Running on empty
My programme had a 2 hour run today. I’d mentioned to Richard I didn’t want to lose what I’d gained running through training for the SBS. Sunday is run day. And from what we both had gathered, the Tri Club’s run group runs 2 hours on a Sunday morning.
That was my plan. Except I hadn’t heard about a run for this Sunday.
Although my alarm was set for 7am I wasn’t keen to get out of bed. I did. Only to check the weather report. It was so windy out this way. I also thought it was raining.
I checked up on Facebook and a number of people were questioning why I was doing a 2hr run so soon after starting back training.
I decided with the gloomy weather, no group to keep me both honest and motivated I’d run somewhere between 1 and 1.5 hrs.
So back to bed I went. I got up just after 8am. Put another loaf of bread on to bake, ate the two crusts from the loaf I’d made yesterday and then set about doing my core/muscle strength workout.
Then after brushing the teeth it was out the door for me.
With the wind blowing from the East it made the decision about which way to run the 10k track pretty easy.
Quite a lot of the track is spongy, not wet spongy, but soft spongy. It felt quite strange.
There were a couple of detours due to yet more tree felling. Surely they’ll be removing the "forest" from the description at this rate.
The 10k track is just shy of that, even with the detours. Once I got through the lap I headed back as if I were doing a 2nd lap, but I knew I was going to turn around at the 2nd detour sign.
I have to confess to feeling like the energy was just leeching out of me, even before I’d reached the completion of the 10k loop. The rest of the run was hard work and of course I was wondering how much help I’d have had from energy gels, water, or some food.
Still it wasn’t my intention to run a long run, but because I’d already missed a key session (spin class) I really felt I needed to do closer to 2 hrs than 1 hour.
All up I ran 1hr 51min and just a bit over 17k. That’s slow. I’ve just checked what my pace was at the different times I hit the lap timer, at one point (21 minutes of running) it was 6:55/km. It was probably when I really felt buggered. In fact I’ve never really felt that tired before.
I was sore when I got home. My lower back hurt and I could definitely feel it in my legs. It’s fair to say it didn’t take me too long after chowing down on a protein shake to get stuck into the stretches.
Sometimes this blog is about my struggle with eating properly. I do seem to have an infatuation. But really it's more about my life, and my training. A bit of a mixed bag really.
I’m not saying a word. La la la!
La la la what? What is it you’re not saying Mrs Herris?
I questioned the long run because for you your run at the Half IM will only be about 2 hours whereas I will be running for up to 5 hours at Wanaka and most of my long runs are only around 2 hours. I likened it to the fact that if you are running your race time in running at the moment that would mean logically I should be doing 4-5 hour runs which would just be daft at this stage of the game
Yeah, it’s my fault for being too paranoid about losing what I’d gained in speed during my training for the SBS. I want to maintain that despite swimming and running first.
Richard’s probably humouring me and wont be the least surprised to read that I found it really tough going during those last 30 minutes. He’ll probably tell me that now he’s allowed me to do it my way, it’s time for me to let him do his job
I agree with Nades, Pailing.
All I’m suggesting is that you seem to be leaping straight from the Preparation Phase to the Volume Phase, which I wouldn’t want to be doing until, ooooo, around October-November? Two hours will probably be your longest run in preparing for Ashburton, and yet you’re doing it now rather than in that volume period. It’s a recipe for burnout once you start really getting into your cycling (I hope you haven’t forgotten about that wee ride in January). 
Well lets hope what I suspect (Richard allowing me to make a mistake this early) is what’s up. Otherwise I guess I’m writing my own programme – based on what my head is telling me I need.
However I see I have another 2 hour run in two weeks time (this coming week is an easy week). Maybe Richard didn’t twig [shrug]. We just spoke about joining the Tri Clubs running group on a Sunday and Richard said that from talking to Nadine it was 2 hours. That was fine with me (at the time). Hmmm. Maybe he’s gotten me confused with doing a full Ironman distance. I’ll have a wee talk tomorrow with him tomorrow when he calls.
you won’t keep your speed by doing long runs dear, for speed you need to do SPEED work, you are just keeping that endurance up, my key race is not till Oct and i have been doing max long runs of two hours at A1 on sundays for ages, sadly i got too carried away with the speedy stuff (which is too soon) so have back off on that for now but still doing these long runs, cause that is where i want to make the most gains, and i am not PLANNING on taking 2 hours to do the run in perth.
I am sure richard will tell you what is best for YOU.
Yes. Well whatever I thought I was doing yesterday wasn’t working for me. My pace just got slower and slower, and I knew I had nothing in the tank and yet I wasn’t aiming to be fast at all. I was going for time, but I almost ground to a halt.
I’ll be very obedient after tonight’s discussion.