy on the final bend of lap 4. Crossed the line on time so no panicking.

Laps 5/6 - 3:48 (split 78)
Isolated, running my own race in last place here I felt I was cruising a little. I'd decided before the race I'd only check the clock every second lap as there would be too many numbers for me to be remembering. It might have helped here if I knew where I was supposed to be, but I should have realised that although the midway split was on time, my 2nd quarter was off by 3 seconds so I should have picked it up again a little during this which I didn't.

Laps 7/8 - 5:02 (split 74)
I saw the clock at 4:48 as the announcer was saying 2 laps to go for me shortly followed by 1 lap to go for the lead runner so I knew he was bearing down on me. I blanked on what 4:48 implied for my target by was always going to dig in with the 2 laps left. I was lapped on the home straight of lap 5, stepping out to let the guy by. This might have cot me a second. Once he crossed the clock was stopped at 4:28, I passed a second or 2 later so I knew I'd need a 30 second final 200. No idea if I had that in me or not but I put the boot down as hard as I could. The runner in second last place had been about 30 metres ahead of me before lap two. I finished about 3 metres behind him so the benefit of chasing someone helped for sure.

The middle of the race looks to have been my undoing again. That said I wonder if I pushed harder then would I have any kick left for the final lap. When I crossed the finish line I'd nothing left. I actually thought I might have sneaked it so viewing my watch for the first time at the end was disappointing. 150 versus 152 for the two halves. Should I be looking at negative splitting or going out hard and trying to hold on.

I ended up googling this last night. It's happened a few times during hard runs this year and came back again last night. Leaking air sacs maybe
https://www.outsideonline.com/2401802/how-stick-new-training-plan

Gah, I just noticed I'd posted the wrong hyperlink in the race report. Might deserve a post on it's own anyway. Folks were probably wondering what I meant by leaking air sacs.

https://www.outsideonline.com/1785581/why-do-i-get-metallic-taste-my-mouth-during-intense-exercise

Very little to report here since the race. I've had a combination of voluntary/involuntary time off. 9 days now since I ran now, which is probably no harm at all.

The week of the race went like this -

• 03 Dec - 1 mile race - 05:02 PB
• 04 Dec - 4.65 km steady - 17:13. Not a bad time on this lunchtime run considering the race the night before. Should have run it easy but was working off a little frustration from the night before.
• 06 Dec - 10 km long run - 38:55. A sub 40 minute 10 km, so was happy with that. Last 2 kms were in 3:37/km pace having gone out in 04:07/km pace for the first 6 km. The outward leg of this route is ever so slightly uphill compared to the return leg so the time differential is likely a little narrower than that.

Last week was a blank week. After the run on the 6th I took into three 12-hour days of DIY in the spare room which included a Monday "holiday" from work. Room emptied, then gutted and then completely redecorated. Included installation of new coving, skirting and floors. Fell into bed on the Monday and woke up during the night having contracted a gastro bug from one of the kids. This lasted 2 days but took me until the weekend passed to get completely right again. Lost weight I didn't have to lose so I'm now in a good position heading into Christmas :pac:

As I've passed the 52 weeks since I took on my challenge I'll write up a summary post of my year. Plan is for easy miles for a while. I don't quite have the urge for any hard sessions just yet.

Week 01

• Monday - 6.6 km - 27:21 mins. . Bumpy path
• Wednesday - 15 x short hills on grass at medium effort. 30 seconds up and 50 seconds rec back down First kind of session in a month so took it easy enough. Hamstrings a little tight afterwards
• Thursday - 9 km Long run* - 34:58 Wet and windy run. * means I hope that soon this won't be what I'd call a long run
• Friday - 5 km recover run - 19:57 Tired enough today after doing 3 from 4 days.
• Saturday - 3.5 km moderate - 13:20 Legs still a little tired so a nippy run out to close the week off. Ran 3 kms at increasing effort [3:57, 3:40, 3:33]. Nice to have the watch to see this info.

Week total: 32.7 km from 5 days

At the peak of my training last year I was doing 25-35 km per week so 32.7 km for the first week back is an acceptable starting point for me.

Just the one session though due to feeling a little under the weather the last few days but managed to hit 30 miles again at least. Not a full blown cold but I've been dosing myself with the manuka and lemon trying to keep it at bay.


Week 03

Monday - 6 x 1k @ 3:35 target pace w/ 2m standing rec [3:40, 3:33, 3:41, 3:40, 3:35, 3:22] (plan was for 5 x 1k initially) Tried to suss out a level enough and marginally uninterrupted stretch of path/cycle path for this. Looking at the GPS data afterwards it turned out there was a 4 m incline over the km which wouldn't be significant if it wasn't accompanied by a strong breeze. I went out in the evening after Storm Brendan had mostly passed. Nice gentle dry breeze as I did my warm up but that didn't last. By the start of my first repeat the sideways rain had set in and the wind had picked up again. I realised that my odd numbered repeats were mostly into the wind and had a slight incline, so after the first rep I decided to do an even number of repeats so that I could finish with a nicer feeling. I was aware the wind was hampering me a little and I found I was looking at the watch too much as a result. This was interfereing with my rhythm as I struggled to run exactly straight a few times. I decided to trust myself more on the last two reps and put the head down trying to check the watch less often. On the last, with the relief of having the hardest reps done, I let myself push a little quicker, definitely slowing towards the end of it.

Tuesday - Missed recovery run Accompanied my wife for a scan and then back into the office. The day just got away on me.

Wednesday - 17.4 km easy - 1:20:33. Had picked out a loop that would give me my 10 miles (plus a little more). It's probably a little bit too long to be skipping out of the office at lunch for this so I probably ended up running a little quicker than I should have. Pace turned out to be 4:38/km (7:24/mile). I actually took two phone calls while out and it wasn't hard to chat although I did notice my pace quickened both time I took the calls. Tiring slightly on the very last km, although the pace was still 4:39 for it, so I think the effort level while maybe a little quick wasn't too bad. Nice long run bonus; I had to stop at the Hatchett Inn to use the bathroom in the middle of the run. It was like an oasis amidst the green fields and one off houses. I knew I'd be passing it so had to hang tough for a couple of miles. 10.9 miles looks like it'll be the cap for my long runs for now dues to time constraints. Work is flexible enough so I'm happy to run it again but will it will probably be at a similar pace.

Thursday - 5 km recovery run - 25:21 - A properly slow recovery run at last. Legs were definitely tired today after yesterdays long run so that helped.

Friday - 9 km - easy run @ 4:30 pace. This pace feels very comfortable for me. I manually checked my heart rate during the run a couple of times and it was between 158-166. I'll need to see what my maximum heart rate actually is is but going by the guidance I'm into the 80% range here so going by HR guidance it was too fast (again). However if I was going by 70-75% of my estimated 5k pace then it looks like the pacing is okay though. So I'm a little uncertain on what is right here. Feeling very comfortable at the finish with no breathlessness.

Saturday - Unplanned rest. Missed session Starting to feel the hint of a cold coming on.

Sunday - 6.4 km - 40 mins A weekend of birthday parties. Myself and the eldest fella were at home so I decided to chance an easy run with him accompanying me on his little bike, giving him a helping push up a couple of hills.

Weekly total: 48.8 km from 5 days running.

I haven't ruled out the NIA mile on the 28th yet but we've another scan that day and new furniture due for delivery the same. The kids have karate that evening too. I'll have to perform some serious gymnastics to make it.

Week 05

Monday - 5 x 1k @ 5k pace w/ 1:30 r/ [3:32, 3:34, 3:35, 3:36, 3:18] I thought I had a nice stretch of road for this but the road aligns South West so even without Storm Brendan blowing it looks to be breezy enough drag and the GPS tells me it's an 8 m elevation change over the km. It doesn't feel significant but coupled with the wind it means the outward reps are definitely harder to maintain the pace than the inward reps which are so much easier. So it looks like I need to find an alternative route. I decided I'd only do 5 reps today but shorten the recovery from 2 to 1.5 mins and cheating a little I started out the road so I had the wind at my back for the odd numbered reps. Delighted I actually hit consistent times compared to last time but, as I mentioned, the effort out was definitely harder than back in. So a slight wind assisted 3:18 for my last rep. Not a million miles from the 03:07 I'd need to be hitting for a sub 5 mile. This session seemed to finally clear off the tail of the cold that had me bothered last week.

Tuesday - Rest Into town for another scan.

Wednesday - 17.4 km easy - 1:20:30. Very busy day yesterday, with a late night moving furniture around the house once the kids were in bed, including hauling a chunky new wardrobe and drawers up the stairs. NIA was never a runner on Tuesday really. Had fallen into bed the night before so was naturally tired all morning in work before I even set off with the headphones on. The distraction of a podcast wasn't enough to take my mind off how much I wasn't enjoying this run though (the first long run I didn't enjoy). Just get it done was all I was thinking. About 4 k to go hunger set in. I don't think I've ever felt hungry on a run before. Was delighted to tuck into lunch when I got back anyway. I hope this is where the gains are made.

Thursday - 5 km recovery run - 26 mins Legs still tired from the long run. Hopefully I nailed he recovery pace today. Tried talking to myself a couple of times like a big weirdo to see Found my left calf a little tight from around halfway on. Stretching not quite getting the spot so I went over it with the hot water bottle when I got home.

Friday - 20 x 40s Intrevals w/ 30s jog. Haven't got through JDs book yet but just used a couple of the tables based off my mile time to get a value for VDOT. I only scanned through it so far so not 100% sure even what it means but I picked an Interval target pace of 3:37/km. Hadn't done this workout in a couple of months but I used to run it by feel before and got to 20 reps just once or twice, so I was hopeful I wouldn't gas out and manage the 20 without killing myself now that I had a pace to clip my over-zealousness a little. Even so I still might have run them a little quicker than I should as my pace varied between 3:16 and 3:40 - averaging 3:28 overall. It was very windy though and a bumpy path with a couple of small hills so that was always going to affect the consistency. Felt fine at the end. Walked for a minute before resuming a jog. On my jog home I was totting up my distances and realised I was going to be 3 km short of doing 200 km in January so off I go for a little detour to hit the 200 mark. Sure what else would I be doing on a Friday night...

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - 30 minutes easy running - 6.3 km @ average of 4:44 pace. Fridays detour meant hitting 30 miles for the week was easily done with less than 5 km but wanted to run for the half hour so did just over 6.


Weekly total: 50 km from 5 days running.

Great to get back to getting 2 sessions in, in the week. Very disappointed I didn't have the time to race on Tuesday gone. Having been sick the week before it, it might have meant I couldn't have hit it as hard as I would have liked but I still would have liked to try. It had been my target from Christmas on, so I'm not 100 % where I'll go to now. It's probably going to have to be a DIY job, preferably on a track.

overpronator wrote: »

NIA Tuesday past wasnt too bad a one to miss, in the mile race there was only 5 of us, 2 guys and 3 ladies. Was a lonely race!

Were you the sub 5er? That might have been all I needed.