Actually, maybe I have adapted to the hills after all. I remember stating at some point early on that I hated those drills, but that’s not really correct. While I’m not exactly looking forward to any of them, I do love the fact that I can clearly tell that I’m getting stronger and that real progress has been made. Of course, there’s always that little devil on my shoulder who keeps pointing out that getting good at doing drill is not the same as getting good at running, but I trust Mystery Coach enough to take his word for it.
Monday was of course an easy day; however, I did raise an eyebrow when I saw just how easy I had been taking it. I did the same thing I always do for these runs, I wear my Garmin but never look at it while running, so it caught me completely by surprise by how slow I had been running. It had felt absolutely right at the time.
I was back on the usual hill on Tuesday, the dirt road leading up to the Coillte site in Caragh Lake. I started with the toughest drill, high knees. It was at that point that I could definitely tell that my legs are getting better at this. 2x2 minutes had me breathing hard but not as close to the point of collapse as last week. In fact, I wondered if I should have gone longer. The second drill was ankles, always the easiest, so much so that I regard it as a bit of a breather between the harder workouts. That hard one was “driving with the thighs”, again I managed 2x2 minutes and again I wondered if I could have done more. In some ways, that’s a good place to be. The coach always told me to leave something in the tank.
In order to get all those drills done in time I had shortened the recovery period from 15 minutes to about 12 or 13. I’m pretty sure the coach would not have approved. The alternative would have been to either get up earlier or cut one drill, and neither option appealed to me, to be honest.
Mind, I was back on the very same hill this morning, Wednesday. I could feel during the initial sprints that the legs felt less than fresh, so this time I decided to indeed cut one drill from the program, which of course it meant I had time for the longer recovery. I started the hill drills with the thigh drive, and this time managed to keep it going for 4 full minutes. That felt tough. I won’t go any longer than that, any further improvements would be to concentrate more on form.
That alone was deemed sufficient as far as the hard work was concerned. I did ankles for my next drill and then went home. I think I got that one right at least.
- 16 Jan
- 8 miles, 1:05:53, 8:14 pace, HR 137
- 17 Jan
- 10.5 miles, 1:37:14, 9:16 pace, HR 138
Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; high knees (2x2 mins); ankles (4 mins); thigh drive (2x2 mins) - 18 Jan
- 9.5 miles, 1:25:38, 9:01 pace, HR 139
Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; thigh drive (4 mins); ankles (4 mins)
Hi Thomas, just checking in to see what you're at and trying to learn some more about improving my training now that I have a Garmin and proper HM. You are an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteAnd I should clarify, for other readers, that I am not Niamh 'the wife'!
ReplyDeleteThanks Niamh, and I had to laugh out loud at the second comment. Are you doing Cork again?
ReplyDeleteIt's good to laugh! Just thought I should clarify for the general public!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I am going to do Dublin this year, with a few smaller events in the interim. My plan is to improve my time so I will be studying your blog, doing some reading on Lydiard etc. in the coming weeks before settling on a method. I had thought to try more speedwork, but all that I read last night seems to suggest using the HM to build distance at a slow heart rate ... I am very amateurish at all of this, but the academic in me wants to read and understand. So, my commitment for the next week or two is to study and understand (while continuing my early morning training, of course). Happy running!
Geez, Niamh had me worried there! Thomas is like Scott Brown - he knows he can get away with making jokes at the wife's expense because the wife doesn't know how to work a computer ;)
ReplyDeletehi niamh (and thomas). glad to see you are not the only one who reads thomas's blog and tries to learn more about HM and improving ones running. i do it myself so don't worry you are normal ;-) have done 3 marathons myself and the PB is improving all the time. thomas ablity over the years to adapt, learn and improve is a inspiration to us all. if only i was as thin tho ;-)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the inspiration from Thomas's development over the years. I'm ballpark where Thomas was 2006 wrt times, HR etc. I read his full postings for 2006 and have started using the book he used "Advanced Marathoning" (some great advice), seeing improvements already - in just 3 weeks. Maybe 2015 will be my peak year!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree totally with the thinness but I'm getting there!!!
ReplyDelete