Friday, August 12, 2005
To kick or not to kick
Determined to push my luck, I ran on my rest day on Monday, but a conservative run saw things go fine.
Tuesday was my usual threshold workout - 3x3km at 3:45/km w/2 min recovery. With the first spot on the money at 11:18, the second drifted back to 11:24 (I wasn't struggling with the pace, just a loss of concentration). Determined to get the third back on pace, I went through the first km bang on 3:45. Feeling comfortable, I then spent the next km having my usual debate whether to kick down and push myself, or stick to the scheduled pace. Normally common sense/softness prevails, but today I decided to give the last km a nudge, running it in 3:12 (10:45 for the 3km rep). Pretty happy with the effort, as I didn't finish keeling over, and followed up with a longer than normal 3km warm-down. Still in two minds about whether finishing a session with a hard effort is good or bad...
Doing more intervals than usual on Tuesday saw me feeling a bit flat on Wednesday, so after four consecutive days, I decided a rest day was in order. Thursday saw my first longer mid-week run, 16km from Mona Vale to Church Point and back - the first 5km relatively flat, and the next 3km quite hilly. In the protected parts, it was a brilliant run along the water's edge. But in the exposed spots, the wind that brought snow to Melbourne had made its way north - it was bloody freezing. Averaged bang on 4:30/km, with the faster kms in the low 4:10s.
Planning my first faster session tomorrow - 10x200 in 36 seconds - fingers crossed.
8/08/2005 12:50 pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Short Endurance
Course: SAN
Distance: 8.25
Time: 40:52
Speed: 4:57 min/km
Average HR: 144
Comments: Easy recovery run - HR a bit high after a big weekend, but felt controlled and easy
Target Pace: Recovery (5:13 min/km )
9/08/2005 1:15 pm
Workout Type: Strength - Tempo Intervals
Course: Loretto
Distance: 14
Time: 1:02:13
Speed: 4:27 min/km
Average HR: 155
Comments: The second interval was slightly off the pace (11:24), but the third was on target for the first half, and then picked it up with about 1200m to go - probably into the low 3:10s, but felt pretty strong. Longer warm down than usual which is a good practice to get into.
Target Pace: Tempo Intervals (3:45 min/km )
11/08/2005 9:20 am
Workout Type: Endurance - Medium Endurance
Course: Church Point
Distance: 16
Time: 1:11:58
Speed: 4:30 min/km
Average HR: 159
Comments: Farily flat for the first 5km out, then hills for 3km. Felt comfortable at a pretty good pace.
Target Pace: Steady (4:20 min/km )
