Time to up the Running Ante with Sprint Reps...

I may have mentioned earlier that my running endurance is coming along fine, but my speed isn't really much faster over 8-10k, than it is over 13-15k (which is currently my "long" run), and my 5k time is only slightly faster then my 8-10. 


So with this in mind, i thought it was time i inserted some interval training or sprint reps into my week.


Well Tuesday night was the night...Friday evening had seen 2k done in the pool, Saturday arvo a nice 15k run was done, and Monday morning i'd cranked a fairly hard 40k out on the bike...


So, the sprints...i'd just worked out how to get set my Garmin up for interval training...i thought the following would be a good place to start:

• Warm up - of my choosing
• 10 x 1:00 sprint / 1:00 recover 
• Cool down - the jog home...

The warm up was about 1500m at 5:30min/k pace...then i hit go!

The first 5 by 1:00 sprints netted about 260-270m, with the pace being:

1. 3:50
2. 3:52
3. 3:53
4. 3:49
5. 3:43

I was rather impressed with my start...

The 6th interval was a no go due to too much traffic on the foot bridge, and the 7th was a 3:55...after that however, it began to fall apart...

I was only able to hold sprints 8 - 11 for 30 seconds or thereabouts (yeah, i know 11 not 10...i mistook the "you've finished" beep the "go" beep)...but having a look at the data, they were at a quicker pace. 9 peaked at 3:10, with 8, 10, 11 peaking in the 3:20's.

At the time and afterwards the workout felt fantastic and definitely be something i'll do on a regular basis.  I think i just need to work on controlling my pace and mix up the duration of the sprint and rest intervals.

Happy Training!!

Training Update

Just a random time to update what i've been up to for the past week or so.  I know it would make more sense to do this on a Monday morning or Sunday evening...but just to mix things up a bit, Tuesday morning seems to be the time :)


Wednesday 29 Feb - 13k run, inc 4.5k soft sand - sand was an attempt at hill training - run felt really good, slow during and after the sand, but good.  In hindsight, the sand wasn't the best idea and all that it ended up doing was screwing my knee for the rest of the week... :(


Friday 2 Mar - 2k pool swim...500w/u, 500 single arm reps with pb, 500 25sprint/25 recover with pb, 500c/d - felt good


Saturday 3 Mar - dare i test the knee...???...Bike on trainer in front of car racing...1hr solid, knee felt good!!


Sunday 4 Mar - let's run on the knee...fingers crossed...30min hard bike on trainer, followed by 7k run - yep, knee's back!


Monday 5 Mar - 10.5k run. Felt great!! Took it fairly easy - kept HR below 165 - ave 158 compared to normally mid 170's ave, max low 180's.  Time was slower than what i'd currently aim for 8-10, but on pace with 10k times from 2 months ago. 2 things noted - my endurance is coming along nicely and the shorter fast sessions are certainly helping make distance runs easier.


Tuesday 6 Mar - 1.5k swim. 300w/u, 200 hard, 250 25sprint/25 recover with pb, 250 3*25easy/50hard +25easy, 500c/d...