Speed Challenge Week 2 🏃‍♀️ 💨

[Birdlady64]

Same day of the week, same time of day, same route and same interval workout i.e. 1k warm-up run, 0.5k recovery, 1k sprint, 0.5k recovery, cool-down interval of 90 second jogging/60 second walking until I decide to stop.

Things I did differently were - long-sleeved top instead of T-shirt (cool wind and 7 degrees), incorporated a few short sprints into my warm-up, started the sprint from a slow jog instead of a standing start, continued the cool-down to reach a total distance of 5k.

Well this was a bit of a weird one today. 🤪 The sprint was really tough going and it felt slow. My respiration rate was through the roof, but my heart rate was on average 10 bpm less that last week and the whole workout was 90% in Zone 2/3 compared to last week which was 34% in Zones 4 and 5.

A perfect demonstration of what is meant by perceived effort.

According to Mr Garmin, my time for the 1k sprint was 5.50. After synching, Strava says 5.49 but lets stick with Garmin for consistency. This beats last weeks time of 6:21 by a respectable margin 😁

According to Strava, I also got PRs for 400m, 1/2mile and mile and my third fastest 5k time, despite walking probably approaching 1.5k out of the 5.

How did that just happen? 🤷‍♀️

[Jools2020 Graduate10]

Wow, and double wow! That’s amazing, Diane. 5:50??? For a whole km? Congratulations and my hat is off! 👏👏👏🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏆

Fabulous work. And more PBs, too! Last week’s time was great. You’ve totally smashed that today. What a run! So pleased for you 😚👍

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Jools2020]

😊Aw! Thanks so much.I was totally surprised when I saw the numbers as I said it felt really hard, but I guess that's because I was pushing it.

I'm not sure how much more there is in the tank though. We will see...

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Birdlady64]

Yes, a challenge! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🤞

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

That is amazing 🤩 feeling slow and being so much faster

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Yes it was a surprise to me when I looked at the numbers afterwards.I tried to set a pace alert in my watch before the run but clearly it wasn't working so I had no idea how fast I was going. Because my watch didn't buzz I guess my perception was that I was slower than I wanted

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to Birdlady64]

Ah, I think you’ve just explained why my watch buzzes so often during a run, maybe it’s a pace alert, I wonder if I could find it and see what it’s all about, my watch seems to buzz whenever I change pace even if it’s only a little

[Hareshaw-Granny Graduate10]

What a set of figures. It is quite amazing that can happen like it did. Where would we all be without these smart watches. Really well done.👍

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Hareshaw-Granny]

Thanks! I was surprised to see the numbers after the run, as it felt exactly the opposite. I do wonder sometimes about all the tech - it's too easy to get fixated on the stats sometimes.

[Hidden]

Excellent result there Birdlady, to answer your question, ( probably rhetorical but I can’t resist answering 😉) ....because you thought it through, planned your run well, tweaked your plan successfully from last week and last but not least you put your back into it , Mr Garmin was impressed and so am I 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😀🤗

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks! Roseabi suggested incorporating the sprints into the warmup . I don't know if they made a real difference or not, but something went right on this run! 😁Mr Garmin wasn't impressed enough to change my Vo2max though!

[Hidden in reply to Birdlady64]

😁Mr Garmin hasn’t changed mine all year! He still thinks I’m 20 years old!!Also thinks I’m fast asleep when I’m awake! 🤗

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Hmm yes well I'm not going to tell you how old Mr Garmin thinks I am. I think he is very rude!

[coggerjogger Graduate10]

well done!

[Instructor57 Graduate10]

Haha well done , some good looking stats 😁👍I should do more speed work/ interval runs .

Or maybe just Fartleks,

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

I made the shorter runs each week interval workouts when I was on the Magic Plan. it was hard work! Fartleks are kind of fun but with the lack of discipline I was always too easily tempted to stop a sprint interval too soon, especially if the point I decided to sprint to was further away than I first thought| 😂

[UpTheStanley Graduate10]

That's a huge improvement, well done you! 👍 You might want to have a look at what Mr Garmin says about cadence - likely you increased that quite significantly.

Or maybe it was just so cold you wanted to get it over with! 😀

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to UpTheStanley]

I was cold when I set off and wished I had worn my buff and gloves, but soon warmed up once I started to run.

Of course you are right about cadence.

Over the sprint it was high 160's to low 170's, with a brief 60 second spurt at the start in the mid-high 170's.

Its very obvious looking at the graph.

By contrast my fastest 5k was at an average cadence of 151

I assume this is telling me something about what it takes to run faster 😁