24C/humid... worse than yesterday
I felt tired from yesterday's workout (unavoidable...), so only 13km at a leisurely 4'25"/4'30" pace. I guess also tomorrow must be taken easy.
Stefano: and you ? feel tired legs ? (relative to your potential, you took it a bit slower)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
7/oct - another great group run
Today is public holiday in HK (festival of ?? according the lunar calendar)
So I sent out another invitation for a group run and the response was overwhelming !! Even more fast runners than last time... Basically 80% of those in HK who can run below 2h45' for a marathon show up !!
Weather was great too: overnight the northern monsoon cooled down the temperature to 22C overnight.
It was all set for a perfect workout !!
Good warm-up alone, met the others and we had for the planned workout:
- 4x4km @ HM effort, with 1km easy run in between.
Being more or less everybody at the same level, we set the reference pace of 3'30"/km. My personal agenda was to maybe increase the pace gradually if the HR would have not entered in my target zone of 177+/-3.
What can I say ?
- after months at 30C, at 22C it was a joy
- a paceline of 10 runners going at 3'30" is a show in itself and it was mentally very easy to keep the pace in a group rather than alone.
So it was the "easiest" workout of the year to complete...
Here the numbers:
-30km in 2h10'
-Intervals (time/pace/HRaverage/HRmax/feeling):
1 13'50" / 3'28" / 162 / 171 / felt easy but it was the first...
2 13'40" / 3'25" / 167 / 175 / also easy (tailwind), but start the real effort
3 13'45' / 3'26" / 169 / 181 / stride a bit altered, felt like working at the right intensity
4 13'13" / 3'18" / 174 / 186 / we raced it... But I felt good, good sprint
Overall: with lower temperature, running is a different thing.. Felt really well and in control at 3'25" pace. Very positive. Maybe we could have pushed a bit more during the recovery to make it tougher and closer to a full HM effort.
Everyone was enthousiastic at the end about the great workout and the effectiveness of training in such a group. To be repeated
Monday, October 6, 2008
Wk 40 summary
- 148km in 7 workouts . (WOW.. it is my lifetime record for a week)
Overall: I wish I could have had several weeks like this... it was almost perfect in terms of quality and quantity of the work. The cooler monsoon helped a lot because reaching 15/18km in my "easy" days was really easy.
Unfortunately the hot weather in September really killed me and I have not done yet many really "high quality" workouts. The number of Km really hitting the pace has been very low.
I am really in doubts for the next 2 weeks on what to do:
- work mainly on quality workouts and try to become more familiar with "high" speed, even sacrificing the distance
or
- continue the plan as mixed endurance/speed, with the risk to have great stamina, but not mechanically used to the 3'40" pace...
I think it over tonight... (suggestions welcome)
Overall: I wish I could have had several weeks like this... it was almost perfect in terms of quality and quantity of the work. The cooler monsoon helped a lot because reaching 15/18km in my "easy" days was really easy.
Unfortunately the hot weather in September really killed me and I have not done yet many really "high quality" workouts. The number of Km really hitting the pace has been very low.
I am really in doubts for the next 2 weeks on what to do:
- work mainly on quality workouts and try to become more familiar with "high" speed, even sacrificing the distance
or
- continue the plan as mixed endurance/speed, with the risk to have great stamina, but not mechanically used to the 3'40" pace...
I think it over tonight... (suggestions welcome)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
5/october
after yesterday fast and long run, I was expecting to feel tired today. I WAS tired..
15km easy @4'25" average pace.
Note: friday I did the silly mistake to run faster because I felt good even if it was supposed to be a easy run. That is rule #1, #2 and #3 of training... when it is your easy run to recover before/after hard workouts, do it easy, regardless on how you feel !!
15km easy @4'25" average pace.
Note: friday I did the silly mistake to run faster because I felt good even if it was supposed to be a easy run. That is rule #1, #2 and #3 of training... when it is your easy run to recover before/after hard workouts, do it easy, regardless on how you feel !!
4/october "the power of networking"
by far, the most enjoyable workout in my 9 years in China&HK !!
In the past days I had floated the plan for this workout (20km easy + 13km @MP) to my usual running friends ... well, the word spread out and at the starting point we were more than a dozen, with (incredibly!) 6 out of 10 of the best marathon runners in HK and the current 2nd best female runner !! wow..
The comment from E. was the most amusing: "I guess that not even at the HK Marathon you have this starting field..".
The weather was at his most awful, with an incoming typhoon: 27C, 90% Humidity, hot humid strong wind.
Honestly I had not recovered well from friday's workout or maybe the poor sleep, but I felt not really OK. The HR was way too high for the easy pace (155bpm at 4'15" ... no way in normal conditions).
Anyway in such a good group, the first 20km went out very easily: we were pacing 4'15" and any of us could pace the group for a while... ideal conditions...
than we started the most amusing section: 12km @ 3'40"/k pace (target).
Honestly, given my poor conditions and the ugly weather, if I had been alone, I would have simply cut short home...
Even at that pace, we were all packed and it was really a great view... while we were overtaking several slower runners on the cycling path, I heard more than one of them commenting in disbelief that all of us ("know faces" in our small territory) could be running together ...
at the end, we did the 12km in 44'50" (3'43"/k pace). Really satisfactory given the weather conditions. My HR was way out the target of 168+/-2bpm, more flirting with 175bpm towards the end, but given my conditions of the day from the start, I took it as unavoidable and it was good to finish well without drop of pace. No doubts about my marathon endurance at this point.
Total 35k in 2h22" and a real good running experience !!
My thanks to Stefano, M.K., Keith, Lai HK, K.T., E., S.F. and the others for joining !!
In the past days I had floated the plan for this workout (20km easy + 13km @MP) to my usual running friends ... well, the word spread out and at the starting point we were more than a dozen, with (incredibly!) 6 out of 10 of the best marathon runners in HK and the current 2nd best female runner !! wow..
The comment from E. was the most amusing: "I guess that not even at the HK Marathon you have this starting field..".
The weather was at his most awful, with an incoming typhoon: 27C, 90% Humidity, hot humid strong wind.
Honestly I had not recovered well from friday's workout or maybe the poor sleep, but I felt not really OK. The HR was way too high for the easy pace (155bpm at 4'15" ... no way in normal conditions).
Anyway in such a good group, the first 20km went out very easily: we were pacing 4'15" and any of us could pace the group for a while... ideal conditions...
than we started the most amusing section: 12km @ 3'40"/k pace (target).
Honestly, given my poor conditions and the ugly weather, if I had been alone, I would have simply cut short home...
Even at that pace, we were all packed and it was really a great view... while we were overtaking several slower runners on the cycling path, I heard more than one of them commenting in disbelief that all of us ("know faces" in our small territory) could be running together ...
at the end, we did the 12km in 44'50" (3'43"/k pace). Really satisfactory given the weather conditions. My HR was way out the target of 168+/-2bpm, more flirting with 175bpm towards the end, but given my conditions of the day from the start, I took it as unavoidable and it was good to finish well without drop of pace. No doubts about my marathon endurance at this point.
Total 35k in 2h22" and a real good running experience !!
My thanks to Stefano, M.K., Keith, Lai HK, K.T., E., S.F. and the others for joining !!
Friday, October 3, 2008
from now on, daily
because it is now only 1 month left to the Marathon day, I will try to blog more frequently... maybe almost daily update.
Latest developments:
- on Oct 1st (China's National Day), we did a great workout with E.
31km with 6x2km @ HM effort (target 3'30"/k pace).
Honestly something was wrong because I felt very awkward on the pace. The 3'30" pace felt too fast on the legs, but in reality the HR was barely touching 170bpm (so more in "Marathon" effort than "HM" effort). I could barely hit the 7'00" target for each interval, even if I did not feel it like a particularly tiring effort.
I do not know if someone out there met the same issue. I am not sure if it is due to still some residual fatigue from the 10k race or "too much" endurance training, without faster workouts.
From now on, I will add strides at the end of each workout to bring up to speed the legs...
- 2nd October:
easy run, 14km. Felt very tired from yesterday (understandable)
- 3/Oct:
the main purpose was a test drive on the marathon shoes.
I opted for the NewBalance RC902NR because the most similar to my previous RC600.
They are great shoes indeed... comfortable, responsive, good support for pronation control and the cushioning is decent (for a 220gr/7.2oz shoes).
I held very easily a 4'05" pace and also pushed for 2k to see the response of the shoe: 3'35" pace felt very easy.
Summary: 16.7km in 1h08' (4'04" pace), with 2km in 7'08" at medium effort (!!) + stride.
tomorrow Saturday, I was able to gather most of the best runners in HK to come with me for the long run !!! incredible... I guess at least 5 out of the 10 best will be with me for the long run with MP section !! (I feel some pressure now... better go to sleep early tonight)
Latest developments:
- on Oct 1st (China's National Day), we did a great workout with E.
31km with 6x2km @ HM effort (target 3'30"/k pace).
Honestly something was wrong because I felt very awkward on the pace. The 3'30" pace felt too fast on the legs, but in reality the HR was barely touching 170bpm (so more in "Marathon" effort than "HM" effort). I could barely hit the 7'00" target for each interval, even if I did not feel it like a particularly tiring effort.
I do not know if someone out there met the same issue. I am not sure if it is due to still some residual fatigue from the 10k race or "too much" endurance training, without faster workouts.
From now on, I will add strides at the end of each workout to bring up to speed the legs...
- 2nd October:
easy run, 14km. Felt very tired from yesterday (understandable)
- 3/Oct:
the main purpose was a test drive on the marathon shoes.
I opted for the NewBalance RC902NR because the most similar to my previous RC600.
They are great shoes indeed... comfortable, responsive, good support for pronation control and the cushioning is decent (for a 220gr/7.2oz shoes).
I held very easily a 4'05" pace and also pushed for 2k to see the response of the shoe: 3'35" pace felt very easy.
Summary: 16.7km in 1h08' (4'04" pace), with 2km in 7'08" at medium effort (!!) + stride.
tomorrow Saturday, I was able to gather most of the best runners in HK to come with me for the long run !!! incredible... I guess at least 5 out of the 10 best will be with me for the long run with MP section !! (I feel some pressure now... better go to sleep early tonight)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Italians strike again - filotto italiano
This post is mainly focused on the Italian running community and the endless strip of victories in from August until now (obviously not all mine...), so I will write in Italian, for the benefit of the spare italian readers...
Forse a Pechino non e' andata alla perfezione per l'atletica italiana, ma qui nel Sud della Cina sembra un momento molto favorevole alla nostra comunita':
a Hong Kong ci sono circa 6-8000 partecipanti regolari alle svariate gare, con una punta di 50.000 per la HK Marathon e manfestazioni collaterali. Di questi solo 3-4 sono italiani, quindi una minuscola rappresentanza statistica...
E' quindi incredibile che nella stagione podistica 2008-09 appena iniziata, abbiamo vinto TUTTE le gare a cui uno di noi ha partecipato !! Da fine agosto ad oggi, una gara dietro l'altra !!
Le mie 2 vittorie si aggiungono le 3 di Stefano, che anche ieri (Public holiday per la Festa Nazionale) ha sbaragliato gli avversari in un 10km con un ottimo tempo di 32'38" (non male... era ventoso e 26C (secchi)). Bravo Stefano !!
Speriamo che il filotto continui ...
Forse a Pechino non e' andata alla perfezione per l'atletica italiana, ma qui nel Sud della Cina sembra un momento molto favorevole alla nostra comunita':
a Hong Kong ci sono circa 6-8000 partecipanti regolari alle svariate gare, con una punta di 50.000 per la HK Marathon e manfestazioni collaterali. Di questi solo 3-4 sono italiani, quindi una minuscola rappresentanza statistica...
E' quindi incredibile che nella stagione podistica 2008-09 appena iniziata, abbiamo vinto TUTTE le gare a cui uno di noi ha partecipato !! Da fine agosto ad oggi, una gara dietro l'altra !!
Le mie 2 vittorie si aggiungono le 3 di Stefano, che anche ieri (Public holiday per la Festa Nazionale) ha sbaragliato gli avversari in un 10km con un ottimo tempo di 32'38" (non male... era ventoso e 26C (secchi)). Bravo Stefano !!
Speriamo che il filotto continui ...
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