the wheels of a 3K ladder progress start to turn

Saturday 3rd November 2007;PM; Ran for 1 hour doing laps of 300m track at Rushton Park in Mandurah with Dave,Nathan, and other relay for life people.

Good to catch up with them. Hitting 5 minutes per km initially then slipped out to 6 min. per km. Not the best environment to be running in, don't think I'd be keen to run in that environment again, although it was nice to be running on soft grass surface for the entire 60 minutes. Some of the music there was pretty cool, but a lot of slow walkers to get past, you had to lap score yourself, and I left with a headache from the wax in my head thanks to the dum candles around the whole track. Some of the music (Tommy Emmanuel style) was pretty good though, and great to be running with that to spur you on. My heel again needed to be warmed up but wasn;t to bad. Good to get an hour of running under my belt. Would like to have gone on for longer, but between the wax in my head giving me a headache and Kathryn and Jacob wanting to start the long drive home, couldn't see any point in staying any longer. Still goo to get a little running done....

Friday 2nd November 2007;PM; Ran 3km Ladder @ Noranda

in 11min 54secs.81.
500m/1km/1km/500m the distances.

Average time per km is 3min 58.27.

Rep. 1. 500m-1min 45.75 Heart rate 171 at end.

Rep. 2. 1km-4min 07.12 HR-183.

Rep. 3. 1km-4min 10.22 HR-198.

Rep. 4. 500m-1min 51.72 HR-192.


Used 5 minute rests, which is maybe a bit long but my pathetic cardio-respiratory system needs the recovery time, especially as I have not done many of these high intensity sort of sessions this year.

Went to the track @ Noranda straight after I got home from work, before I could get distracted by anything else. I knew it would be tough and it was. Struggled to breathe just as I hit 300m in the first rep, probably cos I scorched along the first 100m in 15 secs, and managed to hold on a bit to split the first 300m in 58secs. In response to the need to breathe I slacked off a bit/lost the plot to go through 400m in 1.24 and then got back on track with a 21 second last 100m to cross in 1.45, which is around 3.31 per km pace, and 3 SECONDS QUICKER than what I did for my first rep of this same session back on June 12th earlier this year. From then on given the way I was feeling, and after a good start like that I knew I was a chance to beat my overall time for the 3km ladder I did on June 12th 2007.
See HERE for link to my blog post on that one.

My PB for this session dates back to my pre-blogging days when I used mostly off-line/manual/pen & paper training books (which I still do as well as my blogging...), and was done around Lake Monger which is a great place to do 500m and 1km reps. Although its a bit far from me these days.
That was a 10.26.54 (3.28 per km) on 16th January 2003. So I am about 90 seconds adrift of where I was almost 5 years ago. However I am confident I could still get back to that level if I did the right things and worked hard enough several times a week for a few months....although I am losing my ability to run really fast as my power starts to deterioate every year a little, the further I go into my 30's it shouldn't effect things too much for another 10 years or so. That is what I need to do if I want to threaten my 10km and 5km PB's, which in turn I need to do if I am ever to have a serious go at going sub 3 hours for the Marathon. I came to the realisation tonight that I may never get there, but if I don't I will concentrate on staying relatively fit and doing a few "FUN" races, just for the experience a bit like doing Melbourne Marathon was this year in the end. Then go bush, hiking, mountainbiking etc and cut down my racing commitments, similiar to what I have done in 2005/2006. But for now I still hold out hope that I can make a serious charge after my stated time goals i.e. the sub 3 hour marathon I really would like to get....

Anyway enough digression and idle philosophy back to this session...

Heart rate was only 171 after first rep, and as usual the legs were fine and it was my breathing that was the problem. My right heel which had been sore in warm-up, had warmed up and was fine now. In the warm-up it was pretty sore and I was wondering if I would be able to do reps at all. Anyway kept a close eye on some dogs that some people as usual kept letting off the lead...gee I hate that...
So then it was onto the less intense but more searching 1km rep. Again I started well with a 42 second 200m and held on ok to go through 400m in 1.31. Lost a few seconds in the next 200m (I was trying to hit 24 second 100m's which is 4min per km pace), to split 600m in 2.27, my 700m split of 2.55 kinda sucked but wasn't too bad, 800m split of 3.21 was slightly better, but still just trying to hold it together, then I fired up the "afterburners" a bit to rocket through the last 200m in 46 seconds to finish in 4.07, only 4 seconds adrift of the 4.03 I did in June.
Heart rate of 183 was about what I expected, maybe a touch on the low side.

This meant I had to make up 1 second in the second half of the session to beat my June effort. I knew it was unlikely I'd improve much on the last 500m, so if I was going to do it, it had to be on the next 1km rep...Started to get a hint of that "I am going to throw up" sort of sensation, so I knew I was working hard enough, plus the difficulties in recovering getting my breath back. Figured I'd have to do under 4.14 for this rep. to make up the necessary ground, and that to do it I'd have to start conservatively, keep things a bit more even early, but come home strongly.
My first 200m was 46 seconds so right on target, 400m in 1.40 was a bit slower than I hoped, finding it a bit tougher this time, and "cruising/floating" a bit...
I knew then that to beat my June effort I'd have to get a wriggle on just like my baby Jacob does sometimes...My 600m split of 2.32 was a bit better as I started to wind up for the last 400m. However I just couldnt find much and hit 800m in 3.26, which pretty much maintained the status quo, still 5 seconds adrift of my splits on the previous rep, just as I was at the 600m mark, so still close enough if good enough to get well under 4.14, but needed to make sure the last 200m was well under 50 seconds. Dug pretty deep for this one and worked hard to the line to come through strongly with a 44second last 200m and a 4min 10 1km time. Gasping for breath heart rate was very high at 198.

Took about an extra 30 seconds recovery after that one, got myself together mentally and physically, happy in the knowledge that all I had to do was hold it together on the last rep a much easier mentally (although faster intensity) 500m. Figured I'd have to do about a sub 1.55 to beat my June effort. That meant I needed to hit around 20 seconds per 100m again or at least 23 seconds for most of the way.
I had started the session at 8pm, so by now even with daylight saving and a well lit oval I was needing to use the light on my watch to get a good view of my splits.The track has recently been remarked and was in much! better condition than it was a month ago when I did a 10k reps session here.

Solid start in 19 seconds for first 100m, then went through 300m in 67 seconds, which with a 200m split of 48 seconds I knew I'd have to dig deep and make sure the last 200m was a little quicker if i was to beat my June time. Went through 400m in 91 seconds which once again maintained the status quo with a 24 second 100m split, but I knew my last 100m had to be quicker. Again dug deep, and pushed hard for the finishing line and managed to find a 20 second last 100m, to do 1min 51 for the 500m! Gasping for breath again, heart rate of 192 confirmed I had again put the "pedal to the metal" a bit. Warmed down, happy and confident I had shaved a few seconds off my June effort.

Now as I get out the calculator, it is clear I beat the June 12th 2007 effort for the same session by almost 4 seconds, so great to get a small improvement, and ensure I have consolidated/held onto the small amount of fitness for these high intensity type sessions that I have brought to my training table this year. I pretty much did no reps in the second half of 2006, and didn't really do anything under 4min 20 per km after March 2006, so 2007 has been a bit better for these higher intensity type sessions, just need to stringa few together and I will see some major improvement.

However I'd like to improve a heap more, so maybe, just maybe, in this summer I can start to break some new ground and get back towards the sort of stuff I was doing in 2003 when I was close to PB form for 5k and 10k....and did the Bridges 10km in 42min 40 that year (my fourth fastest 10km run ever) . We shall see. Either way its not the main priority just now, the main priority for the next 2 months is to get ready for 6-inch 45km, but this won't hurt. Heel injury is becoming a concern, but otherwise no other major problems today really.

I feel very positive after that session, but a long way to go, if we are to get anywhere significant...Its another start...