Listening to another past episode of Marathon Talk I was inspired to try something new with my long run - the 'Paced Long Run'. The idea is split the run into a start, middle and end, and to vary the pace between sections of the run, making one third the pace section, run at TRP, while the rest of the run is at a slower pace. The faster section could by any of the three - whichever you choose will give a different benefit.
You can also introduce the 'Fatigue Run', where you run the first half of a run faster than the second. This gets you used to the negative split and to running when your legs are tired. The first half, at TRP, fatigues your legs for the second half which is basically just time on your feet.
The 'Progression Paced Run', is basically the reverse - running the latter part of the run faster than the first, but the second part is a bit shorter.
Then the 'Accelerated Pace Run', hammering the second section faster than TRP!
All this gets you used to running various sections of your run at race pace, helps you to finish strong and gives you the confidence come race day, both consciously and sub-consciously, that you're capable both of changing your pace and of running at race pace at different times during the race.
So, to ease this strategy into my training, today I opted to run the first two thirds at an easy pace - a minute per mile slower than target race pace - and the last third at 'TRP'. My target for Bristol half marathon is 1:35, so TRP is 7:15 minutes per mile. Accelerating from around 8:15 to around 7:15 was tricky. Firstly, it's really difficult to judge and to settle into the new pace. Secondly, at least to begin with, the faster pace felt really hard and made me question whether I'd possibly be able to keep it up over a whole race. I had to remind myself that I still have several weeks of training to go yet and that of course it's hard - that's the point - just zip up the man suit and get on with it!
On the trail I came upon a chap standing on one side of the path with his back to me. Not apparently doing anything untoward, but a little strange, as there wasn't much of a view. Suddenly though, I spotted a little dog hidden in the undergrowth on the other side of the path, and then spied the (retractable as it turned out) lead, stretched across my path like a trip-wire! Fortunately he heard me coming and, retracting the lead jumped quickly to the dog's side of the path out of my way, apologising profusely. I have to admit it was pretty smartly done!
Contemplating this near miss, it occurred to me that I might have noticed the lead were I not still wearing my shades when I was already shaded from the sun by the trees. I also thought that perhaps leads should be made more visible, perhaps using white nylon rather than silver-grey wire (retractable or otherwise).
I had forgotten finding on my last visit that a later section of the trail had become a little overgrown with nettles and brambles. Of course this being summer they'd grown even bigger. I found myself having to hurdle patches of brier, then having to stop and push nettles down with my feet to avoid stinging my shins and even thighs. It just got worse, however, so I pretty soon gave up and doubled back, taking instead the parallel path which I normally use for the return leg.
I came upon another dog, and it's owner, crossing a narrow wooden footbridge. The dog was very well behaved, and so was the owner. They both kept to one side, and I got a smile and a cheery "Morning!". That was from the owner, not the dog. What struck me most though was the lead, which while not retractable was fashioned from broad white tape. What a good idea!
I'm almost back on track for my target of 1500 miles in 2011 - just 23½ miles short, but with half and full marathons on the horizon the weekly training miles are edging back up.
No comments:
Post a Comment