Moraghan Training - Stevie G

 Hope the return trip isn't too arduous! Well done for still getting the sessions over!

Had a quick look...looks good, and nicely challenging at this stage.

Will do the evening session tomorrow on my own rather than at the club. If i go to the club it'll be something useless like run to someone standing an indeterminate distance away x 4 and rest for 5mins in between.

Good for fooling yourself you're a decent runner beating people way older who only run once a week, but nothing compared to the proper sessions we're starting to get into!

 until tomorrow!

 9miler notched off. 3miles warm up, then strides. Felt a little dehydrated before, the normal feeling I have before 5k races!

did the 1mile efforts pretty much on a flat smooth road, efforts 1 and 3 one way and efforts 2 and 4 back the other way. Realised near the end of effort 1 there was a slight incline...

Splits as follows, the 90 sec was more a stop recovery then a light jog, in fact the recovery after rep 2 was a quick bush visit, my error eating fruit and drinking lucozade a mere 90mins before! Kept that to 90seconds tho!

 5:41 

5:33

5:56

5:36

Therefore, slightly too fast for the target zone of 547 to 552 for 3 of the 4, but i'm not overly used to pacing, I'm sure that will come. Felt like I was working reasonably hard, but that's a good feeling. 

 I write this about an hour after and no feelings of tight muscles , so looking good.

Well, you nailed that one without too much fuss - well done.  Fortunately there are lots of ways we can make it harder!

The pacing will come with practice.  At the end of this week we'll have a really good idea of the sort of volumes you can handle - you're in good shape.

Good to hear!

Have felt for a while I could step things up but got caught in a rut of both mileage and medium paced running. This schedule has finally forced me to do the essentials. So far so good!

wed  4m easy, evening 10k cycling machine, weights...well...5mins

thur 4m easy

 and main session  10m, 2m easy, 1m steady, then 6m MP increasing pace near end if can.

 went pretty well....2m easy including a bit of a hill, 1mile steady

6main miles of session,

6:36, 6:12, 6:24, 6:10, 6:10, 5:59

Looking at the elevations, a slight incline 4 to 5 , but then 5 to 10 rise by 100feet, which I suppose isn't too bad over 5miles.

Whenever I checked my watch I seemed to be going  a little faster than target zone, so was making sure I slowed it a little here and there.

Last mile was working reasonably hard, but not flat out. Warm down done, nice 10miler in.

Stretched off afterwards, no tightness now as I write this an hour on.

Well done - you're looking fit.  This is a good indicator that you have decent upper aerobic fitness.

Next week life should get a bit tougher assuming you're feeling good at the end of this one.

Have you decided on your 3rd May race yet?  I have an opinion but would like yours first!

I'm fairly open on the 3rd May race, nothing entered yet.

3 of the races I would be in the top 3 mixer at least, came 2nd in the 5.2 last year and have obviously sped up this year, but probably the 4th race makes the most sense, the Shinfield 10k.

 It gives a chance to crack the 10k pb, and there are some quality local runners at the top end to run against. Top 27 were under 37 last year, although by all accounts it was a short course, so the result doesn't stand on power of 10.

 it's slightly longer distance than the 5miler focus race on the sunday , the Marlow 5 and is meant to be a fast course, although being a new course hard to tell, Runners world just says "flat/undulating".

 However, interested to hear which of the 4 you think is the best option.

Agreed, I'll do the 10k.

Their website guarantees 10k this time, and being Reading way means there should be a good amount of runners I compete against in the Thames Valley cross country league. That means I should be able to pitch the effort better than in a low key race where I'm right up the field!

6mile sat run done....slight quad tightness at the start, but that went soon in.

Hadn't really fuelled up properly food wise yesterday but still went fine. Will make sure fuelling is properly done today with 14miler at 7am tomorrow!

Just went to enter online for Shinfield, but missed the deadline...however is entry on the day so no problems there.

Busy two weeks ahead with 2 races.  Do you go for an early morning run on the morning of races in the afternoon (this assumes you don't)?

First up, your training from monday onwards will be organised into 3 phases:

Aerobic Power:  4 weeks

VO2 Max:  5 weeks

Racing:  3 weeks

If possible, could you try and find a 3k track race in the middle of the VO2 max phase.

W/c 26th May

M: a.m. 4m easy; p.m. 6m easy

T:  a.m. 4m easy; p.m. 9m:  {3m w-up || 5* 100m strides || 3 * (4 * 200m in 39 secs w / 100m jog rec); 400m jog between sets || cd}

W:  a.m. 4m easy; p.m. 6m easy

T:  a.m. 4m easy; p.m. 9m:  {3m w-up || 5* 100m strides || 7 * 600m in 2:04 w / 200m run recovery || cd}

F:  14m long

S:  OFF

S:  5m easy w / 4 * 100m strides

W/c 3rd May

M:  Shinfield 10k (2.5 - 3m w-up, 5 * 75m strides || race)

T:  4m recovery

W:  a.m. 4m easy; 6m easy

T:  a.m. 4m easy; 6m stride fartlek (easy run with 8 * 100m spaced throughout run)

F:  OFF

S:  5m easy with 4 * 100m strides

S:  Marlow 5m (2.5 - 3m w-up, 5 * 75m strides || race)

Notes to follow in a sec....

28th April:  this is a 3k pace running session, best done on a track.  If the reps themselves are easy you can make it more difficult by doing the 100m recovery quicker.

30th April:  this is an aerobic power workout and must be done on the track.  The goal here is to hit the pace AND try and run the recovery as quickly as possible.  For this first one an easy run is sufficient but please record the time it takes you (with the goal of as low an average time as possible on the recovery section).  The whole point of this workout is, over the following weeks, to keep the rep pace the same but drive down the time spent running the recovery.  This is a good workout in itself and the ideal transition to longer VO2 max work.

6th May:  spread the strides out throughout the run but don't slow down after each one, continue at the top end of your easy pace.

Thanks Moraghan, I must admit to feeling slightly excited reading through the upcoming weeks!

 Knocked off the 14miler today expecting warm weather but getting heavy rain! 14miles in 1hr 48. The very slight tighness you might expect near the end but all round a good run.

I don't do a morning run when I have an evening race , I like to keep fresh, in fact last year I took a half day off work before each of the races! Overkill maybe!

 Noted regarding the sessions to be done on a track. 

I've never done a race on a track, but will havea  word with a teen pal of mine who I think holds county records for distances like 3k as to what races exist.

Looking a good week upcoming!

Tmapp,

Thanks mate, read on your site that it's certified so should be good.

I remember thinking something was odd last year when checking a couple of times run by runners I know local to me. When a guy who has been running for 13 years and is 40/41 with a pb of mid 33 beats his pb by 30 seconds when not in top form, something is suspicious!

Stevie G

Another good run ticked off - well done.  If you're anywhere near Watford they have a fortnightly meeting on a wednesday night which covers nearly all distances and has good depth.

Pretty close actually, over in Wycombe, so that's probably only 20odd miles away, that might be the best fix. Think the younger guy I mentioned earlier has said about Watford before actually.

And reassured me I wouldn't get monstered by loads of super quick types!

Here you go:

http://www.watfordharriers.org.uk/indexnc.htm

Last year's results are on the left index as well so you can check out the competition.  I do a few of the meets and the 3k's usually start really late.

had a look through one of the recent 3k races on that link and a local guy who apparently has run for Sri Lanka and did 51mins for the Maidenhead 10miler, only came 3rd! Decent standard then!

 Also saw you'd run a decent time as well, racing against yourself would be interesting...though I'd probably get it all wrong and lead the race for 1 lap and then explode!

Couple of nice runs today, 4 and 6 completed. The 6 especially almost felt a shame to end, but that should mean I'm ready to crack the track one tomorrow

That's the feeling you're after with regards to tomorrow - you've been averaging 60 miles a week so you're doing well. 

That race sucked - got stranded between two groups and made the mistake of worrying about splits.  I never race 3ks well with a watch on.  There's an outside possibility that I could pace you if our paths cross there as I'll typically be racing an earlier race, but you'd have to put up with my wind.