It became patently clear on Wednesday, when I tried to run 1k repeats once more. Last week’s session, in Valentia, had gone pretty well, and I was reasonably confident I would be able to do ok again. But the early signs were not very good. When the alarm clock went off my first thought was “Oh no! I’m still tired”. The second, a split-second later was “OH NO! SPEEDWORK!”. I warmed up for 1.5 miles on the road, and then got down to it. The road isn’t as flat as the Valentia Shore road was, but the majority of my repeats have been run on the same stretch. The first one was slow. Never mind; the same had happened last week. The second one felt already much harder than it should have – and it was just as slow. The third one was slightly better, but by then I was already knackered. I thought about bailing out – in fact, I had thought about bailing out early in the second repeat. I stuck to the task. The fourth repeat was the slowest yet. I bargained with myself – one more, then I’ll call it a day. I ran another slow one. And, for some reason I decided to add another one, to make it 6 after all. It was the slowest of all.
3:54, 3:53, 3:49, 4:01, 3:51, 4:02
That’s 11 seconds per repeat slower than last week. I’ve got plenty of excuses: I was tired from lack of sleep, I was tired from too much driving, I was not recovered from Sunday’s race, the road was not as flat as last week’s, yesterday's run had been in the evening, giving me half the normal recovery time; none of them are any good. Call it a bad day? There have been too many of those. Time to face the facts. I’m not as fast as I’d like to be.
I thought about it, and decided to take it a bit easier from now on. I feel stale. My racing times have held up ok through the training cycle, but they have not progressed either, and that’s not a very good sign. To be honest, I think there is too much speed training in this program. I feel stale and tired all the time, and have felt so for a number of weeks. The next workout was 5.5 miles at 10k race pace – a ridiculous suggestion if I’ve ever heard one. I can’t do that without a number on my chest, a runner in front of me, and Grellan chasing me.
I decided that anything below 6:50 pace would do me for that run. This would still be a progression from the last training cycle – back then I had found it impossible to go under 7:00 for tempo runs. Whether that means that I should do more of those runs or if there’s some attitude problem is up for discussion. In the end, I wasn’t able to run under 6:50 either. I managed it for the first half of the run, but got increasingly tired and slower an the return leg, and ended up with 6:55 pace. Not exactly brilliant, and not even the pace required for a sub-3 marathon. It’s time to adjust my targets, I guess. I’m reasonably confident of a new PR in Dublin, but it might not be by as much as originally hoped for. The next race is 2 weeks away, the half marathon in Blarney. This will give me a much clearer picture where I’m really standing.
- 27 Aug
- 8 miles, 1:03:25, 7:56 pace, HR155
6x1000 in 3:54, 3:53, 3:49, 4:01, 3:51, 4:02 - 28 Aug
- 8 miles, 1:04:08, 8:01 pace, HR 143
- 29 Aug
- 9.55 miles, 1:11:29, 7:29 pace, HR 157
incl. 5.5 miles in 38:02 (6:55 pace)
Those 1k reps are certainly easier on the track as there are time checks every 200m to keep you on target and there is no distractions such as poor or undulating surfaces - mind you there is the monotony.
ReplyDeleteYour trip to Galway earlier in the week would certainly not have helped with energy levels in the early morning. Remember it's the races that count not the training sessions.
Maybe a bigger incentive in a race might be "Grellan in front" - why don't you try that in Blarney and see how you get on.
Falling out of bed and then doing quality speedwork is never going to be easy - that's why all the pros leave such sessions to the afternoons. I reckon you'd knock out 3:40-45s if you had the luxury of running in the afternoons.
ReplyDeleteThe other problem could be general tiredness/lack of recovery.
Three days of easy running.
ReplyDeleteEasy.
Easy.
Easy.
Examine how you feel afterwards and you'll have a much clearer picture of where you are standing than any half marathon will provide.
I say this because I've fallen into the same pattern (most recently before bombing the Twin Cities Marathon), and I didn't back off enough to pull out of it.
Thomas, after trying some of the sessions in the brain training book myself i came to the conclusion he was asking the impossible with sessions like 5 1/2 miles at 10k.
ReplyDeletei quickly became disalusioned and lost faith in the training plan, i am happy to say i am back training the Lydiard way and plan to follow the marathon plan in his book 'DISTANCE TRAINING FOR MASTERS@' the training plan is far more sensible and every thing he asks you to do is possible.
After following his training last winter and getting great results i lost my way abit after my april marathon.
am happy to say am back lydiard training again and starting to get over my own summer burn out caused by excessive interval training combined with 3 x per month racing.
am sure a week of steady runs will have feeling much better!