Idea is to run intervals that get gradually faster but shorter in distance, starting at half marathon pace and finishing at 3k pace. That variety makes them far more interesting than cranking out 3 - 12 intervals at the same pace and distance.
I wasn't sure how well I'd cope after being ill and, effectively, not doing any sort of speed session for nearly 3 weeks, but was quite pleased with these results (target pace in brackets):
- 1 mile warm up @ 9.12 (9.12 - 10.04)
- 2k @ 7.27 (7.30)
- 1 mile @ 7.07 (7.08)
- 1k @ 6.43 (6.53)
- 0.5 mile @ 6.38 (6.40)
- 1.1 mile cool down @ 9.0 (9.12 - 10.04)
Pleased to have hit all targets but did struggle to 'feel' the pace within intervals so I tended to set off much too quickly, slow down until the average got close to target and then try and hang on. I think that will come back within a week or two.
I confess though that the final interval isn't quite accurate. The Garmin is set to imperial so I was converting imperial to metric for some of the intervals. That obviously confused me as I realised later that I'd ran half a kilometre for the last one rather than half a mile. That irritated me but I'll bravely soldier through...
Thanks for the comments on yesterday's blog entry. Sue took the hint from my whingeing the evening before and got back for 4.45 at which time I was still working upstairs and the tea wasn't on. Between that and the kcals from the run it felt an easy day with lots of kcals left over in the evening allowing me to finish the toffee ice cream from the freezer as well as indulge my recent liking for rich tea biscuits and still stay within the allowance.
- 14/02 171.8lb 18.3% BF
- 15/02 169.0lb 17.7% BF
- 16/02 169.4lb 17.7% BF
- 17/02 167.4lb 17.2% BF
Could have the makings of one of those 'bonus' first weeks and predicted date for reaching 11st is now a week before the marathon. I don't think I'll carry on restricting calories so close to the race and I may have already had my sudden loss so rate of loss may drop below target now, but at least it shows I should get fairly close.
Looks to be about 70% of loss coming from body fat but I'm taking that with a slight pinch of salt as I'm assuming there will be some water in there and also a reduction in 'food in transit' so at the moment I'll take it only as a very rough estimate.
I'll probably just post the current week's stats each day.
4 comments:
Oooh, those intervals sound good. Much more interesting than doing the same thing over and over and I bet you felt great when you finished.
Nice news on the weight loss too. I am on a big 'restriction' week with my lack of running and I'd forgotten how little food you get for 1200 cals!
Rosex
Sometimes I think a break from speedwork is precisely what we need to get faster. And those intervals sound like fun! I can never get my head around metric/imperial conversions on the spot though, so I write them on my hand. I like to take the thinking out of the equation when I'm running! :)
Being numerically challenged, I've never even attempted 'regular' interval training, let alone more complex work. No wonder the conversions were tricky: just reading that boggled my mind.
I wish I could drop weight and body fat so quickly! Do you use a body fat calculating scale or calipers? I'm guessing you don't have one of those egg-shaped 'bod-pods' to sit in every day ;)
I like the sound of doing intervals like that.. Never heard of that before.. Will have to try that when I've done all my half training, or if I get bored of my plan and need a change!
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