Ha haaa...after many months of just toiling away building a base, now the rewards are coming. Second big PB in a week -- 5 days in fact.
Tonight was the monthly 5k time trial at the track. I've been skipping these and the regular VO2 max workouts in favour of running heart rate runs in the park, and in the last five weeks skipping evenings altogether and running only in the morning. But with the half PB the other day, and the comfort I felt running the 3:55 pace, I felt that it was time to really put this heart rate training to the test: how had it helped me with top end speed?
Until four or five weeks ago I did no speed work (during this preparation). I did do hill runs on Saturdays, but otherwise it was just training at 65% (recovery), 70% (long runs), 75% (easy aerobic), or 80% (upper aerobic) of maximum heart rate. In the last five weeks I have done maybe three or four tempo runs and three 1600m cruise interval type sessions. That's it.
I knew that I needed to run 86 s/lap to be under 18 minutes. I knew that is pushing very hard for me, and is something I have been able to do for a few laps, but then I fade. Well tonight, after a steady 30 minute warm-up, I jumped into the time trial and somehow held that pace. There were a couple of 88 second laps a little past halfway, but there were also a few 83 second laps, and I actually finished with an 83-second lap. From a previous best of an estimated 18:10 on a short course, or 18:19 on a proper course, that is a pretty good step up.
And with almost no speedwork.
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6 comments:
2PB's in 5 days - brilliant. Sounds like it's all looking good for Ohtawara
Woo Hoo... whats in the water haha
No it is all that hard work :)
Thanks guys. Yep...all that heart rate stuff put the money in the bank; now is the time to spend it. My friend Colin says I should go for the full set, i.e., squeeze in a 10k between now and the full. The half and the 5k were two that I knew were a bit soft. But the 10k time I set when in this sort of condition last year will be hard to beat. As will the marathon! So, I dunno...
17:53 - yay! What a fantastic run there Steve. Interesting to note you did it with very little speed work.
Have you put it into a race pace calculator to predict a marathon time? I have :-)
Hi Tesso,
Thanks for the prompt. Well, I just did (McMillan) and I think that (2:52) is a bit aggressive. It is probably accurate for someone who has been running 160 km a week, but not 100-110 km. The half time produces a 2:57 predicted marathon. I probably left a bit in the tank with the half time trial, I'd like to think I can split these numbers and get somwehere close to 2:55.
I hope you rewarded yourself with a beer or three after that PB. If you did a block of speedwork you'd smash 17:30 for sure but I guess the marathon is the most important thing.
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