Sunday, January 29, 2012

Convicts & Wenches marathon

Thursday was Australia Day and I travelled to Brisbane to run a marathon on Australia Day.

It was just over 22 degrees Celsius for the 5.00am start and high humidity. It never got any better. I nice course with a 2.2k out and back to start and then 4 x 10 loops. I thought it would be as boring as hell but it was okay. This was never intended to be more that a very solid training run with no taper and running very much within my fitness.

With all of that I thought just under 4 hours would be fine. I finished in 3.53 and was fairly even in pace taking into account the rising heat and humidity in the last half. They were slower but not by much compared to the first half. 

It very much went to plan. I did not run on Friday and Saturday and had nice steady 14k this morning. I will start back into training Tuesday at the latest.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

One tough session: 6 x 1.5k

The short quick sessions are getting longer and I am being asked to hold a tough pace longer. In the past I have not done these sessions because quite frankly they hurt and are uncomfortable and have gone the soft option and continued to run long daily. It is my belief that if I do not do some sessions like this I will not have the chance to get close to some 3.30 marathons this year.

So I  HTFU and did this session.

The suggested pace was 4.20 per k and on the warm up run as usual this seemed like an impossibility for 1 let alone 6 of the little suckers. 

I managed all 6 in the 4.10 - 4.14 pace range. I am glad that session was done and no broken body or mind. A recovery session of 14k tomorrow is planed ignoring the marathon on the next day. 

Monday Recovery: 14k @ 4.54

I felt very good after yesterday's 21k. I was only doing my 14k hilly run but decided to push hard despite it being planned as a recovery day at about 5.20 pace. Finished up with a nice 4.54 pace. I think despite reading and to a degree following a program you still need to run some days as you feel even if it is pushing beyond what was required. 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

SMC Marathon and the recovery week

Last Sunday I ran the first SMC Marathon as the 4.20 sweeper. It was steady all the way in pleasant overcast conditions. The first half was just on 2.08 and I finished in about 4.22 as I slowed down over the last 10k to help a young girl who was struggling to get to the finish line under the cut off. She just missed.

I took the next few days off and started running on Wednesday evening.

They were just runs to turn over the legs for recovery but by Friday I felt okay and so did the killer session of 8 x 1k. It looked liked it was going to be finished early with a 4.08 first one and it felt like that was pushed. I then HTFU and ran the rest in 3.55 - 3.58 range. 

A recovery week with 75k's of training logged.

A marathon next Thursday for Australia Day in Brisbane. I will again train up to it and run it firm but conservative so that I can restart training within a few days. If I can get just under 4 hours that will be fine. 

Friday, January 13, 2012

Friday: 8 x 1k reps

It was a coolish morning in Sydney this morning but there was some humidity. I wanted some solid times as close to 4 minute pace. Managed all 8 between 3.58 - 4.02 and they felt firm but I was not maxed out.

No injuries or niggles. All is very good.

A marathon on Sunday being the 4.20 sweeper.

Thursday: Rest day no run

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

21k @ 5.06

It was supposed to be a recovery run at about 5.30 pace. However I felt very good and decided to push as hard as I could. About 10 days ago I pushed to a 5.26 pace. Nice improvement particularly after the session yesterday. 

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

3 x 3k session with an easy 10k

I have not done a session like this for a looooooong while. But I know it has to be done so I had 2 penciled in and depending on how the first two went maybe a 3rd. The pacing I am following had me doing them at 4.28 pace and in the warm up run that sounded out of my range.

But as I have found that cruisy warm up does not usually raise the confidence.

Anyway I was determined to give it a shot. Only a couple of glimpses at the Garmin and well I ran 13.07/13.06/13.02 - all about 4.22 pace. Then I finished off with 10k @ 5.15 pace. Me thinks a bit quick for this far out from the marathon in April. However next week I might take it up a notch and the pace of all runs will increase but not to what I am at the moment. 

Monday, January 09, 2012

Week in review from Byron BAy

I have been in the hills behind Byron Bay since Tuesday. I have run each day with a good 8 x 1k session and two 28k runs on alternate days both in the rising heat and humidity. 

A rest day today and travelling back to Sydney.

A nice solid 137k this week. A marathon on Sunday but running it as a sweeper for a 4.20 finish. There will be no taper for the marathon so it should be interesting but 4.20 should still be a cruise. Probably famous last words

Monday, January 02, 2012

Monday: Did I say easy recovery

Despite the long run yesterday I felt fresh this morning. I will be travelling most of tomorrow with an early start so I may not get a run in. So I decided to push the session and see what happened.

Nice increase in pace for the usual loop of 21k. Completed in 1.51 or so at 5.20

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Sunday: Long Run @ 5.31

At the moment this is a serious long run of 2 laps over all of the hills I can find around the Bay. Each lap is about 13.8k and I usually do one then a flat lap of the Bay for 21/22k. I can't recall the last time I did a double lap if at all.

The aim was to run about 5.30 average with laps about the same time. I did that with laps of 75.40 and 76.29 and off course the second one was in the rising heat. 

Nice first full week of focused training with a total of 127k which is about the right total. Apart from the two speed sessions all the other running was at slightly better than 5.30 pace. At least another 2 weeks at these paces before considering if the intensity should be increased slightly for all sessions. 

Next week will be a bit unstructured as I am away near Byron Bay and so the routine is not as set.