Having a coach rather than a book comes with the advantage of being able to pick the knowledge of someone who really knows what this is all about, and Thursday's workout of 800s came with the following explanation:
Tomorrow is warm up the system day, (stretch the heart and capillaries out, fire the nervous system and generally rev everything up), notice I said nothing about exhausting anything
My main worry was not the pace (I knew I would be able to run 2:54) but how to know when to stop. This was supposed to happen while I still had 2-3 more workout in me, no matter if that would happen after 3 or 10.
After the warm-up, I got going. It was a bit more windy than I would have liked with the odd numbered intervals into the wind and the even numbered ones with wind assistance. I ran all of them mostly without looking at the Garmin, relying much more on feel, trying to stay as smooth as possible.
avgHR maxHR time to 130
2:55 163 170 50
2:50 163 172 45
2:50 169 177 40
2:55 165 173 50
2:57 169 174 45
2:44 172 179 45
The first is always a bit of a warm-up, but the second was already faster than anticipated while still feeling perfectly smooth. The same cannot be said about the third one because I followed the instructions of running every third repeat faster than the others. I was already wondering if I should leave it at that but I kept a close eye on the time it took for the HR getting back to 130 while walking, and that looked fine. The fourth was good, the fifth maybe less so and I might have left it at that but could not resist the temptation of running one fast interval with wind assistance, so I cranked out a final, sixth one with a stronger effort.
Despite feeling guilty about the sixth one I noticed later in the day that I had absolutely no soreness in the legs, something that continued into the next day. A very easy run this morning should hopefully have left my legs in a good state.
I had a look at the Vienna marathon course, nabbing an elevation profile off marathonguide.com. There is a long drag up to the halfway point. I know that road, it alongside a river,so obviously it is uphill but it feels completely even when walking, so I'm actually surprised that the elevation gain is as much as 150 feet. The rest seems quite flat, apart from the final 2 miles; it might not be as easy as the likes of Berlin or Chicago but I think this is one of the flatter marathon courses around. I'm still a bit worried about the potential heat and the possibility of getting sick (Cian is finally feeling better), but there's not much I can do about that.
With 9 days to go, I'm very much looking forward to the race.
- 7 Apr
- 8 miles, 59:00, 7:21 pace, HR 151
6x800, avg. in 2:52 - 8 Apr
- 5 miles, 38:46, 7:45 pace, HR 140
Course profiles tend to look worse on paper than reality except for The Langdale Mountain Marathon which is 10 x worse in the real world....
ReplyDeleteTake it easy.
Exciting...
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fast course... not super hilly, but maybe enough so you're not using the same muscles the same way over and over.
ReplyDeleteAs that "long drag up to the halfway point" is run along a river it could get windy as the river runs here do but if it's at your back you won't notice the climb but the legs will appreciate the little decent after half way.
ReplyDeleteDon't get cocky as you'll probably feel like taking off after the half way point as it is but just hold your goal pace and make sure you drink at every station, Carbo water.
Get ready for the last 7K. If your feeling good, not carbo depleted by that stage, you should throw everything at the line.
I wish I was running, as Michael said "Exciting!"
By the way, I reckon the only profile that looks better on paper than real life, is Ewen's head!
Thanks Scott. All the king's men said my head isn't all it's cracked up to be.
ReplyDeleteNice tune-up session Thomas. By the way, Rick's right. A 45 metre rise over that distance is near enough to dead flat.