The last week was the first of the taper, but it never feels like that because the mileage is still relatively high. My main worry was a health scare earlier on but that seems to have passed, even though I still have a bit of a sore throat and the rest of the family are affected to various degrees. We binned the planned speed workout because “if in doubt, always rest” (I'll have to put that somewhere visible). I could tell on Thursday that the legs were getting restless as keeping the pace down turned into a constant struggle with my inner autopilot. I guess that's why the coach put on a session of hill repeats on Friday. Nominally to wake up the system for the weekend (his words) but probably to stop me from going gaga and doing something stupid (my interpretation).
He said 2-3 x 90 seconds uphill, which to me means 3, to be honest. Since I vividly remembered me almost running myself into the ground by taking off like an idiot last time, I started at a much more measured effort. Or so I thought. Imagine my surprise when the twin terrors of lactic acid and shortness of breath engulfed me once more after only 30 seconds. I struggled to the top to raise an eyebrow at the readings on the Garmin that had my HR at 179. Last time I only got up to 175, and I thought I had taken it easier this time! The second repeat was more of the same but the third got off to a bad start mentally when I immediately questioned the need for it (remember, the coach said 2-3) and worried about the weekend's back-to-back workouts. When a wind gust came halfway through it was enough to put me over the edge and I bailed out. Interestingly enough, I did not even feel guilty.
Saturday's runs have been very similar in recent weeks, today's had two variations. It was shorter, due to the taper, and I was encouraged to play around with pace and effort a bit.
The weather at night had been scary all week, I woke up frequently to the sound of very heavy wind and rain but it generally brightened up for the morning, except on Friday and only to a certain extend on Saturday. It had stopped raining but the wind was still a major factor and it definitely had some effect on the run. After a few miles at 6:25-6:30 pace I put the foot down, accelerated to 6:20 and held it for a while, but it became apparent that I was overcooking myself, the HR went well over 170 and the breathing became ragged so eventually I backed off again. Maybe it would have gone better without the wind, but in all honesty the legs never felt particularly fresh and I wondered if yesterday's hill repeats had put some dampener on them. Still, it was not a bad run by any means and I had timed it exceedingly well – 2 minutes after coming home the heavens opened; even an ice bath was preferable to being outside (Niamh still declined joining me, though).
Sunday again was easier than on previous weeks with 7 miles easy and 7 at marathon effort, with the added twist that I was to run the fast half without the Garmin's help. I got off to a very late start as Niamh's main wish for Mother's Day was a long sleep and by some miracle she genuinely got this. For once all 4 kids were well behaved and quiet all morning (this really is a miracle, you have no idea!), and it was almost lunch time when I made it out of the house.
The seven easy miles turned into one of the most frustrating runs of the entire training cycle with me constantly having to put on the brakes as I was going sub-7 even though the effort felt like jogging and the HR was in the low 140s. It took me 5 miles to realise that I had been pushed all the way by the wind, which also meant that the majority of the marathon effort would be into the wind, not something I was particularly looking forward to. After 7 miles I pressed the lap button on the Garmin and changed the screen to make sure that I would not peak at it. Unlike the last “blind” run I was not overly bothered by the fact that I had to rely on pure feel alone; battling the wind took enough mental effort alone. After 5 miles in these conditions I was worn down, it felt harder than marathon effort and I was really looking forward to the end, worrying a bit about Vienna (but not too much). Eventually I finished, was a little bit disappointed that all the effort had only yielded 6:40 pace (then again, it was against the wind), and realised that I had just finished the last longish run before the marathon.
- 31 Mar
- 10 miles, 1:15:32, 7:33 pace, HR 146
- 1 Apr
- 8 miles, 1:01:14, 7:39 pace, HR 149
incl. 2x90 sec hill repeats, bailed on third - 2 Apr
- 8 miles, 53:21, 6:40 pace, HR 159
incl. 5 miles @ 6:28, HR 163 - 3 Apr
- 15 miles, 1:45:25, 7:01 pace, HR 154
incl. 7 miles @ 7:19, HR 146, 7 miles @ 6:41, HR 163 sans Garmin feedback
Weekly Mileage: 65
Nice workouts Thomas. 06:40 into a headwind is very nice indeed. You'd probably do 10 seconds or more per mile quicker without the wind. You're well on for sub 02:55.
ReplyDeleteHeadwinds have a huge impact. You don't see Usain Bolt running 9.8 into a 5 m/s headwind.
ReplyDeleteGetting Niamh to join you in an ice bath would be harder than running a 2:45 marathon!