This is the last workout before the race tomorrow, thus a short one.
The workout
5 strides, or, in other terms, 5 times 100m at maximum speed, a good, dynamic warming-up, 2K easy, then the strides with 100m recovery in between, and finally 1K easy to cool off.
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash
Afterwards
It’s kind of weird to do such a short workout. 4K in total, 18 minutes – but it’s good to get the legs working for a short amount of time. I enjoyed the workout and the strides were nice and fast (for me, that is), pace around 2:50/4:34 per km/m.
Workout data
If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.
My legs are a lot less tired today. Still, I’m doing only a 12K long run.
The Workout
Today, I’m doing a 12K long run in heart rate zone 2 and I’m finishing with 4 strides to get some feeling of speed in.
Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash
Afterwards
Running felt good. Cadence high (ehm, as was the pace, but nothing crazy), but the run felt natural and smooth, without much effort. Funny how you sometimes do not seem to get into the run, and sometimes it just happens, seemingly without effort.
Workout data
If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.
Because I have a race on Sunday, and I sometimes feel a strength/core workout for days after, I did the weekly hour of strength training today. Plenty of time to recover. Not much else to say about, apart from the usual: it was hard and fun.
I still feel my legs are tired from the track workout yesterday, so it’s a good thing I’m doing an easy run today.
The Workout
Today I’m doing a 10K easy run in heart rate zone 1/2. Nothing fancy, except maybe for wearing new shoes.
New Hoka’s (Bondi 6)
I bought new shoes for long runs and opted for Hoka Bondi’s, because of the low drop (4mm) and amount of cushioning (insane). I must say that I liked the feeling of the shoes — I was a bit afraid of having that ‘wobbly’ feeling due to the stack height, but the shoes felt very soft yet firm. What I didn’t like, though, was the sizing. I have two other pairs of Hoka’s (Cavu, ATR) and I ordered these shoes in the same size. Turns out they’re much (!) too narrow in front, so a very tight toebox — a problem I have with the other Hoka’s as well — but they also feel just a bit too small. I’m going to try to return them and switch over to either the wide version of the shoe, or a size bigger, or both. Why can’t companies sort out the consistency of their sizing?
Afterwards
Back to the run. I could feel I was tired, but I managed to keep pace, cadence and heart rate constant. I had a long day at work, and sometimes that just gives me a kind of worn-out feeling.
Workout data
If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.
I’ve made a new calculator today. You can enter a time and distance, and calculate the average pace. Nothing fancy, bu sometimes it’s handy to do a quick calculation like that.
Let’s say that you ran a 15K race in 1 hour and 15 minutes. What pace have you run at? It turns out that you had an average pace of 5 minutes per kilometer. And what about a 10M in 59 minutes and 58 seconds? Your pace was 3:44.
The Jericho Mile is a tv movie from 1979, in which a man is in Folsom prison — for life. He’s not interested in anything other than running and gets scouted by a running coach. After a tragic situation (no spoiler here!) he tries to qualify for the olympics.
Still from The Jericho Mile, taken from IMDB. Copyright the respective owner.
The movie is some forty years old and it shows, but apart from that, the movie is great. I sometimes feel not all actors are up to speed, and the dialogues sometimes feel a bit forced, but overall, it’s a great watch. The movie did win an Emmy Award, so it’s by no means an obscure, unknown movie. A bit forgotten nowadays, I guess.
Oh, something else — The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil plays at just the right moments in this movie.
Today I’m doing a speed workout, consisting of 5 times 800 meters at 3:20/5:22. Last time I did this workout, I ran to and from the track, which is an additional 8K. That’s too much for today, as the workout itself is tough enough. I cycled a part, so the total running workout was 12K.
Afterwards
The intervals were hard, but running felt good — much better than last time, when I did this workout after a strength workout the same day. I did all intervals in a pace a bit faster than needed, more around 3:10-3:15/5:06-5:14 than 3:20/5:22 (actually, I see now paces were 3:14, 3:14, 3:15, 3:17, and 3:14), but that’s because the pace displayed on my watch seemed lower than what is calculated afterwards. That’s probably because I use Stryd for cadence (200spm today), speed and distance. This works better on the track, because GPS tends to cut corners. Anyway, it felt like a hard, but good workout.
Track in Vlaardingen
Workout data
If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.
I’m doing 10 times 400 meter hill ‘sprints’ (sprints are typically shorter) in a bicycle tunnel near my house today. Slowly running down to the start is recovery.
Photo by Matt Duncan on Unsplash
Afterwards
I was used to doing this workout, but with ‘only’ 8 times 400m. 10 was okay, but muscle fatigue, especially in the upper legs, does strike after 6 or 7 intervals. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. The intervals felt good, but the tunnel floor was wet, so it was kind of slippery, and my shoes squeaked like mad.
Workout data
If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.
So, as I promised myself, I will not do two workouts a day anymore. So, today I’ll ‘only’ do an hour of circuit training at the gym at work to work on core strength and strength in general.
