Week 8 completes the base phase of training. This week also incorporated a time trial which I did at the local Wyndham Vale parkrun to check see where my fitness is at.
Wyndham Vale parkrun time trial
Instead of the usual Saturday threshold workout this week I had to do a 5km time trial. Chelsea likes to include time trials or races every so often to assess where I’m at and to see if training paces should be adjusted.
In training for the past couple weeks I have been struggling a bit with tired/fatigued legs. Most noticeable in my longer fast sessions (thresholds) it just feels like my legs are burning and it’s so hard to keep going. In fact I stopped halfway through my threshold last week.
Earlier in the week I was talking with Claire and we happened to discuss the mental side of racing. Often we might be physically capable of racing a certain time but it’s our brain that holds us back. I think the mental side of running is an area I can improve in and the more hard training session and races that I do helps.
Anyway going into parkrun I think I had a good attitude. I was thinking I know this is going to hurt but I just have to keep pushing. And sure enough a little past halfway my legs started burning bad. At Wyndham Vale there is a hill around this point which doesn’t help.
So I pushed through the pain. My pace dropped a little and it was bloody tough but I ended up finishing with a pretty decent time of 21:31. A little slower than my recent PB at Wangaratta BUT still a good time for me, equal to my 5000m track PB and easily my best parkrun time. It’s actually my first time ever running in the 21 range at parkrun and done with a bit of fatigue.
So pretty happy with the time trial result but more importantly I was really happy with how I ran mentally.
This week
This week brought the base phase to a close. 8 weeks of base training completed and as a reward I got to have an easier (shorter) run on Sunday!
The scary thing is it means that next week I start a speed phase. I believe this means all of my reps during the week will be shorter but faster. Haven’t seen the exact workouts at this stage so we will see!
Also worth mentioning that this week I completely dropped my strength training sessions. I think it’s starting to help my legs feel a bit better and I think my sessions were better this week.
Tuesday and Thursday 2km reps and 800 reps went well hitting my target times on the track.
Wednesday quite a nice lunch run along my Fitzroy Gardens, MCG, Yarra River trail route. An easy pace lunch run is always a great way to break up the day!
Saturday read my parkrun spiel above… Sunday was a nice 60 minute run at the You Yangs with Brigitte, Claire and Sophie as company. We kept to the flats which was pretty nice and suitable finish for a recovery week.
Running
| Day | Details |
|---|---|
| Mon | Rest |
| Tue | 2km warm up Drills and strides 3 x 2km @ 4.24 pace w/ 1.30 rest (8:45, 8:48, 8:49) 2km cool down |
| Wed | 10km easy (5:21 pace/156bpm) |
| Thu | 2km warm up Drills and strides 5 x 800m in 3.10-15 w/ equal rest (3:11, 3:05, 3:06, 3:08, 3:07) 2km cool down |
| Fri | Rest |
| Sat | 2km warm up 5km time trial (21:31, 4:18 pace, 175bpm) 2km cool down |
| Sun | Long run 60 minutes (You Yangs flats - 5:17 pace/155bpm) |
1%-ers
| Day | Details |
|---|---|
| Mon | Massage (60 mins) |
| Tue | |
| Wed | |
| Thu | Foam rolling (30 mins) |
| Fri | |
| Sat | |
| Sun |
Summary
| Week | Phase | Runs | Km | Hrs | TSS | Fitness | Fatigue | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | MARATHON | 4 | 59.2 | 5:17 | 426 | 61 | 73 ↑ | 23 ↑ |
| 35 | Taper | 4 | 41 | 3:32 | 314 | 61 ↓ | 55 ↓ | -1 ↓ |
| 34 | Marathon | 4 | 62.1 | 5:26 | 450 | 64 | 76 ↓ | 6 ↑ |
| 33 | Marathon | 4 | 63.4 | 5:34 | 467 | 64 ↑ | 82 | 2 ↓ |
| 32 | Marathon | 5 | 70.7 | 6:23 | 502 | 63 ↑ | 82 ↑ | 7 ↓ |
| 31 | Marathon | 4 | 48.4 | 4:13 | 367 | 61 ↑ | 68 ↓ | 8 ↑ |
| 30 | Marathon | 4 | 63.9 | 5:43 | 462.1 | 62.7 ↑ | 78.3 ↑ | 4.0 ↑ |
| 29 | Marathon / recovery | 4 | 58.4 | 5:06 | 426.2 | 61.8 ↑ | 77.3 ↓ | -0.6 ↓ |
| 28 | Marathon | 4 | 66.5 | 6:06 | 486.1 | 61.6 ↑ | 82.5 ↑ | 3.6 ↑ |
| 27 | Marathon | 4 | 66.5 | 5:50 | 482.1 | 60.1 ↑ | 79 ↑ | 0.5 ↓ |
| 26 | Recovery | 4 | 54.3 | 4:54 | 386.3 | 58.1 ↓ | 69.5 ↓ | 3.5 ↑ |
| 25 | Build | 5 | 64.9 | 5:51 | 454.6 | 58.3 ↑ | 72.0 ↑ | -2.3 ↓ |
| 24 | Build | 5 | 64.5 | 5:41 | 482.6 | 56.8 ↑ | 64.6 ↑ | 3.1 ↓ |
| 23 | Build | 4 | 46.9 | 4:07 | 340.5 | 54.9 ↓ | 51.8 ↓ | 7.3 ↓ |
| 22 | Build | 4 | 43.6 | 3:55 | 307.3 | 55.9 ↓ | 52.1 ↓ | 11.1 ↓ |
| 21 | Half Marathon | 4 | 41.8 | 3:31 | 311.1 | 58.0 ↓ | 55.0 ↑ | 20.5 ↑ |
| 20 | Taper for HM | 4 | 37.5 | 3:10 | 304.9 | 60.1 ↓ | 52.4 ↓ | 14.6 ↑ |
| 19 | Recovery | 3 | 41.6 | 3:39 | 302.6 | 63.0 ↓ | 59.8 ↓ | 10.5 ↑ |
| 18 | Half / Marathon | 5 | 71.8 | 6:03 | 541.4 | 66.6 ↑ | 86.0 ↑ | -7.4 ↓ |
| 17 | Half / Marathon | 4 | 66.5 | 5:47 | 490.2 | 64.3 ↑ | 79.7 ↑ | -3.2 ↑ |
| 16 | Half / Marathon | 5 | 64.4 | 5:32 | 479.2 | 62.9 ↑ | 76.0 ↓ | -7.7 ↑ |
| 15 | Half / Marathon | 5 | 71.4 | 6:09 | 527.1 | 61.7 ↑ | 77.8 ↑ | -7.8 ↓ |
| 14 | Speed / Half | 5 | 63.8 | 5:38 | 460.2 | 59.0 ↑ | 70.3 ↑ | -1.0 ↓ |
| 13 | Speed / Half | 5 | 59.1 | 5:20 | 419.4 | 57.5 ↑ | 60.9 ↑ | -3.7 ↓ |
| 12 | Recovery | 4 | 39.1 | 3:21 | 288.2 | 56.9 ↓ | 54.8 ↓ | 6.5 ↑ |
| 11 | Speed | 5 | 59.1 | 5:14 | 421.8 | 59.6 ↑ | 70.4 ↓ | 1.7 ↑ |
| 10 | Speed | 5 | 61.6 | 5:23 | 460.3 | 59.3 ↑ | 71.8 ↑ | -1.9 ↓ |
| 9 | Speed | 5 | 58.0 | 5:06 | 436.1 | 57.9 ↑ | 67.8 ↑ | 3.4 ↑ |
| 8 | Recovery | 5 | 49.7 | 4:18 | 395.8 | 56.8 | 61.5 ↓ | -1.3 ↓ |
| 7 | Base | 5 | 54.2 | 4:44 | 417.0 | 56.8 ↑ | 64.4 ↑ | 2.3 ↑ |
| 6 | Base | 5 | 51.3 | 4:33 | 392.3 | 56.1 ↑ | 61.0 ↓ | 1.5 ↓ |
| 5 | Base | 5 | 52.5 | 4:32 | 421.5 | 55.9 ↑ | 61.7 ↑ | 2.2 ↓ |
| 4 | Recovery | 5 | 46.5 | 4:03 | 353.7 | 55.0 ↓ | 54.5 ↓ | 4.4 ↑ |
| 3 | Base | 5 | 50.4 | 4:22 | 381.7 | 55.7 ↓ | 57.1 ↓ | 1.2 ↓ |
| 2 | Base | 5 | 50.2 | 4:23 | 381.2 | 55.9 ↓ | 57.4 ↑ | 5.9 ↓ |
| 1 | Base | 5 | 43.9 | 3:52 | 334.3 | 56.0 | 53.4 | 8.3 |