this Saturday was the last race of the 5K series in Hong Kong.
I was slightly tired from the long run and little rest, but in 5K it does not make sense to have moments of fear...
Without boring the readers with a detailed report of every meter... I can summarize as follows:
- my original tactique was to stick to the leader of the series for my master category and see at the end of the race if I could outkick him and win the series (I was 2nd...)
- We started like crazy at a 3'10" pace and I felt better after 2k (warm-up)
- With 1 km to go, I was glued to Mr M and we were approaching to the race leader. I was obviously working hard, but the legs were still fresh. We eventually caught him with 500m to go.
- With probably 300m/400m to go, I made a terrific kick and no one was responding. I was not sure of the distance left (the course is very winding and narrow) so I pushed the gas until the final 5meters.
The course was 300/350meter longer than 5k, so the 17'15" time means something in the 16'10"/16'20" range. It will be forever my PB in the 5350 meters...
Since the purpose of the blog is to discuss training philosophy for competitive amateur runners, I think that we can take a good lesson:
- the key to strong performance is always a good aerobic training: aerobic base and aerobic power. This gives you the power to race 5k strong from start to end.
- it is not always necessary to train very fast to make a fast time. I kept a 3'10"/km pace (5'12"/Mile) without having made any single workout of fast intervals. Probably I never went faster than 3'20" in training (unless strides).
- A high LT means that you can keep a high cruising speed without accumulating lactate. The extra-speed needed to race a fast 5k come from anaerobic power, but ON TOP of the aerobic power
Monday, October 15, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Long Run
this morning I got up at 4.30 (Jesus...) and head for a long run...
My maximum frustration is to read all those nice blogs where people head for the trail or forest or some park, perhaps together with a bunch of friends who act as pace-maker .....
Who on earth would accompany you in a long run consisting of 5 loops around an industrial area in Dongguan, at 5am ????????
So I resigned myself to keeping a regular pace, keeping an eye to the HRM: HR in the range 70/80% of HRmax. The laps went smooth around 16'30" each (each lap is 3,90km). I was a bit tired from lack of sleep, but still paced consistently. For the final, I headed to my usual school track, where I struggled a little to keep the targeted 3'50" pace.
Total for the day: 31km and run back by 7.10 (shall I change the blog title) ?
My maximum frustration is to read all those nice blogs where people head for the trail or forest or some park, perhaps together with a bunch of friends who act as pace-maker .....
Who on earth would accompany you in a long run consisting of 5 loops around an industrial area in Dongguan, at 5am ????????
So I resigned myself to keeping a regular pace, keeping an eye to the HRM: HR in the range 70/80% of HRmax. The laps went smooth around 16'30" each (each lap is 3,90km). I was a bit tired from lack of sleep, but still paced consistently. For the final, I headed to my usual school track, where I struggled a little to keep the targeted 3'50" pace.
Total for the day: 31km and run back by 7.10 (shall I change the blog title) ?
Monday, October 8, 2007
Thailand
just back home from a short holiday in Thailand.
since it is a running blog ...
I lost 4/5 days of training out of 8 days, so not very good.
I made some short runs over there. it was really hot and humid, even at dawn.
But it was very interesting to take those secondary roads and see the thai villages from close range. Different from Hong Kong and China, the dogs were very peaceful and did not bother about my presence.
Back to Hong Kong, I was deadly tired by the trip, but I managed to make a good track session
7 x 1000m in 3'25" recovery: 2'00" (200m jog).
Heart rate around 175/180, drop back to 120 in the recovery.
the purpose was to stimulate the upper limit of LT. I felt a little tired at the end. Probably 3'25" is my current 10k speed (this would be great...)
since it is a running blog ...
I lost 4/5 days of training out of 8 days, so not very good.
I made some short runs over there. it was really hot and humid, even at dawn.
But it was very interesting to take those secondary roads and see the thai villages from close range. Different from Hong Kong and China, the dogs were very peaceful and did not bother about my presence.
Back to Hong Kong, I was deadly tired by the trip, but I managed to make a good track session
7 x 1000m in 3'25" recovery: 2'00" (200m jog).
Heart rate around 175/180, drop back to 120 in the recovery.
the purpose was to stimulate the upper limit of LT. I felt a little tired at the end. Probably 3'25" is my current 10k speed (this would be great...)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
New Season - New target
After a well deserved Summer break, the new season is started.
I did not post for a while because it did not make sense to write endless description of slow runs with 90F temperature and 90% humidity.
I will probably make a specific post on Summer Running in South China, but now let's focus on the new season.
I started more seriously since the beginning of September and now my eyes are towards the Fukuoka Marathon on December 2nd. It is very challenging because their cut-off time is a 2h45' pace (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so basically I have to take the tail of the race and stay with the "sweep" car ... that would be already enough to make a PB !!
For the training, I will compress the schedule to a 12 weeks preparation because it was not sensible to start earlier. Try to make more miles (perhaps more closer to 70Miles/week rather than 60M for last race) and increase a little the intensity and duration of tempo run, etc. Also have more strides to improve the running form further.
Based on my new credo "Lydiard stykle" I avoid too stressful fast interval training and focus mainly on aerobic improvement, strength and tempo runs.
I did not post for a while because it did not make sense to write endless description of slow runs with 90F temperature and 90% humidity.
I will probably make a specific post on Summer Running in South China, but now let's focus on the new season.
I started more seriously since the beginning of September and now my eyes are towards the Fukuoka Marathon on December 2nd. It is very challenging because their cut-off time is a 2h45' pace (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so basically I have to take the tail of the race and stay with the "sweep" car ... that would be already enough to make a PB !!
For the training, I will compress the schedule to a 12 weeks preparation because it was not sensible to start earlier. Try to make more miles (perhaps more closer to 70Miles/week rather than 60M for last race) and increase a little the intensity and duration of tempo run, etc. Also have more strides to improve the running form further.
Based on my new credo "Lydiard stykle" I avoid too stressful fast interval training and focus mainly on aerobic improvement, strength and tempo runs.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Running with 30C and 90% humidity and pollution
I guess that no one in Europe or USA can even imagine what is running in Summer here.
Those making paragons with Florida or South Europe do not even get close... because also pollution and the total lack of breeze adds up to the count.
Normally I go running at 6am (at the latest) but the sun rises fast (very fast). The night temperature never drops under 28/29C so there is no much benefit in going night time, apart avoiding the heat from radiating sun.
Generally I "last" 20 minutes: I can run around 4'30" (7'12"/mile) for 20 minutes but slowly my speed decline dramatically .... to 4'40" and later is a struggle to keep 5'. I normally take also some break every 15 minutes. .. and perhaps stop a while to squeeze the water out of my socks
NOTE: does someone know a brand/type of sock that can withstand extreme heat and sweat ? (basically it is like running in a hot pool) ??
I was really low in morale when to complete a 20k run I had to stop 5/6 times with also a rest on a bench ...
Those making paragons with Florida or South Europe do not even get close... because also pollution and the total lack of breeze adds up to the count.
Normally I go running at 6am (at the latest) but the sun rises fast (very fast). The night temperature never drops under 28/29C so there is no much benefit in going night time, apart avoiding the heat from radiating sun.
Generally I "last" 20 minutes: I can run around 4'30" (7'12"/mile) for 20 minutes but slowly my speed decline dramatically .... to 4'40" and later is a struggle to keep 5'. I normally take also some break every 15 minutes. .. and perhaps stop a while to squeeze the water out of my socks
NOTE: does someone know a brand/type of sock that can withstand extreme heat and sweat ? (basically it is like running in a hot pool) ??
I was really low in morale when to complete a 20k run I had to stop 5/6 times with also a rest on a bench ...
Monday, May 21, 2007
Race in the storm
I probably have some debts to settle with the "God of Winds" ...
If I count my races in this season, they were all affected in one way or the other from a shitty weather: either 25C with 95% Humidity, either the NorEaster ....
The last race was not an exception ... the weather forecast was not good and actually was simply pouring heavy rain and strong wind.
The race itself was a local 8k and I did not have particular ambitions, but I wished at least to make a good warm-up !!!
In the 60 minutes leading to the start time, it was raining so heavy that I resolved to make only a last minute warm-up, so I challenged the rain with 20 minutes to go with some jog and strides.
It was not too bad either. .... I felt quite good in the first km and hang up very close to the leading pack. I was probably 10 second far away at the 2k mark when I started to fell better and THEY started to back off or better, to lose some pieces along the way. At halfway, we were very close and I caught them with 1km to go ....
very exciting. ..... a chance to win a race ... never happened before ...
but I was already at max rpm ...so when they kicked out for the final 500m I was stuck ...4th overall and 1st of the "Oldsters" ... not bad anyway
If I count my races in this season, they were all affected in one way or the other from a shitty weather: either 25C with 95% Humidity, either the NorEaster ....
The last race was not an exception ... the weather forecast was not good and actually was simply pouring heavy rain and strong wind.
The race itself was a local 8k and I did not have particular ambitions, but I wished at least to make a good warm-up !!!
In the 60 minutes leading to the start time, it was raining so heavy that I resolved to make only a last minute warm-up, so I challenged the rain with 20 minutes to go with some jog and strides.
It was not too bad either. .... I felt quite good in the first km and hang up very close to the leading pack. I was probably 10 second far away at the 2k mark when I started to fell better and THEY started to back off or better, to lose some pieces along the way. At halfway, we were very close and I caught them with 1km to go ....
very exciting. ..... a chance to win a race ... never happened before ...
but I was already at max rpm ...so when they kicked out for the final 500m I was stuck ...4th overall and 1st of the "Oldsters" ... not bad anyway
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Long morning run in a new environment
this morning I tried to make a long run in China on weekday, rather than in my usual way on weekends in HK.
It was also actually my first long run after the marathon.
Well, finding 20km of road to run in Soutch China is not easy at all, since the industrial development has been so massive in the past 20 years that basically all the roads (even minor) are leading to some factory, with a 24/7 traffic of trucks, containers, people, fumes, brrrrrrr
Anyway I did this venture and was a decent workout: I used Google Earth to find a minor road who looked promising and wake up very early (5am ....) to avoid meeting too much traffic. Now the daylight comes at 5.15am, so the roads were already busy with people going to wet markets or carrying out their small trades.
The road that I selected was not too bad, but it was anyway passing within several villages. So not really countryside, but just a collection of smelling villages and dust.
I made 21k @4'19" pace. The pace was probably closer to 4'11" but I had to slow down in some sections to cope with roadworks, traffic lights, etc, etc so a couple of Kilometres @4'30" slowed down the total pace.
I will try next time to bring the camera to post some pics.
It was also actually my first long run after the marathon.
Well, finding 20km of road to run in Soutch China is not easy at all, since the industrial development has been so massive in the past 20 years that basically all the roads (even minor) are leading to some factory, with a 24/7 traffic of trucks, containers, people, fumes, brrrrrrr
Anyway I did this venture and was a decent workout: I used Google Earth to find a minor road who looked promising and wake up very early (5am ....) to avoid meeting too much traffic. Now the daylight comes at 5.15am, so the roads were already busy with people going to wet markets or carrying out their small trades.
The road that I selected was not too bad, but it was anyway passing within several villages. So not really countryside, but just a collection of smelling villages and dust.
I made 21k @4'19" pace. The pace was probably closer to 4'11" but I had to slow down in some sections to cope with roadworks, traffic lights, etc, etc so a couple of Kilometres @4'30" slowed down the total pace.
I will try next time to bring the camera to post some pics.
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