A bit short on time so just the 10km threshold on the treadmill. It was a hot day and I was dreading it a bit but once I got going I felt great. I went through 5km in 16:36 and only slowed a little the second half to reach 10km in 33:27. All well within the correct HR zone. A total of 14kms with the up/down. That's 3 thresholds done this week and I dare say I'll squeeze another one in over the weekend (no plans to race).
A few beers will be had now and then some exciting news for the weekend. Watch this space...
2 comments:
Hello,
I discovered your blog at coolrunning australia forums and I've been following it since then.
Your evolution is outstanding. I started to run in December, and managed to run 1h24m in a 20K in March. Not a great time, but I'm still learning this great sport.
I am 30 years old and purchased a heart rate monitor. I noticed that you also train with the aid of one. What percentages of maximum heart rate do you use in your different training runs?
Since I started to run I've been only doing easy runs and long runs. I am getting a little bit frustrated as I notice that my pace on those runs isn't improving anymore... (5 min/km - 8 min/mile, <75% HRM) and as far as I am concerned, and based on everything I've been reading, I should see some kind of dramatic improvement only based by mileage over time.
I read in some of your blog entries that you run your easy days a minute faster (sometimes even faster than that) than I do. Do you feel that I should start to incorporate some kind of speed repeats or threshold runs in my training? Isn't it to early to do so?
I am looking forward for your response,
All the best.
José from Portugal
Jose, thanks for your comments. I see you have been running for around 6 months now so you have built up a decent base. Certainly a 20km run in 1h24 in that short space of time is very impressive. I see no reason why you shouldn't start doing some quicker running - speedwork/intervals/thresholds - call it what you will. I had my max HR measured at 171 and I now do a lot of my running in my recovery zone (HR 131 to 142) and my threshold zone (HR 143 to 152). So in round numbers that's 77 to 83% of max, and 84 to 89% of max. As you can see, that's way higher than your current training intensity. What I'd do is gradually incorporate some quicker runs into your training. You can use the McMillan race calculator (Google it) to give you an idea of the pace you should be running at for shorter/quicker efforts. It may be an idea to join a local running club, or a track club, where you can do your quicker runs under supervision of a coach. So in summary, yes do some quicker running. Gradually introduce speedwork at different intensities of your max HR in the range of 75% to 90%. Once your body becomes conditioned to this type of training you will become stronger and more efficient and all of your times will naturally improve. I hope that helps and let me know how you progress! Matt
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