Friday, April 30, 2010

Rest Day

Rest day and no beer. I recall saying I wasn't going to do that again...

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Final Tune Up

In the gym again...

3km warm-up followed by 4 x 500m uphill (3.0) efforts at 3:43/km pace with 500m float. Finished off with a 3km warm-down. Total 10km in about 42 mins.

So that's it until Saturday. Looking forward to this race.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Stitch

An easy 10km run in the gym in 43:07.

Probably wasn't that easy in hindsight. I got a stitch (very rare) and thought I'd have to stop at one point. I ran it off though, that's how tough I am.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Time Based Intervals

I did something a bit different today. A 4km warm-up/down.

In between I did 8 x 1 minute efforts with 1 minute walk recovery. I ran them at 10km pace, maybe a bit quicker. I was wearing my heavy joggers which is always a bit of a handicap.

I estimate 10.4km for the session.

Watched the Boston Marathon today. A good finish to the end of the women's race with the Ethiopian just hanging on.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Rest Time

No running today.

Watched the London Marathon. Good to see it after running this race last year. I don't seem to recall much of the course!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sunday

Same run as last Sunday. This time nearly a minute quicker.

Details - 21.4km in 1:37:59. That's 4:35/km pace.

That's another solid week in the bank. Total distance 96.8km.

Time to freshen up for the state road 10km on Saturday. Low 33 for me.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Running with mates

Got a text Friday evening from Saxon saying that Rotary Park intervals were happening with him and Palms in the morning Was I keen? Yes I was.

An 8:30am start from LCNP. Palms had got me some new racing flats (Asics DS racers) and I was keen to try them out so they went straight on. A bit of dirt would do them good.

A twisty 2.6km jog to the track and we agreed that the session would be 4 lappers. Maybe 4 or 5.

Palms was leading the first lap, me the second, Sax the third and back to Palms for the last. A 100m walk, 300 slow jog recovery with target times of 5:20 for the efforts.

Actual times were:

5:15, 5:16, 5:15, 5:13

These felt really easy. I could have run a fair bit quicker. It was so much easier running with the new shoes (fantastic), a group (seems much easier) and in the morning (much cooler). We couldn't decide on doing a 5th rep so as a compromise we did a 2 lapper. After a 75 second first lap it was time to stretch the legs and with a 68 second lap we all finished with a 2:23 (sub 3 minute km pace).

A 2.6km jog back to the start. All up 14.2km. I hope I feel this good next Saturday. If I do, I'll have a blinder.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Friday

Another easy run in the gym. 10km in 43:03.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

More Intervals

Another visit to UTS Norths grass track.

A 4km warm-up, followed by 8 x 800s with 400m jog recovery. Then a 2km warm-down.

The weather was glorious. Too hot for intervals but I'll take it.

My plan was to run them at 10km pace so I thought sub 2:40 would be fine. Actual times were:

2:37, 2:37, 2:37, 2:36, 2:37, 2:36, 2:36, 2:35.

Pretty consistent. Recovery jog was approx 2 mins so 5 minute km pace.

Same As Monday

43:07 for 10km

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Even Longer Tempo

A 14km tempo with 1km either side.

The tempo run time was 52:08 and all up 60:25.

Sweating buckets.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Gym

10km in 43:07.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Longer Run

I headed out at lunchtime. To save time I ran from home, down to the top gate at LCNP (4.4km). Then I ran the Striders 10km course in reverse with an extra 2.6km loop thrown in at the bottom of the course. Then the 4.4km back to Pymble with the long climb at the end up Lane Cove Road and back up the Pacific Highway. All up 21.4km in 1:38:50 so that's 4:37/km so not particularly quick but it will do.

A few niggles to worry about. Both knees sore, plus the right piriformis. Time for another massage.

That's 93.4km for the week. My biggest of the year. Same again next week then some freshening up the following week in time for the State 10km.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Time Trial Time

About time I did another Lane Cover time trial. Top gate to bottom. Downhill running so should be easy.

My previous PB was 14:49 set on Feb 27th this year. I was thinking about that during my warm-up run and couldn't recall my exact splits at various points of the course. So I came to the conclusion that if I was somewhere near 5 minutes with 3km to go, I was in with a chance...

After a slow 5.4km, I was at the top gate for a stretch. Lets get this over with....the first km is all downhill. You must be running at sub 3 minute km pace. As you cross the river there is the first climb of about 200m. The trick is to run strong straight over the top and get back into your running. The first checkpoint came in 5:01 so I was in the ballpark. Only 3km to go.

The next km is pretty flat. So run hard and take the racing line. With 2km to go I was 8:16 and I knew that was quick. The next km has another nasty uphill of about 200m, but again there is more downhill after that to make up the time. With 1km to go I was 11:31 so I knew a quick last km would see me right. I had a battle with a couple of cars in the last km and probably lost a little focus. That said, I finished in 14:39 so a 3:08 last km and a 10 second PB.

Really pleased with that. That's 3:10/km pace which is quick for me on the road. Okay, the downhill does help but I still can't get the 3:05's that I can on the track...

A 3.5km warm-down. All up 13.5km.

A few beers this evening. I'm looking after both the little ones as Marion is out on the razz. Man Utd have just beaten Man City in the last minute so that opens up the door for the mighty Spurs!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Yawn fest

Same old, same old. 10km in the gym in 43:09. Both knees sore.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Longer reps

In the build up to the half it's probably a good idea to do some longer reps. I'm making it up as I go along but it makes sense to me.

I drove to the grass track on Mowbray Road. I was planning on running 4 lappers with 400m slow jog recovery.

After a 20 minute warm-up on the surrounding roads, I hit the track and marked out my 1600m run in lane 3 (4 times the normal 400m stagger).

The pace I wanted to run was 10km pace. I thought that 5:20 per effort was a good enough target (being 3:20/km pace).

The first one felt really easy and I was a little surprised by the time of 5:13.

The second felt a lot harder and I'd slowed to 5:20.

The third was a slight improvement of 5:18.

And a 5:16 to finish. Would have been nice to be a bit more consistent.

In between I was walking 100m, then doing a slow 300m+ jog before the next effort.

I did an 8 lap warm-down. Total running of 14.5km.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Gym Run

Another 10km easy in the gym. Time 43:10.

Less than 5 weeks now until we move to Ireland....

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Longer tempo

Back to the gym...

A 1km warm-up, then a 12km tempo, and a 1km warm-down. Total time 53:23.

The 12km was covered in 44:44 so that's about 3:44/km.

I'll up the duration of these tempo runs over the next few weeks. I might build up to 20km if I have enough time.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Club 2073 again

Another 10km easy in the gym in 43:27.

Some self massage on the tight calves tonight. Haven't a clue what I'm doing. Just squeezing the muscles and making them hurt more.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Firetrails

I ran at lunchtime. The calves were tight from the track so took it easy. I drove to the start of the trail just off Bobbin Head Road so I could spend more time on the trial. I ran for 34 minutes, up and down some monster hills (walked in places). Then turned round and did the same route in reverse. Tough going.

The run lasted 1:08:07. I'll put this down as 13km as I wasn't running quick but the effort involved felt like a lot more than that!

So that's 68.6km for the week. Not as high as I wanted. Will try and rectify that over the next couple of weeks.