Tempo Run - VP Finishes First - Again!

Freezing on Bowral Parkrun's cycle path at 10:00 when I started from Briars Inn this morning!  I didn't have a good run for the tempo part and VP finished ahead of me .... again!  Some consolation for not stopping or walking back up hill to finish at Briars!

1.5k warm-up

5km @ ST pace (7:55m/k for VP)

My time: 40:43

8:06m/k

TE 2.9  Maintaining!  Almost improving!

7:59;  8:13;  8:15;  8:20;  7:43

1.7km cool-down jog/walk, 30/30 secs.

5km

At Chev. Track - a God-awful session!!

And that's putting it mildly!  God-awful, horrid and nightmarish is closer to the mark!  In every bloomin' 1600m repeat, I had to stop every 400m because I couldn't breathe, completely out of breath. It was the stuff nightmares are made of!

Chev. oval was in God-damn awful condition too - frost-covered, muddy, rough and grotty after weekend football being played on the oval - more like a paddock where there'd been a cattle stampede!  Surprisingly then, I stayed and got through what I had to do, but did it in abysmally slow times!

Program:
10-20 min warm-up .... I did 15 mins plus a couple of strides
3 x 1600m in 12:35min (7:52m/k).... time/pace based on 39min for 5k finish time.
400m RI
For Cool down and stretches .. I walked around the oval once and finished with stretches.

13:10    :  AHR  110-123bpm;  81-90% of max.  TE  1.6

12:48    :  AHR  111-126bpm;  82-93% of max.  TE  1.6

13:26    :  AHR  109-126bpm;  80-93% of max.   TE  1.5

Chev. Track

The last stretch I do has the inauspicious name of "leg drains", in which I lie on my back with legs propped up against the boundary fence at an angle of 90 degrees to the upper body.  This unflattering position is held for 3 minutes so that, I'm told, the 'bad' blood is drained from the legs towards the heart where it's replaced with a brand new batch of 'good' blood when I stand up again!  I like this stretch and never miss doing it.  As much as anything else it does, I do it because it gives me time to reflect on my run and, more importantly, to gaze at the clouds and look for make-believe images in their shapes!

Saturday and Sunday ~~~

Saturday:

Bowral Parkrun 40:22

When I go over 40 minutes, the less said the better!  BUT ..... it was flippin' cold and windy!

Sunday:

Long run/Walk

30/30 secs.

11.5km

1hr 55 mins.

It was a horrible morning weatherwise; an unwelcome cold wind made up for somewhat by a clear sky and plenty of sunshine....  though I didn't appreciate the latter until now at home, showered, fed and warm!

It was rough and tough the entire run and I walked the last 1km because I didn't have the energy or will to fight my way uphill against the wind!

This Week : 31.1km
Weeks 1 - 6 :  207km
2 more weeks till Sydney Harbour 10km!

Back at the school I did my usual stretching routine part of which involved lying on my back under a giant maple and, from that comfortable position, in the sun and away from the wind, I took a few pictures  -  and lay there for longer than needed just looking at the sky through the tree!

Tempo Run - Bowral Parkrun Course ~~~~~

6k along cycle path to Oxley College and back

Cloudless and sunny skies all the way this morning; magical conditions for a run along the cycle path, starting and finishing at Briars Inn.  A superb morning, not just being alive, but still able to be out running!

Program:
1.5k warm-up ....
I did 2k before I felt ready to run!

6km @ ST pace ..
(for me, based on 39min 5k time, VP set to run 8:15m/k pace) ... I finished first!

1.5k cool-down ..
I did 1.1km jog/walk 30/30 seconds right to the top of the hill; no walk breaks on hill - a special feature of tody's session!


6km in 48:41

8:07m/k

Avg cadence 169 spm

7:54;   8:20;   8:09;   8:20;   7:56;  7:59

TE 2.0

Total 9.6km

Track at Chev ~~~~~

I was absolutely dog-tired yesterday, Monday!  So exhausted, I thought I was ill!  I wasn't ill, of course, but overwhelmingly tired after running on Saturday and then running long on Sunday.  Never felt so tired in my life!  However, here it is, Tuesday afternoon and I'm still alive to report on this morning's track training!

The program was: 
10-20 min warm-up  ... I did 20 minutes incl. a few drills and strides
10 x 400m ....  I did 6 repeats before calling it a day!
3:00 minutes each
90 secs RI 
10 min cool-down .. I did about 5 mins plus stretching.

My times were: 
3:01;  3:03;  3:00;  3:02;  2:57;  2:53

Lanes were still marked on the oval and so was the mud, probably not as bad as last Tuesday but messy and wet just the same.  Anyhow, I lived to do another day's training and got most of the session done, so I'm OK with that!

6 x 400m

Long Run/Walk on a cold, bleak winter's morning! ~~~~~

Forgot to write up Thursday's Tempo Run....
1.5k warm-up
8km @ MT pace (1hr 6mins)
2km cool-down

Total 11.5km

Now for the weekend......

Saturday:  Parkrun
39:30 ... 19 seconds better than previous Saturday!

Sunday Long Run/Walk 30/30 seconds and what a cold, miserable morning it was too!

From school to DF Road to school.....

12km in 1 hour 55 minutes

AHR 100 bpm (74% of max.)

TE  1.3 ... WHAT?!  I worked so hard!!

I enjoyed most of this morning's long run/walk, except for there being no sunshine and a cold wind; all bleak winter.  Kept 30/30 uphill, downhill and on the flat except for a 2 minute downhill which I ran, enjoying gravity do all the work and that made up for the struggle on the way out on the same hill.  I felt really, really tired during the last 2km and struggled big time to get up the last long incline and back to the school to finish.

I finished with my usual stretching routine on the grass before driving home.  That's Week 6 of 10k training program finished.

This Week : 43.4km

Total for 6 weeks 175.9km

12km run/walk

Track at Chevalier College ~~~~~

Chevalier College had marked lanes but half the oval, the shaded half, was muddy and wet and by the time I finished tramping through it looked like a pig sty!  I didn't run well at all;  I felt really lacking in energy and plodded along with more of a shuffle than a run!

Program:
Warm-up ...... I did about 10 mins.

1600m (12:36);  1200m (9:21);  800m (6:10);  400m (3:03)

400m RI

My times were: 13:27;  10:07;  6:40;  3:07

Stretches at home.

Garmin seems to drop out at Chev; very annoying!  Shade from trees?  I don't know but it happens nearly every time I run there!  When I finished what was 400m, it showed only 300m and I know it was 400m because the lanes are marked and it was correct in the previous repeats.  Anyhow, I had to start up, put a spurt on and run an extra 100m!  Not fair, Garmin!

Showing dropout and restart!

1600m

Saturday and Sunday ~~~~~

Bowral Parkrun ; Saturday

39:49 ....  84.26% Age Graded

With all the walking, it surprised me to go under 40 minutes!  Lower, flat section of grass below the hill was completely under water so ploughing through that, plus a couple of puddles on the cycle path, made it a fairly uncomfortable and wet run!

Sunday Long Run : Galloway Style!

14km

2hrs 12 minutes: 

From school, Diamond Fields Road and back.  Much of the dirt road in bad condition from the rain.  Stones, ruts from the weather and wheels a trap for tired legs!

Run/Walk, 30/30 seconds .... up hill, down hill and on the flat!

I decided to use Galloway's run/walk method after seeing a reminder of it on Facebook, so thank you to whoever put it there!  Years ago I used this method of run/walk and decided to give it a try again to lessen tiredness during and after running longer distances on Sundays.  I think it works!  I wasn't any slower taking timed walk breaks today than I was doing the same distance two weeks ago.  Garmin 620 timed reminders set.

The last 2km were hard; all up hill so I tried a mind game of seeing how much I could pick up the pace for the 30 second run segment!  Thirty seconds never seemed so long and I was out of breath when it came time to walk again!  Anyhow, it got me to the finish of 14km and I'll use it for future long runs in my 10km program, up until June 9 Sydney Harbour 10km.

Week 5 of 10km program:    32km
Weeks 1 - 5                           132.5km

Tempo Run ~~~ VP wins again!

I was really disappointed that I couldn't keep pace with VP for this run!  VP's pace was 7:55m/k while mine was an average of 8:33m/k! That says it all so onto the rest of the stats:  I started at Briars Inn, downhill to cycle path, finishing back at Briars.

Program: 1.5km warm-up .... down hill and left towards Moss Vale.
6.5km @ ST pace ... for me, 7:55m/k along cycle path towards Burradoo until reaching flooded pathway!
1.5km cool-down .... I skipped this!

6.6km in 56:25
Avg. Pace 8:33m/k
AHR 112-126bpm (82% to 93% of max.)

8:06;  8:06;  8:26;  8:15;  8:32;  8:48

I ran the last 1.5km up and down the grassy hill three times! 

I'm not one little bit happy with these results!  In fact, I'm downright very annoyed with myself and disappointed it was all such a hard slog!

6.6km

 Views of flooding from the cycle path

I just rechecked the pace for this tempo run and it should have been LT (Long Tempo) pace, NOT ST (Short Tempo) pace which means I should have set VP to run 8:17m/k (based on 39mins for parkrun 5k) not 7:55m/k!!!!!

With that in mind, I didn't run as badly as I previously thought!  OH!  WHAT A RELIEF!  I was feeling quite downcast; now, marginally better!

Road Repeats - VP Wins! ~~~~~

I was behind VP for all 4 road repeats!  No excuses...... except, a cold morning and tired legs!

My Program:

Warm-up   : Scarlett Street

4 x 1000m

VP running 7:35m/k

7:44;    7:36;    7:47;  7:48

Short cool-down.

Not a very satisfactory session, but it was the best I could manage! 

500m out and back

Saturday and Sunday ~~~~~

Saturday was Bowral Parkrun on the coldest morning I can remember!  Well, it felt like the coldest at 3 degrees F!  I just can't run when it's that cold! I can't breathe and I can't get into any sort of rhythm.  In other words, I struggled and it was a painful and slow 5km!  All was not in vain however as I  managed to sneak in just under 40 minutes.  Under 40 minutes is OK for future weeks while most of my energy is going into 10km training for the Sydney Harbour 10km run next month.

5km 39:52
84.09% Age Graded

TE  2.7  Maintaining!

Sunday:  14km Long Run:

14km

Sunday's Long Run:  Diamond Fields Road : 7k out, 7km return

14km in 2hrs 40min.

AHR 76%-93% of max.

Avg. Pace 9:24m/k

TE  1.5  MINOR!  What?  After all those harrowing hills and the last couple of excruciating kilometres!

I had half a banana before leaving home and took the other half with me for a possibly life-saving snack at half way.  It didn't seem to do much good but who knows?  Maybe those last few kilometres would have been far worse without the snack!  For sure,  stretching, hot shower and a wholesome meal at home helped get bones and muscles back to normal!

The 7km turnaround at the end of Diamond Fields Road.

Week 4  of 10k progam:   38.5km
Week 1 - 4 of program :  100.5km

Tempo Run ~~~~~~

A cold wind on our Bowral parkrun cycle path for the first day of Winter!  A banana before leaving home.  It was a really tough session for me this morning and became increasingly harder as time went by, lots of time went by, so much so that the last 3kms @ ST pace were anything but pleasant and I didn't have much left in the tank at all!  However, my 'lucky legs' just got me through to finish at the top of the grassy hill of our parkrun course where I flaked out on the grass in the sun to do some stretching.

MY program for today's tempo run:
1.5km warm-up
3.0km @ ST pace (VP set to run 7:55m/k based on a 39 min. finish for 5km)
1.5km easy jog/walk
1.5km @ ST pace
1.5km easy jog/walk
3.0 km @ ST pace
1.0 km cool-down

What I did:

1.5k warm-up down hill & along cycle path towards Moss Vale.

3.0km @ ST pace in 23:51;  7:56m/k;  AHR 109-127bpm, 80-90% of max.  TE 1.6

1.5k jog/walk

1.50km @ ST pace in  12:06, 8:0m/k;  AHR 114-121bpm, 84-89% of max.   TE 1.8

1.5k jog/walk

3:0km @ ST pace in 23:36, 7:52m/k;  AHR 110-122bpm, 81-90% of max.    TE  1.7

1.0k cool-down back up grassy hill to Briars.  Stretches.
Total 13km

Second and last 3km!

I wore my new NB Fresh Foam Zante V3 shoes and they still haven't got a dirty mark despite running on damp grass and a detour from the cycle path onto a gravel laneway!