If... the Unforgiving Minute

5k last night 16:50 - a 4s PB. 9th overall, 2nd M40. First 3k averaged 3:30, last 2 were 3:10 downhill. Hopefully can go better too.

I had picked the Ballyshannon 5K race on Friday for its PB potential and it did not let me down. I had talked to one of the guys who did it before and he swore it was not net downhill - I am not so sure.

It started out on the main Donegal Road about a mile from the registration point and quickly a lead group of about 12 was established. Two of my cubmates were in there, one of whom I have only beaten once when I took him my surprise in a sprint finish, so I hoped to keep him in sight. The biggest bunch in the group was from Finn Valley who were packing well. The first km is definitely uphill and I was at the tail of this group. I did not want to get left in no-mans-land but I did not really push myself here either and by 1K they were a few secs ahead as I clocked 3:27.

The next 2 kms were along a narrow side-road that rolled up and down. By now the main group had split and although they were still in sight, I had lost contact, with km's in 3:30 & 3:29. At 3K I realised I was on 17:30 pace and conceded a PB was out of reach. At this stage the pack was starting to spit a few tail-enders out the back and I concentrated on catching them and putting some respectability on my time. This 4th km was downhill and although my watch registered 3:10, my brain did not.

The 5th km had a few ups and downs and I picked off another one or two runners but not my two clubmates. As I came around the final bend I thought about checking my watch to see if I should sprint for a better time but I decided there was no point. I strided across the line and checked my watch 16:49.8 (officially 16:50) - a 4s PB - that was a surprise. That last km was 3:12. I knew I had finished well but because everyone had picked up the pace, I did not realise how much quicker we were going.

Back at the school, after the traditional tea, sandwiches and cake, I also got an envelope for 2nd M40, which after deducting a paltry 8 euro for the entry fee meant I probably covered my petrol as well. In hindsight I should have stuck with the pack longer and pushed harder over the opening kms and I might have done serious damage to my PB. But I'm not greedy, that's my first 5K in 7 months, it's more than 70s faster than this time last year and 5K is at the top end of my range for this year so I'll take that, hoping I can do more next time. It also proves to me that my October 5K PB was not a fluke, which I had started to doubt.

Saturday was a rest day but with lots going on this weekend it did not feel like it. Sunday I went back up the hills on what is my new favourite trail, up to Lake Dageanna in 28:44 and then on to the top of the rocky descent, before turning back down in 26:47 for a good 70 min longish run of indeterminate distance, only spoiled by that damn song "rocky road to ..." going round in my head.

I have been drafting my training plan for the next few months recently. The general plan is to get into competition phase in about a months time, starting with a 5K and hopefully include a 1500m & a 400m as well as 3-4 800s. For the next few weeks I will include two track sessions, one at 800m pace and one at mile to 5K pace. I will maintain a weekend longish run, either steady and hilly or a long tempo with strides or hill sprints thrown in.

Last Tuesday I did 12x400m at 5K pace (1:20). Plan for this week was 10x400m at 3K pace (1:15-1:17)with similar recovery. My knee has been niggling a bit since the weekend but I felt I was moving well for this session. Despite a bit of wind (the weather not me), the first 3 were around 1:16, I then picked it up a little to around 1:14 and finished with 1:11 and 1:06 - giving me an average of 1:13. I was well happy to hit a big one at the end at current 800m pace. Recoveries were a bit longer at average 1:43 but that was due to distractions as well as giving my running mate a few seconds start on each lap.

Another hilly trail run yesterday 3x5K laps, second one at tempo effort.

First one was steady at 23 mins, pushed it a bit for the 2nd in 20 mins but did not trash the downhills, 3rd one was back to 23 mins.

This week will be similar to the last, 400's on Tuesday and faster stuff on Thursday, probably 300's.

Plan for Thursday's session was 5-6 x300m at 800m pace (47-49s) with 3-4 mins recovery. The sun was out for the first time this summer and it was hot, about 25 deg at the track. I did not want to sacrifice speed but I was happy to make 5 reps and to extend the recoveries if necessary.

I stopped the clock on the first one in 44.2s - much better than I expected. It did not feel too fast so stayed with it for the second in 45.0s. The third one was 45.6s. Although I was making sure to get a good recovery and take on water between each rep, I knew I could not last for 5 at that pace. For the 4th one, I dialled it back to 47.1s. I did not go all out for the final one but I had to work hard up the home straight for the slowest of the evening in 47.5s. I could feel my right calf tightening as I started that one so there was no way I was going to try a sixth.

That gave me an average of 45.9s off recovery of 3:50, which would be 2:02 800m pace - not likely.
Just found out I have a conflict for my target 5K race in 3 weeks time so will need to find another one.

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Out of interest - standing or rolling recoveries - guessing 200m jog?

You're right they were rolling recoveries of 200m jog.

The group I was with were a few secs behind me, so that added some time and there was a bit of regrouping before getting restarted each rep. If I was on my own I would have kept the recoveries a bit closer to the rep time which means you are jogging at half the speed of the fast stuff. It's one of the disadvantages of training in a group that they are not exactly at the same pace but then I would not have had someone to chase after so you can't have it both ways.

Last week my 10x400m averaged 1:12.6 with 200m jog recovery in 1:47
This week I did the same in 1:12.5 with 100m walk recovery in 1:19

This time I was not at the track so I used an old favourite straight stretch of trail. I have not ran hard here since I hurt my knee a few years ago. The surface is slightly uneven and a bit gravelly, affecting grip. To the eye it looks like no net incline or decline but when running both directions the times tell the real story. I averaged 1:10 one way and 1:15 on the uphill.

The sequence was 1:11, 1:14, 1:10, 1:14, 1:10, 1:16, 1:10, 1:16, 1:08 1:16 - no heroic last rep this time as I had no one to chase down the back straight and I was fading fast. I did not have a natural 200m recovery like on track so although it was more of a walk I reduced the time a good bit. The first 5 recoveries averaged 1:11 and the last 4 were 1:30.

Given the underfoot conditions, I was happy enough with the session. I left it feeling like I had run harder than previous weeks, though that was probably more down to shortening the recovery time. Hopefully I'm back on the track the next time.

I have always said Garmins are for marathon runners that need to count their miles and feel most shorter distance runners don't need them. One of the drawbacks of not having a Garmin is I don't get accurate measurement for stuff like long intervals on the road or trail. I have used Sports Tracker on my phone previously but not since I changed phones so I loaded it up again this weekend to check out a few mile/km markers on my route. I had previously estimated the loop around the lake at 3.75km but that was a cut and paste of two other routes. This time on my warm-up I marked out a 1 mile stretch, followed by a 1 km section that I could use for intervals. I got a total distance of 3.64 km this time, but only noticed the difference when I checked it later.

The plan then was 1 mile at tempo pace (5:38-5:50) a short recovery jog, then 1 km at similar pace (3:30-3:38), followed by a longer recovery and repeat. The first lap went like this:
5:33 - 1 ml
1:32 - jog
4:07 - 1 km
3:44 - jog
- a bit quick for the mile and a bit slow for the 1K.

The next two laps were:
5:39 (ml), 1:34, 4:08 (km), 3:52
5:41 (ml), 1:35, 4:07 (km)

I did not worry too much about the time, just tried to keep the effort constant at about 6 out of 10 RPE. The miles were about right but I reckon the km's must have been long, may be that's where my missing 0.1 km went. Perhaps I will get a Garmin after all.

On the other hand I also read a good article recently by Matt Fitzgerald on threshold running by feel:
http://running.competitor.com/2012/05/training/sports-science-update-skip-the-lactate-threshold-test_53063

Dropped my track session yesterday evening due to family birthday and besides it was p1ssing rain too, no weather for track. The rain still had not stopped this morning but I had taken some time off to get my car NCT (fail ) so I squeezed in a hill session in the woods.

The hill I used previously is a bit sheltered until you get to the top and then there is a nice flat bit to stride along. I took it easy on the first circuit and then got into the rhythm. I timed the third one : 25s up the first section, 12s jog along the first flat stretch, 14s up the next steep bit, jog for about a minute, then turn and stride back in 22s (wind assisted), jog down the hill in 1:30, then repeat.

I kept the focus on good form and completed 6 circuits - with the short recoveries it was still a good session. On the way back down to my car, the path was blocked by a fallen tree that had been blown over in the 30 mins while I was running up and down the hill a few 100m away :eek: This was no sapling either, I knew it was a wild day but this shocked me. I clambered over the fallen tree and decided to finish my cool down on the road, for safety reasons.

For the fourth time in five weeks I did 10x400m. This time was the slowest (average 1:13.5) with the longest recoveries (average 2:06) - not sure why, can't blame the weather, think I was just feeling tired aka lazy - I think a few early nights in bed are called for.

I eased into the first one in 1:20, then I was reasonably consistent with the next lot: 1:13.8, 1:13.7, 1:13.4, 1:14.1, 1:13.4, 1:13.7, 1:13.4 and picked it up for the last two in 1:10.8 & 1:09.1. Recoveries were more a 200m walk than a jog.

Nuff said.

I did my third track session in a week on Saturday - first time in a long while to fit in that many. Plan was 2x3x200m at 400m pace with 2 min recovery and 5 mins between sets. I am not sure what my 400m time would be now but it should be somewhere in the range of 56 to 59s so 28.0-29.5s for 200m. Conditions were good with a slight cross-wind, which I took as much advantage of as I could.

The first one was 28.6s, followed by another in 28.6s. I concentrated on running relaxed for the third and inadvertently let the time slip to 29.7. After a 5 min recovery, the second set went well in 28.8, 29.0 & 28.7 - though I needed to push a bit in the last one. The recoveries were all to plan with a 200m walk/jog.

This felt like a quality session and a good indicator of my speed which I plan to come back to again before long. After missing a target 5K at the weekend, I have decided skip doing another one and move on to some track races. I am trying to line up a few in the coming weeks and have a bit of a plan that includes at least two 800s and one 1500 or 400m.

I was not expecting much from Thursday's session - weather was expected to be wet, I had struggled a bit on Tuesday and I had a tough one planned - 4x600m in 1:40-1:45 with the only saving grace a full recovery of 8 mins. The weather was not as bad as predicted dry and only a bit of breeze down the home straight, which I took best advantage of in the 3rd and 4th reps.

I tried to hit 34s for each 200m split. The first rep as often happens was a bit fast finishing in 1:40.6. I tried to ease just a little in the second - 1:43.0. By now I was feeling better than I expected and kept it steady at 1:42.5 for the third. For the fourth, the recovery time felt more than enough and I pushed it a bit to finish with 1:41.2.

Average was 1:41.8 with walk/jog recoveries spot on 8 mins.
Overall better than I feared and a pace I could hold comfortably in an 800m race, whether I could kick a sub-30 200m off that is another story.