Keep Fit Club - ALL exercise types!

[Taka]

Thanks! Sunday's weather is progressively getting worse. Was an 11mph tailwind at the beginning of the week thats now turned into a 12mph headwind with rain...

Have you done any of your sessions on the track? Defo worth a visit to get used to the surface; it's firm yet forgiving, almost like freshly paved tarmac.

The 800, 1600, 800 will defo be a good simulation to get you match fit for the time trial. Don't worry so much if the 1600 split comes out a couple of seconds slower than the 800s; my fastest 5k performances have always seen me flag a touch in the middle mile with faster miles sandwiching it.

[charlesr]

Being super sensible and avoiding strenuous training for a couple of weeks after that race. Massage yesterday was horrible but necessary. Bruises... Feels good today though.

Also just seen the stage times and I beat that girl by 11 seconds. Yeah.

Good luck to anyone racing over the weekend!

[charlesr]

Nice one Taka. Considering the elevation, a decent time. What's your 10k PB again?

[Taka]

Cheers Charles. PB is 39:38 set on an undulating course but should have been 39:15 (38:53 recorded) at a recent flat 10k had the course not have been declared short.

[Terry Tibbs]

Well done Taka, still a great time mate. You guys are both leagues ahead of me!

Did my weekly 5x800m today, and surprised myself. Despite the midday heat, and having cycled to work today (about 10k), I managed to reduce my rest to 90 seconds and still stay below the target 3:59/km for each rep. I won't lie, it was very hard. Think I'm getting close to my limit now. If it's not too hot next week, I think I might have a go at the 800,1600,800.

Edit: Charles, just for you I tried to tweak the 'stick man' pose, but it didn't come out too well (I tried to add a nose and mouth, but accidentally stopped my watch half way through his arm, hehe..)

[Taka]

Cracking stuff, Terry! The 90 seconds rest is designed to simulate a race environment where you're obviously going non-stop. Do you think you could have completed a 6th rep if pushed? That's normally how I measure whether the effort was right or not; if "yes" then you nailed it and if "no", maybe scale the recovery back to 95/100 seconds and work back up to 90 seconds.

I'm back on the 5k train after feeling like I've saturated my current training towards 10k racing. Had a bash at 5x 800m with 90 seconds standing rest to see how I'd fare as a benchmark setter:

1) 3:02 / 3:47/km
2) 3:02 / 3:48/km
3) 3:01 / 3:46/km
4) 2:58 / 3:43/km
5) 3:01 / 3:46/km

Target was 3:45/km, so I'm happy enough with the outcome!

[Plough Boy]

I'm taking part in the Great East Swim at Alton Water reservoir near Ipswich this Saturday.
Its my first ever open water swim. As a result I'm only entering the 800m as opposed to the 1 mile or 2 mile events.
I can do 800m in my sleep in the pool but apparently the temperature of outdoor water will have a major effect so I thought I'd play safe.
I can't wait!

[charlesr]

Cripes. All these intervals are scaring me. I know I'm going to have to get back into them next week.

My fave session is a structured fartlek where I do 1k sprint with 1k recovery at steady and then repeat as many times as poss without slowing down on the fast ones. Strava in metric is perfect for this because it reads out the split times each km so you know when to start the next split and how the last split went.

Did a great bike ride today only 40 mins but pinned the downhills and cruised the uphills. Haven't had so much fun in ages. Almost died several times.

[charlesr]

Hey PB: good luck on Saturday. Anyone that can swim more than 200m impresses me

[Taka]

Indeed, best of luck with the 800m open water swim. Is there a minimum temperature for it to be able to take place?

[Terry Tibbs]

Cracking stuff, Terry! The 90 seconds rest is designed to simulate a race environment where you're obviously going non-stop. Do you think you could have completed a 6th rep if pushed? That's normally how I measure whether the effort was right or not; if "yes" then you nailed it and if "no", maybe scale the recovery back to 95/100 seconds and work back up to 90 seconds.

I'm back on the 5k train after feeling like I've saturated my current training towards 10k racing. Had a bash at 5x 800m with 90 seconds standing rest to see how I'd fare as a benchmark setter:

1) 3:02 / 3:47/km
2) 3:02 / 3:48/km
3) 3:01 / 3:46/km
4) 2:58 / 3:43/km
5) 3:01 / 3:46/km

Target was 3:45/km, so I'm happy enough with the outcome!

Really nice reps mate! I'm following your lead here, so it's good for me if you're back onto 5k training.

To answer your question: I believe I could have done a 6th rep, just about. I wouldn't have wanted to though!

Is there greater benefit in your view in attempting to reduce the rest further (e.g. 75sec), than say doing a 800,1600,800 session? Also, I was going to ask you about the latter. Do you vary the rest period if the rep distance is changing, or are we talking 800m,90sec,1600m,90sec,800m?

[charlesr]

Now on a 5k and 10k mission.

I'll be drawing up a plan soon. Here are my ideas so far. it will involve X-Training of mountain bike rides (want 2 per week), leaving 5 days for running sessions or rest days if the XT doesn't give enough rest. I'm thinking I'll alternate my weekly long 140bpm runs between 13 and 18 miles. I'll have a day of 1k fast 1k slow (repeats) for 9 miles off road (alternate weekly with a road based 400m interval session). I'll have a Kenyan hill day. A threshold 40min day with an easy 30-40 mins on the same day. And then a 1hr fartlek day. I'll ditch that last one if I'm tired.

Do I need more faster stuff like the 400m intervals?

[Terry Tibbs]

Blimey, that's a busy week! I'm still doing just 4 runs a week: intervals, 1 hour hard/steady, parkrun (LT), and LSR (10-15 miles). No X-Training or even strength training of any kind at the mo. I definitely like your suggestion of 1k fast 1k slow over a long distance. Might give that a go myself next week. How do you determine 'fast'?

[charlesr]

Pretty much the same way you determine your 800m splits. Fast as possible whilst being able to do another X repeats at the same pace. And then finish the run home. I'll look at some previous ones last year and go faster lol.

[charlesr]

So, 5k pace will need to be 3:12. Eeep. I can do it for 1k... This is going to be nasty