Park Running
So, been a while eh !! Finally time to update my legacy...
Long story short, I am back into running...well, trying to get back into running !!
After a(nother) couple of aborted attempts earlier in the year due to injuries, after a family holiday in Mauritius I came back with a short 6 weeks till Loch Ness Marathon build up (I'd entered but assumed I'd get injured and miss)!
The build up went OK considering I'd done zero running all summer. On a fairly tough course I ran a pretty comfortable 3.31 (ok my legs were pretty trashed as my longest pre race run was 17 miles) but I'd come back and actually enjoyed a decent spell of running.
So the plan was to recover, get back on it and try to get back down to low 17 min 5ks to get me into some decent race positions and have options to run pretty handy times at all distances.
The ideal way to do this is to build fitness and use Park Runs to guage how we are doing. First up was Cambridge - a fairly shite 19.10 feeling off from the start. A week later to Bedford and a decent 18.26 to set up a sub 18. Next up was Cirencester, off a weeks decent training I faded horribly on an XC course with 19.47. Week later I was too ill to run again so just banked some easy miles. Today I headed back to Bedford and ran a near identical 18.30 which was pretty poor for the shape I am in but not too far off where I need to be (obviously miles off where I want to be).
Training wise, I have had a good base building up and adding in intervals. however, I think that these have deaded my legs a little too much and I need to go back to longer tempos and better overall pace to get into sub 18 territory again. Speed is OK on the intervals and amazingly my legs are actually handling then better than I thought, however they just aren't as quick as they need to be for me to feel really comfortable at quick paces (low-mid 5's).
Race wise, same thing is happening. First mile is just under pace but already starting to strain (HR is where it needs to be but starting to feel too quick), second mile comes in slower but bang on 18 mins pace, 3rd mile concentration just goes and I can't keep the same pace going (however it would be easier if I was racing or chasing someone). Really the frustrating thing is that the first mile should feel like a jog, I'm feeling things a mile too early.
Patience is a key in all this - I've been here many times! I just need to increase the longer tempos (30 mins of continuous effort) and not push the pace too soon. It complicates things that I now have Jacob to train with. He's all speed and low endurance so we have some fun trying to match sessions up!
I'll focus now on less intensity but better quality of volume. I think I'll be sub 18 soon enough it just needs the legs to be able to handle 18 mins of effort rather than 12.
Enjoying the challenge again. Reading back over some of my old posts it's certainly do-able but it's not going to be 5 minute turnaround!
Long story short, I am back into running...well, trying to get back into running !!
After a(nother) couple of aborted attempts earlier in the year due to injuries, after a family holiday in Mauritius I came back with a short 6 weeks till Loch Ness Marathon build up (I'd entered but assumed I'd get injured and miss)!
The build up went OK considering I'd done zero running all summer. On a fairly tough course I ran a pretty comfortable 3.31 (ok my legs were pretty trashed as my longest pre race run was 17 miles) but I'd come back and actually enjoyed a decent spell of running.
So the plan was to recover, get back on it and try to get back down to low 17 min 5ks to get me into some decent race positions and have options to run pretty handy times at all distances.
The ideal way to do this is to build fitness and use Park Runs to guage how we are doing. First up was Cambridge - a fairly shite 19.10 feeling off from the start. A week later to Bedford and a decent 18.26 to set up a sub 18. Next up was Cirencester, off a weeks decent training I faded horribly on an XC course with 19.47. Week later I was too ill to run again so just banked some easy miles. Today I headed back to Bedford and ran a near identical 18.30 which was pretty poor for the shape I am in but not too far off where I need to be (obviously miles off where I want to be).
Training wise, I have had a good base building up and adding in intervals. however, I think that these have deaded my legs a little too much and I need to go back to longer tempos and better overall pace to get into sub 18 territory again. Speed is OK on the intervals and amazingly my legs are actually handling then better than I thought, however they just aren't as quick as they need to be for me to feel really comfortable at quick paces (low-mid 5's).
Race wise, same thing is happening. First mile is just under pace but already starting to strain (HR is where it needs to be but starting to feel too quick), second mile comes in slower but bang on 18 mins pace, 3rd mile concentration just goes and I can't keep the same pace going (however it would be easier if I was racing or chasing someone). Really the frustrating thing is that the first mile should feel like a jog, I'm feeling things a mile too early.
Patience is a key in all this - I've been here many times! I just need to increase the longer tempos (30 mins of continuous effort) and not push the pace too soon. It complicates things that I now have Jacob to train with. He's all speed and low endurance so we have some fun trying to match sessions up!
I'll focus now on less intensity but better quality of volume. I think I'll be sub 18 soon enough it just needs the legs to be able to handle 18 mins of effort rather than 12.
Enjoying the challenge again. Reading back over some of my old posts it's certainly do-able but it's not going to be 5 minute turnaround!
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