Week 18 – wow I have made it halfway through the marathon program! This week Sharon and I took on a 15km time trial in preparation for Gold Coast half marathon.
Ben and Sharon’s Fun Run
In the lead up to Gold Coast half marathon we wanted to do a 15km race to get an idea of pacing. But with no ideal 15km road races around this time we decided to create our own fun run.
We started with the Parkville park runners to get the fun run feel. While this was really a training run the whole fun run concept seemed to have an effect because we both had pre-race nerves! The start was also typical of a fun run as we were held up in runner traffic and had a slow first km. After that we eased into target pace.
Interestingly we had a 2-4 second pace difference in a couple splits while running together. My GPS tracks look pretty good, so perhaps Sharon’s watch cut a corner? The Princes park path goes under a fair amount of tree cover which could impact the GPS.
Around the 7-8km mark I started to struggle with holding the 4:38 target pace with leg fatigue. Kept going best I could but dropped off to 4:40-4:45 range. Overall I was happy enough averaging 4:41 for the run. Sharon did very well with a 4:37 average pace.
To break 1 hour 40 minutes for the half marathon I need to average 4:43 or less which feels do-able. My legs will be fresher race day coming off a taper. Fingers crossed!
This week
Tuesday 2km reps – first rep was good but dropped off a little in the third rep. Overall felt ok.
Wednesday was a day off but then I realised it was Global Running Day, so how could I not go for a run?
Thursday run along Yarra trail 5:00 – 4:50 pace session. Went well except I got caught off guard by bridge works which meant I had to pause and wait for traffic lights in the last effort.
Friday a visit to the physio. I’ve had some soreness through the top of my left foot during the week which hasn’t been too bad but I figure better to be safe than sorry. Some release work and taping seemed to help and I’ll be seeing a podiatrist next week. Doesn’t seem to be any thing too serious thankfully and I can keep training as normal.
Sunday 130 minute long run with last 30 minutes at 4:38-40 pace. I wasn’t sure I could do the last 30 mins faster at all today but gave it a shot. Went ok for the first few kms then struggled. There’s more up hill then you realise coming back along great circle!
Running
| Day | Details |
|---|---|
| Mon | Rest |
| Tue | 2km warm up Drills and strides 4x2km at 8.40 with 400jog recovery (8:39/168bpm, 8:45/173bpm, 8:52/169bpm, 8:44/170bpm) 2km cool down |
| Wed | Global Running Day (5km, 5:19/km, 150bpm) |
| Thu | 4km at 5.00 (4:58/155bpm), 3 min jog recovery, 4km at 4.55 (4:50/163bpm), 3 min jog recovery, 4km at 4.50 pace (4:46/162bpm) |
| Fri | Rest |
| Sat | Ben and Sharon's Fun Run - 15km time trial (4:41/km, 1:10:17) |
| Sun | You Yangs 130 last 30mins 4.38-4.40 (first 100 mins 5:36/km 148bpm, last 30 mins 4:45/km 163bpm) |
1%-ers
| Day | Details |
|---|---|
| Mon | Upper body stretches (25 mins) |
| Tue | |
| Wed | Foot/calf exercises (20 mins) |
| Thu | Foam rolling (25 mins) |
| Fri | Physio (60 mins) Stretching (28 mins) |
| Sat | Foam rolling (25 mins) |
| Sun | Cold bath (15 mins) |
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 |