Another weird week

Four weeks to go to Berlin and this week was supposed to be another heavy intensity week.

With only three runs on the books however, it did not quite turn out that way, at least I feel I left one planned interval session out. Whilst I hate doing intervals (because they are hard and unpleasant and I'm a softie), I feel they have been crucial in the improvements I have been able to make over the past eight months.

Today was the C2S Halfmarathon. I had planned to make it a marathon pace run, but then decided I would go for it and just do my best which I thought would be 1:35 or a 4:30 pace. And I did. New PB at 1:34:43, nearly two minutes better than my last PB.

I ran into town to be there within 10 minutes of the start, so that gave me a warmup of just under 5ks. Very pleasant, a little easterly, overcast, ideal running weather.
There were not too many people doing the half, or at least I did not notice as coming from the Kings Park end I crammed into the bunch at the front.
I felt quite sluggish running in and had it not been for the downhill part into the city, I don't think I would have managed to get the legs to turn over at all.
I set the 405 (aka bumblebee) to a 4:30 pace and off we went.
The first hill was not as bad as I thought it would be and I was able to keep the pace nice and steady. By the time I got out of Kings Park again, I was spot on pace even though the hill back out again lowered the pace to just over 5mins/k.
At that stage I had got chatting with a lady who was aiming for 1:40 but was happy to try 1:35. We had been running alongside each other for a while and kept pushing and pulling each other (figuratively speaking) which at the back of Kings Park I really needed as my legs were not quite awake yet. So, Kristie, thanks for helping me out.
That was all ok until we got into Subi and she suggested I head off as she was struggling. I stayed with her for a while, but was feeling excellent and just wanted to have a go. I figured that at the pace we were doing then, if she could maintain it, we would get in at between 1:38 and 1:39 and that did not sound very exciting to me.
So we agreed to meet up at the finish and I took off pushing myself not too hard but just hard enough.
So, according to bumblebee the distance was 21.2, not too different (also pretty much spot on with the k markers on the course) and the time 1:34:43. I got really annoyed with the fact that the organiser had not even managed to put up a clock and did not hit the stop button right, so had to reconstruct my time after putting it through GTC, but it should be pretty ok.
Although I did not take a split at half course I worked out that I did a negative split, which does not surprise me given how I felt after about 10ks. The first 11ks I did 49:24 (1-11) and the last 11ks (11-21 - leaving out the last few hundred meters where bumblebee added a hundred)in 48:23. I do think that I could have done a bit better by pushing myself more in the first 10ks.
But I am very happy as it is. Using Kaufmann's calculator, I will be able to do 3:25, but I think I can do 3:20. Knees, heels and all sort of other bits permitting, that is what I'll be aiming for.
Who knows, I might even qualify for Boston!? (Ha,ha, just joking guys)
I did not stick around at City Beach, but met up very briefly with Kristie (who came in at 1:38 and a bit) and then headed home, cooldown for another just under 8ks at level 2.

Otherwise, here's the week:
Monday: Mount Street x 7 - no PBs today;
Tuesday: planned a brick session with a bit of speed work, but had too much to do at work and it was non-essential so dropped it;
Wednesday: which is when the interval session was due, but again, had too much on at work;
Thursday: LSD with some longer fartleks in between, total 22ks;
Friday: Rest - well it was planned, but I was too busy at work anyway;
Saturday: Rest - see Friday;
Sunday: total 33.81ks as above.

Now I'm just waiting for the Berlin documents to arrive. They are due any day. And on 19 September I'm off.

5 weeks to Berlin

A bit of a weird week with less mileage than I had intended.

A number of factors intervened, including work, meetings and a certain reluctance to get up early in the morning.

As to the latter though, I have noticed that I have less joint pain when I do not jump out of bed (to the extent that I can do that) in the morning and go off on a run. Doing it later in the day clearly allows them to warm up and I think that is a significant factor in everything holding up so well.
Whether I can still do that in the middle of summer is another question, but, eh, we'll look at that then.

Monday: Rest;
Tuesday: Mount Street x6 with a PB of 1:19, hills and overdistance 12.85k;
Wednesday (I really went stupid then): Brick session - 50.38ks on the bike at 30kmh pace then 53' run at 4:39/k for 11.44k (a bit quicker than marathon pace), but held up nicely although the first 2ks were a bit wobbly off the bike;
Thursday: bike 2x 10k;
Friday: Rest (not really intended, but all sorts of things got in the way);
Saturday: LSD level 2/3 30.16k, but was quite sore after that;
Sunday: Intervals 10.33k.

Total: 64.78k run and 70k bike.

Both knees and hamstrings were a bit sore today still after the long run yesterday, but with a decent warmup it all felt good.

This week I should get up close to 80ks again.

Sunday is the C2S HM and I'll do that at marathon pace (maybe a bit quicker) with a run from home into the city and then from City Beach home again, making it a total of around 33ks.

Then, another heavy week and a decent taper. It's coming together I think.

It wasn't me - it was Epi!

And many thanks to him for setting the mark high by suggesting I do 41:30 at Lake Joondalup today.

I did not think it was doable, but by the same token I wanted to improve on the 43:15 PB of three weeks ago. So I plugged in 4:09 per k into the 405. So far the 405 has given longer readings on the races so I figured I would have to go a tad faster to make the 41:30.
That's what I did, but clearly I wasn't going to be able to hold the 3:47 I did for the first k, but tried to stay around the 4 minute mark, waiting patiently until I would spontaneously combust.

It didn't happen and I couldn't believe it when the timing box still had a 40 at the front as I approached it. 41:05! Me very happy!

If I did not have other things on my mind, I would try to get this time below 40 even this season. This way, I'll see what I can do next year - given what is on the horizon otherwise.

Now, this was an easy week and I am sure that the taper helped (which I did not have at the Run for Gold).
Monday: Rest;
Tuesday: Mount Street x5 (new PB: 1:21) - 11.48k max Level 4;
Wednesday: LSD Level 2 27k;
Thursday: Rest;
Friday: Intervals with a bit of Level 3 Endurance - 10.2k;
Saturday: Rest;
Sunday: 10k Race, about 4ks warmup and cooldown. Afternoon 41k ride on the beast at 30kmh pace.
Total for the week: 62.8k run, 41k ride.

Next three weeks are going to be heavy workwise as well. In two weeks the C2S Halfmarathon which I plan to run as a marathonpace effort though.

Pentecost minus one

Nooooo, I'm not religious, but with having enjoyed a classical education any period of seven weeks works out to fifty minus one.

Which means in a round about way that the countdown to Berlin is on.
One week of easy work, three intensive and then three weeks of taper.

Again, I've had an excellent week.
Monday - Hills and Overdistance: 14.61
Tuesday - Donated Blood - hence no training (even though I only did platelet apheresis)
Wednesday - Intervals: 10.71
Thursday - Racepace: 12.07
Friday - Endurance and Peaking Sprints: 7.31
Saturday - Long and Slow: 34
Today - Brick Session 30 on the bike and another 8.11 at Level 2/3 (just to muck around a bit)
Total for the week: 86.81 plus 30 on the bike.

Knees and heel are holding up. I got a bit of a shin splint on Thursday but with a bit of Voltaren Cream and two tablets it just went away.

The hardest part was the long run on Saturday morning. It was very windy and cold and it took about 16ks until I started to warm up properly.

As I mentioned above, this coming week is an easy one. I'll probably come up to just under 60k. That will include the Lake Joondalup 10k on Sunday. If I manage to do the long run on Friday I should be rested enough to attack the recent PB.

Otherwise we have just booked the remainder of the accommodation, train tickets and hire car for the first few days.

Now I'll have to find some places to do easy runs in the week prior to the marathon. I'm really looking forward to it.
Until then though, there is a lot of work to be done until we board the plane.

S.x on a stick

Ok, I'm in trouble.

No doubt the PC police is onto me for using a three-letter word starting with s and ending with x. I may burn in cyber hell for eternity, but so be it. Until they catch me I'll just enjoy it.

Reason for the exhilaration? Well, on Friday I got my new Cervelo P2C DA! For a number of reasons I could not try it out until today. This afternoon, glorious as it was out there, I finally got to ride it and ended up doing a brick session with 20ks on the bike and a 13k marathon pace run (assuming I in fact manage to do 4:45 for the whole distance...)

Before I get distracted by running, let me sing the praises of this technological marvel. I have had a lot of bikes over the years, but this is the most comfortable I have ever ridden. Sure, you sit on it as if you're a duck looking for food underwater, but riding seems so easy. I did a quick run to the office (10ks and back) along Mounts Bay Road, ie. with some tailwind and headwind when going back and easily managed to do 35kmh in both directions.

Not having aerobars before (well, at least not on a performance bike), it took me a few minutes to get used to the idea of not being able to steer. It's terrifying at first, but then I got used to just lying into it and shifting weight more than on the road bike to steer and just keeping a good lookout to change over to the bars since the aero bars have no brakes. No bell on it, either, but even that can be managed with a bit of yahooing.

I can't wait until I get to do a decent ride again.

So back to the focus: 8 weeks to Berlin. Son #1 has just spent the last two weeks in Berlin and has reccied the travel options from the accommodation to the start. Tick that.

Runningwise the week was a bit up and down.
Monday hill session 6x Mt Street, including what I think is a new PB at 1:26.
Tuesday brick session 30' bike and 13ks Level 2.
By Wednesday I had become really tired from last week and the start to this one and took the day off. For one reason or another, ie. work, I couldn't do a run on Thursday. Saturday was my better half's birthday, so no long run then as I was responsible for breakfast with croissants.

Fortunately, I only had a meeting on Friday in the afternoon, so did the 28ks in the morning.
Then Saturday was out as well, but today I put in two sessions, intervals at McGillvray oval in the early morning (freezing it was, I was even wearing gloves!) and then the brick session in the afternoon.

Total for the week 78ks. A bit less than last week, but that's ok since last week I was not on the bike at all, whereas this week I did just over an hour.

Next week will be similar. I'll be doing the first 30k+ level 2 run and otherwise look at hills, intervals and speed.

At this point I feel pretty confident that a race pace of 4:50 is doable, but I'll see whether I can push it to 4:45.