saturday:
i had planned on running a 10k time trial today but i left it late in the day and it had warmed up nicely by the time i managed to get out. thinking back to the start of last year i ran my first sub 40 minute 10k during a similar run. again a few months later i ran another time trial over the distance and ran 38:50 and then two or three weeks later i ran a time trial in 38:05. i guessed it was a good session to help bring on my fitness so it seemed like a good idea but...
things started out as planned and i ran the first two kilometres at the pace (roughly 3:40-3:50 pace) i was hoping for but then i lost focus somewhere and it was quickly all over. it was a good outcome as it gave me insight into where my fitness currently is. just as i thought - i need to work on my aerobic fitness. the modified session became a good workout though to save the day.
run details:
3.2k warmup with 4x100m strides
workout:
1 x 2000m, 200m recovery
1 x 1200m, 200m
1 x 800m, 200m
1 x 600m, 200m
8 x 300m @ a pace quicker than i can race any distance at, 200m recovery
1k cooldown
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
back from nz...
as it appears people come to this site from time to time to check out what’s going on in the life of shogun so for those who have nothing better to do i thought i had better start blogging on a more regular schedule. i know i’ve said it before but here goes…
as i no longer keep a training log or diary i thought i had better put something down before my runs have faded off into some dark part of my brain which can no longer be accessed. damn university years and herbal plant experimentation…
ok time for the update
flew over to the south island of new zealand on the 21st august, hired a campervan and proceeded to drive around with the troop checking it out. waking up on the first morning to be greeted with snow capped mountains in the distance was exciting for all – especially the little ones as they had never seen snow. managed to run around 8-12km on most days at whatever pace my legs could handle considering the terrain (and hills). definitely ran up a hill or two while there…
running highlights included:-
- evening run around the lake at wanaka
- a sunset, early evening run along the lake at queenstown
- hill session on the steep streets around queenstown (the following morning)
- stroll along the kepler track with the family – kids and wife all broke into various runs and it brought out smiles in all
- hilly run around dunedin including hard up 3 mile hill
- baldwin street - the “steepest street in the world” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_street)
the view looking down from the top
as i no longer keep a training log or diary i thought i had better put something down before my runs have faded off into some dark part of my brain which can no longer be accessed. damn university years and herbal plant experimentation…
ok time for the update
flew over to the south island of new zealand on the 21st august, hired a campervan and proceeded to drive around with the troop checking it out. waking up on the first morning to be greeted with snow capped mountains in the distance was exciting for all – especially the little ones as they had never seen snow. managed to run around 8-12km on most days at whatever pace my legs could handle considering the terrain (and hills). definitely ran up a hill or two while there…
running highlights included:-
- evening run around the lake at wanaka
- a sunset, early evening run along the lake at queenstown
- hill session on the steep streets around queenstown (the following morning)
- stroll along the kepler track with the family – kids and wife all broke into various runs and it brought out smiles in all
- hilly run around dunedin including hard up 3 mile hill
- baldwin street - the “steepest street in the world” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_street)
the view looking down from the top
reading up and following eastern nutritional healing practices i've been think about following a monk lifestyle experiment and subsist on brown rice and mung beans for a time and see how it works out. perhaps i'll be taken to a higher spiritual plane. long miles on the trails and hills of the blue mountains, living and eating minimal sounds like a great way to achieve inner peace and reach my zen state.
i've also managed to get back into the training now that i'm home and it started off nicely to a well organised (thanks to the bmmc crew and most notably scam) night run on home trails - the oaks fire trail no less. 25k of undulating trail with supurb bmmc folk and cr flatlanders. to say that i struggled would be an understatement but you have to start somewhere. i was disappointed with how much fitness i have lost over the last few weeks and with a pain on the inside of my ankle which i could only feel on the climbs i was happy to reach the ranger station signaling the end - of course i still had to get back to the car at glenbrook station. great runs by b+ and prince d (who also started out with the 23k option from wentie falls).
i felt a little stiff and sore over the weekend after the run but managed to get out on sunday night for a good hour or so.
training summary:-
friday:
26km oaks fire trail night run - 2:06?
saturday:
shopping, gardening and unpacking - long day...
sunday:
1 hour run up to warimoo and back with diversions.
monday:
missed planned run due to daughter needing to be picked up with school so i'll call my training - a 20minute fartlek session with dog in the backyard. he's been missed...
tuesday:
met up with simon down the river and put in a solid session - 15min hard, 10min hard, 5min with whatever i had left (which was little). backed up with a run at lunch.
wednesday:
50minutes around the river and into the hills - tired. went to bed with sore legs and a belly full of good food (green smoothie).
thursday:
legs felt good when i woke and was happy for another meet up with simon for a solid 1min fast, 30sec jog session around the river which left me feeling great. backed up again at lunch with a long climb up mitchells and to the bridge over knapsack. kept it nice and chilled...
friday:
repeated yesterday's lunch run up to the bridge and back. on the return threw in some short speed variations (fancy name for faster running from power pole to power pole). will finish up the day with another easy run down to the bottom of a local hill for about 10 uphill sprints to finish my legs and the week off.
totals: 2 quality sessions, 1 long run, 3 doubles and about 130-135km of running
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
almost back to normal
best recovery aid... the green smoothie.
i've been starting each day this week with a green smoothie and i can not believe the buzz i get from drinking down the green... this mornings mix was a bag full of organic broccoli stalks and leaves (leftover from the kids dinners), a handful of wild greens, 3 apples, a thumb of ginger, a lime, turmeric, cayenne pepper and 2 glasses of water. can feel the life energy flooding my body...
took in a lot of fruit yesterday - bananas, dates, oranges, pears. feeling refueled and ready to go.
today legs are feeling (almost) back to normal again. of course normal involves a little weariness and the odd muscle ache carried over from the previous day's activities. looking forward to heading out with a mate who ran sub 50 minutes at city to surf on the weekend. i think it's time to try and get fast for a while. the longer events will be waiting for me later in the year. getting faster can only help though...right?
keep on green!!!
i've been starting each day this week with a green smoothie and i can not believe the buzz i get from drinking down the green... this mornings mix was a bag full of organic broccoli stalks and leaves (leftover from the kids dinners), a handful of wild greens, 3 apples, a thumb of ginger, a lime, turmeric, cayenne pepper and 2 glasses of water. can feel the life energy flooding my body...
took in a lot of fruit yesterday - bananas, dates, oranges, pears. feeling refueled and ready to go.
today legs are feeling (almost) back to normal again. of course normal involves a little weariness and the odd muscle ache carried over from the previous day's activities. looking forward to heading out with a mate who ran sub 50 minutes at city to surf on the weekend. i think it's time to try and get fast for a while. the longer events will be waiting for me later in the year. getting faster can only help though...right?
keep on green!!!
recovery
i didn't plan for this week to be a recovery week but after making the decision to run 50km on the trails on saturday my quads are particularly smashed. luckily i didn't go the whole way and complete the 90km so hopefully i won't miss too much of training. steep descents though are unkind to the legs...
i took sunday off from running and just concentrated on eating plenty of good high nutrient foods to help speed up recovery - mainly green veggies, fruits, some whole grains and a little protein.
waking up on monday morning to day two and the dreaded delayed onset muscle soreness (doms), it was time to get active again. with this need i headed out at lunch, walking and stretching for the first 10 minutes and then jogged around the park for 20-30 minutes. legs felt sore but my running felt smooth and not as slow as i expected.
tuesday and another run for 45 minutes (about 9-10k) following the advice that i gathered from listening to barry mcgee's interview on imtalk and ran for 10 minutes at a steady pace and then walked for 1 minute - repeating this throughout the session. i did find it hard to get back into a run after the walk but it got easier to do the longer i went. i don't plan on using this protocol for anything shorter than a marathon but i might consider training with it for the longer distances. today i just used it to ease the strain on the legs until i'm fully recovered.
hopefully tomorrow the legs will feel almost back to normal...
i took sunday off from running and just concentrated on eating plenty of good high nutrient foods to help speed up recovery - mainly green veggies, fruits, some whole grains and a little protein.
waking up on monday morning to day two and the dreaded delayed onset muscle soreness (doms), it was time to get active again. with this need i headed out at lunch, walking and stretching for the first 10 minutes and then jogged around the park for 20-30 minutes. legs felt sore but my running felt smooth and not as slow as i expected.
tuesday and another run for 45 minutes (about 9-10k) following the advice that i gathered from listening to barry mcgee's interview on imtalk and ran for 10 minutes at a steady pace and then walked for 1 minute - repeating this throughout the session. i did find it hard to get back into a run after the walk but it got easier to do the longer i went. i don't plan on using this protocol for anything shorter than a marathon but i might consider training with it for the longer distances. today i just used it to ease the strain on the legs until i'm fully recovered.
hopefully tomorrow the legs will feel almost back to normal...
good hurt
yesterday i could hardly walk after three hard back-to-back days but today i'm feeling good. actually better than good. i had to stop myself during my recovery run today from doing something crazy which i'm known for doing. with my first higher intensity week almost behind me i'm looking forward to the next 10 week training block with a couple of races along the way. just need to get the volume back up to a respectable level. probably hit around 110km this week. a good start...
heading over to New Zealand in two weeks and i'm contemplating jumping in and running a 100km ultra race down near dunedin. probably decide next week. i'm not ultrafit but i'm good at bluffing my way through it fueled on nothing but gels and hornet juice.
on the diet front things have been going well this week and when i weighed myself yesterday and this morning my weight is down about 2kg from the weekend. the plan is to drop 7kg over the next 10 weeks. hunger will be my friend.
heading over to New Zealand in two weeks and i'm contemplating jumping in and running a 100km ultra race down near dunedin. probably decide next week. i'm not ultrafit but i'm good at bluffing my way through it fueled on nothing but gels and hornet juice.
on the diet front things have been going well this week and when i weighed myself yesterday and this morning my weight is down about 2kg from the weekend. the plan is to drop 7kg over the next 10 weeks. hunger will be my friend.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Hard Training
Couple of hard days training over the last few days have left my legs feeling trashed today (Thursday).
With the head cold/sinus infection slowly getting better I decided early in the week to start focusing on putting in some harder efforts and try concentrating on developing some speed.
After a weekend of training neglect and over consumption it was time to get back on track...
Monday started the running week and it felt way too hard. My sinuses were completely backed up and a quick death would have been welcomed - 12k (56mins).
Tuesday saw some intervals run around the lake. Struggled with breathing but managed to get through 2000-1000-1600-800-300-3x200m with 400m jog between. Pace started just below 4min/k and gradually worked down to sub 3min/k pace for the 200s. Felt harder due to sickness...
Wednesday was planning on running another hard session of repeats for some back-to-back efforts but after spending lunch with the wife headed out for 90 min run around the river. Ran solidly and covered about 20.5km in the 90 minutes. Legs felt smashed and coaching the 5 year old soccer team later almost put the nail in the coffin. Need to think about post-run recovery and dial it in.
Thursday got up early and headed out. Felt like an old man during the start of the warmup (4k/20mins) but gradually worked my way into it and loosened up. Another workout but less structured. Planned on running a pyramid session of 5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5mins with half rest but by the time I made it through to the 1 minute interval I was feeling toasted and finished with 10 x 1min fast/1min easy. Legs and feet (blisters) completely cactus.
If I can manage to drag myself out again today I'll put in another run. Perhaps a spin class in the morning will help ease the pain...
monday: 12k in 0:56 loop of the northern burbs
tuesday: 14k in 1:06 including 1x2000-1000-1600-800-300-3x200 w 400m jog
wednesday: 20.5k steady in 1:30
thursday: 14k in 1:05 including 40min fartlek (5'-4'-3'-2'-10x1' w 1/2 to equal jog)
With the head cold/sinus infection slowly getting better I decided early in the week to start focusing on putting in some harder efforts and try concentrating on developing some speed.
After a weekend of training neglect and over consumption it was time to get back on track...
Monday started the running week and it felt way too hard. My sinuses were completely backed up and a quick death would have been welcomed - 12k (56mins).
Tuesday saw some intervals run around the lake. Struggled with breathing but managed to get through 2000-1000-1600-800-300-3x200m with 400m jog between. Pace started just below 4min/k and gradually worked down to sub 3min/k pace for the 200s. Felt harder due to sickness...
Wednesday was planning on running another hard session of repeats for some back-to-back efforts but after spending lunch with the wife headed out for 90 min run around the river. Ran solidly and covered about 20.5km in the 90 minutes. Legs felt smashed and coaching the 5 year old soccer team later almost put the nail in the coffin. Need to think about post-run recovery and dial it in.
Thursday got up early and headed out. Felt like an old man during the start of the warmup (4k/20mins) but gradually worked my way into it and loosened up. Another workout but less structured. Planned on running a pyramid session of 5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5mins with half rest but by the time I made it through to the 1 minute interval I was feeling toasted and finished with 10 x 1min fast/1min easy. Legs and feet (blisters) completely cactus.
If I can manage to drag myself out again today I'll put in another run. Perhaps a spin class in the morning will help ease the pain...
monday: 12k in 0:56 loop of the northern burbs
tuesday: 14k in 1:06 including 1x2000-1000-1600-800-300-3x200 w 400m jog
wednesday: 20.5k steady in 1:30
thursday: 14k in 1:05 including 40min fartlek (5'-4'-3'-2'-10x1' w 1/2 to equal jog)
Monday, August 3, 2009
27 July to 2 August
what started as a head cold early in the week quickly turned into a full blown sinus infection by the weekend. the frustrating part though is that my legs were just starting to feel good and strong and i was contemplating having a good run at 12ft. not fast but still in the sub-11 hour range.
this week i took advantage of the local gym offer - $2 per day for 14 days and attended three RPM classes for the first time in over a year. I struggled through the first class but by the end of the week I was looking forward to the double class challenge on friday evening.
monday: am) 1h15 easy pm) 1h15 steady - total for the day was 33km
from memory i had two good runs and started was looking to be a promising week of training. i was still all fired up from watching Sleep Train at the Cities Marathon.
tuesday: am) RPM class + 10min steady run // noon) 1h20 steady run
first RPM class in over 12 months and it felt good to work hard.
wednesday: am) RPM class
left early from work as I was starting to feel sick.
thursday: noon) 1h run
still sick but headed out for a run anyway. It may have been longer but my memory is not so good.
friday: am) 1h run with intervals // pm) double RPM class
even though I was still feeling like crap in the head my legs were feeling good. Ran 9km in sets of 2min hard (1min easy), 1min hard (30sec easy), 30sec hard (30sec easy). Felt strong throughout the session. thought I would struggle through the RPM class that evening but I was surprised how good i felt when the second class started. managed to push myself to the point where i almost passed out and fell off the bike. great stuff.
saturday and sunday: and that was ALL...
woke up late in the morning to the surprise that my legs were feeling great. unfortunately sleeping in and with soccer coaching responsibilities meant that i had missed my run for the day. after soccer we headed up to newcastle for my mother-in-laws graduation.
sunday we were still in newcastle and i was feeling sicker than ever. another no run day to end the week.
this week i took advantage of the local gym offer - $2 per day for 14 days and attended three RPM classes for the first time in over a year. I struggled through the first class but by the end of the week I was looking forward to the double class challenge on friday evening.
monday: am) 1h15 easy pm) 1h15 steady - total for the day was 33km
from memory i had two good runs and started was looking to be a promising week of training. i was still all fired up from watching Sleep Train at the Cities Marathon.
tuesday: am) RPM class + 10min steady run // noon) 1h20 steady run
first RPM class in over 12 months and it felt good to work hard.
wednesday: am) RPM class
left early from work as I was starting to feel sick.
thursday: noon) 1h run
still sick but headed out for a run anyway. It may have been longer but my memory is not so good.
friday: am) 1h run with intervals // pm) double RPM class
even though I was still feeling like crap in the head my legs were feeling good. Ran 9km in sets of 2min hard (1min easy), 1min hard (30sec easy), 30sec hard (30sec easy). Felt strong throughout the session. thought I would struggle through the RPM class that evening but I was surprised how good i felt when the second class started. managed to push myself to the point where i almost passed out and fell off the bike. great stuff.
saturday and sunday: and that was ALL...
woke up late in the morning to the surprise that my legs were feeling great. unfortunately sleeping in and with soccer coaching responsibilities meant that i had missed my run for the day. after soccer we headed up to newcastle for my mother-in-laws graduation.
sunday we were still in newcastle and i was feeling sicker than ever. another no run day to end the week.
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