Slightly Depressing Time Trials

Today we had the dreaded ‘time trials’. I’m not sure if you are supposed to run time trials at a specific pace. I decided to run my heart out and see what said pace was, rather than trying to pre-determine it. The trials went 3k run, 500m recovery, 2k run, 500m recovery, 1k run, 500m recovery. Actually, the final 1k run was only for those fast people. I only had to do a time trial of 3k + 2k, which was nice. With a 1k warm up and a 1k cool down run, this added on some much needed distance to the morning.

Total distance: 8.27km
Total time: 49.43min
Elevation: 23m
Avg pace: 6.01min/km (including warm up, cool down, and recoveries)

My average pace was as follows:
1k: 5.34
2k: 5.10
3k: 5.33
500m recovery
1k: 5.42
2k: 5.26
500m recovery

Kinda depressing, actually. A 5.30 pace would be a dream half-marathon pace for me. And yet right now that is more of my 5k pace! Siiiiiigh.
On the plus side, when I rode to work this morning – and on the way home – I passed every single runner on the track. Mwa hahahaha!!!

Easter "Rest"

I’m under orders to take a rest weekend along with all the squad. Right. I decided to do exactly as told.
Except...the rest would really make more sense for those who had been training the past few months rather than the past few weeks. For those (such as me) who have only just kicked back into training, taking 3 days off when I need all the help I can get seems a little counterintuitive. Of course, I wouldn’t want to go against the coaches directions, who would know more than me.
This Easter Sunday, I got up to watch the sunrise on Mt Coot-tha with some friends. It included live music in the form of a church service – cool! I decided that since I was up and out at Mt Coot-tha at that time of day, it was the perfect chance to put on my “resting” clothes. So after the sunrise and the photos, I left my friends to go for a short “rest”. Not that I ran, of course. But if I had run, I imagine my stats would have resembled the following...

Distance: 5k
Time: 36.17min
Elevation: 180m
Avg pace: 7.15min/km

My split times might have looked as follows – had I run instead of resting as I had been told to do.

Downhill: 5.53 / 5.48 / 6.03 (final 500m)
Uphill: 8.33 / 7.52 / 8.41 (final 500m)

It was such a beautiful morning for a “rest” and a beautiful time of day to be out! (The picture you see is of the sunrise at Mt Coot-tha before I went for my rest.) How could I resist the opportunity? Besides – a brekkie of hot cross buns was on the menu and I needed to work up an appetite. Yum!

Ambling Along

I’m ambling along in training, slowly building back up the fitness I left behind at the end of last season. This week we ran our long run on Good Friday. It was a rather uneventful 12k – peaceful, easy. As always, lovely to catch up with fellow runners! The best part of 12k is returning home and realizing you still have the whole morning stretching before you!
Distance: 11.82
Time: 1.13.34
Elevation: 103m
Average pace: 6.16min/km
It’s funny – I can’t believe I am calling a 12k run relaxing and pleasant, but it was! I look forward to the day when I can call a 20k+ run relaxing and pleasant. Despite my belief that the pace sped up towards the last few kms, I realize we kept a pretty consistent pace throughout the session. The km splits had the following paces:
6.27 / 6.22 / 6.35 / 6.11 / 6.10 / 6.28 / 6.08 / 5.57 / 6.16 / 6.28 / 6.01 / 6.05
Next week I begin moving up to the 16k runs. Eek! Time goes too quickly! 16k will be tough. And I’ll miss the days of 12k runs.

Trail Running

Thursday this week introduced me to the true awesomeness of trail running on Mt Coot-tha. Unlike last week's running on grass boringness, I really loved the trails this week offered. It may be the last trail run until winter is over, as it is too dark and dangerous to run trails in winter. Boo! That's a shame. As always with Thursday, it was tough. You know it will be tough when you start by running down...and down...and down some more.
Total distance: 5.80km
Total running time: 48.08min
Total elevation: 232m
Average pace: 8.18min/km
It was a bit embarrassing when the rest of the group had to stop and wait for me. I was keeping the second last person in sight, but the leaders were concerned when they couldn't see me. I'm touched that they waited for me but sad I couldn't keep up on my own! Something to work towards - keeping up with the Galeforcers.

Here is a breakdown of the km laps (with pace, elevation)
km 1: 8.54 pace, -83m loss (+11m gain)
km 2: 7.11 pace, -47m loss (+16m gain)
km 3: 6.03 pace, -45m loss (0m gain)
km 4: 7.18 pace, +29m gain (-12m loss)
km 5: 10.46 pace, +111m gain (0m loss)
km 6 (800m): 9.53 pace, +64m gain (-12m loss)

Anyone notice the pattern of elevation difference affecting pace? As an experiment, I've tried to link my fancy pants watch data page to this blog. Check out Mt Coot-tha Trail Run Loop by loraly9 at Garmin Connect - Details. If you see this and immediately panic over my heart rate - don't.

Awesomeness!

I started this blog as a way of updating friends and family on my running ventures and misadventures. Then a friend pointed me out to the stats page and I found I have international readership (outside of Canada, Australia, and the U.S.A. where said friends & family reside). Awesome! I don't know if it was by Internet navigation error or not, but you all rock!

To deflate my ego, I guess it's time to talk about today's sprint session. This consisted of the following:
200m rep/recovery
400m rep/recovery

Total distance: 7.79km (including warm up and cool down)
Total time: 49.21
Avg pace: 6.22min/km

My average pace in the sprints varied between 4.59-5.37. I had one fantastic 4.30 on my last 200m rep where I tricked my brain by focusing on moving my arms rather than my legs. It is an old trick, but I always seem to forget it when I'm actually running. How frustrating! If only there was a way to remember to apply all the smart running tricks I learn in my actual training.

The recoveries were meant to be at 60-70% effort but by the end of the first 400m rep I was maxed out and had to walk a bit during recoveries.
Finally, I know this is slow (still). I can see all this fitness I've lost and the road to recover it just keeps stretching out before me. But then I see how far I've come since the beginning of the season.
FYI, the photo above is one of me from Sunday's run with bicycles. I always love running by the rowers. Unbeknownst to them, I sometimes try to race them. But only when they're resting. And even then I'll keep these races short - just so I can win. Well, I almost always win.
I'm being encouraged to include more photos and whatnot in my blog, so here is my attempt to do so. It's kinda hard to take photos of me training, as usually it is dark and I'm too exhausted/focussed to carry a camera.

Running with Bicycles

Off we went on out adventure! Me and my awesome bicycle escorts. We negotiated a later start time than I'm used to (7.30am). It was hot, but lots of fun. My legs started feeling it after 9kms and I realized how much fitness I've actually lost!
It was a lovely slow run. At times I ran beside my cycling friends and we talked. At times they buzzed ahead to take photos of me as I approached, or paused at a water fountain for a drink. I kept chugging along at a not-too-fast pace.

Total distance: 12km

Total time: 1.18.38

Total elevation: 95m

Average pace: 6.33min/km

I managed to keep a fair pace despite the heat until km 9, when my lack of conditioning began to show. At this point, my quads started to fatigue. This is unusual for me, as usually it is my heart/lungs that hold me back. I guess my pace was slow enough and my legs weak enough that they were the first to give in.

By the 11th km, everything hurt - except my knee! I was happy that my knee didn't hurt. But my legs were all but shaking from effort. It is so sad how much fitness I've lost in my...well, my ~6 months of being either slack training or in off-season. Sad, but perhaps not too surprising.

Only 12 weeks to go until the very special Gold Coast Half Marathon!

"I could be talked into it"

Six innoculous words that often mean the start of an adventure. Today was no different! But to get to that, I need to backtrack a little.
I need to backtrack to Thursday's hill session, where I wrote of having a little niggle in my knee towards the end of the session.
That little niggle returned on Friday's session of hills/stairs (and running in between) and returned with a vengeance. So Friday night I wound up debating the merits of doing Saturday's long slow run of 12k with friends. It boiled down to this:
Reasons to go - I'm in the final 12weeks of training before the Gold Coast, and have a very poor fitness base. Every run counts from here on out.
Reasons to not go - that little niggle could easily turn into something much worse, and then I'd miss many sessions as I'd be injured and unable to run.
One of my friends suggested that I run on Sunday instead. A great idea, but I am no longer that person who can self-motivate to run long distances on my own, and the only people I know who could run 12k with me are in my running group and would be running on Saturday instead. Hmmm. I jokingly told my friends, "I'd go Sunday if you would ride beside me". To my surprise, one answered, "I could be talked into it."
And so the idea was born! We planned a route that would not coincidentally map out my route to my new place of work, as I am hoping to start riding to work this week. And as an added bonus, they would take pictures of me training along the way. Let the adventures begin!
...to be continued...