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mister paul

Week starting 2021-01-04, cont'd

Saturday

5 miles GA - New standard 5 mile loop, mostly keeping away from hills. Nothing to report really, first half usually faster than second, as it's slightly downhill towards the coast, with the prevailing wind at my back.

Sunday

9 miles endurance - Away from the coast this time, along the canal from Phibsboro to Ashtown. Only started reading the FRR book, but seems that with endurance runs, pace and HR at tail end of run should be faster / higher than early part of run. Calculated HR range for this as 131-148, using RHR. Based on that, capped first 3 miles at 137, middle 3 at 142 and final 3 at 147, or that was the plan anyway. I think I mostly managed it.

Week

Plan: 27 miles
Actual: 27 miles

Plan for next week sees a small increase in miles to 30.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-01-11

Plan this week increases the mileage by a staggering 3 miles, with the extra miles packed into the second half of the week.

Tuesday

6 miles GA. Nothing to report, at least nothing on Strava, so obviously didn't make much of an impression.

Wednesday

3 miles GA. One of my standard loops, not avoiding the Drumcondra hills. Left ankle joint was niggling at me before this run and was noticeable during.

Thursday

5 miles GA. First increase on last week, from 4 to 5. Left ankle still a bit niggly and calf started to tighten up as the run progressed. Stopped a couple of times to stretch it out. It was grand though by the final downhill, although I'd started to really focus on running form a bit before that, which may have helped.

I'll be dusting off the foam roller this evening and doing some stretching on calves and glutes while waiting for the take-away to arrive this evening. I also need to get back to the exercises that the physio recommended, they've taken a serious hit since the new year.

mister paul

After the calves grumbling on Thursday, operation self-inflicted pain was initiated. Weapons used included a tennis ball and foot roller on feet, back-baller foam roller for back, glutes, hamstrings and calves, spiky massage ball for glutes and the massage gun for both calves...

Saturday

6 miles GA.

Kept to as flat a route as possible, which included an out-and-back portion along the prom in Clontarf. Not a fan of out-and-back routes at all, but felt it was justified on this occasion.

Left sole/foot was tight for a first mile or two and I was worried that it would worsen and start pulling on the calf, but thankfully it eased instead.

Sunday

10 miles endurance.

Prep for this included more use of the foot roller and application of tiger balm to the calves.

The run itself was a lovely run through Tolkva Valley Park to Ashtown, then into the PP before a couple of detours back from there to make the distance. Sole of foot started off a bit tight, but eased earlier than recently and the calves were grand. Maybe this whole prevention thing actually works

Week

Overall the week went well and hopefully I've actually learned something about keeping on top of niggles through foam rolling, etc. but knowing me that's unlikely.

This weeks plan is the exact same as last week, 30 miles over 5 days running.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-01-18

Plan was the exact same as the previous week - 30 miles

Tuesday

6 miles GA. Nothing to report...

Wednesday

3 miles GA. Ditto...

Thursday

5 miles GA. Both GPS and HR data seemed unreliable on this run, which included a 46s 400m...

Saturday

6 miles GA. Outside of left shin was a bit tight for the first mile of this one, but eased after that. Bit of massage work on it later in the evening.

Sunday

10 miles endurance. Not quite the same route as last week. I pretty much always map out my routes beforehand and stick to them. Decided (based on something A said) to mix it up a bit and add in a few changes on-the-fly.

Week

Overall, a good week.

This/Next week increases the mileage to 33, and includes the first "pace" on the plan, with some strides included in Thursdays run.

Murph_D

mister paul wrote: »

10 miles endurance. Not quite the same route as last week. I pretty much always map out my routes beforehand and stick to them. Decided (based on something A said) to mix it up a bit and add in a few changes on-the-fly.

Agree with A on this one. Nothing like freeform routing!

mister paul

Week starting 2021-01-25

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 7 miles general aerobic (1 hour challenge)
Wednesday: 3 miles general aerobic
Thursday: 6 miles general aerobic with 8 x 100m strides
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 7 miles general aerobic (1 hour challenge)
Sunday: 10 miles endurance

Actual

So onto week 4 of the 10 week base building plan, with an increase of 3 miles over the previous week and the first injection of any pace, in the form of strides on Thursdays run.

Tuesday 7 miles GA

As per plan and finished within 42 seconds of the hour. That only tells half of the story. I struggled with the calves for the first half of this run, including taking a short break (possibly 42 seconds) in an attempt to ease them out. In the end, I think that improving my focus on form helped and by the final third of this run the calves were behaving impeccably.

Wednesday 3 miles GA

Same as Tuesday, without the respite. From 1 miles onwards I really struggled with the left calf.

Thursday 6 miles GA w/ 6 x strides

I was ready to knock this one on the head. Eventually talked myself out the door, taking the flattest route possible, one that has plenty of turnaround points if I needed to cut it short.

As it turned out, this was by far the best run so far this week. When the left calf started to niggle, I redoubled focus on form and particularly on ankle stability around my foot strike. It seemed to do the trick to the extent that I felt confident including the strides. Couldn't remember if the plan called for 6 or 8, so went with 6 to err on the side of caution.

mister paul

Saturday 7 miles GA

Same route as Tuesday and same hour challenge. I'd planned trying to maintain better control of the effort levels to keep my HRR % in GA zone. This meant cutting the run a little bit short of the 7 miles. On the day and with the breeze, gauging pace overall was a bit of a lottery, even though I knew that the effort levels were similar to Tuesday. As I came towards the 7 miles, I upped the effort levels (and pace), deciding to finish out the full 7, even if it meant overshooting the hour again, instead of stopping short of the distance and adding it as a separate 0.2m run. In the end the overall pace was a bit faster than expected and I came in at 59:42. Happy with the effort overall.

Sunday 10 miles endurance

Took a more laissez-faire attitude to my route planning than usual for this. Headed out Tolka Valley and after than made it up as I went, back along the canal to Broombridge, then across and into the PP before heading home along the North Circular. The 10 miles beeped as I approached the old Smurfit printworks on Botanic Road...my Achilles had started to niggle over the last few miles, so I called it there and then, instead of enjoying that final downhill to Mobhi Road.

Week

33 miles in total, but overall not as good a week. I struggled a bit with the calves, to a greater extent on some runs than others and the Achilles is now another worry. It's been iced and I will do the same this evening, to hopefully get on top of whatever it is quickly.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-02-01

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 7 miles general aerobic
Wednesday: 3 miles general aerobic
Thursday: 7 miles general aerobic with 18 mins tempo
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 8 miles general aerobic
Sunday: 11 miles endurance

Actual

Monday Rest

Tuesday 7m GA. I was a bit worried about the achilles before starting out, but although I noticed it during the run, it was much better than I'd feared.

Wednesday 3m GA. Ran this one with A, which was nice as we haven't really run much together recently, as at different points in plans, so running different paces and distances.

It turns out that I was pacing A on a 5k, although I didn't find this out until afterwards. I spent most of it trailing behind until the last half mile, when I was left for dead.

Thursday 7m w/ 18 minutes tempo. Running by HR at the moment, so for tempo, plan is to keep HR below 161. I set the watch to shout if I got above 158, so that I'd a warning before hitting the max.

Pace|Avg. HR|Max. HR|Elev gain|Elev loss
7:28|154|160|59|7
7:09|157|161|0|13
7:03 (3:23)|159|162|0|3

Friday Rest

Saturday 8m GA. Nothing much to report from this one other than the new shoes. A few stops in the first few miles to adjust the shoes, but eventually realised that I hadn't tied the heel lock. Was better once that was sorted.

Tried out a few small hills to see if they'd be suitable for the February challenge. One that I thought would be good but isn't. Another that I wasn't sure about but reckon warrants another review.

Sunday 11m endurance. Decided to head towards the southern portion of my 5k range, taking in some of the main city streets en route; O'Connell to Grafton street, through St Stephen's Green, along Leeson Street to the Grand Canal and along the canal towards Islandbridge, then across the park through Cabra and finally back along the Royal Canal, into a stiff enough breeze.

Another good run, although I was definitely flagging by the end. There were a couple of aches and pains including a stitch, but nothing really out of the ordinary or unexpected.

The Week in review

36 miles in total. Overall, I feel that this training (base building) block is going really well. When I do my physio exercises, it definitely seems to have a positive impact on the ankles and calves, so I really need to keep them up.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-02-08

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 7 miles general aerobic
Wednesday: 3 miles general aerobic
Thursday: 7 miles general aerobic with 8 x 100mt strides
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 8 miles general aerobic
Sunday: 11 miles endurance

Actual

Monday Rest

Tuesday 7 miles GA @ 8:20*, avg. HR: 136

Nothing much to report here, testing out new shoes, Brooks Transcend. The toe box seemed a bit big and foot was moving around a bit more than ideal. May just need to adjust/tighten the laces.

* Some GPS issues, in reality average pace probably slower.

Wednesday 3 miles GA @ 7:52, avg. HR: 135

A bit faster than normal for same HR zone. All felt mostly good, although left foot was a little bit achey. Nothing new there. More new shoes, this time Brooks Ravenna. Really light and comfortable, so should be good for tempo/faster stuff.

Thursday 7 miles GA w/ 8 x 100mt strides @ 8:18, avg. HR: 139

Out Tolka Valley and back along the canal, into the wind. At times along the canal it felt like I was hardly moving. That said, most of the strides came in between 5:25 and 5:45 pace, although with such short distances involved, I'd take those with a grain of salt.

Friday Rest

Saturday 8 miles GA @ 8:18, avg. HR: 137

Took my sweet time getting out of bed for this, after hearing the wind and rain. When eventually I did get out, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. Heading out along the canal to Ashtown and back via the PP.

Sunday 11 miles endurance @ 8:20, avg. HR:139

I'm splitting the run into three parts, with increasing HR targets / caps

Miles 1-4 - 131-137 BPM

8:44 (126), 7:56* (136), 8:44 (136), 8:45 (138)

Second mile was into the city centre along O'Connell Street and as happened last week, GPS was unreliable. Other than that, paces were fairly consistent.

Miles 5-8 - 131-142 BPM

8:16 (141), 8:19 (139), 8:27 (142), 8:35 (142)

These miles were along the Grand Canal towards Islandbridge into the PP and up the North Road.

Miles 9-11 - 131-147 BPM

8:04 (143), 8:05 (146), 7:46 (147)

Up through Cabra to the Royal canal back towards Phibsboro and then down towards home. This was mostly downhill, particularly the final mile, but also into the wind along the canal.

Despite the wind I mostly enjoyed this run. I'd a slight calf tightness starting out that I was worried about, but within a couple of miles it had eased out completely, which is obvious looking at the GCT balance on Garmin Connect.

The Week in review

Overall another good week of training covering 36 miles in total. Generally, I feel that the calves/feet are improving, which means that I'm more likely to skip the strengthening exercises...need to make sure that doesn't happen.

The next couple of weeks see increases in mileage to 39 and then 42.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-02-15

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 8 miles general aerobic
Wednesday: 4 miles general aerobic
Thursday: 8 miles general aerobic with 20 min tempo
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 8 miles general aerobic
Sunday: 11 miles endurance

Actual

Monday Rest

Tuesday 8.01 miles GA @ 8:27, avg. HR: 138

Nothing much to report. Legs a bit tired starting out along the canal towards Ashtown, running away from the sunrise, uphill and into the wind. I really should have given my route more thought. Got in to a good rhythm after the first mile or so, with few interruptions from the watch to warn me of increased HR. Second half through the park and homewards easier, but started to flag a bit towards the end. May need to consider a slice of toast before early morning runs in future.

Wednesday 4.02 miles GA @ 8:29, avg. HR: 137

Decided to give the February challenge a placeholding effort on this run, taking in some of the local drags. Neither the calf or achilles appreciated the effort, which I nearly canned more than once. In the end, I only managed 67 metres of elevation gain.

Thursday 8.01 miles GA with 20 minutes LT

No ill effects from the hills on Wednesday thankfully. The target HR zone for the LT was 144-161. Started the LT up the North Road in the PP, turning back down Chesterfield for the second half.

Time|Distance|Avg Pace|Avg HR|Max HR|Elev Gain|Elev Loss
07:01|1|07:01|155|161|6|2
07:18|1|07:18|158|162|7|8
05:41|0.84|06:48|158|160|2|16

Friday Rest

Saturday 8.01 miles GA @ 8:23, avg. HR: 138

Sunday 11.01 miles endurance @ 8:00, avg. HR: 140

Split this into 3 blocks, first 4 miles HR target 131 - 137, middle 4 miles < 142 and final 3 miles < 147.

Average pace for each block came in at 8:12, 8:05 and 7:37.

The Week in review

Overall mileage increased slightly on last week from 36 to 39 miles and increases again this week to 42. That'll be my first > 40m week since last May.

The small hill "session" on Wednesday showed that I really need to keep up with the physio exercises, which has probably taken a bit of a hit in the last couple of weeks.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-02-22

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 9 miles general aerobic
Wednesday: 4 miles general aerobic
Thursday: 8 miles general aerobic with 8 * 100mt strides
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 9 miles general aerobic
Sunday: 12 miles endurance

Actual

Monday Rest

Tuesday 9 miles GA @ 8:17, avg. HR: 137

Out early and mostly avoided the rain, except for one icy shower while admiring a rainbow. Wind was kind, seeming to push me along a lot more than it held me back.

Wednesday 4 miles GA @ 8:07, avg. HR: 136

Nothing to report from this one, mixed the route up a bit.

Thursday 8.7 miles, including 42 minutes of hill repeats for the Boards February challenge.

Had been debating whether to give this another go, but had a good session on the foam roller to loosen out the glutes on Tuesday evening and decided to see how the warmup went. Up and out early for the warmup and it was all systems go after that.

The hill in question is about 200 metres with a total ascent of about 15-17 metres. I wasn't sure how many reps would be possible, but felt that 20 would probably be a serious shift, so just went with by feel instead of chasing time/pace. First ascent took pretty much 1 minute on the nose, a couple of seconds turnaround time and back down again. Same at the bottom, quick turnaround and back up. Total lap was 2:02 or thereabouts. Second lap slightly slower and third followed in a similar vein. I'd a better idea by this stage of the effort required, so started taking 5-10 seconds at both top and bottom, making the round trip somewhere between 2:20 and 2:30. For the last couple of reps I ditched the standing recovery in an attempt to get another rep finished, managed to get 3/4 way up before the timer beeped. 18(.75) reps in total.

Total elevation gain: 293 metres, happy with that.

Friday Early cycle out the Clontarf seafront with A before work. Legs tired climbing the stairs to the home office afterwards. Will probably get the foam roller out this evening again in anticipation of 21 miles in two runs over the weekend.

healy1835

Tipping away nicely Paul. You any TT's coming up?

mister paul

healy1835 wrote: »

Tipping away nicely Paul. You any TT's coming up?

Thanks J.

Nothing specific at the moment, I'm on week 8 (of 10) of a base building plan and want to move on to a P&L 10k plan after. The P&L plans seem to be suiting me thus far.

I'm thinking of dropping the final week of the base building to have a down week between the two plans. Might try a 5k TT as part of that week to get a better idea of where my fitness is.

Will probably run a 10k TT at the end of that plan, and it has the added bonus that the tune-up races, which are 2 and 4 weeks out from the target 10k are 5k races, so will be a good way to gauge progress.

Then on to a marathon plan in the hopes that DCM goes ahead this year, probably a P&D plan, but not 100% sure at the moment. Kinda depends on how the 10k plan goes, I guess.

mister paul

Saturday 9 miles GA @ 7:56, avg. HR: 136

Pace well faster than recent aerobic runs, but went with it as HR was in the right zone. Maybe it was the pace or maybe the hills on Thursday, but was definitely tiring by the end of this.

Sunday 12 miles endurance @ 7:57, avg. HR: 139

Split this into 3 blocks of 4 miles, first capping HR at 138, second at 142 and final at 146.

Calves were tighter than recently for the first few miles and legs were tired generally, but after a few miles I was feeling good. Could possibly have done with carrying a bit of water as started to feel a bit dehydrated towards the end.

The Week in review

Another good week, first above 40 miles since I don't know when.

More of the same this week, without the hills. This might be the final week of the block, depending on whether I decide to cut back on the mileage for the final week and include a 5k TT or not.

OOnegative

What are you basing the pace of the GA runs off? Are they not to fast?

mister paul

OOnegative wrote: »

What are you basing the pace of the GA runs off? Are they not to fast?

Everything is HR based, using heart rate reserve.

My resting heart rate is ~45, max hr ~177, giving HRR of 132. General aerobic runs should be 62-75% of HRR, so by my calculations that's in the 127-144 range (45 + (132 * 0.75)). I generally try to cap the GA runs at around 140 and watch is set up to warn me when I exceed it.

This is all based on HR zones in Faster Road Racing. Hopefully I've understood correctly and am running in the prescribed intensity zones.

Being honest, if I wasn't following a specific HR based plan, I'd be wary of the paces that I'm running at moment, so thanks for taking time to ask the question.

Would be interested to hear other thoughts on it, particularly considering that this mornings GA run averaged < 8 minute miles...

OOnegative

mister paul wrote: »

Everything is HR based, using heart rate reserve.

My resting heart rate is ~45, max hr ~177, giving HRR of 132. General aerobic runs should be 62-75% of HRR, so by my calculations that's in the 127-144 range (45 + (132 * 0.75)). I generally try to cap the GA runs at around 140 and watch is set up to warn me when I exceed it.

This is all based on HR zones in Faster Road Racing. Hopefully I've understood correctly and am running in the prescribed intensity zones.

Being honest, if I wasn't following a specific HR based plan, I'd be wary of the paces that I'm running at moment, so thanks for taking time to ask the question.

Would be interested to hear other thoughts on it, particularly considering that this mornings GA run averaged < 8 minute miles...

I’m only going off my experience of using P&D for Amsterdam’19. I have never used HR so can’t comment but based my paces off a recent 5k. I interpreted GA as my “easy” pace and never approached the times you are running for GA runs.

I probably misinterpreted GA though, but I’d be very cautious running the paces you are going on your previous calf issues.

mister paul

Looking at the book, here's what it has to say about GA runs

Faster Road Racing wrote:

General aerobic runs are done at a moderate effort and improve your overall aerobic fitness by boosting your training volume

Also Faster Road Racing wrote:

...The effort should be greater than during recovery runs and less than during a long run. These runs should be conversational but should not feel like a jog.

Not sure how to reconcile those two snippets. I'd definitely say that I'm running at a moderate effort level, but not sure it's fully "conversational", in the general way that we'd normally associate with easy running.

OOnegative

It’s the “conversational” part that I put them down as a standard easy run.

Annie get your Run

mister paul wrote: »

Looking at the book, here's what it has to say about GA runs





Not sure how to reconcile those two snippets. I'd definitely say that I'm running at a moderate effort level, but not sure it's fully "conversational", in the general way that we'd normally associate with easy running.

To be fair, they are quite contradictory statements. I would never perceive my easy runs to be moderate either.

From a HRR perspective, I noticed that moving from HR to HRR my paces were faster for the easy zone, it widens the net so to speak. I'm not sure if that's good or bad....

Treviso

From doing P&D for DCM, GA runs were always at easy pace for me. Recovery runs were super slow

zico10

mister paul wrote: »

Not sure how to reconcile those two snippets. I'd definitely say that I'm running at a moderate effort level, but not sure it's fully "conversational", in the general way that we'd normally associate with easy running.

They’re perfectly reconcilable to me at least. You just need to stop thinking of easy running as recovery, or else thinking your general distance or even long runs should be easy.

For me the hierarchy of paces is;
1. VO2/speed
2. Tempo
3. MP
4. Steady
5. General training pace
6. Easy (I followed a P & D plan before, and this is where “general aerobic” would have fallen.)
7. Recovery

You can split hairs and talk about max sprints up to 10km pace at the top of the tree, but that’s the generally my approach to run training. I allow myself a very generous margin between what I’d consider too fast and too slow for my easy runs, and I’ll just go with how my legs are feeling on the day. But I always keep one eye on pace, and if I’m running too slow, I pick it up, and 9 times out of 10, the body responds without any great effort.

Murph_D

My own FRR experiences are from before I started paying much attention to HR, so I can't add much. I always thought of GA as 'easy' but I would consider 75% HRR to be 'moderate' alright - definitely into zone 3, but still a good bit below the LT. This is the area that Fitzgerald (in 80/20 method) considers the buffer zone that many runners tend to stray into when running easy, although he considers it slightly harder than easy - ie moderate, which of course is the same term used by Pfitzinger and Latter in FRR.

Personally I would favour the lower end of that 62-75% range, as I don't like exceeding 70% HRR on easy runs (and I see if you are trying to cap at 140 you'd be pretty close to that point). But every runner is different, and it certainly feels good to go into the moderate zone - the danger is ending up doing too much that is slightly beyond that, I suppose.

mister paul

Thanks for the feedback folks, much appreciated. Only catching up on the last couple of posts now.

I decided after 1 mile today @ 8:22 (uphill, Strava GAP 7:43) that I'd decrease the HR cap slightly from 140 to 138, which is coincidentally 70% (well 137.4 = 70%). Fairly sure the FRR book does suggest that the higher end of the zone are for more experienced runners and that others should tend towards the lower end, so it probably makes sense anyway.

The fitness is definitely coming along nicely; on week one of the plan my average pace for GA runs was probably about 8:40-50 pace and has been coming down since then. So it is probably a good time to revisit the specific targets within the HR zones, as managing pace at lower HR is becoming easier and overall distances are increasing.

ariana`

Very interesting commentary here. Made me go back and look at my own runs to find that my last 10 easy runs averaged 65% HRR.

I did an LT HR test a few years back and the tester/coach did up a plan for me with HR ranges for all my runs based on the results. Anyhow, one thing he said to me that has stuck is that there is no harm at all being at the lower end of the range for your runs, once you are spending all/most of the time in the range then you are getting the full benefit. I didn't stick with his plan for very long but that piece of advice stuck with me fwiw and I think it may apply here to you.

I'd be looking at how you're feeling generally, how you're recovering and how those hard runs are going for you...

Have your calf/achilles problems gone away completely now P?

It's brilliant when you feel the fitness coming along like that - great feeling and return for the consistent input.

mister paul

Thanks E. I think what you describe is how I'm looking at it now based on the discussion above, make sure I'm in the correct zone, without targeting the upper end of it.

Calves have generally been good the last while, it seems to be something that bothers me more when fitness isn't great. I just need to keep on top of stretching and foam rolling now to keep them in a good place.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-03-01

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 9 miles general aerobic
Wednesday: 4 miles general aerobic
Thursday: 8 miles general aerobic with 22 minutes tempo
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 9 miles general aerobic
Sunday: 12 miles endurance

Actual

Monday Rest

Tuesday 9 miles GA @ 7:51, avg. HR: 135

Generally well controlled, so watch was quiet for the most part; it's set to warn me when I exceed 140 BPM. As with recent runs, the pace here was faster than I'm completely comfortable from the perspective of "easy running", but the HR is within the recommended range for GA runs.

Average HR probably came in a bit lower than normal as I took my time crossing roads in the fog.

Wednesday 4 miles GA @ 8:06, avg. HR: 132

With discussion on the log on Tuesday afternoon and a bit worried myself about overdoing the paces, I tried to pull the effort levels back a bit for this one...after the first mile that is. Got a HR warning on the watch at the end of the mile, which came in at 8:22 (uphill, Strava has GAP at 7:43), so decided to decrease the HR warning threshold from 140 to 138...not much. For the rest of the run, which was predominantly downhill, the watch hardly beeped outside of the mile markers. Instead I found myself actively trying to rein in the pace on mile 3 and singing to myself to verify that pace was "conversational".

Thursday 8 miles GA w/ 20 min @ LT

This was meant to be 22 minutes, but I mis-programmed the watch; I duplicated the previous 20 minute tempo workout, renamed it to 22 minute tempo, but skipped the important step of updating the actual workout...pebcak

This felt really comfortable for the most part. If I'd completed the 22 minutes, it would have included a 21 minute 5k, which I just about managed at race pace in November on a similar route in the PP (up North Road and back down Chesterfield).

Two weeks ago the splits for the exact same session were 7:01, 7:17, 6:48 (5:48 for 0.86 mile) with average HR for each split of 155, 158, 158. Today it was 6:49, 6:56, 6:31 (6:13 for 0.95 mile), with average HR for each split of 154, 157, 157.

Friday Rest

Saturday 9 miles GA @ 8:25, avg. HR: 133

Left IT band was tight on this one, so need to step up exercises here...ugh, foam rolling IT band is less than fun.

Sunday 12 miles endurance @ 8:04, avg. HR: 137

Split this into three 4 miles blocks, capping the HR at 135, 140 and 145. Paces came in at 8:17, 8:12, 8:08 & 8:46; 8:32, 8:01, 7:57 & 8:01; 7:47, 7:45, 7:56 & 7:34. Miles 4 & 5 included the climb from the PP up through Kilmainham to the Grand Canal. All good for this, although left glute tightened up a bit after.

The Week in review

Another 42 mile week, so happy with that. After the discussion above, I pulled back the HR caps for most of the runs this week, with the exception of the LT on Thursday; capping GA runs at 138 instead of 140 and the endurance from 138, 142, 146 to 135, 140 & 145. As E said, once you're in the correct HR range, you're good to go. Earlier on during this block, I was running less mileage and didn't have the same level of fitness, so capping HR at a higher level probably made sense. As my fitness has progressed though and as the overall mileage has increased, it makes sense to start to pull the HR back a bit, to better manage the overall strain I'm putting on my body.

The plan for this week is 45 miles, although I've yet to decide whether I'll do that or taper slightly for a 5k TT on Saturday morning instead.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-03-08

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 10 miles general aerobic
Wednesday: 5 miles general aerobic
Thursday: 8 miles general aerobic with 8 x 100mt strides
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10 miles general aerobic
Sunday: 12 miles endurance

Actual

Monday Rest

Tuesday 10 miles GA @ 8:19, avg. HR: 135 (68% HRR)

Gave the March challenge a go here, although the calves played up for the first few miles. Plan was 5 seconds faster each mile, but only hit that target for 4 miles. Another three miles were only 1 second out.

Spent the afternoon with a tennis ball underfoot at the desk and used the massage gun on calves later in the evening.

Wednesday 5 miles GA @ 8:19, avg. HR: 128 (63% HRR)

I don't really remember this one. I accidentally wore the Gel-Kayano. Feet weren't great as a result, but better than when I wore them previously.

Thursday 8 miles GA @ 8:18 (including 10 strides), avg. HR: 132 (66% HRR)

Feet and calves much better, tennis ball and massage gun having the desired effect. Was meant to be 8 strides, but counting doesn't appear to be my forte.

Friday Rest

Saturday 10 miles GA @ 8:34, avg. HR: 134 (67% HRR)

This started off as another progression / March challenge attempt, going for the high risk -1 second per mile, but quickly turned into an exercise in just getting it done. Windy undulating route made any focus on pace counter-productive, so just relaxed went with it. The important thing is miles in the bank.

Sunday 13.11 miles endurance @ 8:02, avg. HR: 137 (70% HRR)

This was meant to be 12 miles, but took a couple of small wrong turns and when back on track, didn't adjust the route, happy enough to add a bit on. Knew that'd leave me closer to 13 than 12, so added the extra on the reach HM distance. Paces weren't consistent due to combination of wind and route, but effort was. Still felt strong at the finish, despite this being my longest run since early May last year.

The Week in review

Another good week, although Garmin disagrees; my training status was Detraining when I got up on Sunday morning. Not something I pay attention to these days. I was Peaking on the previous Saturday, then in Recovery after 12 miles endurance on the Sunday...and unproductive for most of this week. Main cause is that even though my distance actually increased to 46 miles this week, my overall training load has decreased as I rein in the HR and paces a smidge. That combined with more challenging running conditions last week and hey-presto...

That's the P&L base-building plan done and dusted. I'm sticking with FRR for the moment, so starting a 10k plan (45-57 miles) this week. This increases the weekly runs from 5 to 6, with Friday being a short enough recovery run, starting with 3 miles this week and maxing out at 5 miles.

mister paul

Week starting 2021-03-15 - Faster Road Racing 10k Plan (45-57 miles) - Week 1

Plan

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 8 miles general aerobic
Wednesday: 8 miles LT (10, 8, 8 minutes @ LT /w 3 minute jog recovery)
Thursday: 9 miles endurance
Friday: 3 miles recovery
Saturday: 7 miles general aerobic w/ 6 x 12 sec uphill & 8 x 100m strides
Sunday: 10 miles endurance

Actual

Monday Rest

Tuesday 8.01 miles general aerobic @ 8:15, avg. HR: 135 (68% HRR)

Generally well controlled effort, so watch was quiet enough. I still had HR alert set up at 148 from the "extras" at the end of the endurance run on Sunday for the first mile, but finally remembered and adjusted it back to 138.

Wednesday 8 miles including 10 minutes and two x 8 minute @ LT HR off 3 minute jog recovery.

For me the HR target is 144-161, so set watch alert at 158. Headed up to the Tolka Valley Parkrun course for this, to do two laps of the longer loop. Third rep would see me returning to the river path towards Glasnevin. Two miles warmup and off into the not insignificant wind. It's pretty much always windy up here, so nothing unexpected. The first 6 minutes were into the breeze, with the final few allowing me to recover somewhat with the wind at my back. That said, as soon as I turned my back to the wind, the temperature rose not insignificantly as the sun beat down on me (Avg. pace: 6:49, Avg. HR: 153, Max. HR: 159). Second rep started pretty much at the same spot as the first, so would be nearly all into the breeze. I just controlled the HR and let the pace take care of itself (Avg. pace: 6:58, Avg. HR: 156, Max. HR: 160). The final rep started at the bottom of the final hill on the PR course before turning into the breeze, before I turned onto the downhill towards the Tolka after a few minutes and then back along the riverside path. Warmup was slightly longer than intended (2 miles instead of 1.8) so the final rep brought me through the kissing gate back onto Finglas Road, costing me a few seconds (Avg. pace: 7:05, Avg. HR: 156, Max. HR: 161).

This was comfortable enough overall, but I could possibly do with reining back the HR targets slightly, as I haven't adjusted these at all, mainly because the base building plan had so little "speed". I'll see how I go over the next couple of weeks of this new 10k plan.

Thursday 9 miles endurance @ 8:01, avg. HR: 137

I was looking back over recent runs for a decent (not too hilly) route for this and came across the route I used for the first endurance run of the base building plan back in early January (10th). Decided that rerunning the same route would give me a decent indication of progress since then. This was pretty comfortable throughout, as it should be. The run was split into three blocks, capping HR at 135, 140 and 145. When I ran the same route in January, I capped each block at +2BPM above todays targets. Miles came in at 8:20, 8:23, 8:33; 8:16, 7:55, 7:55; 7:27, 8:01, 7:11. Elevation changes and wind direction explain pace differences within blocks.

Todays run was over a minute per mile faster than January for pretty much the same average HR; average pace in January was 9:05 for an average HR of 141. Happy with that.

Comic Book Guy

I knew your training looked very familiar seeing GA and endurance on Strava.
Super block of base building done.

Enjoy the 10k Plan, those Tuesday sessions are tough but really sharpen ya up.