Diary Of A Road Runner

Intervals – some progress!

First intervals session since last summer. Felt tough but good to push things hard. Set off with a 2k warmup, then set the Garmin for 5×800m with 3 minute walking recoveries. Wasn’t sure how to pace it so went pretty much flat out then adjusted as I felt the pain! The interval splits were:

3:35
3:49
3:24
3:47
3:12

The slower legs were with the incline at the end. In any case, my two fastest splits would make a 6:36 mile, and the last split was very encouraging, as sooner or later I will need to run sub 3 for 800 if I am going to run a sub 6 mile. But it’s promising to be more or less where I peaked last summer, right at the beginning of the running season as spring starts to wake up the world

One Mile Time Trial – 7:16

Not done a one mile time trial since June 2009, and am supposed to be on course for a sub 6 minute mile challenge – if only I hadn’t been injured for several months etc!

Anyway, did a one mile warm up going pretty easy, walked and stretched, then set off for my mile trial. Went off hard and just tried to maintain it, glanced at garmin and I was doing close to 4:00/k. Was hard to judge the pacing since I have not done it for so long – and by the end I was really breathing hard and was going all out. Managed it in 7:16, which at this stage, being only 16 seconds off a PB I gained last year with a lot more running in my legs, is pretty good going.

Will keep it up and have another time trial in a few weeks and see if there’s any improvement.

Speedwork – 400m intervals – progress!

First proper speedwork session and the results were interesting:

2k warm up

8×400m at

1:35
1:36
1:52 (uphill section)
1:35
1:37
1:47 (uphill)
1:30
1:38

with 3 minute walking recoveries

2k cool down.

Means I averaged 6:36/mile for the 2 miles, obviously with breaks, but if I can run 1:30 for a quarter of a mile it means with some work I should be able to get to 3:00 for half a mile, then 6:00 (or 5:59) for a mile! I have the speed, and with more intervals and I can find the endurance. Cool down felt nice and easy, legs were tightening a bit but lungs felt fine. Enjoyed being able to just go flat out then rest. Then flat out again. Got pace per k down to 3:44/k which is starting to seriously motor for me – the only trouble is at that pace it’s more tricky to avoid prams, bikes, pedestrians and car doors opening suddenly in front of you!!!

800m Intervals – Hard Session, but very good!

Hard shorter intervals session, pretty much flat out at times, although cruising speed was still well within sub 50k pace which bodes well, in fact my cruising pace seems to be getting faster, 4:40 k’s now feel a lot easier than sub 4 minute k pace (which I hadn’t dreamt of running before today!)

1.8k warm up.

6×800m@

3:28
3:46
3:36
3:48
3:42
3:26

with 3 minute recoveries

1 mile cool down 10 minutes jog.

Splits put together would result in a 22:30 5k, so not bad going – on the last k went flat out for about 400m of it and the Garmin for the first time showed me actually running at sub 4 mins/k at about 3:55/k, which I don’t think I have done before, certainly haven’t seen it on the Garmin except for the dubious “fastest speed” which could have only been for 10 seconds!. Slowed a bit towards the end, but the first and last 800m put together would make a 6:52 mile more or less, which isn’t bad considering there were a couple of hard miles in between. Found it hard but could almost feel instant results – psychologically as much as anything else, the next thing will be to keep this up and start reducing the recovery times, although 3 minutes feels just about right at the moment, can work on that, getting it shorter, and the ultimately put it all together for some new mile, 5k and 10k PB times

My First Proper Intervals Session! 3 quick miles!

First really proper intervals session. I have put it off for some time, but once improvements stopped coming with the running training I was doing, it was time to add something new into the mix if I want better times! Decided to try 1 mile intervals to start with, and try to run each sub 7:50, so within sub 50 10k pace.

1 mile easy warmup

3 x 1 mile at:

7:46
7:34
7:47

with 3 minute recoveries

1 mile cool down 9:18

The middle mile felt the most comfortable and was the fastest. Was starting to really feel it by the end of mile three, but the recoveries really helped, although they seemed to tick down quicker and quicker as the run went on!

The 7:34 maintained over 10k would mean a 47.01 10k, even the 7:47 (which was coasting speed really) would be 48:22 so if I can just string together some more sessions like this, add in another interval or 2, do some shorter, faster intervals, then put it all together on race day, that sub 50 is going to be well and truly shattered. I live in hope!!

8k Fartlek – cold day – 43:05

My first experiment with the world of fartlek!  Not sure if I get the concept fully, but since it is supposed to be flexible, doing intervals of 1k appealed to me as I could then measure my relative speeds for running and jogging on the Garmin.

Did a couple of k warmup then launched into the first hard k – struggled a bit and was only just under a 5 minute split, and was ready to give up!  But jogged the next k and then did a slightly faster one, before jogging again then blasting a 4:36 split which is getting into the realms of serious speed for me   Then jogged a very slow cool down.

In all an interesting experience and certainly felt my body being surprised as I am used to running at a fairly even pace or accelerating gradually over the course of a run.  So will repeat again as am sure this will help in improving my 10k performance

Splits:

5:39
5:36
4:48
5:40
4:57
5:39
4:36
6:03

Best pace 3:54/k

5k Time Trial – 24:27

Did 5-10 minutes jogging before setting off on this time trial, which I actually ran as a time trial – went for it all the way!  Set off pretty fast, not knowing if I would be able to maintain it, and was surprised when I clicked over the first k in 4:48 – haven’t run a sub 5 split since my 5k PB last September!  The 2nd k involved the uphill stretch on the way to Haughton Green so that slowed me a bit, then it was into cruise control mode, and managed to keep the pace up.  By the time I got to the last K I knew I was on course for a sub 25, thought I might even get sub 24 by some crazy miracle but my legs were gone by that point and I slowed a little in the last 400 yards.  Nonetheless this has smashed my most recent 5k time trial which was 26+ and to run 24:27 felt fantastic!

Splits:

4:48
5:04
4:55
4:52
4:47

Average pace 4:53

5k Time Trial – sort of – 26:10

Didn’t set out to do a time trial, just to run 5k comfortably hard.  Felt good so pushed just a little – my first run of the year in shorts!  Some undulations in the route I took (streets near my house, going in a few circles) but the best 5k time since my comeback, and felt good, and didn’t feel half dead by the end.

All in all a good preparation for Sunday’s Mizuno Trafford 10k.  I am conservatively going to aim for around 55 minutes, depends how I react to race conditions again, maybe I will surprise myself, but will aim to start off carefully and work up speed, rather than get carried away!!

Splits for today:

5:22
5:12
5:14
5:18
5:02!!!

3k Speedwork – Cold – 15mins approx

Bit of a disaster, was hoping to run 3km within 15 minutes as part of attempt to do 5k inside 25 minutes. Set off at a suicidal pace (about 4 minutes per k) but at just under 1k my Garmin freaked out, lost the signal, and stopped clocking distance for the next 8 minutes.

This did all kinds of things to my head, not having done such a “sprint” before, I had no idea what my pace was, except that I was slowing, and was frustrated I was not going to get a proper time. The Garmin came back on, but I was running in a circuit and it was obviously measuring A to B across that, so was totally out – I was blowing up anyway due to suicidal starting pace, so stopped where I thought the 3k mark usually is on longer runs using that route.

Felt totally knackered – lungs felt raw and burning!

But run a success in one way, as it’s clear I need to do more of this type of thing to get used to running at a faster pace – although I obviously struggle when I set off very fast.

Much prefer the long slow runs for enjoyment, but will do a few more of these and hope the Garmin keeps track next time!