a sub 13 3k interval and 22km in the first 2 days of this week

Started this week off a little better, hopefully can continue to build some momentum...

Tuesday 15th November;
3×3km intervals with 2 minutes rest at BT. Nice conditions. no major wind issues this week.
12.52.16 Heart rate 186!
14.08.81 HR 177
15.18.69 HR 177
Finally I have smashed the 13 minute barrier after gunning for it 3 weeks in a row. It was good having another BT runner just ahead near the end, as it helped me finish strong. Really happy to finally go sub 13. Had to work pretty strongly to get there about 2.00 for first 500m and 9.41 at one of the road crossing near the end. Both normal times for me, so finished stronger than in the past, which was probably part of the reason for the heart rate being so high.
Second rep I knew I would struggle to keep things ticking over as I am still finding the short recoveries hard to get used to and probably will for awhile, but at the end of the day thats a good thing. No massive headwind this time though so that was nice. Just tried to hang in there and got to 2.5km in 11.56 which is my best time for this course. Tried to finish well, but clearly my tired legs from yesterdays double session didn’t respond well. would have been nice to be under 14, but next time, and still under 4.50 per k so solid.
3rd rep legs felt very tired and I really struggled to get going, getting to turn in 8.02, but tried hard to bring it home a bit, and was rewarded with a 7.16 1500m, to get me home in 15.18, 16 seconds better than in last weeks severely windy conditions. Not the greatest time, and @ 5.05 per k a bit slower than what I want, but improvement will come if I persist, and not surprising given tired legs from yesterdays double session, and my fast first rep.
Overall a solid improvement and my best session so far, with my fastest 3k interval so far, so feeling pretty pleased with it, and my persistence in the last 3 weeks has paid off with a small improvement.
To get deep into the 12’s and hopefully 11’s and beyond, and probably more importantly to head towards the 38 minute zone (4.15’s per K) and beyond for the entire session not including rest times, I need to keep on keeping on, and start working some shorter faster intervals or races on a thursday or friday or saturday. To build that sort of consistency will require a lot of discipline, but its nice to get a little progress already…To work towards a 10k PB if thats still possible (41.01) I am going to have to get total time into the 35minute realm for this session so averaging sub 12’s. Not sure if my old body will still do that, but I have the raw speed, so with persistence over the summer for a few months it might be possible sometime in 2012…In this decade I have struggled to put together good consistent training blocks where I can keep the training momentum going forward week after week for long than about 5 or 6 weeks, so that would be uncharted territory for me post 2000, but thats one of the reasons I have decided this year to try and get serious about BT and stick with it, and its why I have arranged with work for a later start on Tuesdays this year, so I can build the training momentum. Have not even gone close yet to doing what I want to be doing, but there has been clear and consistent training momentum and progress since about August at least, when I started doing long runs with one of the BT legends. 6 inch not far away, and hopefully can maintain the momentum from here even if some weeks I might take a backward step…Was good to see a large group there today at BT and one of the guns there too today, which is inspiring as others in the group is an extra motivation to not “drop my bundle” as my racewalking coach Stan liked to say in the 1990’s….especially when you start to share each others progress and success, and there has been significant success and progress for many runners at BT this year. Simon encourages and often instills another level of discipline, and that has a lot to do with it, and its things like that, plus the fact this group is south of the river, and other things that has been and continues to be good reasons for me to try and stay a part of things here instead of trying to do all my training on my own, which usually means I get too slack…Onwards! :-)

Monday 14th November PM;
Ran 6km on my local street circuit in 31.24. HR 159 at end. splits 15.34/15.50. Felt yucky after work so decided to try and clear my head with a solid 6k and run a bit faster than this morning. First 1k 4.40, and next few km ok but then tired legs from AM run started to affect things a bit, and slowed up towards the end last 1k uphill 5.21. Good to get a double session on the board for a change and makes up for no long run on the weekend a bit…

Monday 14th November AM;
ran 7km in 40.18 HR 120 at end. Started on oval ran an almost flat out 350m in 75 secs, and then continued on to local trails on my usual course. Made the turnaround in 18.30 and then took it easy on the way back. So fast start, and solid running for 3.5km and then easy recovery type run for last 3.5km…Just trying to make up for no long run on the weekend a bit. Felt good.

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