Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

Krusty_Clown

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

team-talk? https://www.imra.ie/photos/view/id/73056/

Love that picture. It's a keeper.

Do you know what happened to Brian Furey? He ran 5 minutes quicker last year. Was he injured, or did he get lost or something this year?

Slogger Jogger

Speech bubble time:. Its your turn to make the dinner tomorrow!

Don't know... Brian's form this year isn't at the level of last year, as the time difference suggests.

Peckham

Great report (as always!). Great run (as usual!).

nerraw1111

Great report.

That’s essentially my race report. Ridiculous pressure, the “ah crap I’m the weak link on the team,” sheer panic when the texts came through saying we were in second, noticing the other fast lads running the same leg before the start, the fear that you would hold my hand that bit too long, the never agains, followed by the craic and relief afterwards.

Krusty_Clown

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Great report.

That’s essentially my race report. Ridiculous pressure, the “ah crap I’m the weak link on the team,” sheer panic when the texts came through saying we were in second, noticing the other fast lads running the same leg before the start, the fear that you would hold my hand that bit too long, the never agains, followed by the craic and relief afterwards.

Haha.. Feckin' clowns everywhere!

Sunday: 10 miles recovery run
Hurtin' like a basturd, I eventually headed off for some easy miles at Emer pace, towards Bray, in the sunshine. After 4 miles she turned back and I kept going for another 1/2 mile to bring the weekly total up to 60 miles. After a few more miles I caught up with Emer again, but she was sick of the sight of me (she's still annoyed that I didn't break 1:28) so she waved me on. I pottered around the park, just to bring the mileage up to 10 miles, but they were all slow and painful. Followed up with a couple of hours of rock climbing.

Monday: 6.5 + 5.5 miles recovery
Quads still in tatters, I managed a very slow 6.5 miles to work and a very slow and painful 5.5 miles home. Uphill miles are a lot easier than downhill, so took the hilly route home.

Tuesday: Still no signs of life
Legs still hurtin, so time to ease back on the mileage. Cycled into work, 4 mile recovery run at lunch-time, and about to cycle home.

ultraman1

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

team-talk? https://www.imra.ie/photos/view/id/73056/

"Darling are u really gonna wear ur favourite tee shirt into those mucky mountains"

wrstan

Some great reading here as always KC!
Well done on the WW relay, but really well done on the shiny medal! Richly deserved on the basis of some fantastic running and always representing the club so well. It was awarded to unanimous approval!

Krusty_Clown

Dublin Graded Meets: 400m
After Saturday's race, I only started walking again properly yesterday, so I really wasn't too optimistic about today's 400m run. I woke up many times last night with achilles pain too (right ankle, for future reference) so wasn't sure if I'd be able to run the race, but I reckon I need more track practice, so figured I'd give it a go anyway. Met up with KielyUnusual and we were out in Tallaght in no time, with half an hour to chill before the 400m races started. KU had never used blocks, so before the 100m races started, I tried to impart what little wisdom I had to share (very dubious advice at best!). After a bit of faffing around, I was drawn in the race before KU, in lane 6 (with no runners outside of me). I got my blocks lined up as best as I could (couldn't remember which foot should lead) and was careful to keep one knee on the ground for the 'on your marks' position.

Strategy: I had watched this video last night, so had an approximately race plan: Get up to pace in the first 50m, cruise on the straight, re-invest in the race at the start of the bend (after 200m) and then pump my arms and legs like a mad thing for the final home straight.

Race: Gun went off, and I felt really slow out of the blocks, but tried to pick up the pace as much as I could. I kind of liked the lane draw (not sure if 6 is a good position in this situation) but at least it wasn't like my previous 400m, where I started in lane 2 and was caught half way around the bend. I hit the straight and most of the field started to push on here, so I was dropping places, but I stuck with the plan to cruise along the straight and felt comfortable enough. I probably should have pushed harder here. Hitting the bend, the plan was to give myself a mental kick, but at that point we hit the only windy section of the track. The bend seemed to go on forever and into that wind it was a real struggle. It was only afterwards, chatting to KU that I realized I had never run in lane 6 on a track before, so the bend was a lot longer than I would have been used to, compared to the inside lane of my cinder track tempo sessions. While I tried to over-exaggerate my arm swing and pump like mad, I had pretty much given up mentally and I reckon I lost more time here as I didn't have a good final 50m. I saw the clock ahead and it read 56:29, which sparked a moment of excitement (and acceleration) until I realized it wasn't changing, and had been stopped when the winner crossed the line. I crossed the line, knowing I hadn't given it my best and had missed the mark and Meno (who was spectating) confirmed a time of 62:xx.

Official time: 62.32 for a very minor PB (previously 62.4). This time around, I had some added advantages (spikes, second race, used blocks once before), so no excuses, relatively speaking, a poorer performance than my last outing. I reckon, if there were three or four 400m attempts over the summer, I'd have a chance at ticking off the sub-60, but realistically, I may only get one further shot, so I reckon it's a pretty big ask. All in all, while I'd love to have hit the time, I'm not too disappointed, as the best I've managed over the last few days is an 8 minute/mile, so prep and readiness wasn't great. Now I just need to run 2.5 seconds faster.

3000m race:
I really wasn't emotionally engaged for this one. Had zero interest in racing, so just wanted to tick off the sub-10 box (really not the way to run any race, kind of goes against my grain), but given that I'd already paid for the 400m race, this was a freebie. Lined-up with an equally unenthusiastic but friendly bunch of lads (one young lad, and the rest of us were in our middlin' years). A few problems on track meant we had a few minutes to chat amongst ourselves. None of the killer instincts and adrenaline of the 400m race, which suited me fine. I had met one Crusaders lad who was going for 9:40, so if I kept an eye on him, I knew I'd be ok, but had figured (thanks ecoli!) the splits for sub-10 were 80 seconds, so if I hit those, I'd be happy enough. Gun went eventually, and somehow I found myself in the lead. My track pacing is pretty crap, so I wanted someone to over-take, and after 100m, the young lad duly complied. Soon afterwards, the Crusader lad passed me and started to widen the gap. I decided to let him go, as my heart really wasn't in it, which was probably the right choice on the day (actually not running the race may have been a better option).

The first two runners opened a gap, and then I was left with a heavy breather on my shoulder. The next few laps passed quite uneventfully, with me slightly ahead of heavy breather, who stayed on my shoulder. There was a clock at the end of each lap, and someone shouting splits at the 200m mark, and they were all pretty much spot on, just slightly ahead of multiples of 40 seconds. Truth be told, I got a little bored and was willing the laps to count down quicker. I cruised through the first 4 laps, and after that I just felt a little bushed. eventually with two laps to go (longest track race I've ever done!) the going got harder, but at least I was edging closer to the finish. Finally the bell, and I started to pick up the pace, leaving heavy breather behind. It felt good to finally pick up the pace, and that final lap was the most enjoyable part of the day. Stopped the watch with 9:56 showing (9:56:05 official). Not a PB, and should be running a lot faster than this, but at least I felt that I got some kind of workout, and probably has some relevance for a 5k race.

At the end of the day, not great results, but pretty much spot-on for what I deserved. Will hopefully find and try some more 400m training sessions, and hopefully will be better prepared the next time, but I get the feeling that if I don't put the work in, I won't get the result.

Pisco Sour

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I get the feeling that if I don't put the work in, I won't get the result.

+1

1 mile, even 800m could be bluffed to an extent based on just training for the longer stuff, but sprints are a different discipline entirely, requires different training and the use of different energy systems. 59 is definitely achievable but you’d need to put some specific work into it. I guess it depends on how much you want the sub 60 and how important it is to you.

There’s still 2 more graded meets that have 400m races. One of them is the Dublin Champs but that shouldn’t put you off. I’m not sure how many of the county championships have taken place so far but definitely look into the Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Carlow championships (basically anywhere near to where you live). There’s usually a few open day meets aswell. Pretty sure there is one in Meath. The races are there if you want to run them. Granted AAI could do a much better job at making these races more known to people and doing up an easy to follow calendar of track events, but the races are still there.

62 is far from bad running by the way. I’m pretty sure many sub 3 marathoners here (particularly the ones around your age) would have a challenge breaking 70, let alone run 62. It takes running these to actually gain appreciation of how difficult sub 60 can be. I don’t think many here really get that. Good on you for giving it a shot and keep at it.

Looking at the results, there was a pretty good turnout for the 400m with many guys between 58-62. Must have been a lot less intimidating than the last time.

Have no idea how you had the energy for that 3000m afterwards by the way!

RayCun

I see you were racing a couple of the lads from Bros Pearse last night

I think the sub 60 is there for you, but it depends on how much you want it. If you reduce your mileage in the next two months, do two sessions a week of short intervals with long recoveries, cut out the hills, get to some training sessions on a track to practice starting from blocks, and hit all the 400m races you can in that period... I would be very surprised if you didn't break a minute. But if you're trying to fit it in around endurance training...

dna_leri

Fair play for giving it another go KC. You were never going to be able to give it your best after the weekend you had. It makes the top 10 challenge all the more interesting when guys like yourself have to work to do the full set.

ecoli

RayCun wrote: »

I think the sub 60 is there for you, but it depends on how much you want it. If you reduce your mileage in the next two months, do two sessions a week of short intervals with long recoveries, cut out the hills, get to some training sessions on a track to practice starting from blocks, and hit all the 400m races you can in that period... I would be very surprised if you didn't break a minute. But if you're trying to fit it in around endurance training...

I think its there like everyone else but I don't think it has to be mutually exclusive for endurance training (to an extent). A month after marathon and less than a week after a half obviously is never going to be ideal but I reckon one Speed development session a week (talking all out efforts of 150-250 with full recovery and low reps) and the odd lactate tolerance type sessions (more 800 specific) and there no reason why you shouldn't be down 58-59

Also perfect the excellent block advice you were given yesterday and you will have no problem :P

Krusty_Clown

Pisco Sour wrote: »

1 mile, even 800m could be bluffed to an extent based on just training for the longer stuff, but sprints are a different discipline entirely, requires different training and the use of different energy systems. 59 is definitely achievable but you’d need to put some specific work into it. I guess it depends on how much you want the sub 60 and how important it is to you.

That's the problem (or the challenge) of the 10 race challenge, we all have a natural tendency towards one end (or in dna_leri's case, the middle) of the spectrum, and that is the area of focus for our training and also our achievement. As KielyUnusual pointed out, the challenge is most certainly best suited to a marathon runner, as while a marathon runner (like myself) can manage most of the targets handily (like yesterday's 3k) and can get close to the 400m target, getting someone who specializes in 400m/800m to run a sub-3 marathon would mean completely disregarding all of their training/goals to concentrate on distance. Am I willing to drop everything for the 400m goal? Honest answer is no. I'll give it a serious shot (I would really like to achieve the goal), and will try to do 1 or 2 specific sessions per week, but once the next couple of graded meets are over (and if there are no more obvious 400m races), I'll be back to what I'm good at.

Pisco Sour wrote: »

There’s still 2 more graded meets that have 400m races. One of them is the Dublin Champs but that shouldn’t put you off.

I'll definitely give the 800m (grade D) a shot at that meet, but the Dublin Champs only has Grade B for the 400m, and I'm not sure if that would be a constructive environment (slowest time last years was 51 seconds), so there's realistically only one more graded meet for the 400m. Might also give the 1500m a shot, just to put down a marker for the distance and for the experience.

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Looking at the results, there was a pretty good turnout for the 400m with many guys between 58-62. Must have been a lot less intimidating than the last time.

Yes, it definitely was. Still a little intimidating, as it's so alien from my normal racing experience, but was a lot more chilled (perhaps too chilled!). I didn't feel like I was really attacking the race, and that's one of the areas that I reckon practice and experience pays off.

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Have no idea how you had the energy for that 3000m afterwards by the way!

I didn't! I really should be running 9:30-9:40.

RayCun wrote:

I see you were racing a couple of the lads from Bros Pearse last night

Didn't notice to be honest. Not much time to look around. Once your name is called, you're busy setting up the blocks and then straight into the race. At the end of the race, you're bunched over. Well done to them though. Some fine results. Are they also in their 40s?

dna_leri wrote:

Fair play for giving it another go KC. You were never going to be able to give it your best after the weekend you had. It makes the top 10 challenge all the more interesting when guys like yourself have to work to do the full set.

It's definitely achieving the goal of getting people like me to try new things. Hopefully you'll give the marathon a stab some time soon.

ecoli wrote:

Also perfect the excellent block advice you were given giving yesterday and you will have no problem

Fixed your post! Between yourself, Pisco, dna_leri and Oregano_state, it would be great to get some ideas for sessions for a 4/5 week plan, if you had the spare time/willingness to do it. Not too concerned about the 800, as I reckon an improvement in 400 will lend itself well to the 800, and I still have endurance to spare, so if any of you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

ecoli

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Fixed your post! Between yourself, Pisco, dna_leri and Oregano_state, it would be great to get some ideas for sessions for a 4/5 week plan, if you had the spare time/willingness to do it. Not too concerned about the 800, as I reckon an improvement in 400 will lend itself well to the 800, and I still have endurance to spare, so if any of you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

Keep it simple

once a week alternate between 800m session and speed development

3*150m all out w/ 4-5 min rec
2* (500, 1 min rec, 300m) 500@ 800m pace, 300m all out 7 min rec
300, 250, 200, 150, all out w/ 400m walk rec
3* (600m 1 min rec 200m)500@ 800m pace, 300m all out 6 min rec
3*200m all out w/6 min rec

These are a combination of speed development and 800m peaking sessions which should compliment each other. Aside from this strides twice a week and work on driving the arms (noticed you were not generating that much power from the arms last night) aside from this I reckon keep the rest of the week relatively normal to what you have been doing as the strength is there you just need to expose the body a bit more to lactate and maximum velocity

RayCun

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Are they also in their 40s?

I'm not sure, but they did send me this photo from the start line

dna_leri

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

It's definitely achieving the goal of getting people like me to try new things. Hopefully you'll give the marathon a stab some time soon.


Fixed your post! Between yourself, Pisco, dna_leri and Oregano_state, it would be great to get some ideas for sessions for a 4/5 week plan, if you had the spare time/willingness to do it. Not too concerned about the 800, as I reckon an improvement in 400 will lend itself well to the 800, and I still have endurance to spare, so if any of you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

The difference is that if I tried the marathon off the back of no marathon training then I would not come within 20 or 30 mins of the 3 hr goal. You were less than 4% over the 60s target. 4% on a 3hr marathon is under 3:07 - no way I would do that without weeks months of training.

While it is "horses for courses", you have a decent chance of improving by 4% in a few weeks. My suggestion seen as you asked is to do one speed-work session a week.

For the first week, after a good warm-up including strides & drills if possible, time yourself over 200m. It can be hand-timed, rolling start just to see if you can go under 30s. If you struggle with that then you need to work on your base speed - Pisco & Oregano are the men for that, but probably means running reps of <200m with good recovery.

If you can comfortably break the 30s (I'd expect around 29.0) for 200m then working on your speed endurance will carry you through and also help you for longer distances. After your first 200m, take 4 min easy recovery and go again. Keep going for up to 6 but stop if you hit 30.0 or you feel any pain.

The following week try 300s in 45s - 3 is enough with 5 min recovery. The following week do 10x100m in 15s off 300m jog recovery and by week 4 you are ready to take on the world in 400 or 800m. We will watch with interest.

Krusty_Clown

dna_leri wrote: »

For the first week, after a good warm-up including strides & drills if possible, time yourself over 200m. It can be hand-timed, rolling start just to see if you can go under 30s. If you struggle with that then you need to work on your base speed - Pisco & Oregano are the men for that, but probably means running reps of <200m with good recovery.

KU and I were running 31 seconds from a standing start (into a head-wind) on a cinder track (with full recovery), which I presume would be similar to a 30 second 200m with a rolling start on a track with a decent bit of traction?

Krusty_Clown

RayCun wrote: »

I'm not sure, but they did send me this photo from the start line

I wasn't being facetious! I remember a number of similarly aged gentlemen in my race, so if they were running 56 and 59 seconds respectively, I would be suitably impressed.

RayCun

Two U18s, I think the 56 second guy is just a sprinter, the 59 second guy jumps too

Pisco Sour

Typical sessions that the coach had us doing last year off the top of my head would be:

Speed:

6 x 60m from 3 point start. Full recovery

6 x 120m (60-20-40) on a straight line going 60m flat out, drop the pace for 20m and excelerate again for the last 40m. We have a 120m straight on our track but if your straight is only 110m then do 50-20-40. Full recovery.

2 x 300m flat out with 15 minute recovery.

Speed/ Speed Endurance

6 x 150m very strong with 5 minute recoveries

Speed Endurance

6 x 200m with reducing recoveries at a strong pace. 5 minute recovery between rep 1 and 2, 4 minutes between rep 2 and 3, all the way down to 1 minute between the last 2. Murder. Have only done this once.

300-200-100-300-200-100 with around 4-6 minute recoveries

3 x 300m with 5 minute recoveries

500-400-300 with 10 minute recoveries

3 x (2x200m) 90 second recovery between each rep within each set, and 5 minutes between each set.


There's plenty more but hard to remember them all. It's all buried somewhere in my log anyway.

dna_leri

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

KU and I were running 31 seconds from a standing start (into a head-wind) on a cinder track (with full recovery), which I presume would be similar to a 30 second 200m with a rolling start on a track with a decent bit of traction?

I'd suggest trying it again on a day you are feeling fresh
[Running on tired legs is great for endurance not for speed]
If you are not hitting sub 30 on the cinders, drop down to 150m in 22s.
If that's a struggle then you need to work on base speed and Pisco's 6x60m sound right.

I'm not speaking from any coaching background whatsoever so feel free to listen to others and do something different. Just my personal experience tells me you need to tune in to race speed mentally & physically so the more you do in the 29-30s per 200m range the easier it will feel.

BeepBeep67

Get yourself into the Greystones / Sli Cualann Tues / Fri sessions with Timmayy and the GAC juniors. Worth a shot for 2-3 wks.

menoscemo

KC, if you want to practise some flying 200s, give me a shout as I might join you some night. I self timed myself at about 27 a few years ago but I am wondering at the validity of that given my poor 100m/800m performances in the graded meets last year..... We could possibly even try a few before the Beer mile?

Oregano_State

I can see you've already been given a wealth of advice about what sessions to do, and it's solid advice all round. I'll add my two cents anyway:

The key in the 400m is relaxed sprinting. If you look at the top elites racing, they make a 22.0s opening 400m look like a piece of p1ss. The reason they can make it look so easy is that most of them have 20.xx 200m PBs.

You need to find out how fast you are at the moment, then work on improving on it so that you can go through that opening 200m as relaxed as possible, in a split that will allow you to reach your goal.

I'd agree with DNA's plan of testing your flat out 200m speed, and take it from there. Make sure you warm up properly before sprinting though!!

Training-wise, I think the lads have given some pretty good advice. Going on the basis of one 400m focused session per week, you need to maximise the bang for buckability for want of a better phrase, so I would recommend a two-pronged approach: Work on your speed (S) in the first part of the session, and do speed endurance (SE) afterwards.

For the speed part, Pisco's 6x60m is good (although I'd cut the volume to 2-4 reps if you're going to do SE afterwards in the same session), as is the ins & outs session, i.e. 40m build up to max, 20m relaxed, 20m max again). Ecoli's 300, 250, 200, 150, would be good for the SE part, although I would cut the effort to 90% (relaxed). Pisco has a good few more pointed out in his post.

Best of luck, as DNA said, we're watching with interest!

Krusty_Clown

Awesome advice, thanks guys. Will try and assemble it into a plan, when I get some spare time.

Timmaay

Well done KC, feel free to drop down to the Greystones track on a Tue or Fri evening at 7pm, afew of the young guns doing 400 training at the minute, Me and the middle distance crew often do short quick sessions aswell (likes of 2laps of sprint 60, deaccelerate 40, jog 100). They are offically Greystones AC sessions, but we have no problems letting anyone from Sli Cualann take part! (Otherwise I wouldn't be allowed do them as I'm not GAC ha!)

Edit: didn't see BB67s post above!

Krusty_Clown

Timmaay wrote: »

Well done KC, feel free to drop down to the Greystones track on a Tue or Fri evening at 7pm, afew of the young guns doing 400 training at the minute, Me and the middle distance crew often do short quick sessions aswell (likes of 2laps of sprint 60, deaccelerate 40, jog 100). They are offically Greystones AC sessions, but we have no problems letting anyone from Sli Cualann take part! (Otherwise I wouldn't be allowed do them as I'm not GAC ha!)

Edit: didn't see BB67s post above!

Cheers Timmaay. Do you guys ever do work with blocks?

Thought there might be a few more from Sli Cualann for the track meet, but only spotted a young lady, who did very well to win her race in solid fashion.

Timmaay

We were all utterly sh$gged from last weekend ha, the IMC in Greystones Sat, and National League Sunday, good few of us had to double up and run both days. But yeh, that sounds like one of the Inbhear Dee girls, just back from the states and clearly in decent shape at the minute! The middle distance crew rarely bother with blocks but the sprinters always have them out. Shouldn't be any issues with you jumping in with them, good few coaches there who'd show ya the basics no problem. I'll ask them 1stly and make sure they are ok with it, and can get back to ya!

Krusty_Clown

Thursday: 6 miles very slow - Legs were in a bit of a jock after the double track race, so just tramped about the place to breathe some life back into the 'ould dog. Had planned on running at lunch time, but it was one of 'those' work days, so didn't get to run until after 8pm, and lunch was forgotten about in a haze of conference-calls, documents and keystrokes. 8:19/mile.

Friday: 6.3 miles slow - Legs still in a jock, so it worked out well that Keith was looking for an easy grass run. Couldn't stand the idea of hitting the local field again, so we ran 6 miles around the area and managed to stay on the grass for around 80% of the run, which ain't bad considering the wide loop we covered. Average pace: 8:19/mile. Also of note: drank two bottles of Coors lite, around 22 second/bottle, with a 30 second recovery. Not going to be breaking any records at that pace. Coors lite is muck. I'm so ashamed.

Saturday: 6 Easy miles. After 2 days, the legs are finally returning to normal. Just goes to show how ill-prepared I was for track running. Pace naturally picked up today, so was nice to get out for a few easy miles. Encountered another badger casualty on the side of the road. Those things are fecking massive. Must be like running over a pretty large dog. This one died with a very angry expression on it's face. Left shin still sore since the race. Calf guards haven't been removed in days. Starting to smell.

Sunday: 13 hill/trail miles. Out with friends for a BBQ on Saturday night, I had opted for the role of designated driver, so just a few low alcohol beers. Instead I ate a humongous amount of crap, so was glad to meet up with some of the club mates and Shankill locales on Sunday morning for a run up in the trails around Carrigologan/Scalp. Pace was handy enough, though my achilles were giving me a bit of gyp after recent hill and sprint running. Unfortunately we lost one of our companions after 6 miles (and he was never seen again). Finished up with some fast road miles that made me feel a little bit better about eating all that crap. Still wearing the calf guards. Followed up with around 3 hours of indoor rock climbing with some mates and then 4 hours of drinking and pool. Life in harmony.

Monday: 4 hours of clapping and shouting + 8.5 mile warm-down
Myself and the boss were volunteering for wimmen's mini marathon. Our role: to prevent cars from leaving a quiet side-street, while clapping and shouting encouragement to the 40k wimmen who streamed past. After four hours, I was hoarse, no longer had feeling in my hands, and couldn't bend over for the pain in my back (I'm not built for standing). Still my thoughts and sympathies went out to the two unfortunates (you know who you are!) who once again drew the short-straw and had the very unfortunate position of having to drive around the course in an air-conditioned car, watching the race from 100m in front of the leading ladies. The hard-ship! Still it was a fun few hours, despite the heat and sore back. Ran the 8.5 miles back home afterwards, and was quite surprised when no-one clapped, cheered, or handed me a bottle of water. Some cars did beep their horns after I took my shirt off, but I think they just wanted me to put my shirt back on. Pace: 7:24/mile

Tuesday: 5.5 miles with strides
Yet another of 'those' work-days, but this time I was determined to get a run in the sunshine, so left work early and was out in plenty of time for some rays. Hit the bottom field for some strides, running fast along the flat sides of the field and recovering on the uphill/downhill. Finished up with some longer strides back to home. Felt good to be working hard in the last of the day's sunshine/heat. Pace: 6:56

Krusty_Clown

Lunch-time yesterday: 7 Miles including 4 x 200m

Easy run with Keith down to the cinder track, but was fairly parched by the time I got down there in the mid-day heat. Did some strides and then hit the 200s.

1st: 30.6 seconds - First one was really about finding my range so wasn't surprised when I didn't get under the 30 second mark. Very difficult to get traction on the grit/gravel of the cinder track and it's rather frustrating when trying to push off the ground and not getting the desired reaction.

2nd: 29.8 seconds - Put in more effort this time, and found that exaggerating the arm extension and knee lift really helped, so if nothing else, that feels like a lesson learned in terms of improving. Pretty close to max effort though. Is this how you should be feeling doing 200m reps at 400m pace?

3rd: 30.8 seconds: Made the mistake of letting Keith go first on this one (no offense Keith) and was stuck behind him on the bend and had to overtake hitting the straight, so was probably sub-30 in terms of effort. Next time I'll just leave a wider gap so I have someone to chase, rather than follow.

4th: 30.5 seconds: Legs (achilles) complaining quite a lot at this stage (pretty sore) and feeling a little bushed. Lost concentration. Not a great rep.

We opted for complete recovery between reps. Three hot uphill miles back to work afterwards were tough, but the first mile was particularly hard with the tightness in the achilles and pain in the legs. So it looks like the times are well below what they should be for a sub-60 attempt (but are probably consistent with a 62 second 400m), but a part of me wonders what the equivalent times would be on a track with spikes and if I am penalizing myself by trying to do this training on the loose cinder surface. Either way, it seems that I'll have to focus on shorter/faster stuff to try to build speed. Of course the cinder track does not have markings, so 60m or 150m reps would be a guessing game, so I guess the only way to progress is to hit a proper track. Having said that, I may hit the cinder track tomorrow for some 60m (approximated) sprints.

Pisco Sour wrote:

6 x 60m from 3 point start. Full recovery

6 x 120m (60-20-40) on a straight line going 60m flat out, drop the pace for 20m and excelerate again for the last 40m. We have a 120m straight on our track but if your straight is only 110m then do 50-20-40. Full recovery.

Would the above be done in a single session or is this two sessions?

For the second night in a row, I woke from my slumber unable to move my right leg, which had seized/locked up and was painful to move. I haven't had any physio this side of London marathon, so I reckon it's time to pay a visit. Legs are feeling pretty ok today though. Also got two hours of rock climbing in last night, so the core stuff is largely taken care of.