Go Hard

Recovery run? I just don't like the term. It is me being pedantic, but I like to use terminology that has some accuracy for me. I also like the titles to allude to a working definition. So why not recovery ? Well it tends to conjure up images of lying back on the beach or at a resort while having drinks brought to me. Recovery, tends to suggest not running to me. I like to use regeneration . I think the biology definition tends to be close to my goals:   " the restoration or new growth by an organism of organs, tissues, etc., that have been lost, removed, or injured." Which is pretty a big part of the aim of training. A regeneration run aims to enhance this process. This is all nice, but what is a regeneration run for me? Is it just an a very easy run? To be annoying the answer can be both a yes and a no. To be less annoying I will explain... ...my regeneration runs have the goal of restoration and new growth. Therefore they shouldn't be har...

Determining the pace of my runs is an important aspect of training. Just going out and running on feel has it's place, but it does have it's limitations. I want to improve, and I need to train in a way that produces results. Training should be challenging, but it needs to stay within my recovery capacities to ensure positive adaptations rather than stagnation or even regression. There needs to be something to guide how I choose these paces. I've thrown away the heart rate monitor quite a while ago. They don't make them like they used to. Even when the units are working, how fast my ticker is beating just isn't a good guide anymore. Maybe it's because I'm getting old or shift work just stuffs it all up. Can't think of any race that is won based on heart rate either. First across the line tends to be the usual way to win. Pace seems to be the option to go with. Because my racing goals flit between 100km and 10km events, picking the marathon seems be a ...

The Base Phase is probably the most important phase. It's the longest phase. It is where the main gains are made, both for the short term and long term goals. The specific phase that follows aims to fine tune the fitness built through the base phase for racing. As a result that fitness built has the biggest influence. I find it best to simplify the multitude of elements that go into the concept of fitness. Depending on how you categorise things, it is possible to fill pages of all the different aspects of fitness if you were so inclined. That doesn't work for me. Much better to combine all those aspects into two or three key objectives to focus on. Those objectives to develop are: Anaerobic Threshold Aerobic Endurance Biomechanics No individual session is the be all in developing any of this. All training sessions and recovery go into influencing each of those objectives. Some types of runs will have a greater effect over one objective than the others. As fitness de...

Coming into the end of my Introductory Phase of training means it time for a bit of a review. Other than a stint of four days off due to the family sharing their germs, it has been a good 6 weeks. The training log software breaks everything down into a weekly summary, I have the joys of rotating shift work that means there's no such thing as a seven day week for me. Turns out I hit around 75km each week. The standard run was what I labelled easy and this progressed from 60 minutes to 90 minutes over the 6 weeks. All ended averaging 5:30-5:50/km over a variety of terrain. So the progression was in distance and not pace. For the long run this moved in time from 2 out to 2.5 hours. Run over some challenging terrain at a comfortable and very sustainable effort, the pace doesn't look flashy on paper out near 6:00-6:30/km. Hill sprints and short intervals stayed pretty much the same from start to finish in terms of times and distances. The difference is the faster running has l...

The plan to get some more racing in this year has been going pretty good so far. I've averaged a race every fortnight for the last two months. Today was my local, the Eltham Fun Run . It's a good hit out, run from the local YMCA over a somewhat hilly bike path. I was looking forward seeing what I could do over 10km since back into some consistent training. Weather conditions were mild and pleasant, almost perfect for running. My warm up felt flat. It took quite a while to shake off the higher than normal stiffness through my legs. That is to be expected as the training starts mounting up. I wasn't tapered, but I was ready to race. On the start line I was relaxed, but keen to get going. The 10km runners had their own wave, so I knew who I was racing when the horn sounded. The opening kilometre is mainly downhill. I let gravity do it's thing and fell  into a relaxed but quick opener. That put me in 7th position, but all in front were in view. I took stock of t...

During these introductory weeks I have taken a tempered approach to the long run. Mentally this is a lot harder than it should be. Thoughts based on past glories try to convince me I can belt out some tremendous kilometres on my long days. Then there is the fear of not being ready for any big races coming up making me feel I need to do more. It's a combination that is somewhat unhelpful. Keeping in mind the introductory phase is designed to ensure my body can handle the harder, future training. There are more considerations to this than just getting in lots of running. Most importantly, I need to come through this phase without an injury. A year or so of issues, combined with being older requires more planning and consideration than it used to. The long run can be difficult to get right. I know I can exceed my overall fitness levels on a single run. That could be great for my ego at the time, it won't help with consistency in training. Pushing the distance really has a big r...

While this training thing is fun, you just can't go past a good race. After busting out my first Park Run a couple of weeks ago I realised I have missed racing. This year I will be making an effort to get out and race more often. I do like getting out to the smaller, lower key races, that focus on just doing the basics really well. The Victorian Road Runners specialise in exactly that, and I have been going back to their races since I first started fun runs. This last Sunday they dished out their Yarra Bend 12km (also a 6km option). This is a course I quite enjoy. Two 6km laps on a mixture of bitumen, concrete and gravel over a variety of moderate hills and some flat sections. It's definitely not the type of coarse for a PB, but if you are race fit it can help you along. On the other hand it has the ability to show where your preparation is lacking. The weather was about perfect. My warm up started with a few aches and pains that eventually evaporated as the race start cam...