3 September 2020 Update

 Yes I have not posted for a a couple of weeks. That does not mean I have stopped training. I have continued to train by base building aerobic running. That has continued longer than the Lydiard program I have but that is fine.

A spent a week with my son, his partner and my new granddaughter Florence Elisabeth. While there I enjoyed some wonderful early morning country road running as a change from the Bay.

Aerobic base building training can go on endlessly but there are diminishing returns in the gains made for the effort being made. That is as you get fitter the aerobic training produces less improvement in endurance/stamina. There are gains but they become less and less for the same effort.  Anyway I have continued that training for 3 weeks longer than the program by just repeating the last week. 

That extension was required for various reason and was to focus on a marathon on the 8th November being either Sydney or Canberra. Both look like they still might occur. Shame they clash. If they are both held then I will have to run Sydney because I am a Blue Line Legend that means I have all of them since 2001. I think there are 8 of us and I need to keep that streak going. 

From now to the marathon on 8th November (if held) 

BUT starting this week I have commences the 10 week preparation for the marathon. During the base building there is NO anaerobic training at all. All to do with the PH levels caused by that type of training and the ability of there body to recover to run aerobic sessions. 

The next 10 weeks covered these blocks (weeks are the weeks to go to the marathon):

Weeks 10, 9 & 8    Hill training

Weeks 7 & 6        Anaerobic Development

Weeks 5, 4 & 3    Intergration

Weeks 2 & 1        Taper

Hill training 

These sessions are designed to develop the muscles to handle a greater ranger of motion and speeds. This is done by incorporating uphill resistance sessions and preparing for the next two phases. What occurs;

• Fast twitch muscles (anaerobic) are now engaged (aerobic sessions only engaged slow twitch muscles). Fast twitch muscles help to develop speed and because it involves some anaerobic activity it prepares you for the next phase, anaerobic conditioning;

• It stretches the tendons and ligaments especially in the back of your legs so that there is greater range of movement;

• It develops efficient running form.

There are two hill sessions each week. I will not go into detail of the other weekly sessions as they are still aerobic. This is the directions for the Hill Session:

Run - Hills

Description: Lydiard Phase: Hill Training Workout Priority: 4 Run hills for 31:00. Include a 15 minute warm-up and cool-down in addition to the workout. If you want to adjust your workout, use the following duration guidelines: Duration range: 21:00 - 40:00 Workout Goal: Power, High Aerobic/Slightly Anaerobic Find a hill of about 200-400 meters. If no hills use stadium stairs or a parking ramp and repeat the uphill for about 3-4 minutes.Warm-up adequately by jogging for at least 15-minutes followed by gentle stretching, particularly of the lower legs. Hill Set 1. Run up with good knee lift, or Bound, or Spring up the hill as appropriate to your ability 2. Jog until recovered at the top (about 3 minutes) 3. Stride down fast but in control using short circular strides and on a gentler slope if possible 4. Run 3 X 75-100 meters (approx) stride-outs (slightly faster than your fastest aerobic pace) with full jog recovery between. If the uphill is short, do these stride-outs only every 15 minutes 5. Repeat as many sets as workout duration allows Cool-down at least 10 minutes Speed is irrelevant, in fact, THE SLOWER YOU GO UP, THE MORE RESISTANCE WILL BE APPLIED TO YOUR LEGS. At the top take adequate recovery jog. If the downhill section is not too steep, run downhill quickly leaning into the hill and using short circular strides. At the bottom of the hill do three easy strides over about 100 meters. Do this every 15 minutes or so. (The main development of this phase takes place in the uphill portion of the workout and the downhill and flat strides are supplementary. Do not overdo them.) Cool-down at least 10 minutes. Repeat this Hill Set as many times as your workout duration calls for. I completed the session on Tuesday but have not quite got the technique correct. I am not attempting hill bounding.  This morning Thursday was a session of about 13k @ 5.28 as best. That sounded like a real push although I have run that pace for this distance previously. I decided I would run as hard as I could but taking into account I wanted to run two laps of the Bay, so it was retained to start with, at least that what I thought as I was running by feel. The first 5k was 5.08 pace and that felt firm but manageable. I eased off and finished  13.6k @ 5.12 pace. Surprised and pleased including a 10k PB of 52.04.