10:30 a.m. 10 miles: 3 warm up incl 6x100m strides with jog back rec, 4x1 mile off 90 sec jog rec, 3 mile shuffle home.
Last time I did this session (3 weeks ago) my splits were all over the place -5:29, 5:20, 5:27, 5:19 - AP 5:24) and since then I've only done one proper workout of 5x0.5 miles. Based on my half mile splits - using Horwill's 4 sec rule - I should have done today's workout in 5:24's. I'd have taken that because I've been all over the shop with the training recently (trying to find the balance between miles and speed and threshold etc). So here's how it went:
1. 5:21, 2. 5:22, 3. 5:23, 4. 5:28. AP 5:23.5
I was pleased with the workout, not because of the times but because I was able to lock the splits in a bit better. I still did the first 200m-400m of each rep too quickly, which messed the session up a bit. But it wasn't too bad. Ironically, the last rep was most pleasing: I fought hard to keep the session together. I was on my hands and knees at the end.
The session has highlighted and exposed a couple of things that I already knew. I need to concentrate more on my aerobic capacity, aerobic resistance and strength. But I've got this covered in 'The Bam Method'.
'The Bam Method' kicks off from the beginning of September, as I will have been 'running' for a year and that seems like an appropriate date to start. When I start 'The Bam Method', I will highlight what I believe to be the pros and cons of the more popular methods used in marathon training today. I'll also present 'The Bam Method' so that it can be scrutinized, criticized and any thing else 'ized'. The beauty and the nuances of the system will be explained, too.
Now, this is something from Canova that Bret and Jake and the school master (Mr Murphy) might find interesting, and anybody else:
... Instead, when you want to increase your marathon at high level, YOU START FROM SPEED AT MARATHON PACE OR SIMILAR, and the first step is to use ALL YOUR CARBOHYDRATES in order to run still some minute in total depletion of sugar, for obliging muscular fibres in using THE MOST POWERFUL SOURCES OF FATTY ACIDS in order to maintain a similar speed. For example, if an athlete able running HM in 65.0 wants to prepare a marathon for 2:15 (really not difficult), he can run without big problems 28km at 3:15 pace (1:31), but after this goes to finish his reserves of glycogen, and his pace goes down dramatically. If he is able to run yet 3 km at 3:25 / 3:35 / 3:45, THESE LAST 3 KM ARE THE REAL TRAINING, because his fibres have to go to search some other hidden tank, under necessity. The next time, the same athlete becomes able running at 3:15 not 1:31, but 1:41 (for 31 km), so his long fast run must be extended to 34 km with the last 3 without glycogen.
So, in the first case we start with an empty glass that we go to fill with fatty acids, in the second case we start from a glass full of glycogen that we go to empty step by step, in order to fill the remaining part with qualified fatty acids.
When I speak about FAST LONG RUN, don't think that ALWAYS long run must be fast. If I go to prepare a Marathon, I use one specific long run every week, alternating two different ways :
a) DURATION - I don't have particular care about the pace. I start from 1:30, and in short time I move to 1:45 - 2:00 - 2:15 - 2:30. This training is at 70% of your HM pace (for ex., if you have a PB in HM of 70.20 that is a pace of 3:20 per km, and is the first time that you want to prepare a marathon, your pace for DURATION can start from 4:20. At the beginning of your training (may be 5 months before your Marathon), once a week you go for DURATION, in order to reach the ability in lasting the full marathon time, in short time, because your long run is very easy.
b) When you are able running, for example, 2:30, you can start to qualify the DURATION using a progression for the last 15:00, after 30:00, and so and so.
c) But, when you are able running 2:30 of DURATION, you start also your training of DISTANCE. Distance is a precise distance (forgive me again), that you go to run at even pace, about 90/95% of your HM pace (and this has to become your Marathon pace). So,. in the previous case, 95% of 3:20 is 3:30. You can start with 24km at 3:30, and the progression is TO EXTEND THE SAME PACE, running 26 and then 28 and so and so.
d) When you have both DURATION and DISTANCE in your program, the system is TO QUALIFY THE SPEED OF THE DURATION, and TO EXTEND THE DURATION OF THE PACE OF THE DISTANCE. You can alternate these 2 long runs, one in one week, the second in the next week. At the end, you become able to build a funnel, where your DURATION is 2:30 at 3:40, and your DISTANCE are 36 or 38 km at 3:30. When you are able to do this, be sure that you can run your full marathon at 3:30 finishing faster the last 10k, and, if you go for a HM one month before your Marathon (of course we can use, in every week, another specific workout of extension : so, no more than 2 workouts per week), your PB can move from 65 to 64 without big problems.
All the other days are for GENERAL VOLUME (many km slow or following your sensation, in any case easy) or for RECRUITMENT OF THE HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF FIBRES (using very short sprints uphill).
I love the way he says, when talking about running 2:15, "really not difficult". | 