15.91km LSD...

Pretty much the same post as last week.

I tried the earlier breakfast, Ribena and jelly babies routine again.

I felt really strong the whole way around. I tried not to start out too fast, and that enabled me to keep going up and down the mini hills at the end.

15.91km in 1:30:11 at 5:40/km pace. Faster than my training plan tells me to go, but I figure that if it feels good - it must be OK!

I think I'll stick in a Hills session this week...

7.43km Easy...

7.43km in 41:52 at 5:37/km.

A successful Easy run this morning. Not too fast and a pleasant 17 deg C.

I think I have to take a close look at the next 4 weeks before the Half Marathon, to make sure I maximise my training but allow time to taper in the last week or so.

6.26km Fast...

Bizarre!

I had it in my mind to have an easy week this week, just to have a bit of a recovery before stepping up over the next few weeks before the Half Marathon.

I left my Imaginary Friend tucked up in bed at home. I just used the stopwatch so I could record the distance and time. I thought an Easy 6km would be just fine today.

I took it easy for the first km, just thought I'd get my legs warm and then pretty much stick to that pace all the way. First km ended up at 5:40. A bit fast, but that should be OK, right?

The next km splits were... wait for it... 4:45, 4:55, 4:53, 4:33, 4:19!

What the...?

I was flying... felt so good I didn't want to slow down. The route is overall slightly downhill, but there a few ups and it's a route I run regularly.

So ended up with 6.26km in 30:00 at 4:47/km pace. That's the fastest run I've recorded since I started in July 2005!

Perhaps the easy week will be next week!

13.19km LSD...

I'll start off with: 13.19km in 1:15:45 at 5:44/km pace.

That felt like a great run on Sunday. A bit hot but not too uncomfortable.

I had breakfast a bit longer before I ran, as well as drinking Ribena on the run instead of just water, as well as stealing a few of Lian's jelly babies to snack on. I'm not sure which, if any affected my performance the most, but I'll try to include that plan in future.

So 5 weeks to go before the Half Marathon...

7.38km Easy...

Wow it was a fair bit colder this morning than it has been so far this season. I wore the compression tights, but I didn't bother with the long sleeve top or a hat. I will not be making that mistake again!

I really was determined to run at a steady 6:00/km this morning, so that I would be sure of making it a recovery run. It started out fine and I thought I'd settled at a good pace, but at each km split I was getting faster and faster - so I just ran at a pace that felt comfortable.

It actually ended up at an almost Medium pace. By the way, for me I call anything slower than 5:30/km Easy and anything faster Medium. At this rate I might have to define the limit between Medium and Fast!

So 7.38km in 41:19 at 5:35/km pace.

5.35km 10 x Hills...

Even though it was relatively warm this morning, I thought I'd give the Compression Tights a go up and down the hill. I didn't expect any noticeable difference, but hopefully my recovery will be better and the long term advantage will start to show.

So 10 reps up (0:31) and down (1:07) the 100m hill. Then a 2.5km Easy run home.

I tried to focus on using my arms to drive up the hill, pushing off the balls of my feet and getting my knees high. It felt a bit awkward, but hopefully it'll pay dividends for those hills on the SMH Half and City to Surf as well as general leg strength.

7.35km Medium...

And the third catch up post brings me up to date this morning.

Another started 'Easy' finished 'Medium'. But felt really good the whole way. And no magic tights (I don't want to just rely on their magic powers)!

The stock standard route resulted in 7.35km in 38:54 at a 'Fast' 5:17/km. I know this route is mostly downhill, but it's still a good comparison against what I've done on that route previously.

So that concludes the story on three good runs for me over the last few days.

As well as all that, Lian's 4th birthday was yesterday. We took her to the zoo - which is also a big treat for me (although I do wonder how bored some of those poor animals looked!).

15.58km LSD...

The second of three catch up posts.

Actually the longest run I've achieved since the Half Marathon in September 2005!

I bought some compression tights on Saturday. Partly to help a little bit with the colder mornings and hopefully also the added bonus of injury prevention. I tried all three brands... Skins, Canterbury and Line Break. In my opinion, there is only one thing to pick between the different brands... the price. Skins obviously need to recover the cost of advertising, but it's quite ironic that their advertising leads you to all three brands in Rebel Sport. So I choose the Line Break brand and saved $40, which I then spent on a new pair of Nike DriFit shorts.

So I pulled them on Sunday morning and headed out. They did feel good. Not too hot even when the sun hits the black colour and just enough to keep any cold wind off. That'll be tested more over the next few weeks. They also feel very comfortable and the tightness does feel good.

And so to the run. 15.58km in 1:30:07 at 5:46/km. Again, I followed the river out to Putney and then back towards Parramatta, and back again to Meadowbank and home.

I felt good during and after the run, but later in the day I ended up with a pounding headache. Not sure if that's something to do with the run, not enough rehydration, or perhaps something to with the lunchtime beer!

I just need to make sure that I build on these long runs with some decent Hard sessions during the week.

11.31km Easy...

The first of three posts I need to catch up with after the long weekend.

Even though Friday was a holiday, I was pleased to still get out for a run. I had a bit more time than my usual weekday runs, heading off in the afternoon down to the river.

I felt really good the whole way round. The weather was not too hot with even a bit of rain if I remember correctly.

So I ended up with 11.31km in 1:03:55 at 5:39/km pace.

And so to Sunday...

8.58km Tempo...

I forgot to note the summary for March - probably because it was so poor. Although having a 2 week holiday and my 40th birthday should be considered as mitigating circumstances!

Total km = 52.22

And so to April... there's no reason why I shouldn't be aiming for 150km this month. So we'll see how we go.

This morning, I was able to refer to my Training Plan and chose a Tempo run, which should consist of 4 x 1.5km at 5:00/km pace with 2:00 recovery jogs in between.

This really should be run on a flat route, because I struggled on the last rep and was desperately searching for whatever flat or downhill I could find.

I had about a 1km warm-up then got stuck into the first rep. I wasn't sure how I'd go with pacing at 5:00/km so I referred to my Imaginary Friend for advise fairly often on that first rep. We worked very well together because each 1.5km rep was actually completed at an average of exactly 5:00/km pace.

Apparently Tempo runs are designed to help you improve your running economy and your running form. So we'll see what effect that has as I work through the next few weeks before the Half Marathon in May.

8.15km Easy...

I had a crap night's sleep on Monday, so I skipped the Tuesday run. Therefore I knew I had to get out today... and tomorrow and Friday.

I dug out the long sleeve top this morning, but it's probably still not quite cold enough to warrant it. I'm planning on getting some long legged Skins before it does get much colder. I don't know whether the claimed Bio Acceleration Technology is quite what it literally means, but at least it'll keep my legs warm!

So this morning ended up as 8.15km in 45:05 at 5:31/km pace. So I must have been pushing a little bit harder than usual, but it felt OK.

I'll try to remember to take my Hard runs plan home tonight so that I can try something different to Hills tomorrow.

12.63km LSD...

Even though the statistics look OK... 12.63km in 1:15:04 at 5:56/km pace, yesterday's run felt far from OK!

I adopted the idea of not relying too much on my watch. I just set off at what felt like a comfortable pace. As the first few km splits were displayed, I realised that I was going a bit too quick, but I obviously didn't slow down enough.

I had the idea to do about 15km... should have got me up around a 1:30:00 time, but as I got to 6km I really wasn't feeling too great and then it became a battle just to keep running... a battle which I lost as I ended up walking 2 or 3 times!

So, the lesson is: unless I can control my pace - use the watch!