A Late Long Run

I  didn't start today's run until 2:30pm, the latest ever for me, I think, and it was just getting towards dusk when I finished.

14km
Time = 1 hour 55min
Avg. Pace 8:11m/k
Forgot HR monitor
5k splits 45:10;  38:50 & 4k in 30:51

I ran my hard and hilly Range Road course again and it wasn't any easier than last Sunday!

A Tempo Run

A sunny but very cold morning.  The warm-up in Radio Road, the rest on Old South Road;a  few inclines along the way but flatter than anywhere else I could find.  Windy after turnaround.



Program:

2 km easy
 5km @ 6:35m/k
2km easy.


2k on Radio Road & school grounds
 5km in 33:51 
 Avg. Pace 6:46m/k; best 5:50
 AHR 120 (75%);  MHR 133 (84%)
 2k easy + stretches

Total 9km

At the Pool

Cross-training today:

1 hour at Henley Brae pool including: warm-up, very bizarre looking Magill drills, deep water running and cool-down.   Once again I had the pool all to myself.

On Track

I had another "good feeling" running session today!  The program  :

Chev Track
10-20 min warm-up
3 x 1600m @ 6:16 m/k (10:02)
400m RI
10 min cool-down

I did 1.6k Warm-up
1 set each of Pete Magill's drills

1600m @ avg pace  6:06m/k (9:45); AHR 130 (82%); MHR 140 (88%).
400m walking recovery

1600m @ avg pace  6:02m/k (9:40);  AHR 129 (81%)  MHR 138 (87%).
400m walking recovery


1600m @ avg pace 6:00m/k (9:36);  AHR 129 (81%)  MHR 140 (88%).
1km cool-down & stretches


Total 7.4km


None of these 1600m repeats were difficult; a solid effort, and I enjoyed the training even though the morning was cold, overcast and windy.
 

A Shorter Long Run

Today's long run was a bit on the short side   - Program 14 km at 7:40m/k  -  so I made it a hilly one by running up, up and up Old South Road and then  up and down the rolling hills along Range Road for 15:27km.  It was a perfect Autumn morning, sunny, a light breeze, hardly any traffic.  I figure if I run these hills often enough, they must begin to feel easier......eventually!  So....


15.27km 
Time 2 hours
Avg. pace 7:58m/k; best 5:49m/k
AHR 118 (74%)  MHR 135 (84%)
5km splits 43:52;  38:41;  37:11


Back at the start  -  Renwick school  -   I finished off by drinking lots of icy water and then the usual stretches. 

A Better Tempo Run.....

.....better than  last week!  I was actually able to better the program's pace:

Program : 2km easy warm-up
4km @ 6:44m/k
2km easy cool-down.

2k warm-up on Radio Road beside the school

4km at avg. pace 6:39m/k (Radio & Bong Bong Roads)
Best pace 6:19
1km laps  6:49;  6:38;  6:28;  6:42

2km cool-down on grass in soccer field, barefoot.   The usual stretches.


Finished the morning with a chat and some hugs from teachers and kids from the school who were playing soccer at one end of the field;  they had heard and were all very sorry about Jim's recent death.  All these seemingly little things help more than anyone can possibly realize.

Total 8km.

A Cross-Training Day.....

Henley Brae pool at 1:30pm for a water running workout:


5min warm-up
1 min hard 1 min easy; 2 min hard 1 min easy; 3 min hard 1 min easy; 4 min hard 1 min easy; 5 min hard 1 min easy; 4 min hard 1 min easy; 3 min hard 1 min easy; 2 min hard 1 min easy; 1 min hard;
5 min cool-down


Total 43 min.


I enjoyed getting back into the pool again!

A Not So Good Track Day..

.....In fact, it was so bad that I didn't complete the session. I've changed the track session from Wednesday to Tuesday so as to be able to do pool running as cross training on a Wednesday.

10-20 min warm-up
5 x 800m in 4:34 (5:47m/k)
10 min cool-down

I did 3 x 800m badly and took off for home without any cool-down.

 1.6km warm-up + few strides
(1)  800m in 5:02 (6:17m/k);  AHR 136 (86%)  MHR 151 (95%)
(2)  800m in 4:47 (6:00m/k);  AHR 132 (83%)  MHR 146 (92%)
(3)  800m in 4:59 (6:16m/k);  AHR 127 (80%)  MHR 141 (89%)

And that, thank goodness, was the end of that track session!

Running Long...

My program said : 15km at no specific pace, easy and relaxed effort.  And that's what I did!

15km in 2 hours 3 min.
Avg Pace 8:12...easy & relaxed!
AHR 119 (75%);  MHR 138 (87%)

I stayed around the Renwick school area and surrounding roads so as to avoid hills;  my legs were sore, especially the calves, after Friday's hilly tempo run.  Today, about 50/50 road/grass.

 

Yesterday

Yesterday was a Tempo Run...of sorts.  Once again it was very windy; I chose Diamond Fields Road because it's a dirt road, no traffic and plenty of hills which I'm going to need if I aim for this year's City to Surf in August and then see if another goal might turn up after that.

Program;
3km easy
5k @ short tempo pace (6:31m/k)
2k easy


Of course it didn't quite go that way:

3k easy in 22 min

5km in 35 min 
Avg Pace = 6:59
1k laps =  7:27;  6:42;  6:48;  6:39;  7:18 (first & last km all uphill!)
AHR 139 (87%);  MHR 145 (91%)

2k easy in 16:55

Total = 10km

I really tried hard for this session, but can see there's lots of room  - and time I hope -  for improvement !

I dearly miss Jim's usual comment, without fail, when I returned from a run : "Well, how did that go?"  Now, silence except for the joyful yapping of my two dogs.  It's the absence of little things like this, the cup of tea waiting for me after showering, the silence especially, the absence of another human being in the house and also the thousands of other little things and comments during an ordinary day that make the days so hard and lonely now.

However, the sun will come up again tomorrow and I will do my long run.

Nil Running Today.....

.....but lots of other things still to get done.  Tempo run tomorrow and very likely to be a slow one.  Today is warmer, sunnier and less windy than yesterday, so not a bad sort of day really but will still have to rug up when walking the dogs later.

Giving Myself a Push....

Reluctantly, because it was so cold and windy, I forced myself back to a running session this morning, the first since Jim passed away, a little over four weeks ago.  Since then I've been walking with my two little dogs twice each day, and today I felt it was time to try and get myself back on track.  And track it was at Chev. where I did my first session.  I've started with the FIRST 15km program, three running sessions each week (Track, Tempo Run & Long Run) and two days  cross training.

It was miserable at Chev with a strong cold wind blowing across the field so I made some changes to shorten the session which was also miserably slow.

Program:  10-20 min warm-up
10 x  400m @ 5:37m/k
10 min cool-down

What I did:
10 min warm-up and couple of strides
5 x 400m in a very slow  6:01;  5:54;  6:00; 5:53;  5:57
No cool-down;  I was  freezing.

If I achieved nothing else, a start has been made.