31 July 2010

10 to 10-10-10

Monday (threshold):
3.5k warm up
12mins ON, 2mins OFF, 3mins ON, 2mins OFF
9mins ON, 2mins OFF, 3mins ON, 2mins OFF
6mins ON, 2mins OFF, 3mins ON, 2mins OFF
3mins ON, 90secs OFF, 3mins ON, 90secs OFF
3mins ON
3k cool down
Total 20.5k in 93mins (av 4:33 min/km)

A varied pace Threshold session, alternating long intervals (12-9-6-3 minutes) at MP-10 secs/km and short intervals (3 minutes) at MP-20 secs/km, interspersed with 2mins jog in between. Always enjoyed this kind of session. Cumulatively, they added up to 30mins at 4:05 pace and 15mins at 3:55 pace for a total 45mins worth of Threshold work - an average of 4:00 min/km. If recovery jogs are included, the workout covered 14.1k in 60mins or an average pace of 4:15 (av HR 164, high HR 175). Very pleased with today's run considering that I did a 37k long run two days earlier.

Tuesday (easy):
60mins recovery treadmill (av 5:30 min/km)
Core work: planks, 1 set of Bataan & Myrtle

Experimenting with a longer recovery run (1 hour) instead of the normal 30-40mins. Otherwise, I will never see my mileage above 90k !!

Wednesday (semi-long run):
21k semi-long run in 1h:40m (av 4:48 min/km)

Beautiful and cool post-rain weather, with no UV at all. Ran the usual route of Chatsworth, Nassem, Cluny Park, Dempsey, and River Valley. After 4k easy miles to loosen the leg, then ran the next 17k between 4:30-4:45 min/km. Felt easy effort-wise due to the cooler weather. Could have run more miles but unfortunately, I had to go to work. I would say around 4:40s would be my normal long run pace if I still live in Aussie.

Thursday (progression):
10mins warm up
30mins progression run (av 4:10)
20 mins cool down including 6 strides
Total 13k in 59mins (av pace 4:33 min/km)

After warm up, did 10mins progressive at 4:20s-4:10s-4:00smin/km, covering 7.2k in 30mins (av 4:10 pace). A bit hard of a workout than I initially expected. Finished the run with 6 x 20secs strides.

Friday (easy):
40mins recovery on treadmill (av pace 5:32 min/km)
10mins upper body weights + sit-ups

Saturday (long):
32k long run in 2h:33h (av 4:47min/km)
consisting of 60mins easy (5:12), 2 x 5k MP, 45mins moderate (4:40)

Tired going into the run with 110k from the last 7 days in the legs. However, I decided to test the water a bit by aiming a marathon simulation run of 1 hour easy + 4 x 5k MP. My thought is that if I could ace this workout un-tapered, then sub-3 is a real possibility. However, that proved to be a wishful thinking. After 1 hour easy from home to ECP, I then did the first 5k at 4:18 pace and the second at 4:20 pace, so about 3-5 secs off pace but perhaps equivalent in effort considering the weather factor. I was completely wiped out after the second and decided to save the effort for another day. Humidiy was really high too and I was soaked. Finished the run with 45mins at moderate effort (4:40 pace) to total 32k for the day.

Sunday (rest):
OFF.
Summary:
105k for the week with 2 workouts, a semi-long run and a long run. An increase of almost 20% in mileage from last week and 30% higher than my average kms in last couple of months. Including last Saturday's long run, my rolling last 8 days mileage amounted to 142k (almost 18k per day). Overall, I handled the increase in mileage reasonably well. Slightly disappointed with today's planned marathon simulation run. If only I could complete the session with those kms in the legs, my confidence to do sub-3 in 10 weeks time would have sky-rocketed. Anyway, things do not always go you way. Or maybe I wasn't good enough on the day.

The plan for next week (week minus 10) is to do similar level of mileage (90-100k depending on life schedules), again focusing mainly on threshold sessions. I then plan to take a down week in week minus 9 to super compensate and do a tune-up race.


10 weeks left to 10/10/10 !!!

5 comments:

trailblazer777 said...

10 til 10/10/10...the weeks sure are rushing past fast...Excellent week Sling. Well done!. The fartlekish run on Monday was good. Very good to see the medium run (the 21k on Wednesday)...I will be trying to do something similiar too in the next 10 weeks..Also good to see the recovery run time/distance cranked up beyond the hour on Tuesday. Way to go. The Thursday run sounds very cool reminds me of what I read about the Kenyans finishing off a lot of their runs hard...Thats a very good long run too. with the tired legs from the concentration of mileage in the last 8 days, and the fact you are ramping up your mileage a bit, combined with the humidity its no wonder you only managed 2x5k MP surges in your long run...well done for getting 2 done...there is 8 weeks or so to get it from 2x5k to 5x5k....plenty of time. no need to do it all 10-11 weeks away...Sounds like you have a good plan, and the ability to really ram it home if you keep at it, just like Gregson did with his Aust record 3.31 1500m the other week, and Mottram did with his 7.50 3k, Birmingham did with his 13.10 5k earlier this month, and Solinsky did with his 26.59 10k in May, and 12.56 5k in June, 13.08 5k in July. Maybe have a read of Courtney Carters blog front foot forward see link on the running centre, and on my blog list on sidebar he has just moved from Perth to sydney ran 14.29 in a 5k he blew up in a bit at Nationals this year, and is training and racing with people like Gregson, Jeff Hunt (2.11 marathoner? and running in Commonwealth Games this month...)
going well...good to see a rest day on sunday too.. 10 weeks to a probable sub 3 for you if you keep going this way and the Spain trip doesnt clash. way to go. Inspirational.

Clown said...

Some good workouts there Sling, well done. Some good Threshold training is the way to go, can see some good results just around the corner.

Ewen said...

That ten weeks will go pretty quickly. I'll have to get my entry (for the half) in!

I'll be interested to see how you go with the longer recovery runs. Anything much longer than 1 hour is probably too much time for a recovery run. There's probably no definitive session that says you're going to run sub-3. A "good" HM race goes close - say, 82 minutes - but you're not going to run 82 in heat and humidity.

Epi said...

Good mileage Sling.

Are you down to marathon weight yet? I've noted peple's PBs in the Marathon seem to come at record low weights (eg Clown) - not sure if it's because of the low weight or the low weight goes along with doing big mileage

Sling Runner said...

Ewen - yeap, I agree there is no predictor workout for marathon. But I thought if I can nail 20k worth of MP on tired legs, then I'll have a good chance.

Epi - I think I am getting leaner, but I haven't weighted myself for a while.