Adarq.org

- run 8.59 km in 44:07
dead legs. running in the morning is hard, always takes me a couple km to warm up, but i just never got warm today. four breaths in, four breaths out is my new cue for relaxed pace, forces me to take it easier than three in, three out.

TRAINING/GOAL UPDATE

i've signed up for two races on my whirlwind US-europe tour in may. this obviously gives me some hard targets to work toward, which is a blessing because if gives the calendar shape for the next couple months, and me an excuse to kick my training up a notch. hello, overload. i'm going to follow a version of the competitor.com "six weeks to a faster 5k plan," (http://running.competitor.com/files/2015/07/6-Weeks-5K-Training-Plan.pdf) modified slightly to accommodate some travel i have upcoming (dushanbe, for the first time in 2.5 years, which should be nice but is annoying because tajikistan is a ridiculous country that you can't fly to from the gulf anymore, smh) and my desire to have a time trial before i race for the first time in 16 years.

easy pace is 5:08 according to their calculator. joe was right, gotta slow down.

25-31 march
sunday: 8.25km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 8.59km easy
wednesday: ~2km warm up, hill repeats 45s x 8 @3:30, ~2km cool down
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 12km easy

1-7 april
sunday: 6.5km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, intervals 500m x 8 @3:55 w/90s rest, 3km cool down
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 13km easy

8-14 april
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, hill repeats x 10 @3:30 w/2:00 recovery, 3km cool down
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: 9.5km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 8km easy, 6km @4:25

15-21 april
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 2km warm up, 5km time trial, 2km cool down
wednesday: 6.5km easy
thursday: 5km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest [DEPART FOR DUSHANBE]
saturday: 15km easy, 30s x 10 @3:30 sprinkled in

22-28 april
sunday: 6.5km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, 5km @4:10, 3km cool down (treadmill)
wednesday: 6.5km easy
thursday: 8km easy (treadmill, replace strides with alternating lunge jumps)
friday: rest
saturday: 6km easy, 6km @4:25 (treadmill) [RETURN TO ISLAMABAD]

29 april - 5 may
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, intervals 1km x 5 @ 3:55 w/ 60-90s recovery, 3km cool down
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 15km easy, 60s x 10 @3:30 sprinkled in

6-12 may
sunday: 8km easy
monday: 3km warm up, intervals 500m x 8 @3:55 w/60s recovery, 3km cool down
tuesday: 10km easy
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: rest [DEPART FOR US]
friday: 4km easy
saturday: rest

13-19 may
sunday: HOPE FOR HENRY MOTHER'S DAY 5K
monday: rest
tuesday: 8km easy
wednesday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
thursday: [DEPART FOR LA]
friday: rest
saturday: rest

20-26 may
sunday: 10km easy [DEPART FOR LISBON]
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, intervals 1km x 5 @3:55, 3km cool down
wednesday: 10km easy
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: 8km easy [DEPART FOR LONDON]
saturday: rest

27 may - 2 june
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 4km easy
wednesday: CHASE THE SUN WIMBLEDON 5K
thursday: rest
friday: rest/hike
saturday: rest/hike

- run 8.59 km in 44:07
dead legs. running in the morning is hard, always takes me a couple km to warm up, but i just never got warm today. four breaths in, four breaths out is my new cue for relaxed pace, forces me to take it easier than three in, three out.

that's how I was for many months, trying to get used to morning running. now i'm good! hah. if I can become a morning runner, anyone can I think it helps too: cooler weather, lower HR, and just a beautiful time to run .. Also most groups/etc have early morning sessions so, that eventually becomes something you can tag along with more easily. Finally, races! Since they are early, you will be more prepared. So training in the morning like this has more specificity!

TRAINING/GOAL UPDATE

i've signed up for two races on my whirlwind US-europe tour in may. this obviously gives me some hard targets to work toward, which is a blessing because if gives the calendar shape for the next couple months, and me an excuse to kick my training up a notch. hello, overload. i'm going to follow a version of the competitor.com "six weeks to a faster 5k plan," (http://running.competitor.com/files/2015/07/6-Weeks-5K-Training-Plan.pdf) modified slightly to accommodate some travel i have upcoming (dushanbe, for the first time in 2.5 years, which should be nice but is annoying because tajikistan is a ridiculous country that you can't fly to from the gulf anymore, smh) and my desire to have a time trial before i race for the first time in 16 years.

easy pace is 5:08 according to their calculator. joe was right, gotta slow down.

25-31 march
sunday: 8.25km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 8.59km easy
wednesday: ~2km warm up, hill repeats 45s x 8 @3:30, ~2km cool down
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 12km easy

1-7 april
sunday: 6.5km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, intervals 500m x 8 @3:55 w/90s rest, 3km cool down
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 13km easy

8-14 april
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, hill repeats x 10 @3:30 w/2:00 recovery, 3km cool down
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: 9.5km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 8km easy, 6km @4:25

15-21 april
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 2km warm up, 5km time trial, 2km cool down
wednesday: 6.5km easy
thursday: 5km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest [DEPART FOR DUSHANBE]
saturday: 15km easy, 30s x 10 @3:30 sprinkled in

22-28 april
sunday: 6.5km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, 5km @4:10, 3km cool down (treadmill)
wednesday: 6.5km easy
thursday: 8km easy (treadmill, replace strides with alternating lunge jumps)
friday: rest
saturday: 6km easy, 6km @4:25 (treadmill) [RETURN TO ISLAMABAD]

29 april - 5 may
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, intervals 1km x 5 @ 3:55 w/ 60-90s recovery, 3km cool down
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: rest
saturday: 15km easy, 60s x 10 @3:30 sprinkled in

6-12 may
sunday: 8km easy
monday: 3km warm up, intervals 500m x 8 @3:55 w/60s recovery, 3km cool down
tuesday: 10km easy
wednesday: 8km easy
thursday: rest [DEPART FOR US]
friday: 4km easy
saturday: rest

13-19 may
sunday: HOPE FOR HENRY MOTHER'S DAY 5K
monday: rest
tuesday: 8km easy
wednesday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
thursday: [DEPART FOR LA]
friday: rest
saturday: rest

20-26 may
sunday: 10km easy [DEPART FOR LISBON]
monday: rest
tuesday: 3km warm up, intervals 1km x 5 @3:55, 3km cool down
wednesday: 10km easy
thursday: 8km easy, strides 20s x 6
friday: 8km easy [DEPART FOR LONDON]
saturday: rest

27 may - 2 june
sunday: 8km easy
monday: rest
tuesday: 4km easy
wednesday: CHASE THE SUN WIMBLEDON 5K
thursday: rest
friday: rest/hike
saturday: rest/hike

^^ awesome!!!@$@$ Love when it's all laid out like that. Great to see you committing to some races. Your training will easily turn up a notch, just from that.

can't wait for Joe vs LBSS too!!

new workout plan off to an awesome start: felt sick from late morning until bed yesterday, slept badly, still feel sick/weak. cool! rest and lots of hydration today, better luck tomorrow.

that sucks tho.. haha!!!!

but ya, rest & lots of hydration!

- run 12.01 km in 1:05:49
first 5.7km with gf, so very slow (~5:45). last 6.3km right around goal pace (5:08).

- stretch

- run 6.67 km in 36:00
first ~4 km with gf again. a little quicker than yesterday but not much. picked up the pace a bit for the last ~700m, below 4:05, just for funsies.

- a little core and push/pull stuff
just to start doing it again

- stretch

feel nice. hungry now.

Matching effort rather than pace for the different graded sections seems like a reasonable thing to do.

- run 3 km warm up

- intervals 500m x [1:51, 1:55, 1:59, 1:59, 1:58] w/90s rest
supposed to be 8 but i was dying on the last one. shut it down, build fitness patiently, do not injure self.

- run 2.3 km cool down

- stretch

total distance 8.74 km, total time 43:34

hills make it harder. i tried to keep pace even on the ups and downs but beginning to think i should sell out a little more on downhills and be a little more patient on uphills. it's easy to sail downhill in <3:30 but even a moderately steep uphill at <4:00 is taxing. probably better as a race strategy anyway.

adarq, thoughts on that? you live in the flatlands but i'm curious. joe, too.

I sell out on the uphill and i'm more patient on the downhill. Apparently i'm a good climber: i've been told this by a few very experienced runners, which is funny considering i've trained mostly on flat terrain. So maybe that's a good mentality: go hard up, relax (but still go fast because it's downhill) down. I don't like forcing pace on downhills in training, i'd rather go hard uphill, then relax/be safe on the downhill, since downhill is much more intense to me. It's probably the harder (perception-wise) of the two options but I feel it's the safest/most beneficial. When I relax on the downhill, once it evens back out, i'm pretty much still on pace.

For racing i'm not sure tbh .. I seem to do good when I attack the uphill. I did that in that ultra relay and the MPS superhero 5k, with great results. I slowed down considerably up the bridge in the Tropical 5k and that turned out to be awful. I think for me though, i'm just too cautious going downhill. So if I go slow uphill, i'll go slow downhill as well. The only time I gunned it downhill was the very last 1.25 mile rep of that ultra relay, in which I went all out on the downhill. Was scary but awesome. lool.

That's my experience with it.

Matching effort rather than pace for the different graded sections seems like a reasonable thing to do.

^^ nice way of putting it.

Tho like I mentioned above, I personally prefer going harder up, and less hard down. But ya agree completely on just switching to "effort based" control at that point.

I really feel like i'm "attacking" inclines. It's an interesting mental shift. Maybe that mental shift also helps on the way back out of it (downhill & flat). dno.

pc!!

- run 8.35 km in 42:30
5:05 pace. takes concentration to run that slow, natural desire is to go faster. calves cramping a little bit now post-run. gonna slow down as it gets hotter.

- stretch
also foam rolled calves a bit.