Training Log Archive: W

Today was another super busy day, just trying to get ready for this week, where I've got a bunch of practicum related stuff. So, just managed to get around Laajavuori for an hour long run, rather than the intended two hour run. But, my legs were feeling.. not sore... but certainly tired from yesterday's run. Considered doing some plyos as well, but I think I might try to go to the gym tomorrow and lift some heavy weights.

I might even put on two 10kg plates on my squats this time. WOWZERS. This week will again be another busy busy week, so hopefully at least I can get in a few hard sessions, if not any volume.

Suunta Jyväskylä has a test loop that starts near the university and then heads up to Roninmäki and back down. (If you're wondering, mäki means "hill"). Each lap seems to have about 70 meters of climb, so not a ton, but not insignificant either. The goal for this was to have a real good hard effort, try out my potential half-marathon shoes, and see what happens.

I took the first lap quite nervously, as I seem to do, afraid of blowing up. So I got dropped a bit by G and S, but as we neared end of the first lap I was resolved to do a negative split, so I tried to pick up the pace. I pulled back to maybe 10 meters behind Gianluca, and then could not, for the life of me, make that gap any smaller. I was never going to do that on the downhills, but couldn't do it on the flats, couldn't do it on the uphills. Just about the same distance the whole time, though lost a second or two on the final stretch.

Ran around 19:08 the first lap, which means I ran 19:26 the second lap for a total of 38:34. I managed to beat Minna Kauppi's record by 3 seconds. Yay.....?

I'm glad I gave it ago, my legs did not feel very sore after, despite the show choice, so that's promising. Heart rate topped out at 176 and I hovered in the 170s for quite some time. I think I need a little bit more courage to maintain that 170 HR for longer. THe first lap before the climb I was only in the low 160s, presumably running a little afraid that I'd blow up. I feel like at the Valon Kymppi 10k I went for a bit more and though it hurt a lot, I didn't blow too much, but I was relying on the fact there weren't many hills. CI won't have a lot of big hills either though. In fact, unless it goes up to the top of a building, I can feel confident there will be no hill larger than 8 meters, and that's only if we go to the top of the landfill.

C • Minna Kauppi's record... 1

Went from one class to some work and then squeezed in apparently a perfectly even 50 minute run before going back into town (for some actual socializing, that doesn't sound like me at all!). Legs felt generally fine, hopefully they're fine because I'm going to do the 10k testrun course tomorrow. Yikes!

This was probably my busiest week of the year, so I'm surprised I even got out to do this. Just ran around Laajavuori and threw in the hill climb detour. Its dark all the time now (almost as dark as it can get), but I really don't have a problem with the darkness. I hope it snows a lot soon!!!

Warm-up jog in some minimalist shoes before heading to do some weights at the mini-gym. Kicked a rock on the extremely dark loop and put a solid bend in my big toenail. Ouch.

Same workout as last week. My left leg seems to get a bit more tired than my right. But now, a day later, I'm far less sore than I was after the session last week, which is a good sign. My muscles have remembered about lifting weights, so I think I can soon move towards lifting something a bit heavier!

Ran the highly recommended "Mona" workout - http://irun.org.au/News/mona-fartlek

2 x 90s, 4 x 60s, 4 x 30s, 4 x 15s, at pretty fast pace with equal rest.

I actually felt pretty good most of the time. Ran it on some gently rolling packed gravel so I could cruise at a pretty good clip. The only downside were the 15s ones because I'm not great at getting up to speed anymore! The feeling was quite similar to the old 30x30s, but the workout isn't quite so long that it ends up being 10 good ones and 20 horrible ones. There's no reason why you can't hammer most of the time. So, before the half-marathon, I'll almost certainly do this at least once more.