Week 20: Taper for Gold Coast half marathon

PMC showing fatigue
An all time high for training fatigue

This week I have been enjoying the reduced training volume tapering off for Gold Coast half marathon.

Looking at the Training Peaks performance management chart (above), I noticed that I hit an all time high for training fatigue two weeks back. Explains why I hit a wall in training. It has been a steady build up of high mileage training and hard sessions.

With the taper the fatigue levels are dropping and I have been feeling better this week. Should carry a good level of fitness and freshened up legs into the race next week.

This week

Tuesday track session. Chelsea gave me multiple different options for this session depending on how I felt. Original session planned was 3 x 2km. Alternative option was 1600, 1200, 1000, 800, 400, 200 or 5 x 1km reps at HM race pace.

In the end I went with normal training pace (4:20/km) and started off with a 2km rep followed by 3 x 1km reps. Leg’s still felt pretty stuffed but it felt good to get some work in at a decent pace. I think HM pace is too slow on the track.

Wednesday back to the Podiatrist for a follow up. Treating my left big toe extensor tendon. It’s sore when I try to bend my toe towards myself. So I now have some toe exercises to do with a band and also shown how to tape it to provide support for walking. Running it’s actually not really an issue.

Thursday my last longer race pace effort before the race. 10km at target pace of 4:38. I was happy to average 4:37/km overall. After having felt very fatigued with training for the past week I finally felt like I had some strength back in the legs.

Saturday a short run from home, a 5km run with 3km at threshold pace. All ok except I was breathing very hard through the threshold effort. I think I have a bit of a cold at the moment but should come good for next week.

And finally 60 mins on Sunday. I must have been sleepy because I forgot to grab my watch so tracked with the strava app on my phone. Without having my watch to show pace I kind of just ran by feel.

Running

DayDetails
MonRest
Tue2km warm up
Drills and strides
1 x 2km (8:41/166bpm), 3 x 1km (4:19/172bpm, 4:19/170bpm, 4:17/168bpm) w/ 400 jog recovery
2km cool down
WedRest
Thu10km at 4:38 HM pace (4:37/km, 171bpm)
FriRest
Sat5km run with 3km threshold (1km jog, 3km @ 4:25/169bpm, 1km jog)
SunYou Yangs 60 mins (5:25/km)

1%-ers

DayDetails
Mon
TueFoot exercises (15 mins)
WedPodiatrist follow up appointment
Stretching (30 mins)
Thu
Fri
SatFoot exercises (30 mins)
SunHot radox bath

Coming up

Looking forward to heading up to the Gold Coast on Thursday! I’m staying for 5 nights so it will be a little holiday with a hard race in the middle 🙂

  • 2 July – Gold Coast Half Marathon
  • 8 July – Sandown Road Relays (6.2km)
  • 16 July – Game of Thrones Season 7
  • 16 July – Albert Park Road Race (10km)
  • 15 October – Melbourne Marathon

Summary

WeekPhaseRunsKmHrsTSSFitnessFatigueForm
36MARATHON459.25:174266173 ↑23 ↑
35Taper4413:3231461 ↓55 ↓-1 ↓
34Marathon462.15:264506476 ↓6 ↑
33Marathon463.45:3446764 ↑822 ↓
32Marathon570.76:2350263 ↑82 ↑7 ↓
31Marathon448.44:1336761 ↑68 ↓8 ↑
30Marathon463.95:43462.162.7 ↑78.3 ↑4.0 ↑
29Marathon / recovery458.45:06426.261.8 ↑77.3 ↓-0.6 ↓
28Marathon466.56:06486.161.6 ↑82.5 ↑3.6 ↑
27Marathon466.55:50482.160.1 ↑79 ↑0.5 ↓
26Recovery454.34:54386.358.1 ↓69.5 ↓3.5 ↑
25Build564.95:51454.658.3 ↑72.0 ↑-2.3 ↓
24Build564.55:41482.656.8 ↑64.6 ↑3.1 ↓
23Build446.94:07340.554.9 ↓51.8 ↓7.3 ↓
22Build443.63:55307.355.9 ↓52.1 ↓11.1 ↓
21Half Marathon441.83:31311.158.0 ↓55.0 ↑20.5 ↑
20Taper for HM437.53:10304.960.1 ↓52.4 ↓14.6 ↑
19Recovery341.63:39302.663.0 ↓59.8 ↓10.5 ↑
18Half / Marathon571.86:03541.466.6 ↑86.0 ↑-7.4 ↓
17Half / Marathon466.55:47490.264.3 ↑79.7 ↑-3.2 ↑
16Half / Marathon564.45:32479.262.9 ↑76.0 ↓-7.7 ↑
15Half / Marathon571.46:09527.161.7 ↑77.8 ↑-7.8 ↓
14Speed / Half563.85:38460.259.0 ↑70.3 ↑-1.0 ↓
13Speed / Half559.15:20419.457.5 ↑60.9 ↑-3.7 ↓
12Recovery439.13:21288.256.9 ↓54.8 ↓6.5 ↑
11Speed559.15:14421.859.6 ↑70.4 ↓1.7 ↑
10Speed561.65:23460.359.3 ↑71.8 ↑-1.9 ↓
9Speed558.05:06436.157.9 ↑67.8 ↑3.4 ↑
8Recovery549.74:18395.856.861.5 ↓-1.3 ↓
7Base554.24:44417.056.8 ↑64.4 ↑2.3 ↑
6Base551.34:33392.356.1 ↑61.0 ↓1.5 ↓
5Base552.54:32421.555.9 ↑61.7 ↑2.2 ↓
4Recovery546.54:03353.755.0 ↓54.5 ↓4.4 ↑
3Base550.44:22381.755.7 ↓57.1 ↓1.2 ↓
2Base550.24:23381.255.9 ↓57.4 ↑5.9 ↓
1Base543.93:52334.356.053.48.3

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