4 weeks to Berlin: The long runs are getting easier

I'm still struggling to summon enough energy on a Monday to cycle in to work as a gentle piece of cross-training. The legs just feel drained from the week's activity and the intensity of the sessions. My body's adjusting, that's for sure. I've always maintained that running has got to be one of the quickest ways to burn off excess fat and drop a couple of kilos, but I've never shed weight so quickly as I am having shifted onto FIRST's 3plus2 training plan.

The key seems to be the intensity of the workouts. Previously, I've undertaken one intense weekly session of a timed 5k, say, as my speed workout and then run 2-3 times more in the week at a far lower intensity. On my current plan, there's no let up, even the long runs are only 10-30 seconds per mile off marathon pace and the midweek tempo run really take you right to the edge. Consequently, I've dropped 2.5kg in 4 weeks, 2.5kg less to worry about dragging around Berlin.

One difference is that the plan's pacing tables key off of your current 5k race form and extrapolate, whereas other plans tend to work back from your projected marathon time. And if you don't have a current 5k time to work from, the first thing you're prompted to do is go out and run flat out to get one!

Over the past couple of years, I've managed to get my 5k times down to a reasonable level, but I know I've not got the endurance, yet, at least. So I have to cheat, ever-so slightly. I stick to the fierce paced midweek sessions, which take me to the brink of exhaustion over 45 to 75 minutes, and pace my long runs halfway between my last marathon time and my projected time, according to the tables. A fair compromise, I feel, given I've joined the program quite late in the day.

Whatever the plan makes me feel like during the speed sessions, something must be working. Compared with the 15 mile run I did 2 weeks back, today's session was noticeably more comfortable. It wasn't quite so hilly, granted, but it was a quicker pace and still had its share of hills over the last 5 miles through Richmond Park. To top it off, the sun finally decided it was going to make an appearance in August, which made for a pleasant backdrop to my post-race coffee and banana in the park.

Week commencing Sunday 22nd August

Total exercise: 4h 57m
Longest run: 15 miles
Distance covered: 50.35km

• 3km swimming (incl. 2 laps of Heron Lake)
• 47.35km running (1600m reps; 10M tempo; 15M @ MP + 10sec/mile)

Breakdown:

• 3 x 1600m reps @ 3:45 min/km, with 400m/2-3 min jog recoveries
• 10M @ 7:45 min/mile
• 15M @ 8:10 min/mile

5 weeks to Berlin: First 20 miler in 18 months

After the previous Saturday's 15 mile effort up to Newland's Corner, my legs were saying no to any more exercise for Sunday and Monday. So I went for a lap and half around Heron Lake on Sunday morning, to get a bit of a cardio workout but couldn't stomach my planned cycle to work on Monday. I'm sure I could have made it, but I knew what Tuesday had in store, so I held off and took a rest day.

On my current training plan, FIRST's "3plus2", see my previous post, Tuesdays are speedwork days. These are no ordinary speedwork sessions, not for a hobbyist like me at least, these are intense, pushing my mental and physical boundaries and designed to promote the necessary physiological changes in my body to improve performance. In short, they hurt.

I'd experienced doing 800m reps at a track before, they also hurt, but these were elongated reps at a similar pace, namely the following:

- 1k, 2k, 1k, 1k, with 400m walk/jog recovery intervals in between

The pace for each is calculated based on your current 5k race form. I plugged in 20 minutes for that and ended up having to run the 1k stretches at 3:40/km pace and the 2k at 3:50/km. Some simple maths tells you that means finishing 5k in 18:40, with the benefit of interspersed 2-3 minute breathers. It felt pretty tough.

I swam on Wednesday, for 1 of my 2 cross-training sessions and Thurday required me to perform a mid-tempo run, translating to a 1 mile warm up, followed by 5 miles at sub-7 min/mile pace. Again, this felt right up there in terms of effort.

Saturday was a monster 20 mile session, I threw in a couple of hills too, for good measure. I ran with a couple of friends, also taking part in the Berlin marathon, and we took off at a steady 9:30/mile pace and thank goodness we did. The first 12 miles felt very comfortable, then the wheels started to fall off, so to speak.

Mile 16 was probably the point at which I really could have done with stopping, the point at which mind has to take over matter, or you've had it. The addition of a steep-ish hill at 17 miles just made this worse.

By this point, we were two, neither of us really feeling like holding conversation. It was all we could do to to focus every ounce of energy into keeping the mind focused and the legs turning. 17.5 miles in, the hills, the steep ones at least, were behind us and we admitted to one another that we felt beaten. But, of course, we weren't, at least our legs were still moving, sort of, so the feeling was purely mental and could be beaten. I motioned that we'd best get used to it as there wouldn't be any let up over 26.2 miles on the day. Anyone who's run the distance before will know what I mean when by the dark miles from 19-23.

We pushed on, every 100yds a tacitly acknowledged milestone, until we reached mile 19 and were lifted by the thought of only 1 mile to go. It's strange how your body does that, it obviously holds something back and then when it knows you're ok and can finish, the reserves flood in and you lift yourself to the finish.

A solid run, nothing too pacey, but anything quicker probably would have broken us. The hills will have probably burnt the energy of another mile or two on the flat, which is always something to draw on for the event.

Bring on Berlin!

Week commencing Sunday 15th August

Total exercise: 5h 35m
Longest run: 20 miles (3:07)
Distance covered: 53km

• 50km running
  
• 3km swimming

6 weeks to Berlin: Last minute switch onto FIRST training plan

A big run week, doubly so as I chose to switch my long run day from Sunday to Saturday. Touch wood, I still appear to be injury free, despite putting in the high mileage (40+ miles). The week's runs culminated in a hilly ascent up to Newlands Corner, okay, so it's not the alps, but 300m of ascent in the Surrey Hills is still 300m of ascent. Perhaps this wasn't the best route to have chosen for my first week of switching onto the FIRST training plan.

Boiled down, the FIRST training plan is about quality over quantity, about how you can achieve better times on just 3 runs and 2 cross-training workouts per week, in contrast to the high mileage 5 and 6 day-a-week plans, one ordinarily subscribes to. I picked up "RUN LESS, RUN FASTER" off Amazon last week and have had a first skim through it and dived into some of the sessions in more detail. So far, it's been a good read and sounds convincing, but the proof will be in the pudding. Given Berlin is only 6 weeks away, I'm not going to hold them to that race for results and will hang on until London 2011 to see just how well it works.

The plan emerged when the two main authors, both sports scientists, took up triathlon and couldn't find the time, or more to the point the energy, to fit in 6 runs as well as the cycling and swimming. They cut their running down to just 3 sessions, but saw no decrease in performance, as a result. Was there any reason this wouldn't work for others? Several studies later and there is a growing number of people subscribing to their plan. As someone who's been training predominantly for triathlon for the past several weeks, it felt like an ideal plan for me to hop onto and frees up more time to spend with the family, while still allowing me to fit in the occasional cycle and swim as a part of the plan. And that's all good in my book.

Week commencing Sunday 8th August

Total exercise: 7h 16m
Longest run: 15 miles
Distance covered: 96.5km

• 30km cycling (one commute to and from work)
  
• 65.8km running (swapped long run day to Saturday, hence extra high mileage)
  
• 700m swimming

7 weeks until Berlin

The most recent week involved a fair bit of travelling in the car as we headed home from the French Alps. With two young'uns in tow, stops are frequent and the service areas, as good as many of them are, aren't ideal spots to get your training in, they don't even let Dads on the bouncy castle!

The week started with a fantastic ride out of Megeve, down into the valley around Sallanches, up the other side, back down and across into a climb up through St Gervais and on to Megeve. A blue sky, sunshine day, meant it would be hot, but we set off before 9, so it wasn't too bad and the crystal clear views across to Mont-Blanc were stunning. The Garmin failed to transfer data, gutting, so I mapped the ride out on map my ride instead.

The first 20 minutes were all downhill, as we descended into the valley. We took in the Côte de Domancy, used as a circuit in races as well as for hill rep training by the likes of Lance Armstrong.

St. Gervais; Seen across the valley, beneath the Mont-Blanc range

It's a 2.4km road at an average of 9.2%, so not too severe, but I believe the pros make it so by sprinting up it. We were on the way down, so it was a cinch.

We then climbed the other side of the valley, stopped to take in the views and then I turned round to head back. We'd been out for an hour and I had the kids and wife to attend to and a nasty climb ahead of me. I felt like I'd almost fully recovered from Thursday's triathlon already, far quicker than the recovery from a marathon, so I pushed myself on the way home and tackled the remaining 650m of vertical ascent, without too much trouble. If only Alpe d'Huez had felt like that on Thursday...

The next day was less exercise focused as I had a forced day out of action with an obligatory holiday tummy bug. I'm sure it was nothing to do with the food, since the rest of the family had also had something similar over the previous week, fortunately it didn't strike me on triathlon day.

Once back in the UK, I've managed to sneak in a couple of short runs and an easy swim, other than that, it's been quiet. Next week it's all on and time to get serious.

Here's a summary of the last 2 weeks' exercise:

Week commencing Sunday 1st August

Total exercise: 3h 20m
Top speed: 55.0 km/h [34.2 mph]
Distance covered: 60.2km

• 48.4km cycling (1 recreational ride...v hilly though as it was still in the Alps)
  
• 11km running
• 800m swimming

Week commencing Sunday 25th July

Total exercise: 8h 40m
Top speed: 55.4 km/h [34.4 mph]
Distance covered: 96.2km

• 82km cycling (1 x race; 2 x training rides)
  
• 13km running
• 1.2km swimming