I had another workout in store for Wednesday. When training for Vienna, the coach twice gave me special workouts that he called volume repeats. They work like other repeats, except that you don't really get much recovery, the pace during the slower parts is still on the challenging side. That's a great workout to see what shape you're in because there is no way to fake it. If you're running too fast, it will show.
The idea was to run 2 miles at 6:30, 2 miles at 6:20 and 2 more miles faster still as long as I could maintain full control, with a mile at about 7:15 pace between each effort. Unfortunately, as soon as I left home I knew the 20-25 mph wind would be making the pacing impossible, so I decided I had to run by feel alone. The heart rate would provide some feedback, but I don't like checking the HR too often when running at 6:30 pace or so, I need all my concentration on the effort.
The first repeat was with the wind at the back, so I figured the pace should be in the 6:20s. Well, it was early in the morning and I was not quite awake yet, which is the only way I can explain why I started the first quarter mile at 6:05 pace. The pace was a bit uneven after that but on average ended up right where I wanted it. The second repeat was straight into the gale force. I kept the effort honest, making sure I would not look at the Garmin as I knew the pace figure would be demoralising. Even the slow mile after that was tough, the HR hardly dropped despite the slow pace. The last repeat was still into the wind but at least it was net downhill which compensated a little bit. I ran the final half mile too hard, that was more a race effort than a training effort, but all in all I was reasonably happy with the numbers. I now have 10 days to recover from this before Valentia. That should do. In March, the coach had me do a similar workout 4 days before Ballycotton and I ran an absolute stormer there.
- 19 Sep
- 8 miles, 1:01:27, 7:40 pace, HR 145
- 20 Sep
- 10 miles, 1:18:11, 7:49 pace, HR 143
- 21 Sep
- 11 miles, 1:17:03, 7:00 pace, HR 162
w/u, 2 miles 6:23 (163), 1 mile 7:14 (159), 2 miles 6:48 (170), 1 mile 7:33 (167), 2 miles 6:23 (173), c/d
for as long as i've known you, it has always seemed that when it rain in ireland, it rained here in victoria. i always wrote it off as us both living on the west coast of an island. i can't tell you how sad i am to hear that fall has arrived... it rained this evening on my run home, for the first time in over three months.
ReplyDeleteI'll mark that workout down as one I'll never do... can't even race one mile in 6:23. Thanks for reminding me about our endless long warm days of summer coming up. Although for some odd reason we call the first day of summer December 1.
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