The theory was pretty straightforward: to run a 40-minute 10k you should be looking to be run 1k reps in 3:30. OK simple enough – slight issue that my 10k PB is 41:24 but you need targets to stay motivated don’t you?
So I figured out a flat 1k route not far from home, dug out my heart rate monitor strap, switched the measurement unit on my watch to metric and headed out to see just how many 1k reps I could do at 3:30 pace. The rather straightforward answer is none. I later worked out 3:30 min/km is 5:38 mile pace; some 20 odd seconds quicker than my usual 1k pace. What I could do is 500m at roughly target pace. But even then only three of them! So still some work to do then.
Oh yes – readings from heat rate monitor were somewhat erratic (now I remember why I don’t use it) but it looks I maxed out at about 170 which doesn’t sound much but probably isn’t that far off my max.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Assembly League Victoria Park – Finally It All Comes Together
After what seems like an age finally did myself some justice and ran well. Build up to the evening jaunt was "interesting": overslept, legged it down to the station to find train was delayed, train crawled along before finally giving up the ghost at Kentish Town, finally got to work well late to find my mailbox full of time-wasting stupidity and generally spent the rest of the day in a foul mood. So basically was well up for releasing my frustration with a hard run and was if anything worried I’d set off like a rocket and blow up horribly after a mile. It’s probably worth pointing out that should you ever be looking for a race with the intention blowing up after mile this is the ideal one. The route is a mile loop followed by a larger 2.5 mile circuit. So after that first mile you’re back at the start and less than a minute away from the clubhouse, warm showers and most importantly the bar.
Anyway blow up I did not. Instead I did something quite incredible that I’m still struggling to come to terms with: I ran the first three miles with exactly the same lap times – to the second. I’ve no I idea how I did it, however, like night follows day, 6:36 came after 6:36 came after 6:36 (6:32 after taking allowance for watch calibration). Of course the problem was everyone else was running a ‘normal’ race i.e. starting fast and then slowing. Hence at around 2 .5 miles I pulled away from a group of runners and ended up on my own with a fair bit of clean air to the bunch ahead. But it was quite a big group and I knew from the team’s perspective finishing position was more important than time (even though I also knew I’d be way to far down the order to count for SEAC and I wasn’t actually wearing a club vest). But it felt important. So I set myself what I considered to be a pretty tough challenge: catch and overtake ten people in the last mile. And so in true Hollywood epic style bit by bit I closed the gap and one by one picked off the runners ending with a final kick at 100 metres to out-sprint the 10th runner to line – oh to see the slow-motion replay.
And so there it was: 3.48 miles (according to Garmin) in 22:33; an average race pace of 6:29 min/mile (or 4:02 min/km for the more metric minded). A very satisfying run even if I was the last SEAC home. The rest of the evening is but a haze of running to/from railway stations and drinking beer.
Bad day turns into good day – I like it.
Anyway blow up I did not. Instead I did something quite incredible that I’m still struggling to come to terms with: I ran the first three miles with exactly the same lap times – to the second. I’ve no I idea how I did it, however, like night follows day, 6:36 came after 6:36 came after 6:36 (6:32 after taking allowance for watch calibration). Of course the problem was everyone else was running a ‘normal’ race i.e. starting fast and then slowing. Hence at around 2 .5 miles I pulled away from a group of runners and ended up on my own with a fair bit of clean air to the bunch ahead. But it was quite a big group and I knew from the team’s perspective finishing position was more important than time (even though I also knew I’d be way to far down the order to count for SEAC and I wasn’t actually wearing a club vest). But it felt important. So I set myself what I considered to be a pretty tough challenge: catch and overtake ten people in the last mile. And so in true Hollywood epic style bit by bit I closed the gap and one by one picked off the runners ending with a final kick at 100 metres to out-sprint the 10th runner to line – oh to see the slow-motion replay.
And so there it was: 3.48 miles (according to Garmin) in 22:33; an average race pace of 6:29 min/mile (or 4:02 min/km for the more metric minded). A very satisfying run even if I was the last SEAC home. The rest of the evening is but a haze of running to/from railway stations and drinking beer.
Bad day turns into good day – I like it.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Steady
The glorious weather continues. Legs felt a bit heavy and mindful of the Assembly League race on Thursday decided to downgrade the usual tempo run round St James Park with a steady plod over the same route.
Dave ran with me out to the start under the Wobbly Bridge and kept company for the first mile which we covered in 7:10. I continued on at around the same pace while Dave eased off a bit. Tourist density was medium although that didn’t prevent me being clobbered on the arm by a tour bus tout. Was on the way out on Victoria Embankment down near Waterloo Bridge; pavement was as usual completely blocked by a combination of people waiting to join a pleasure cruise and tour bus touts harassing all and sundry. The only way through was to take to the kerb – normally a safe enough route as long as you don’t fall into the road (and get squashed by aforementioned bus tout’s open-top bus) but as I squeezed through bus tout simultaneously took a step backwards and swung her arm back with great gusto (presumably in celebration of bagging another gullible). I had nowhere to go and took a hard hit to my upper arm. Ouch! I took it like a man and continued on despite bleeding profusely (OK – how about aching slightly).
The path near Buckingham Palace was predictably congested but as I wasn’t on a tempo loosing a few seconds here and there didn’t really matter. Gave Horse Guards Parade a miss in favour of Westminster on the way out (Victoria Embankment to busy to cross) and Trafalgar Square on the way back (fewer aimlessly loitering tourists). Heading home along Victoria Embankment stayed on the opposite side of the road from tour bus tout as wasn’t feeling quite ready for round two. Arrived back at the Wobbly Bridge to find Dave already there having taken a more scenic (and probably less congested) short cut through St. James Park.
Dave ran with me out to the start under the Wobbly Bridge and kept company for the first mile which we covered in 7:10. I continued on at around the same pace while Dave eased off a bit. Tourist density was medium although that didn’t prevent me being clobbered on the arm by a tour bus tout. Was on the way out on Victoria Embankment down near Waterloo Bridge; pavement was as usual completely blocked by a combination of people waiting to join a pleasure cruise and tour bus touts harassing all and sundry. The only way through was to take to the kerb – normally a safe enough route as long as you don’t fall into the road (and get squashed by aforementioned bus tout’s open-top bus) but as I squeezed through bus tout simultaneously took a step backwards and swung her arm back with great gusto (presumably in celebration of bagging another gullible). I had nowhere to go and took a hard hit to my upper arm. Ouch! I took it like a man and continued on despite bleeding profusely (OK – how about aching slightly).
The path near Buckingham Palace was predictably congested but as I wasn’t on a tempo loosing a few seconds here and there didn’t really matter. Gave Horse Guards Parade a miss in favour of Westminster on the way out (Victoria Embankment to busy to cross) and Trafalgar Square on the way back (fewer aimlessly loitering tourists). Heading home along Victoria Embankment stayed on the opposite side of the road from tour bus tout as wasn’t feeling quite ready for round two. Arrived back at the Wobbly Bridge to find Dave already there having taken a more scenic (and probably less congested) short cut through St. James Park.
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