26.5.14: St Hans Extreme



Training summary: Not much hard running ahead of the race Thurs evening, just easy runs mostly along the Hardebergaspåret and round the south of Lund. Same Fri\Sat after racing. Went up to Skrylle on Sat for a hard tempo run round the 10k route (with a spin round the 3k one as well), which was a good preparation for the race next week - legs were still a bit dead from racing, def have to rest well! Lots of 'E' paced running, which was actually hard uphill tempo; HR watch definitely made sense this week.

Main sessions:
1. Thurs: St Hans Extreme (race) - 10km\560m climb, 42min
2. Sun: Tempo, Skryllegården -10k lap 35:40 (125m climb) 3.30-4.00/km, 3k lap (50m climb) 10.30, 3.20-3.30/km

Races: St Hans Extreme, Lund (1st, 42min)

Photo: LOK

One word: HOT.

Next week: Prob another hill session at the start of the week, then easy runs to taper down for the Midtjysk Bjerglob on Sun 1\6.

19.5.14: Heart Rate Training



Summary
In order to prepare for the Lidingöloppet, I have to do quite a bit of hill training. Ordinarily, I'd use pace and time in order to see what I'm doing and how effective it is, which is good enough for most running. Unfortunately, when you're running uphill this is not such a good indicator! (4:00/km up 8% gradient is a lot harder than on the flat!). The solution to this is to measure heart rate whilst running rather than pace, from which an idea of the overall intensity can be seen, either from % of time in each zone (table above) or as the training impulse (TRIMP) value, using an exponential convolution of HR with running time (TRexp above). Last week I found a suitable watch for this - suitable being cheap and capable of computer interface - a Runtastic model on sale for 800Kr. in Claes Ohlson. As a bonus, this also has GPS, so my routes can be found here (and also on Strava as Jim Webb, when I bother to upload):

https://www.runtastic.com/en/users/jimw1234-dot-w/

Main Sessions
Tues: Hills at St Hans backar in Lund. 6x long big hill, 5xshort steep big hill, 1.5x2.5k lap of SHE course.
Weds: 20k along the Hardebergaspåret, inc 5k tempo @ 3.30-3.40/km pace
Thurs: Track intervals at Lunds CIP - 4x1km at 3.05/km pace, 200m jog recovery.5x400m, at <3:00, 30s recovery. 
Sun: Repeat of Tues at St Hans

Races: (none)

Next week: 10k St Hans Extreme race on Thurs, so probably a rest day on Weds and just easy running at the start of the week (hence extra quality session last week). Will take the race as a hill training session, not tiring myself too much ahead of the Midtjysk Bjergløb on 1st June (and since I am still feeling the Lillebælt 1/2).

12.5.14: Recovery and Lundaloppet



Training Summary: very easy recovery week after the DM half marathon. Legs felt extremely tired and sore at the start of the week, meaning lots of easy pace running 8-10km each day from Mon-Thurs, with no harder sessions. Took a full day rest on Fri in order to try and push recovery for the Lundaloppet on Sat. Felt a bit less tired after the race, so managed a run along the Hardebergaspåret on Sun to the road crossing; 14k with 4k of tempo in the middle.
Main sessions:
Sat: Lundaloppet (race\tempo) 5km, 3:00-3:20\km
Sun:14k, E\M pace, with 4k tempo@ 3:25\km.

Running in the shark hat! Photo:http://www.lopningforalla.se/

Races: Lundaloppet, 5km, 16:30 (5th)
I had hoped to do a good time in this race after I won it last year and it being my 'home' race (and I'd also wanted to do the 10k this year), but the DM half the weekend before pretty much killed off any chance of that - even jogging to the start, my legs felt pretty dead. My aim was thus to just take the shorter version of the LL as training (since I got free entry through the uni), push as hard as I could for as long as I could, then just ease back and run a steady tempo and enjoy it. Serious effort lasted until the top of the hill at 2.5k, where it was clear I was too tired to catch 3rd, let alone stay with the front two. So from there, I sat at a nice 3.20\km pace and saw it away. No too bad a time considering, and probably a PB for 5k run the week after a half marathon. And a bonus - won the lottery prize with my racenumber, so a nice new pair of Asics shoes from Team Sportia in Malmo; so worth a bit of stiff legged suffering!
(Bilderna\pictures from Sydsvenskan)
Next week: Continue recovery, intervals\hills depending on how I feel. Usually takes around 3 weeks to properly recover from a hard race like the Lillebælt one.

5.5.14: Update...

	R	I	T	M	E	VE	Total	Av Pace
	<3:00 \km	3:00- 3:15	3:15- 3:32	3:32- 3:45	3:45- 4:30	>4:30		\km
Jan (%)	2	2	3	5	84	4	403.3	4:03
Feb (%)	2	1	7	10	79	1	398.4	3:56
Mar (%)	4	2	12	5	76	1	390.6	3:52
Apr (%)	4	1	17	2	76	0	404.4	3:51

Training

I'd taken a little break from writing here due to work and because it can get a bit monotonous continually logging training! (I've been updating my MapMyRun profile though, so more detail can be found there)
The above is my training since Jan as a percentage of the total at various paces (R=rep, I=interval,T=threshold,M=mara, E=easy, VE=v. easy). The main change is that my ankle is now really getting better again, meaning I have been able to work in more interval training per week than previous. This has mainly been in the form of the following:
A) Hill training - up at S:t Hans Backar, 6xlong, 5xsteep plus 2.5k tour on the SHE lap.
B) Track intervals - at Lunds CIP: 10x400m all-out (30s recovery) and 4-6x1km at T pace, with 200m jog (appx. 60s) recovery.
C) Road tempo - along the Hardebergaspåret, using the painted km markers from the edge of Lund. Usually 4km continuous, or alternating 2km hard\easy.
I've been strictly limiting myself to 100km per week, since this is a good balance between work and running right now, and lets me push as much as possible on the I and T sessions.

Racing

Being able to do good quality sessions again has really had a benefit with regards to racing. I'm now probably back to where I was before injury (so around a year since one ankle and 1.5 years since the other). The 3 big race highlights have been:

• DM 10k, Copenhagen: 33.14  (gun time, 33:07 net.).
• VM Half Marathon, same, 1.13.37
• DM Half Marathon, Lillebaelt, 1.13.50

The VM was an excellent experience, with ideal conditions and  crowds right along the course. I was slightly disappointed with the time - due to being trapped further back at the start, I was stuck just off the 3:25\km pace group and had to run a lot of the race alone trying to play catchup. I was particularly happy though with the DM Half due to the difficulty of the race: windy, hilly and right in the middle of tree pollen season; wheezing through the final 3km was extremely hard work! Ordinarily, I'd not run such a hard\long race at this time of year, but it was a race that would otherwise be hard to get entry for any other year, so it was worth taking the chance.

I've also been doing a few other smaller races, such as the Ryssbergsloppet (pictured below), a 13km hilly trail race out in Sölvesborg in Blekinge, my first Swedish trip outside Skåne and the Egå Engsø rundt in Aarhus where I managed 16:35 despite pacing Katrine at 3:30\km for the first 2km - big finish :-)

Future

I've now entered the Lidingöloppet, one of the biggest trail races in the world, held on Lidingö island, just NE of Stockholm at the end of September (144 days from now). This is a fairly tough race, primarily on distance (30km) rather than climb (approx. 500m). So the majority of the summer will be spent preparing for that, which will involve as much hills and distance as possible.

At the start of June, I plan to run the Midtjysk Bjergløb out near Silkeborg - it's 27km and around the same level of climb, which should give a good idea of where I'm at and what I need to work on (primarily endurance at this point).