105 second 12k course PB is reassurance

Its been exactly one year since I did this 12k course. To beat my PB time from that by 1min 45 seconds is reassurance to me that I am on the right track and its still game on for a 6 inch PB in 2 weeks. November has been my equal best month for long runs along with August this year which is another indicator things are on track. Also my weight dipped down to 78.2kg on Saturday and the resting heart rate is still hitting sub 40bpm. All of this suggests my 6 inch PB plans are intact. some worrying left hip soreness in the last few days, but hopefully just a minor niggle that will disappear soon. so its go,go, go!!!

Sunday 5th December;
Ran/jogged/walked 15.25km of roads, trails and 2 laps of local oval in 2hours 6min01secs. HR about 120.
Probably one of the slowest “long runs” Ive ever done, due mainly to the number of walk breaks I took, and also the very low intensity jogging instead of fast running. Had specific purposes in mind for this session; 1. time on my feet, wanted to get another 2 hours on the board to consolidate the long run strength I have from the last month or two, with out too much intensity so as to ensure my taper for 6 inch is not compromised by too much high intensity longer runs too close to raceday. 2. a bit of heat acclimitisation (spelling) for the last few hours of 6 inch, with long sleeve top on over shirt was able to get a bit of a sweat up at some parts of this run. (not very successful as temperature only 23 degrees and humidity 30-50%, so maybe try again next weekend with some forecast of 33-35 degrees, taking only one drink simulated that dehydrated feeling you get though…) 3. weight loss via increased mileage, hoping this run will help me to get the weight back into the 77kg zone…4. training volume targets…I am 40 minutes behind my 2009 training volume at the same time last year so on track to overtake that in the next few weeks hopefully. 5. just get another decent run in this week.

So a slow!!! one, but I think mission accomplished for today, and that puts this weeks training into the satisfactory mode…....just...so am happy.

Saturday 4th December;
Ran 12km in 57min 30secs. HR 180 at end. Splits 27.13 / 30.17.
weight 78.2kg before, 78.0kg afterwards (i’d drunk 600ml of staminade and about a litre of water by the time I weighed myself, did not take any drinks on this run, as keen to attack hard and not get distracted by carrying drinks.)

Big course PB by 1min 45 secs on what I did exactly 12 months ago. Completely smashed myself in this timetrial. Went out very hard, and I could see from my early splits I was well on track to obliterate the 59.15 PB from last year on this hard tough course which starts with 3km of steep long uphills and downhills and finishes with the same. Almost 2 minutes ahead of my 29.09 split last year at the 6km mark with my 27.13, so even with the hilly section in the first 3km was holding onto about 4.30 per K or quicker in the first 6km…, (which I’d guess is equivalent to about 4.15-4.25 per K on the flat for 6km)…so by the time I got to about 8km I was in desperate want of a drink, and was finding it very hard not to drop to a jog, and in fact even took a 20 second walk break on the first of 4 big steep hills in the last 3-4km, (75m of ascent and descent ranging from 1% to 5% steepness according to mapmyrun.com) to try and get back some intensity. Really struggled to hold it together in the last 3-4km, and about 5min 10 per Km was about all I could find on these hills. Heart rate was only 180 beats per minute at the end, simply because the legs were sooo gone I had nothing left to kick with on the last steep hill at the finish.
Overall a good effort, very pleased I was able to not just achieve my target of smashing the 59.15 course PB from last year (4th December 2009), but do it by almost 2 minutes. This run gives me some confidence that my conditioning is hanging in there well enough for me to PB at 6 inch again this year, and maybe even shatter the 6 hour barrier. Still time to work some hill reps, and trackwork, plus try and up the training volume in the next 10 days or so, but no more big 3-4 hour long runs now, as I’m tapering for the 6 inch 46km trails race on December 19th. Thanks God for a very good hitout. On with the show, and maybe a return to the track in the 5000m on Friday night the 10th December hopefully.

Friday 3rd December;
PM;
Ran 6.18km (according to my mapmyrun.com measuring efforts) in 40min 15 Hr 126! at end.
Easy recovery run after 4 tough days adjusting to new job, and the 3.5k tempoish run in the AnteMeridian (AM is latin for “before midday”)…
Just exploring the hilly roads and trails around our suburb, trying to destress a bit after driving 230km like a maniac all over the Perth metro during the day which is my new modus operandi now as a courier driver. Some left hip lateral soreness and right calf soreness beforehand, but not bothering me while running…A good recovery run, which had me ready to go hard again the next day…
AM;
Ran 3.5km in 17min 09secs on oval. HR 168 slowish Tempo run.
700m splits; 3.24/ 3.35/ 3.23/ 3.36/ 3.11
Trying to get back on track after a tough week settling into an exciting, exhilerating but demanding new job which I am very much enjoying, but is a lot harder than my previous work, in terms of hours per day, and constant pressure throughout the day....but thast what I wanted, wasn't getting enough work to do in my old job... Pleasing to kick home ok with the 3.11 on the last lap more than 10 seconds quicker than the other 4 laps. Not feeling very well, and didn’t feel like running at all, but glad I forced myself out there…A bit pathetically slow, but sometimes you have to do these rubbishy runs to keep the momentum ticking over so you can do the good runs better. Had trouble with sprinklers to dodge on the first 3 laps, and also a dog decided he wanted to chase and say hello…which stopped me briefly on one lap…dogs don’t always understand you want to keep running…

So overall a pretty solid 37km or so in the last 3 days of the week spread over 4 sessions gives me 240min+ for the week which means I hit my satisfactory training volume (a more sophisticated way of doing things than just tracking mileage, and also a far more powerful training tool in my opinion) target of 240minutes this week. Have not had too many 360min weeks yet this year (the next target in my training volume system, and the extremely good target of 600minutes for the week, has been well out of my reach for many years except when I do an ultra race, but hopefully thats about to change as I attempt to ramp up training volume significantly this summer...The 12k run a mini-breakthrough session for me. The other sessions were so-so but achieved the purposes of keeping the momentum forward instead of backwards despite a very tough week settling into new job....Game on for 6 inch now!!!, and hopefully that track 5000m race at WA athletics stadium this Friday! 6 foot entry on wednesday to negotiate, and be interesting to see how Roberto Busi goes in the Zatopek 10k this Thursday! (he broke the record at the John Gilmour 10k with a 30.22 last month)...GO GO GO!!!!