Week 3 of 5 (AHM)

Did 83k in 6 3/4 hours (av 4:50) during Week 3 of 5 to Army Half

Have been running a lot on treadmill this week in order to balance family, work, and running. Sleep time so far has been pretty decent (6-7 hours), however the baby’s feeding timetable changed my sleeping cycle slightly. A midnight feed plus another hour to play and help him to sleep means that I go to bed around 1am. Because I leave the house for work around 8-ish, this means that I have to forego some of morning runs. Evening run is not possible because we normally have dinner pretty early. I would say a good balance/compromise will comprise of 2-3 morning runs a week (quality sessions), and the rest will primarily be treadmill runs in the gym during lunch time (easy days).

I think that I am experiencing some post-marathon blues. My legs are tired all the time and my workouts haven’t been that great. I did a couple of workouts: Tuesday’s intervals went ok (hitting target paces), although the effort was more taxing than it should be. Saturday’s long threshold run (5k MP, 5k HMP, 5kMP, 5k HMP) was a dud. Actual paces were slower than planned and legs were pretty dead. I am not sure whether treadmill running has something to do with it. Due to the moving belt, doing slow, easy runs on treadmill still requires a high leg turnover (whereas a slow run outdoors requires less stride rate). I am guessing that the high leg turnover causes my body to work a bit harder on my easy days.

Two weeks to go to Army Half. Due to the post-marathon blues and fatique, the plan for next week is just to do some maintenance work (tempo runs and slow intervals) in order to prevent myself going into deeper hole. A PB seems unlikely, but I’ll try my best.

Mon (Recovery):
5.5k Recovery in 30mins (av 5:30)
Short on time, a short 30mins run on treadmill, 1% incline.

Tue (Easy):
13k Easy-Moderate in 66mins (av 5:05)
Lunchtime run in the gym since it was blazing hot outside. Started at 5:45 min/km, increasing the speed every couple of mins to 4:40 pace. Last 10mins was done at 5% incline to provide training variety.

Wed (Workout):
AM: 17k run in 74mins (av 4:20) consisting of:
- 2.7k easy warm up (av 5:22) with 1 stride
- 1.6k faster warm up at MP (av 4:19)
- 3 x 1600m at 10k effort (av 3:52) - 6:11, 6:10, 6:10
- 3 x 800m at 5k effort (av 3:42) - 2:58, 2:57, 2:58
- 3 x 400m at m1500-3k effort (av 3:25) - 1:24, 1:24, 1:19
- 4.3k cool down with 4 strides (av 4:50)

Ran from home to Queenstown track, doing a different warm up by including a mile at MP. At the track, I did ‘3-by-3’ workout at various interval paces. Splits were pretty much dead even (see above), could be 1-2 secs faster since I had to overlap a lot of walkers and slow runners. Recovery for all intervals was 1:40-2:00 standing rests. The standing rests (not counted in total time) artificially made the average pace for the total run faster (17k at 4:20). Too tough of a workout for my liking and a sore butt to boot.

PM: 25mins jogging (av 5:40)
A slow run on the treadmill to flush out the junks.

Thu (Easy):
8k Recovery in 42mins (av 5:20), treadmill
Yes, another treadmill run (fourth one in one week). I then joined a Yoga class for 30mins for stretching purposes.

Fri (Easy):
9k Moderate in 42mins (av 4:46)
Light progression run, 5mins at 5:10-5:00-4:50-4:40, then 10mins at 4:30 (below MP). Jogged to the hill and did 5 x 15secs hill sprints, walk down for recovery. Felt sluggish and tired, not a good sign for tomorrow’s long workout.

Sat (Workout):
26k Long Run in 2 hours (av 4:35) including long Threshold run

Stole this workout from Hamburglar who cut his marathon time from 3:18 to 3:02 in Westlink’s M7 Sydney marathon last week. A 20k threshold runs, alternating 5k MP, 5k HMP, 5k MP, 5k HMP. Legs were tired, hence I struggled big time in the second half. Splits: 5k in 22:23 (4:29), 5k in 20:35 (4:07 pace), 5k in 23:16 (4:39), and 5k split in two runs: 10:00 and 10:27 (av 4:06). The pace for third 5k blew out to 4:40 and I couldn’t complete the last 5k in one continuous run. Seriously need a massage first thing Monday.

Sun (Off):
Rest day, spending time with Sling Jr

Total 83k for the week