Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Where I am at fitness wise

Work-out: 5 X 1 km on 90 seconds recovery.

Can I just say I find that recovery brutally short however I asked one of my friends how long the recovery on 5 X 1 km can be and still allow the work-out to be predictive of 5 km performance and 90 seconds was his firm answer.

Result: 3:45, 3:45, 3:45, 3:44, 3:47.

Same work-out 8 weeks after last pregnancy: 3:57, 3:57, 3:57, 3:48, 3:45

Fastest I have ever done this work-out in my life: 3:32, 3:34, 3:28, 3:32, 3:26

Conclusion: I am not the fittest I have ever been in my life (duh...) however I am fitter than I was at an equivalent point after birthing la cocotte (the times above are from 8 weeks post partum because I only started running 4 weeks after the c-section). The effort (this time) was all out, disgustingly hard. My legs were dead on the cool-down. Knowing that I tend to train harder than I race, I am guessing this does not mean I can run an 18:45 in two weeks however I am hoping it does mean that I can squeak under 19:00.

9 comments:

  1. These are great times!
    QUestion: How slow do you jog during the recovery? I find that I can do the intervals pretty fast (for me, faster than 5K) but I slog the recovery intervals (e.g. run them about 3-4 min/mile slower than the actual interval.

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  2. Hi Ana-Maria - my feeling about recovery on this type of work-out is that it really does not matter WHAT the athlete does - one should do whatever is going to leave them the most recovered for the next interval whether that be jogging at 5 min/km or 8 min/km, walking or just standing around. For this work-out, I covered 200 m in 90 seconds (and mostly just bc I had to get back to the start line again), partly walking and partly jogging. Of course for other types of work-outs e.g. fartleks, the "recovery" is actually part of the work-out and then it matters more.

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  3. THanks much PPC. I find that if I walk, I have a much easier time in the next interval; too bad we can't take a RI during the actual race. LOL.

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  4. hi again ana-maria, interesting comment re: RI during races. i know you were joking but in all seriousness, all of my sub-3 hour marathon runs were done with walking breaks. let me clarify, i think it is ideal and most efficient NOT to take walking breaks but i find if i get to the point where the chips are really down so to speak than a walking break is often an effective strategy to allow me to stay on track. e.g. in boston i felt terrible with 5 miles to go. i took 3 walking breaks of 45 seconds each. my overall per mile time only dropped by approx 30 seconds during each of the walking breaks. slower than had i run a smarter race but given the givens (i.e. i hadn't run the smartest possible race) FASTER than had i not taken those walking breaks - i really feel had i not given myself the chance to recover, my miles would have slowed down precipitously until running was not longer an effective strategy. i have used this strategy in marathons and half marathons. not in anything shorter. and as i say, it is not part of the race plan but a reaction to the way the race unfolds. depends on your physiology though, i react well to sort snippets of rest, some runners would find it difficult to continue after a wlaking break. anyway just my two (canadian) cents worth :)

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  5. What's onomatopoeia for crying (over my pathetic running)? :)

    I am indeed very curious what you can do on 22nd!

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  6. Interesting PPC. I can see how this strategy can work - the HR goes down, and you get a mental break. Good to know. Yes, probably not a good strategy in a 5K though. I'll be channeling you on Sunday in 2 weeks since both of us are racing 5Ks then (though you way faster than me:)

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  7. Wow, you do train faster than you run. I would predict at least 18 flat, based on those intervals. With just 90 second breaks, your race pace should be almost 3:45.

    I'm surprised.

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