Here are my race plans ‘till the end of 2009:
Oct 4: 3000m track Veterans (over 35 yo)
Oct 11: St. George Melbourne – ½ Marathon
Oct 24: Nike Human race 10k (tentative)
Nov 8: New Balance RealRun road/trail 10/15k (tentative)
Dec 6: Standard Chartered Singapore – ½ Marathon
Mrs. Sling is homesick and wants to go over to Melbourne for a month. I will also take one week leave. Whilst we are there, we plan to get baby baptism for Sling Jr. Being a runner; I negotiated for the day of baptism to coincide with Melbourne marathon weekend.
When I tell Coach about my race plans, he penciled in a 10k in Melbourne, 21k in Singapore, and 42k in Seoul in March (tentative). Since the marathon is 7 months away, this looks like a nice progression.
However, I told Coach that I prefer to do the ½ in Melbourne. We have lots of 10ks here in Singapore, but only 2 HMs for the year. He told me the training plan that he prescribes (and which I have done I 2 weeks) is geared towards shorter races. He reckons by focusing on 2 speed sessions a week (2 intervals or 1 interval, 1 fartlek) will make the long runs much easier in the latter part of marathon training. Having seen Epi’s progression from Matilda Bay 10k, Darlington HM, and finally Perth C2S, I can see where the Coach is coming from.
Anyway, I’ve told Coach that I still prefer to go with the HM and accept the possibility of running mediocre times. Current training plan is very much focused on shorter distances, for example, this week I did two speed sessions: 4 x 5 minutes, 1min rest; and 20x 30secs on, 15secs off. I averaged 3:50 pace (1.3k per 5 minutes) for the 4 x 5mins, which is not too shabby considering the short rest (1-1.5 mins) and temperature. However, I didn't do well on 30/15 on/off fartlek as I covered only about 3.7k. This turned out to be 4:05 pace ( approx HM pace) as I struggled to get the rythym goin'. Very suprising, given I could do tempo runs at this pace for longer period and they feel more comfortable and easier to do.
When I negotiated for the change to the HM, he only made a couple of small alterations. This would be the first time for me doing HM with only a small amount of half-marathon pace or threshold training. I’ll write more on this next week.
PS: Rob, if time allows, I’ll wait for you at the finish line in MCG, hopefully well before the clock says 2:59:59 :)
3 comments:
Great news re Melb, hopefully see you at the finish. I've jokingly told Trace to crank up the Eagles song as I enter the stadium to fire me up.
Coach has got you on a good plan, well done with the 5 min sessions especially in those conditions.
I'll look out for you in Melbourne - prob a good 15 minutes behind you at the finish though.
The plan looks good. Short recoveries. 15 off wouldn't get the HR down much!
Thanks for the Ovett tempo idea. I'll try that one.
All the best with the Half in Melbourne! the experience itself is worth it regardless of the time. All the best with the baptism, cool idea to combine that with the Melbourne Half...My wife is entered in the 5km walk, she would probably like the eagles song entering the stadium too..."Freo way to go, hit em real hard send em down below dock Dock Dockers!" is what I want to hear.
Looks like you have a good race program mapped out there and Sean is keeping you on a good regimen...I will try and keep up with Clown for the first 5-100min in Melbourne but reckon that will be about as long as I can do it...(probably 5 minutes...)
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