Adarq.org

30 April 2020

RUN 7.1K @ 57:!6
Nice easy slow long run.
Watch workout benefit assessment : Pace. WTF watch, average pace was 8' (~60% max ) and average heart rate was 139. Clearly base.

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2 May 2020

-Warmup 1K jog + 400m walk
-TIME TRIAL 1 MILE : 7:19 , lifetime  ( including 6'' 1500m 6:50 lifetime and 2020 fastest km 4:36 ).
-Walk 400m.
-4 x uphill sprint 200m ( recovery = walk back ) : slowest 46'' , fastest 42.6'' ( 3:30 pace ).
-Cool down walk/slow jog 500m.

TOTAL : 5.6K @ 39:41
Watch workout benefit assessment : Pace. LOL watch, are you crazy??? Clearly anaerobic HIIT workout and a pretty exhausting one too!

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BUMP :

And now, the million dollar question:
How do i level up? Just keep running and whatever happens? Or i need to do it more structured?

My current 'ideal' plan is : 3 days on - 1 off.
Ideal i mean that practically i don't get to keep it. Maybe it's for the better, 3-1 seems too much. Maybe 2-1 is better? Or alretnating 2-1 and 3-1. Something like that.

Hereis the 3-1 setup.
Day 1 : 5K fast + couple of kms slow.
Day 2 : long slow run, about 1 hour ( currently about 8' km pave with 5K PR pace  being around 5' so 60% effort? )
Day 3 : Intervals, lately 6-8*400m with 2 minutes wakling rest, will mix that up with longer distances sprints but about 30 minutes total.
Day 4 : rest

Is that too much? Too little? Something missing? Something done wrong? e.g. slow run should be slower? Maybe longer?

If it was 2-1 i would go like:
Day 1 : 5K fast + couple of kms slow.
Day 2 : long slow run
Day 4 : rest
Day 4: HIIT
Day 5 : long slow run
Day 6 : rest

Does that look better?

^^^^
Nice info, thanks. Also thanks for the calculator link in your journal, didn't reply there to not dirty it further lol.
I agree that week cycles are far easier to follow. I'm ok with less days cycles too though, especially when they are so simple like the ones i posted. Iteration 1 : workaout 1a , workout 1b. Iteration 2 : workout 2a workout 2b. Repeat. Still, with week cycles you are in good hold of extra parameters. e.g. if u want to rest Sunday, rest day will always be Sunday on week cycle, with other days that cant happen.

Anyway, cutting to the chase:
After reading some more, it seems that my current plan is seriously unbalanced. Watch kept saying it but i was ignoring it. I am doing way too much intense stuff. Gotta add much more easy/slow volume. As always i have a problem keeping intensity volume low.
Here is a Garmin graph of my workload distribution the last month, Greek words in legend mean "optimal range" :

Purple is anaerobic ( 2-3 times above optimal )
Orange is intense aerobic ( 2-3 times above optimal )
Green is easy aerobic/base ( 3-4 times below optimal )
I mean , COME ON!

Ok, so im switching to 2:1 from the options i gave.
Plan is : Tempo-easy-off / HIIT-long-off / repeat
If i do another one, so one of those cycles gets a third workout in row, it will be either easy or long slow, probably the latter. Also easy and long slow mileage will go up. Easy runs will be around 10K at easy pace (so about 1 hour) and long slow ones will target 90 minutes at slow pace, whatever mileage that lands at. Gonna go like this for a while and see what happens.

In other news, the other day that i did the mile time trial and PR, i wore my racing flats. Although they have much less boost, they were sooo much more comfy and bouncy than the everyday ones. So i checked and i realized my everyday boosts have done about 700km, 90% of what on pavement and asphalt. I gotta buy new shoes. I'm a boost kid but i gotta tell you, i am eyeing the vaporflys, high tech performance enhancing soles have always made me drool lol.

^^^
So true, let's see if i can move right towards that direction.

Introducing pace targets at my workouts, using calculator provided by LBSS : https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/a761676/rws-training-pace-calculator/

My standard training course has proven to be accurately/constantly 3 minutes slower than race PR for 5K so i used the slow times at this calculator, since i train at this course. If i go to a flat course i will recalculate.
Also, of course i will be talking those numbers with a grain of salt, 'easy' , 'tempo', 'long slow' should also be evaluated by feel.
However, after the 2 workouts that i will log below, i gotta say it was shocking how accurate the calculator was, those paces felt exactly how they were supposed to!

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4 May 2020

-Run 2K easy
-TEMPO RUN 3K @ 5:39 5:41 5:43 , target was 5:40 , bull's eye!
-Run 2K easy
TOTAL 7K @ 46:03

Really nice that tempo thing. Was good for faster but kept it by the book Happy that i didn't even have to walk at the end, just slowed down and kept jogging. Might try 5:30 next time.
Watch workout benefit assessment :  VO2max , agree.

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5 May 2020

'Easy run' 10K @ 1:08:05 , 2020 distance and duration 
Goal pace was 6:45 , got 6:48 , bull's eye.

Watch workout benefit assessment :  VO2max. Don't know. It felt easy. I was still kinda fresh at the end. But average HR was 157 (85%max) , for the the last half hour it was 165 ( about 90% ), i guess that is pretty intense. Didn't feel like that at all though, never went out of breath, never felt like quitting.

9 May 2020

VO2max workout

-Jog 1K
-SPRINT 4x800m / 3-4 mins walking revovery.
-Jog 1K
Goal pace for sprints was 5:00. I got 4:46 / 4:35 / 4:57 / 4:52. 4:35 was mostly downhill so it was intended , the other ones  just went a bit faster.
Watch workout benefit assessment :  Anaerobic , agree.

Watch insists my fitness is down coz im doing too much intense stuff. Ill do only easy/slow this week, next intense = next weekend. Maybe do a flat5K time trial then, see what happens.

the garmin also produces very unpredictable "recommended recovery times", IME.

^^^
Well what do you know, those 'reverse pec decks' destroyed my back. Both lats and Trapezius. Rethinking it, that exercise, if done right, is actually a horizontal row, but excluding legs help and biceps help. It is all back, and it is pretty heavy too , BW or even half of it is a lot of weight to row with back isolated. NICE!

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13 May 2020

LONG SLOW RUN 7K @ 59:17
Watch workout benefit assessment :  Base, agree (finally)!!!

So i went even slower this time, i would check watch very often and slow down or even walk whenever HR got over 140. And it worked.
So watch will now appreciate the easy work , recovery will be included in its algorithm and VO2max will start climbing again.
Right?? Right???
WROOOOONG, watch says VO2max dropped even more to 40 now , estimated 5K race time is now 27:15
FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU 

I am really annoyed with that situation. You expect from the top model of the top brand to be better than this BS. How is it even humanly possible, the same watch said i was at VO2 44 with an estimated 5K PR @ 24:35 just 2 weeks ago. And those 2 weeks i cut down on intense stuff, i should be even better.

On the other hand, it is good timing that the readings now seem so far off at this moment, because i can benchmark it, unlike when you have readings in the middle. That way i will know if this VO2max/current 5K PR assessment is total BS , somwhere in the middle, or even accurate and i have no clue of whats going on to my body.
So I will keep my schedule as it was , today is 45 mins 'easy' run , tomorrow is rest and Saturday is 5K time trial. I say i am more fit than ever, good for sub-25, maybe even PR. Watch says i am worse than ever , i would do over 27 minutes in a RACE omg. One of us is going down bad.
Game on! 

^^^^
Haha, thanks man, you bet i will, check how the saga continues :

14 May 2020

EASY RUN 6.5K @ 45:!6
-Decided to not look watch at all. Just go at a pace that feels 'easy', not slow but not pushing either and whatever happens. Expected it to land around 7:00/km which is exactly what happened, average pace was 7:01. Average heart rate was 155 , a little more than how easy it felt but it was also 25' / 80% humidity so that probably worsened things a bit.

Watch workout benefit assessment : VO2max 
VO2max down to 39 , estimated race 5K time up tp 27:40 
I guess that either someone from Garmin is reading the forum so he hardcodes false numbers in my watch for fun, or it is just broken. 

^^^^^
lolololol    ( adarq, we need the happycry emoji )

Curious to see their face after this though:

16 May 2020

TIME TRIAL 5K 23:42 , ALL TIME 
Didn't even feel like i maxed my potential. Was just a good day, not a perfect one. I feel i can challenge breaking 23:00 in a well peaked race.
Still, delighted that i broke the 4:45 average.
SUCK IT WATCH!!! 
Ridiculous fact: after the run watch says estimated 5K race time : 27:20 
Oh well, glad we sorted it out. Now i know my estimation of fitness/max ability was spot on and watch's VO2max/race estimates are just rough indications that shouldn't be taken seriously.
Carry on.