In my training I always take it easy every fourth or fifth week to allow my body to consolidate the gains made from the training of the previous weeks. Very often this recovery week coincides with a week where I have a race scheduled on the weekend, so it also acts as a bit of a pre-race taper. That was the case this week, and after last weeks big mileage, I have to say I was happy to recover. Here's what it looked like:
Monday January 18th: An easy run on the treadmill at the local YMCA to recover from yesterdays long run. Why the treadmill? Just felt like listening to music and not worrying about traffic and wind. 6.5km
Tuesday January 19th: Morningside hill circuit x 2. Took it easy this week. Legs felt good. 15.5km
Wednesday January 20th: Longboat club run on Martin Goodman trail along Lake Ontario. Ran 3 x 5 minute intervals at 3:50min/km pace. A good run overall, sped up a little on the last interval. Right hamstring a little sore afterwards. 13.1km
Thursday January 21st: Easy recovery run down to MArtin Goodman trail and back through Exhibition place. 12.2km
Friday January 22nd: Another easy run on similar route to yesterday. Definately in Race taper mode here. 11.3km
Saturday January 23rd: No run. Should have had a short run of about 5k, but ran out of time. 0k
Sunday January 24th: Robbie Burns Race in Burlington. The first race of the year turned out well considering I haven't done much more than base mileage. Ran with Rob Campbell as he attempted to break the Longboat Roadrunners club 8K record for men 50-54. Unfortunately, despite both running personal bests (28:46), we missed it by 10 seconds. Ran a 2km warm up for a total of 10km
Week Total: 68.6km
Year to date: 332.1km
Feel refreshed after the recovery. Ready for another big week.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Week Three - Miles and Miles and
Miles. That was the theme of week three. I managed to get the mileage up to 112km, the most I have run since mid September in the build up to my qualifying marathon. It was a tough week, one in which my recovery runs were probably not easy enough and I suffered because of it. Here are the details:
Monday 11th January: An easy recovery run to High Park. Kept the pace very easy after yesterday's long run. 9.4km.
Tuesday 12th January: Ran two loops of the Morningside hill circuit, still feeling the effects of Sunday's Long run in my legs, so not as fast as I would like. Running a little slower on the way home I was passed by a guy on his way home from work who muttered "Give up!" 15.9km
Wednesday 13th January: Longboat club run with Rob along Martin Goodman trail. Included 6X 6 minute intervals with three minute recovery as part of preparation for Robbie Burns race. 18.6km
Thursday 14th January: Easy run on treadmill at YMCA. This was the one that was probably run too hard. I paid for it on Friday. 12km
Friday 15th January: Mile repeats in High Park. 4x 1 mile with 2 minute recovery, Unfortunately these were slower than they should have been because I overdid it yesterday. 16km
Saturday 16th January: Longboat run in High Park. Fartlek around 8km loop with a couple of extra kilometres added on. 11km
Sunday 17th January: Second Longboat club run on the Boston special. Ran with Erik and Rob. Easy early pace but picked it up later. Felt the mileage in my legs toward the end of the run. 29.6km
Week Total: 112.5
Year to Date: 263.5
Co-Comrades-conspirator Adrian ran his qualifying marathon on Sunday and managed a 2:58 time under very harsh conditions. So we are set, and both seeded in the top corral. Congratulations Adrian and rest up before getting started on the Comrades training. We're going to get that silver!
Monday 11th January: An easy recovery run to High Park. Kept the pace very easy after yesterday's long run. 9.4km.
Tuesday 12th January: Ran two loops of the Morningside hill circuit, still feeling the effects of Sunday's Long run in my legs, so not as fast as I would like. Running a little slower on the way home I was passed by a guy on his way home from work who muttered "Give up!" 15.9km
Wednesday 13th January: Longboat club run with Rob along Martin Goodman trail. Included 6X 6 minute intervals with three minute recovery as part of preparation for Robbie Burns race. 18.6km
Thursday 14th January: Easy run on treadmill at YMCA. This was the one that was probably run too hard. I paid for it on Friday. 12km
Friday 15th January: Mile repeats in High Park. 4x 1 mile with 2 minute recovery, Unfortunately these were slower than they should have been because I overdid it yesterday. 16km
Saturday 16th January: Longboat run in High Park. Fartlek around 8km loop with a couple of extra kilometres added on. 11km
Sunday 17th January: Second Longboat club run on the Boston special. Ran with Erik and Rob. Easy early pace but picked it up later. Felt the mileage in my legs toward the end of the run. 29.6km
Week Total: 112.5
Year to Date: 263.5
Co-Comrades-conspirator Adrian ran his qualifying marathon on Sunday and managed a 2:58 time under very harsh conditions. So we are set, and both seeded in the top corral. Congratulations Adrian and rest up before getting started on the Comrades training. We're going to get that silver!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Week 2: Full of ups and downs
The first full week of Comrades training was an interesting one:
Monday January 4th: A very easy recovery run, and one of the shortest in a long time at 6.3km.
Tuesday January 5th: I try and run the Morningside hill circuit every Tuesday. The circuit consists of a mostly out and back route of 1.6km and and 1.8km, respectively and covers two hills out and three back. I headed out in the afternoon after a snowfall and found the hills to be too slippery to run properly so after completing one slow circuit I completed the run in High Park. 13.7km.
Wednesday January 6th: Wednesday evenings are Longboat club runs along a flat trail next to Lake Ontario. Tonight I ran with Rob Cambell and we did 4 X 6min intervals at about 4min/km pace with a 3 minute recovery. This was supposed to be a sub-anaerobic threshold to introduce some faster running in preparation for the first race of the season, the Robbie Burns 8k. It felt great to be running fast again after holding back over the last 6 weeks. 19.2km.
Thursday January 7th: No run. What can I say? This one got away from me.
Friday January 8th: Ran on the treadmill at the YMCA. Did 4X1 mile repeats with 2 minute recovery and an additional 1 mile of butt kicks and bounding on the track. 12.2km including warm up and cool down.
Saturday January 9th: Saturday morning run with Longboat at High Park. Did an 8km progression run to the north and west of the park in preparation for Robbie Burns race. An extra loop around the ring road brought the total to 10km.
Sunday January 10th: Loadsa Hills. Long run starting at the west end YMCA and headed west. This is a great route for getting serious hill running in. I lost count of the number of hills Rob and I climbed that morning. My legs were certainly feeling the effects of them by the end of it, and it was only a third of the Comrades distance. 30km.
So there it is, the first full week, one that had a day of slacking, a couple of days of faster running that felt great and my first run of 30km since the Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon on November 1st.
Bruce was also doing weights three times a week during his training for the 1986 down run. He started the weight program after a particularly hard win in the 1982 down run when he raced Alan Robb from Botha's Hill to the finish, apparently the toughest part of the course. The weight work targeted quads, calves, stomach and back, the muscle groups most stressed when running downhill. In addition a little upper body work was added after realizing that runners use their arms a lot more to push themselves on when their legs are totally done.
So, I have to add some weights in here at some point. Better get on that.
Monday January 4th: A very easy recovery run, and one of the shortest in a long time at 6.3km.
Tuesday January 5th: I try and run the Morningside hill circuit every Tuesday. The circuit consists of a mostly out and back route of 1.6km and and 1.8km, respectively and covers two hills out and three back. I headed out in the afternoon after a snowfall and found the hills to be too slippery to run properly so after completing one slow circuit I completed the run in High Park. 13.7km.
Wednesday January 6th: Wednesday evenings are Longboat club runs along a flat trail next to Lake Ontario. Tonight I ran with Rob Cambell and we did 4 X 6min intervals at about 4min/km pace with a 3 minute recovery. This was supposed to be a sub-anaerobic threshold to introduce some faster running in preparation for the first race of the season, the Robbie Burns 8k. It felt great to be running fast again after holding back over the last 6 weeks. 19.2km.
Thursday January 7th: No run. What can I say? This one got away from me.
Friday January 8th: Ran on the treadmill at the YMCA. Did 4X1 mile repeats with 2 minute recovery and an additional 1 mile of butt kicks and bounding on the track. 12.2km including warm up and cool down.
Saturday January 9th: Saturday morning run with Longboat at High Park. Did an 8km progression run to the north and west of the park in preparation for Robbie Burns race. An extra loop around the ring road brought the total to 10km.
Sunday January 10th: Loadsa Hills. Long run starting at the west end YMCA and headed west. This is a great route for getting serious hill running in. I lost count of the number of hills Rob and I climbed that morning. My legs were certainly feeling the effects of them by the end of it, and it was only a third of the Comrades distance. 30km.
So there it is, the first full week, one that had a day of slacking, a couple of days of faster running that felt great and my first run of 30km since the Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon on November 1st.
Total for the week: 91.5km
Year to date: 151km
Bruce was also doing weights three times a week during his training for the 1986 down run. He started the weight program after a particularly hard win in the 1982 down run when he raced Alan Robb from Botha's Hill to the finish, apparently the toughest part of the course. The weight work targeted quads, calves, stomach and back, the muscle groups most stressed when running downhill. In addition a little upper body work was added after realizing that runners use their arms a lot more to push themselves on when their legs are totally done.
So, I have to add some weights in here at some point. Better get on that.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Getting Started
After re-reading "Run the Comrades" over the holidays, I realized I was way too ambitious in my plans for Comrades preparation. The initial idea for my training plan was to follow Bruce Fordyce's schedule for his build up to the 1986 Comrades Marathon. The 1986 race was run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, a "down" run, as it will be this year. The race generally alternates direction each year, although this year will be the second "down" run in a row. This was done so that the race would end in Durban which is one of the host cities to the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament that begins shortly after the Comrades. Looking at Bruce's training program, I see why he says "A novice runner who hopes to run the Comrades for the first time would be foolish to copy my schedule."
Because South Africa is hosting the World Cup this year and it takes place so close to the Comrades race, the Comrades organizers limited the field to 20,000 runners, with only 5,000 spots available to first time runners like myself and running buddy Adrian (who I hope will contribute notes from his training in Hong Kong to this blog). Registration opened at 9am South African time on November 1st, the same day I planned to run the Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon as my qualifying race. Not wanting to run the marathon wondering how fast the registration was filling up, I woke up at 1:45am, registered Adrian and myself, and managed to catch a couple of hours more sleep before getting up to run the marathon. By the end of the day I had registered us for the Comrades, ran a personal best marathon in 2:48:33 and finished ninth overall. It was a long day but worth every waking minute.
Since the marathon I raced Ontario and National Masters cross country championships, in between recovery runs and have spent December building a base from which to launch my training program. Now January is here and I am continuing to increase mileage to develop the endurance and aerobic capacity that I will need later. In addition to regular runs, I run twice a week on hilly routes, one of which is Sunday's long run.
The first (partial) week went as follows:
Friday January 1st: 9am "Frosty Duck Run" with Longboat Roadrunners a 15k run over a course with a couple of significant hills. The pace was really easy.
Saturday January 2nd: Longboat club run 8km Fartlek at relatively easy pace with 4x 3 minute pickups.
Sunday January 3rd: Long run over hilly course. 25km at steady pace.
Bruce's advice for January: "Not too serious, just ticking over - no great distance work. Try not to think about Comrades. If the urge to race is irressistable, only short distances (8, 10, 15km)."
Because South Africa is hosting the World Cup this year and it takes place so close to the Comrades race, the Comrades organizers limited the field to 20,000 runners, with only 5,000 spots available to first time runners like myself and running buddy Adrian (who I hope will contribute notes from his training in Hong Kong to this blog). Registration opened at 9am South African time on November 1st, the same day I planned to run the Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon as my qualifying race. Not wanting to run the marathon wondering how fast the registration was filling up, I woke up at 1:45am, registered Adrian and myself, and managed to catch a couple of hours more sleep before getting up to run the marathon. By the end of the day I had registered us for the Comrades, ran a personal best marathon in 2:48:33 and finished ninth overall. It was a long day but worth every waking minute.
Since the marathon I raced Ontario and National Masters cross country championships, in between recovery runs and have spent December building a base from which to launch my training program. Now January is here and I am continuing to increase mileage to develop the endurance and aerobic capacity that I will need later. In addition to regular runs, I run twice a week on hilly routes, one of which is Sunday's long run.
The first (partial) week went as follows:
Friday January 1st: 9am "Frosty Duck Run" with Longboat Roadrunners a 15k run over a course with a couple of significant hills. The pace was really easy.
Saturday January 2nd: Longboat club run 8km Fartlek at relatively easy pace with 4x 3 minute pickups.
Sunday January 3rd: Long run over hilly course. 25km at steady pace.
Bruce's advice for January: "Not too serious, just ticking over - no great distance work. Try not to think about Comrades. If the urge to race is irressistable, only short distances (8, 10, 15km)."
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