This post is about a week and a half late!
On Sunday the 18th of March I raced in the Twilight Running Festival at UQ (named after the time of day, not the vampire saga)
There is a half marathon, a 10km and a 3km race. I’ve now run the 10km twice, and the 3km twice. I prefer the 3km for a few reasons – I like shorter races, it starts a little bit later (so it’s not as hot) and it’s a completely flat course.
Friday A. M Speed session 12km total
Friday’s speed session wasn’t in the same league as Tuesday’s. I wasn’t expecting it to be, and I didn’t want to tire my legs out too much. It’s amazing how different it felt in terms of exertion!
1600m 6:58
1200m 5:08
800m 3:26
400m 1:43
200m 0:45
1000m 4:17
The ladder was run with 200m recoveries. When we finished the 200m rep we then had a longer recovery, before deciding to run a 1km effort back to our starting point.
I felt like I ran the session at what I call an easy-fast pace. This is the pace I can maintain without really thinking about it, or what I run when I’m tired but trying to run hard (like if I’ve gone out too hard in a race and I’m just trying to hold on for the last km). My easy-fast used to be 4:30, so it has improved!
Today is a rest day, then a 3km race tomorrow! I’m feeling confident, so hopefully I’ll have a good report on Monday.
Tuesday P.M Speed session (8km total)
Wednesday P.M 13km
As I’d planned, I’m taking this week pretty easy. It’s a good chance to let my ITB settle down and to put in some quality!
I normally do my speed session on a tuesday morning, and I run there from home to add on extra kms. The session usually gets about 50 people so it can be hectic, and I don’t always thrive. This week I decided to go to the afternoon group (which is part of the same squad) because it fit in better with work. This session is a stark contrast to the morning session – there were only 6 of us this week!
There are 2 other runners in the group are usually slightly faster than me, so it’s also a good session to use to gauge my fitness.
We ran the first km in 4 minutes flat. It felt good, and controlled – but I was worried I’d gone out too hard. We were going on a 2 minute recovery, but if we slowed down we got less recovery (so the 3 of us were running on 6 minute cycles). My first 5 reps were all 4 minutes, and then the 6th (and final) rep I managed to knock it down to 3:50! I was really shocked – I normally run these sessions at about 4:15 pace. I definitely race faster than I train, so now I’m excited about my race on sunday. Surely if I can maintain 4 minute pace for 6km with short breaks I’ll be able to run sub 12 minutes for 3km?
Wednesday was just a hilly regular run. I normally do a longer run at an easy pace but it was nice to push myself up the hills!
Saturday A.M Parkrun 5km 21:03 (equal to my PB), 10km total
Sunday A.M 11km easy
Sunday P.M 1500m race, 4x200m relay
When I arrived at parkrun on saturday, I felt fairly sore. My glute (that was lacking power yesterday) decided to become sore today. I did an easy warmup, and then some strides. I also did a few drills (high knees, kicking my bum, swinging my legs) and then chatted to some people until we started.
I spent the run aiming to stay relaxed, and I know the course well enough by now to have a bit of an idea of what times I run for different splits. My times until the turnaround (which is at about 3-3.5km) were consistent with what I’ve been running, but it felt easy, and relaxed!
I managed to maintain my pace, and have a strong finish. When I crossed the line I was shocked by the time, I was expecting to run between 21 and 22 minutes but not close to 21 flat!
My leg felt ok at the end but I wasn’t in the mood for a long run on sunday. An easy 11km was perfect.
Sunday afternoon was spent at the Gaelic Sports day (with hurling, gaelic football, and races). It was on a grass field which was fairly uneven, and I just ran for fun. I managed to bring home some trophies 
Overall I’m very happy with how my running is going, so I really hope that the races I’m doing over the next few weeks will show that my hard work is paying off!
Tuesday A.M Speed session (14km total)
Tuesday P.M 7km easy
Wednesday A.M 14km
Friday A.M Speed session (15km total)
I’ve been running a lot of km’s lately. Up until this week I’ve been pushing my limits with mileage, but I’m always cautious to back off if I feel any niggles.
For me, my injury tipping point is my ITB – I’ve never had to stop running all together from it, but it’s the first thing that will start grumbling at me if I’m going too far. It started to play up on sunday (dancing, not running!) so I’ve been getting on the foam roller since.
I had 2 rest days in a row, then hit it hard again! Tuesday’s speed session was great, We did 1000m and 500m with 500m recovery and I felt like I was taking it fairly easy but hitting consistent times. The 1km reps were 4:14, 4:11 and 4:12; the 500m were 2:06, 2:01, 2:05. It felt like it was a shorter session, because we had longer recoveries – but I made the quick parts count.
Written
on March 17, 2012