Yesterday was a rest day so I surprised myself and did the Nike Training Club 5 minutes runners yoga warm up stretches. Wish I could do those one legged lunge things as gracefully as the coach!
Today was a beautiful cold and sunny morning for run 3, the speed run. Coach Cory was in charge, he always sound so cheerful and doesn't witter on as much as Coach B (sorry fellow Fan Club members, I'll go and wash my mouth with soap once I finish writing).
So off I went, taking a route which hopefully would miss the worst of the mud. Five minute warm up, fine. Pause for stretches, all good. Unpaused the app, nothing. Where was Coach Cory when I needed him? Decided to start the run again, it was a lovely morning for a slow jog through the countryside so no problem at all. This time of year a blue sky is a rarity!
This time it worked, though I only paused for a moment or two instead of doing the stretches again. I figured I was completely warmed up already. Eight one minute intervals followed, running over the soggy paths saying 'I'm STRONG!'. Luckily there was nobody about. The ground was pretty much waterlogged but the grass was holding the mud at bay as I was running in a place that's not quite so popular with dog walkers etc.
I knew I was working hard on the intervals. Knowing I only needed to keep the effort going for a minute encouraged me to push myself harder than usual. I was quite surprised when I checked the numbers afterwards, my slowest interval was 7'03/km and my fastest 6'22"/km. This is way way quicker than my 5k pace which is what I was supposed to be doing. Sometimes it's just fun to run a bit faster isn't it? My heart rate was pretty high during the intervals but got back to a reasonable level between, which is probably what gave me the energy to keep at it. I must be a bit fitter than I thought.
Once I finished the run I felt a bit achy, definitely knew I'd been working, but a few stretches, a big cooked breakfast and then bliss, a hot shower inside the house thanks to the new gas boiler and I was absolutely more than fine.
What better way to start the weekend?
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I used to do exactly the same as you! Just run hard for those intervals. If I ran at my current 5K pace, it would be about 9:00 which wouldn’t be much of a workout!
So at the moment I’m running the speed intervals by pace zones, which my coach sets. The pace that you are running your intervals is my Zone 5, which is faster than 7:09. I have a similar pace to you for those! I have to be restricted or I try to run flat out and push myself too hard, which ends up with each interval being slower than the one before. Giving me a pace zone makes the intervals more consistent. Like yours were!
Thanks Jools2020 . Do you have a real life human coach or is it an app? I'm curious about how you set your running zones.
I was running by effort today, actually had to slow a bit on the first interval, but it was just one of those days when going faster sort of felt right.
Most of the time I try and go slower but some days it's nice to just go for it!
She’s a real live coach - but online. Pretty sure my zones were set from the benchmark run I did at the start. It’s interesting doing the plan! First of all I had to run by effort only in all the zones. In the last month or so, she’s changed me to heart rate for zones 1 and 2, and pace for zones 3 -5. This is personalised for me and my heart rate.
The majority of my running is in Zones 1 & 2. Zone 3 is only used for a ‘faster finish’ run and zones 4 and 5 for intervals. So far, Zone 4 is used for intervals of 2 minutes or longer.
I can go for it on Zone 5 if I want, but only if I think I can keep it up for the whole interval! It’s a great plan, I love it. Today I had a 60 minute Zone 1 run where I had to keep in the heart rate range of 115-128. Lovely, genuinely easy run 😊
I really like Coach Cory too…it’s nice to have a bit of variety! The app has been a bit glitchy of late for me too. It’s the main downside!
I can totally relate to your thinking about 5k pace. I guess most 5k runs I run are at a real comfortable pace and when it talks about 5k pace on the app, it’s meaning more of a 5k race pace. I did have one amazing 5k last year where I managed to hold something like my 5k interval effort pace for a whole 5k and crushed my personal best time but that’s a super rare thing! Most of the time, as you say, it’s just nice to take the brakes off and fly for a bit!
Beautiful place to run! It must have been amazing to have a hot shower!! Well earned 🏃♀️💪❤️
Don't worry, I won't tell Coach B, don't want to upset him
Pace is a funny thing, so influenced by other stuff. I just checked my pace for my one and only 10K - 7'49"! Still have no idea at all how I did that, most of my 5k (and even 3k!) times are slower than that. I put it down to the excitement and also getting chatting to another runner who was just a little faster than me so she was comfortable but I was less aware of pushing it.
I really believe that most of the process of running is in the brain.
Have to say, there's nothing like roughing it to make you appreciate the simple pleasure of hot water on tap
That sounds ace!! Those 8, 1 minute long interval sessions can really tire you out after so a big well done for that 👏 👏👏 I love the after run bit where you can have the food and that lovely hot shower🚿
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