Last week I ran over 50 km in total. Training week went as planned. The toughest session was 6 x 1K intervals with 60s rest in between. I always start my sessions too hard and then struggle to keep ut the same pace throughout the session. This time I thought I would start easier and try to get to the anticipated pace from the start as not to ‘blow the gasket’ too early. Well, my pace judgement is not that good just yet and it is still a learning process. I ran the first split too slowly then the second one too quickly while the last 4 splits went better. I have recorded my splits in my logbook and you can also follow my training on Time-to-Run forums.
No more snow .. little mud instead
For Saturday’s 5K paced run I did a 3.8K paced run around the farm where we live. This is the route where my running career began. I have run it many a time. In sunshine, wind and rain. I started off running it in 25 minutes or so and gradually brought the time down to 17 minutes. With being on the Time-to-Run training programme I was able to bring the time to 14:29 in August 2010. This Saturday I ran the route in 15:22. This time it was windy.
The week just gone was my second week on the training programme. Only after three weeks has one completed a whole cycle (21 days). Coach, however, suggested that I would start the cycle from the beginning, in other words, from day 1 this week Tuesday. I had no problems with that. Furthermore, a few of my fellow runners will be starting their cycles this week. This means it will be nice to follow their training in ‘reality time’. And as a bonus, I may get company for the interval session on Thursday, which will undoubtedly make the session more enjoyable.
How the programme works, is that the days 3-8 are the most important ones. This is where you overload the body with 2 interval sessions and the longest run, which after you bring the body down with lighter running and get ready to perform at a higher lever at the end of the 3rd week.
I took a rest day today instead of running 1h easy. Tomorrow I will start the new cycle and look forward to challenging the body again during the interval sessions. I do not really look forward to these sessions as such because running just feels so uncomfortable towards the end of the session. But the whole challenge is to cope with the session mentally as well as physically and that is what running is all about. It is a tough sport.