Week ending 7/01/08. Run Challenge week 1

Photo.
Did this incredible ride out of Tokyo on Sunday. It took Eric and I 2 hours to reach the base of a 21km climb. It then took another 2 hours to reach the summit. The highlight of the trip started with this photo and reading my watch to see it was -1 degree. The average temperature for the entire ride was 5 degrees. Fun at its merry best.


Tuesday
Run: (1:07), 12km, 124bpm
Easy aerobic run. Everything went well. 2 points on the board

Wednesday
Run: (30:30), 5.5km, 119bpm
This was a struggle today. been out and about all day shopping, got home pretty late and had to grind out this run in the dark and cold. Glad I did it though. 3 points on the board
Bike: (1hr), 24km, 110bpm
Easy spin around town

Thursday
Run: (30:19), 5.8km, 125bpm
Very easy recovery run around the canals. Pretty tired. this challenge is really helping me keep on task.
Bike: (2:55), 84km
30min easy
40min lower steady (33-34kph, 53/19)
5min easy
40min Aet (35-36kph, 53/17, cad 95)
20min easy
5 x 2min hard (Z4), 2min RI.
Good strength ride today.
No HR reading so relied on RPE.

Friday
Run: (1hr), 12.3km. 143bpm.
A big PB again 2km W/U
4km @ Aet (av pace 4:32min/k, av hr 145bpm). PB by 17 seconds
1. 4:17, 143bpm
2. 4:36, 146bpm
3. 4:38, 146bpm
4. 4:37, 146bpm
4km @ Aet +10bpm (4:20min/k, av hr 157bpm). PB by 5 seconds
1. 4:18, 155bpm
2. 4:25, 158bpm
3. 4:22, 157bpm
4. 4:15, 157bpm
A new PB at Aet (17sec) and at Aet +10bpm (5 sec). Apart from taking out the 1st km at Aet way too hard I felt like I paced this test pretty well.
I have made most of my gains at Aet and this is because of the specificity of my training at the moment. The gap between my Aet and Aet +10bpm has narrowed to 12 seconds. Previously the difference was 24 seconds. This would then tell me I’m now ready to start inserting some higher intensity work in my weekly training schedule. For the last 3-4mths all my running has been done below Aet with a cap of Aet +5bpm. I think I have my running economy as good as I can get it and if I was to continue to keep training the way I am I don’t think would continue to see improvements at Aet. In other words it is time to change things up.
I’ll keep running as frequently as I can, but now I’m going to lengthen my long run up to 1.5-1:45 and support this with another medium to long run of 1-1:15. I’m going to introduce a weekly interval session where I focus on improving my running economy at Aet +10bpm. By running at this intensity this will also double up as my weekly strength endurance work too.
Apart from that everything else will remain the same.


Saturday
Run: (40min), 7.4km, 122bpm
Very easy recovery run with the buns. Body is holding up well. that is the lowest av hr I have ever had on a recovery run. My running economy must have something to do with this
Bike: (2.5hrs), 63km, 115bpm
easy endurance ride down the the Tama River. Left knee was a little sore when I stood up to pedal.

Sunday
Run: (34min), 6.5km, 124bpm
very tired after todays long ride in the hills. Glad I did it though.

Bike: (5:05), 126km, 121bpm
beautiful ride today. It felt so good to be able to ride. rode 2-2.5hrs out of town to reach a 25k climb. took around 2hr to climb up. Snow along the way was pretty cool. -1 degree was the minimum temp. Caught the train back home

Swim 0
Bike 11.30
Run 4:21
Other 1:00

Total 16:51
Summary
A good week of training. This is the start of my 30 runs in 30days Challenge. I managed to run everyday this week and I have pulled up really well. I've cutback slightly my midweek cycling volume but I have compensated this by increasing the length of my weekend long ride as I slowly transition (4weeks) into my strength phase on the bike. This basically means riding at least 3-4hrs in one direction out of Tokyo to find some long steady climbs. I'll then do 1-2 hrs of climbing, do the descent find the nearest railroad station and catch the train home to make up a 5hr ride with hills.


fluro