Talkback: ASICS Target 26.2 Team: Emma

SamMurphyRuns wrote (see)

Hi Emma

are you doing these mile reps on the track? If so, I recommend looking at your 400m splits on the way round, so you can adjust pace as necessary. The middle one is rather quick! Looking for consistency. Each 400m lap should be around 2 mins 5 seconds.

Was about to post next week's schedule but after all the week 4 juggling I've lost track of where we are so need to go back through posts to remind myself  Back soon. Oooh, actually it's lunch time isn't it. Anyone else like to time their lunch to listen to The Archers? Oh. Just me, then

 I know - I found myself shooting off and had to reign it in. I think its the effect of being on track. Next week will be doing session outside ( 5 x 1000m) I believe so will try to be more consistent.

I think next week was same as planned but LSR on the Saturday as opposed to a 10k race and cut out the 3 mile recovery to hit about 30 miles overall!?

Hi again. Not sure we have quite resolved week 4 juggling yet. This is what I proposed, suggesting you did the 7M on Thursday in the morning instead of evening. You could swap Monday and Thursday around. Also, not sure if the long run with your group is Sat or Sun, but whichever way, the other day is a rest day

Mon 1M jog, then 5 x 1000m at 10K speed (or 5:10), with 200m (or 90-second) jog recoveries, then 1M jog

Sam looks good - I'll have to see how I get on as the run on thursday all needs to be done before 6.00am! Will do the run on Saturday - but will get all the sessions done I promise!

I'm feeling a bit fitter (may be speaking too soon and will now go down with a terrible cold) - could my running have improved after only 3 weeks? Seems a little too quick for a change like this surely?

When I am crosstraining on a Friday I am usually on a cross trainer - I only do about 1/2 hour - should I be looking for my heart rate to be at a particular level? ie fat burning vs cardio?

Your physiological fitness won't have changed discernibly in 3 weeks BUT your neuromuscular fitness - your nerve to muscle communications - can change very quickly, and this can help you run more efficiently and economically (using less oxygen) so in a roundabout way, the answer is yes!

Re. cross training - keep your effort level easy. Don't get too caught up in what the machine says is 'fatburning' or cardio, it's all very arbitary. This should be like a substitute easy/recovery run so just keep it not too demanding. Have a great weekend!

I'll check in when I can but am off to Scotland tomorrow after my Saturday group session for a few days. Might go and spy of Rosie to check she's not sneaking in extra runs

Have a great weekend and definately try and spy on Rosie!

I'm a much more obedient mentee!

It's going to be very cold tomorrow - thermal gloves and a headband I think. I will even wear long sleeves!

Hello all

Emma - I hope your run went/goes well!

Kevster - great sneaking, hope it went better today!

I did 12.5 miles this morning, very slow, 2:20 but pleased to have done it!

MWW - that is pretty much as per target - well done you!

I managed a sunny, frosty, undualting slow 12 miles this morning.Picked up the pace for last couple of miles as it was downhill!. Legs tired but felt strong! Hoorah!

Hi Emma

I think you are doing great! Not just with that last food diary (yesterday) but with the motivation to get out running with young children. I often have to run at the crack of dawn or often on little sleep due to my three pre-schoolers!  but knowing others do it makes me get out there when I start talking myself out of it! so keep up the good work.

Regarding nuts - only have small portions even a few a day as good for you (almonds, brazils, walnuts, unsalted cashews etc) but are high in calories and limit yourself to small portions and you still get the benefit, Agree stay away from fruit that you know casues you probelms (some may be worst than others) and also dried fruit.

Just imagine rats or maggots crawling over those biscuits!

Hey Emma, great long run yesterday. There's something quite nice about not doing it on Sundays isn't there... you wake up on Sunday mornings and think 'yep, done that!' as you imagine all the other runners dragging themselves out of bed  Sorry Sunday runners!

I echo Ruth in saying you are doing really well with all of it - and well done for ditching the sugar in tea and coffee. Enjoy today's rest day. Hope you're feeling recovered enough tomorrow for the 1000m reps. Do consider swapping stuff round if you're not rather than muscling through if you're knackered!

Did  a challenging session with my Saturday group yesterday - 5 x 3 mins continuous hills (where you run up and down at threshold pace continuously - ie. no recovery on the downhill) with 60-sec recoveries on a frosty grassy hill. And then we jumped on the train in our running gear, with the dog, to get up to London and then on the train to Edinburgh! Hectic! No run for me today - done 4 days in a row including my long run, although it's a beautiful day up here and my husband Jeff has gone off to do his long run.  I'm on holiday!

Thanks for the encouragement Sam - and yes I feel slightly smug on a Saturday afternoon knowing that my hard work for the weekend is done! I've stuck to the no sugar on cereal and in tea and coffee so far! I've also kept off wheat based bread and my tummy was fine yesterday - this is probably why I felt so positive at the end of it. Running with stomach cramps is not fun! Hopefully next week will be as good!

That hill session sounds tough - I am rubbish at hills. Well actually I can run down them pretty fast but, I'm poor going up them. On a course like Tunbridge Wells I use the downhill sections to get ahead to make up for the uphill sections. I also planned that I would walk a section last year and managed a pb by 10 mins!

I think I may rejig the sessions a little - see how I feel tomorrow. But often Monday is a hard day (at work) so might do the 6 or 7 miler instead? This afternoon I had thought abbout doing a little crosstraining and strength work - but I'm feeling quite tired today (thanks for that Reuben!) so I might actually do the school work that I brought home instead!

Enjoy your holiday and the luxury of not having to run - lovely! I'm cooking the boys lunch and having a Jacket potato and salad (with tuna and cheese though) for lunch, which is still much better than I had previously been!

Well done Tenjiso - and on a treddy too! I think that shows real determination - I am rubbbish on treadmils as they offer the option to simply stop running and get off, which I usually do. When I'm out in the countryside I have no choice but to run to get home - I have no will power really!

How did you find the fueling strategy - could you feeling it making a difference? How about the drink? I've never used them but Sam uses them and not gels.

Tenjiso - I really think that taking carbs on board during a long race/training run makes a difference and there is a lot of research to back it up. There's quite a lot of talk about something called the 'train low, race high' strategy at the moment which refers to training without taking carbs on board, to force your body to burn fat, but then using carbs come race day to maximise performance. Quite an interesting idea but I haven't yet experimented with it in my long runs. What I have done over the last couple of months though is to reduce my use of sports drinks and only use them for long runs (100 mins plus) instead of relying on them more widely.
Ruth will correct me if I'm wrong, but I would have thought 200ml of sports drink wasn't really enough to have much impact on blood glucose. It's reckoned you need 30-60g of carbs per hour and you'd need 500ml to provide 30g. Apols if I've got this slightly wrong - am away from home so can't check my files. Think I'm right though!