A Slow Journey to Faster Times

yaboya1 · 04-03-2014 02:27PM

Tuesday 4th March - Stretching/Foam Rolling/Core-Work

A similar routine to the workouts I was performing in the lead up to the marathon this morning. I've worked out a schedule for the rest of the week if everything goes to plan.

Wednesday - HADD 2400m test
Thursday - Rest
Friday - 5/6m Recovery
Saturday - 5k Marlay parkrun
Sunday - 5/6m Recovery

I'm heading out to a party on Friday night, but will do the Marlay parkrun once I'm not feeling too rough the next day. Hopefully I can hit my 2014 goal of sub 19 (and my current expectation of sub 18) there. It will give me a good target to beat for St Annes on the 5th April, or any other 5k race I contest in the near future. Then it's on to the Larne Half-Marathon in 2.5 weeks where I hope to get in around 1:25.

statss · 04-03-2014 02:29PM

be interested to see your HADD test results, you going to give it a proper lash for a few months yeah?

yaboya1 · 04-03-2014 03:37PM

statss wrote: »

be interested to see your HADD test results, you going to give it a proper lash for a few months yeah?

Yeah, I was thinking I can give it until early June at the least. If I'm seeing improvement I can stick with it, but if not I still have plenty of time to start an alternative plan for Berlin.

yaboya1 · 05-03-2014 02:51PM

Wednesday 5th March - HADD 2400m Test

This was as much a test of my patience as it was my aerobic fitness, as going slow enough to keep the heart rate down at the beginning is pretty difficult. However, after a warm up and two failed attempts I eventually got the hang of it. Results are below:

2400m @ 140 bpm (Actual 132 bpm) - 8:51 min/mile average
2400m @ 150 bpm (Actual 147 bpm) - 7:38 min/mile average
2400m @ 160 bpm (Actual 159 bpm) - 7:00 min/mile average
2400m @ 170 bpm (Actual 169 bpm) - 6:17 min/mile average
2400m @ 180 bpm (Actual 173 bpm) - 6:00 min/mile average

I'll try and review this as best I can.

140bpm

I went straight out for this as soon as I got out of bed so my heart rate was jumping ll over the place between 110bpm & 180bpm, despite the fact that I was barely above walking pace. After a mile warm up, I had got it down to a steady 120bpm and decided to crack on with the first section (140bpm). The text had recommended gradually building up to each heart rate in the first 500-600m, rather than going off faster and having to slow down to keep your heart at the required rate. I started off around 125bpm, but then I sneezed and it shot back up to 180bpm again even though I was still barely walking. I couldn't get it back to 140bpm in the next few hundred metres, so I aborted this attempt and tried again. At this stage my body was obviously warmed up a little bit, but I was trying so hard to keep the rate down that I was now averaging around 120bpm after the first 800m, so I aborted again and gave it a third go. This time I did a bit better but I was still below the recommended 140bpm at 132bpm. I decided to go with that and move onto the next section as it's probably better to be below than above doing this test.

150bpm

This was the easiest of the lot. I got the heart up to this rate pretty quickly and managed to maintain it for the whole 2400m.

160bpm

This was a little bit more difficult, but not by much. Again, I got to the right level in the first hundred metres or so and held it very close to that for the entire duration of the 2400m.

170bpm

The text does recommend doing this test at the track on a windless day. I did it on the flat coastline along the Clontarf Road, but trying to find a windless day when you live in Dublin can be difficult. The 160, 170 & 180 sections were all back into the wind. It was nothing major compared to what we get sometimes, but as the effort levels went up, it became more difficult. I managed to hold this effort again almost perfectly but was starting to get tired towards the end.

180bpm

I never managed to get up to 180bpm. I just couldn't do it. Felt like I was killing myself and I only hit a high of 177bpm. I averaged 173bpm for this section and had to sit down when I completed it. According to the text 174-177bpm will be my ideal Marathon pace. Judging by this effort, there's no chance I'll complete a race of any distance at that average heart rate, but maybe that's to do with the work I put in against the wind and at the previous heart rates. I don't know. I'll just have to trust the training and see have I improved by following it in 6 weeks time.

Link to the activity is here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/455510191

FBOT01 · 05-03-2014 03:25PM

yaboya1 wrote: »

Wednesday 5th March - HADD 2400m Test

This was as much a test of my patience as it was my aerobic fitness, as going slow enough to keep the heart rate down at the beginning is pretty difficult. However, after a warm up and two failed attempts I eventually got the hang of it. Results are below:

2400m @ 140 bpm (Actual 132 bpm) - 8:51 min/mile average
2400m @ 150 bpm (Actual 147 bpm) - 7:38 min/mile average
2400m @ 160 bpm (Actual 159 bpm) - 7:00 min/mile average
2400m @ 170 bpm (Actual 169 bpm) - 6:17 min/mile average
2400m @ 180 bpm (Actual 173 bpm) - 6:00 min/mile average

Will be following this trial and your progress with interest over the next few weeks as you should have given it a good go before I am looking at my next marathon cycle. Cheers;)

statss · 05-03-2014 03:32PM

might be worth it to spend some time going through this thread dedicated to HADD training over on runners world

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/training/hadd-training-method/260438.html

It's odd that you couldn't reach 180 - unless your max reading is wrong - but we don't think so, so I'm none the wiser unfortunately.

ger664 · 05-03-2014 03:44PM

I have done this test as well several times. I have always found it very hard to maintain or get near the top HR for me its 178. Another point is the distance, from my understanding this was aimed originally at 2:30 marathon runner and thus making that pace for 2400M very difficult for a 3:30 runner (which I was at the time)

. I think that the distance can be reduced so long as the each rep length is 8-10 minutes in duration, but have a read of statss link or if you can dig out the thead/pdf from lets run forum.

menoscemo · 05-03-2014 03:52PM

yaboya1 wrote: »

140bpm

I went straight out for this as soon as I got out of bed so my heart rate was jumping ll over the place between 110bpm & 180bpm, despite the fact that I was barely above walking pace. After a mile warm up, I had got it down to a steady 120bpm and decided to crack on with the first section (140bpm). The text had recommended gradually building up to each heart rate in the first 500-600m, rather than going off faster and having to slow down to keep your heart at the required rate. I started off around 125bpm, but then I sneezed and it shot back up to 180bpm again even though I was still barely walking. I couldn't get it back to 140bpm in the next few hundred metres, so I aborted this attempt and tried again. At this stage my body was obviously warmed up a little bit, but I was trying so hard to keep the rate down that I was now averaging around 120bpm after the first 800m, so I aborted again and gave it a third go.

This is what I mean by you getting dodgy readings from your HRM. I can tell you for a fact that your HR did not jump to 180 bpm while you were barely walking. It is a misreading in the HRM or 'spike'.
It can be caused by a few things:
Static: it seems that friction against your t-shirt can cause the readings to jump up and down.
Dryness: If the comtact points between the HRM and your chest are dry you will generally get poor readings. You will find most people disregard the first few miles as the readings are unreliable until you get a bit of a sweat going (sweat allows for conduction of electricity as opposed to the static of dry skin). You can counteract this by wetting the contact points in salty water before putting on your HRM. I think you can also by a gel to do the same job.

Ososlo · 05-03-2014 04:03PM

menoscemo wrote: »

You can counteract this by wetting the contact points in salty water before putting on your HRM. I think you can also by a gel to do the same job.

good old spit works even better and it's free;)

statss · 05-03-2014 04:05PM

I use to have terrible HR reading issues until I went and bought the old school garmin strap pictured here on top, it works flawlessly for me. found the new soft one useless.

IMG_9568A_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800

menoscemo · 05-03-2014 04:07PM

statss wrote: »

I use to have terrible HR reading issues until I went and bought the old school garmin strap pictured here on top, it works flawlessly for me. found the new soft one useless.

That's mad I went through two of the old school straps and neither worked for me (they are available for free to anyone who wants them). I got the new premium strap with my new FR 220 and it seems to work fine!!

statss · 05-03-2014 04:10PM

menoscemo wrote: »

That's mad I went through two of the old school straps and neither worked for me (they are available for free to anyone who wants them). I got the new premium strap with my new FR 220 and it seems to work fine!!

you must have a hairy chest or something then :pac::pac:

yaboya1 · 05-03-2014 04:15PM

I think I have the latest one too. Definitely not the top one anyway. Maybe it's the hairy chest??

Ososlo · 05-03-2014 04:18PM

I don't have a hairy chest:D and both types worked great for me. No issues with either. I think you all just need to spit on them well (like lots of it) before you go out. After a couple of mins the readings settle down fine for me.

statss · 05-03-2014 04:20PM

ah here ososlo your asking for trouble....

Ososlo · 05-03-2014 04:26PM

statss wrote: »

ah here ososlo your asking for trouble....

this is a nice clean log. No smut here.

yet

I think I'm safe:D

ger664 · 05-03-2014 04:53PM

Garmin do GPS Polar do HR

yaboya1 · 07-03-2014 03:10PM

Friday 7th March - 5m Recovery
5m @ 10:04p/m average

Lovely morning for it today. Set out really slowly as I was wearing the HRM and I'm trying my best to get the hang of it for the weeks ahead. It gave me some weird readings again in the first couple of miles, before settling down after that. I think I'll make sure to do two warm up miles before any HR session in the future to ensure the readings are accurate. Going to start this sort of training properly on Monday. In the meantime, I hope to run in the Marlay parkrun tomorrow where I'll be happy with a sub 19 (current PB: 19:22).

Splits:

Mile 1 - 10:43
Mile 2 - 10:19
Mile 3 - 9:48
Mile 4 - 9:34
Mile 5 - 9:57

yaboya1 · 08-03-2014 03:52PM

Saturday 8th March - 5k Marlay parkrun
3.08m @ 5:58p/m average (18:19)

Felt ok this morning despite a late-ish night. Arrived at Marlay for around nine o'clock, where there was a pretty strong breeze blowing on an otherwise perfect morning for running. A massive crowd (652 finishers according to the results) gathered at the start as the clock ticked closer to race time. After a 'Happy First Birthday Marlay' message and the usual necessary announcements from the race director, we were under way around 9:32am. I had positioned myself close to the front of the pack, as I was worried that I'd struggle to overtake on the narrow paths we'd be running on if I was any further back. This worked out well and I was in the top 20-30 by the time we had completed the first lap of the concert field. I was happy at this stage as we headed down into the woods and I gradually started to make up a few places just by holding my pace which was just below 6:00min/mile. The second mile was by far the toughest, with the uphill section of the course coupled with a simultaneous strong headwind. I picked off a few more runners here to move into the top 20, despite my own pace dropping to around 6:20min/mile. When we got to the top of the hill and turned left, the wind seemed to disappear and I felt strong enough to push on for the final mile. Think I passed the leading woman here (ensuring that I didn't get 'chicked'

) and was starting to think I must now be close to a top ten spot. As we turned into the concert field for the final time, Mick McCartan (whom I recognised from the Race Series) was calling out the positions. I heard '8th, 9th, 10th' for myself and the two guys immediately ahead. Around 800m to hold on. Sub 19 and a top ten had been the plan/goal this morning, but I got a bit greedy and decided to have a go at the two lads in front. Managed to get by one of them and was using any energy I had left to catch the other one. Never managed to make any inroads on him though, and the gap remained the same all the way to the line. The final 400m was a bit boring as I was too far behind to get 8th and had taken enough distance out of the guy behind me that I couldn't be caught for 9th. Crossed the line in 18:19 which I'm delighted with. I got my top 10 finish and it's a PB of more than a minute on what wasn't the easiest of mornings. I'm confident I can go sub 18 by the end of 2014. But for now it's back to the endurance stuff with the Larne Half-Marathon next up in two weeks. Met up with statss & DukeOfDromada after the race and we had a good chat about training, heart rates and running in general. Always good to meet some fellow boardsies and I look forward to meeting some more at future races. Apparently there was free cake to celebrate Marlay's 'birthday' which I knew nothing about

. An enjoyable morning nonetheless.

Splits (forgot to change Garmin to km):

Mile 1 - 5:57
Mile 2 - 6:19
Mile 3 - 5:40
0.08 - 0:23

AuldManKing · 08-03-2014 05:20PM

That is superb running! Well done and super PB.

ecoli · 08-03-2014 05:28PM

Tough conditions on a challenging enough course. Sub 18 on the cards before too long. Well done today man

FBOT01 · 08-03-2014 07:53PM

Good running. Nice PB.

Beef · 08-03-2014 08:29PM

That's some running not long after a big PB marathon. You must be delighted with the way things are going...?

yaboya1 · 08-03-2014 08:41PM

Beef wrote: »

That's some running not long after a big PB marathon. You must be delighted with the way things are going...?

Yes, I'm loving it at the moment. Got my two soft targets coming up next too. Half marathon & 10 miler. Might have to set some new targets for the second half of 2014 :-)