Tuesday 26 July 2005

Tue 26 Jul, morning easy run & speed session in evening

79.5kg, 23km today, 49km for the week so far

Didn't feel like starting work very early today, so I went for an easy 5km run through the city and around the outside of the barracks, then spent 15 minutes stretching my legs. Now sitting at my desk I feel great & looking forward to 6x1000 tonight.

Evening session
Arrived at the track at 5pm and did a few laps of the complex with Dave, bit of chat & stuff whilst warming up. Minimal stretching and 3 run thrus. The wind is up which did cause a few concerns, but...must get on with it.

A few days ago I sent an email to Burkie thanking him for efforts in the past months & all of his time & effort with helping me work towards my goals. I also reminded him of some of my goals (sub 90m for HM, sub 40m for 10, & Zatopek), well I think he must have decided it was time for me to up the 'anti'. Tonight's session, with wind & all, 8x1000k, normal pace & normal recovery (jog/walk).

We take off for our first rep, big gusts of wind on the corner leading into the back straight, hmmm, we'll hit this 3 times each 1k repeat. Both of us stick together and work on setting a solid but controlled pace, which is good considering we had 7 to go. Young Dave joined in on our 2nd rep and did a few 1km reps and then some 600s with us. We agreed we would change our starting point (start at the 200) on the 5th, which meant only hitting the big winds twice per rep.

Splits & (recovery):
3:47 (1:35)
3:47 (1:43)
3:51 (1:50)
3:53 (2:02)
3:52 (1:47)
3:51 (1:52)
3:51 (1:53)
3:46 (4 lap cool down)

The 2 min break was me, preparing for 4 reps to go. A great session and very pleased with the results and consistent times. Burkie suggested that the recovery times must get closer to 90 seconds, oh shit, that's going to be hard!

Of course Dave was consistently in front of me by a few seconds each lap, but its great to have someone to start & finish with and of course chase around the big brown/reddish circle.

3 comments:

Martin said...

stu, thats the stuff of sub 40 for sure mate. If you can keep the reps at that time and decrease the rest to 90 seconds you will smash 40 very soon.

I don't think the speed needs to be faster for a sub 40, as that's what I was doing, just lower the recovery between each rep, good session!

Clairie said...

Hi StuMac, I was told the same thing, I can go fast (for me) but also take the full rest. Pat and Tesso tell me that when I can do the same speed, but cut my rest down, that is when the improvement in races will show.
Damn :(

I am mildly curious, isn't 79.5kg a low weight for someone your age? Do you have a goal or are you just trying to maintain it around the same.

It will be fascinating to see over time if there are any fluctuations and if that is reflected in your running performances.
Unlike you I am not brave enough to put my weight up but certainly am aware of it as a major factor in my racing. now that I am back to running I am aiming to reduce slightly before Noosa to see what benefit I can get.... will keep you posted :)

petaljuice said...

Hello Stu Mac,
Your 1000m repeats look interesting . I have been experimenting with 400m repeats and am satisfied with the results.