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[Terry Tibbs]

Ouch! Good luck dude. May need some trial and error (and further error), but I'm guessing my quick kms should be about 4:15.

[Plough Boy]

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

The water temp at the Great North Swim was between 13 and 17 over the weekend. Chillswim still allow their challenges at 10.5 I believe.
It'll be pretty parky but you have to have a wetsuit to be allowed to take part.

[Taka]

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?

A very good question, Terry. Dropping the recovery will ramp up the intensity of the session, so should really only be completed towards the end of a block of training as a finishing touch/confidence builder. Personally, I prefer to develop the speed and adjust the recovery accordingly based on the adage that to run faster, you have to run faster. Dropping the recovery (in my opinion - not necessarily correct!) simply extends the time you can run at that pace for, but not necessarily get any faster if that makes sense? Which would actually be perfect if you are targeting a specific timed outcome i.e. your sub-20 5k.

If forced to choose, I would go for the 800, 1600, 800. Because I race across a variety of distances, I would use the 1600 at maybe 10k pace to help maintain multiple paces especially during the summer when I want to have a range of fitness. The downside for me is that it makes me more of a Jack of all trades. There's nothing to stop you doing the 1600 at 5k pace, however it's going to hurt like a mofo! Give yourself 2 minutes recovery after the 1600 to enable you to be able to complete the 800 that follows.

Do both sessions and become a well rounded 5k runner!

[charlesr]

Does anyone here do anything outside the normal (running, cycling, swimming, weight training) for their fitness? I know Pete's a mad keen rower. Anyone regularly play football or rollerblading or stuff?

[Taka]

The water temp at the Great North Swim was between 13 and 17 over the weekend. Chillswim still allow their challenges at 10.5 I believe.
It'll be pretty parky but you have to have a wetsuit to be allowed to take part.

Ahh. I did wonder if wetsuits would be necessary like with triathlons that use outdoor open swims. Best of luck!

[Mr Ono]

Recently did a 2 mile race to blow away cobwebs. Did it 2 years ago and it nearly killed me and I got lots of stick at work for posting a slow time where I walked the last bit as I didn't really run then. Anyway, took 4 mins off so happy.

Next challenge is my second ever 10k. The Newham one on 19th July. Just not had any time to train much due to work. Sigh.

[Terry Tibbs]

Dropping the recovery will ramp up the intensity of the session, so should really only be completed towards the end of a block of training as a finishing touch/confidence builder. Personally, I prefer to develop the speed and adjust the recovery accordingly based on the adage that to run faster, you have to run faster. Dropping the recovery (in my opinion - not necessarily correct!) simply extends the time you can run at that pace for, but not necessarily get any faster if that makes sense? Which would actually be perfect if you are targeting a specific timed outcome i.e. your sub-20 5k.

Yeah, that's my take on it. If the goal is to run 5k non-stop at 3:59/km, and I can do close to that with gaps, gradually reducing those gaps until I can do it more or less continuously seems like a logical approach. Also, it's worth noting that I'm managing to stay well within my target pace, typically completing each rep at around 3:51-56/km. That should buy me some precious seconds on the big day.

There's nothing to stop you doing the 1600 at 5k pace, however it's going to hurt like a mofo! Give yourself 2 minutes recovery after the 1600 to enable you to be able to complete the 800 that follows.

I'm gonna give it a shot! It's only pain, right? I'm starting to see the potential with these sessions -- there's so many ways to mix it up.

[Taka]

With 800m reps between 3:51 and 3:56, and the fact that you can do 5x of them, I would be very surprised if you didn't hit your sub-20 goal. 19:30 could even be in reach if you have somebody to chase or work with throughout the whole 5k.

Charles queried 400m reps earlier. I'm not too familiar with 400s, but friends of mine recommend hitting them at 3k pace with 8x - 12x reps not being unusual. I guess the benefit of 400s at an even faster pace is to push out your own boundaries of what you can tolerate, with the idea being that it will eventually make 5k pace more manageable.

[Plough Boy]

The a Great East Swim was brilliant.
I finished the 800m in 18.34 which placed me 97 out of 222.
For a first ever try at open water swimming I was well chuffed.
Going to see if I can somehow do Manchester or Loch Lomond before the end of the summer!

[prinnysquad]

Well done to Tubbo! Epic effort and mightily impressive.

Do Loch Ness. I'll get some photos of you bobbing along in your wetsuit from a distance, and we can flog them as evidence that the ancient lake does indeed contain a big, dark, oily beast of prehistoric proportions.

[Taka]

Another bash at the 5x 800m sesh tonight. Will lay out the excuses right now: very windy out there, I wasn't 100% (nursing the remnants of a sore throat) and had a very tough weekend of racing and training just gone.

Managed to pull off with 90 seconds rest in between:

1) 3:01 / 3:46/km
2) 2:59 / 3:44/km
3) 3:02 / 3:48/km
4) 3:02 / 3:47/km
5) 3:01 / 3:46/km

Felt tougher than last week and I probably pushed a little too hard at the end, so much so that I managed to give myself acid reflux!

[charlesr]

Looks tough to me......

I did a hill session yesterday - going to ensure one of these per week. I can feel the burn already.

Today was supposed to be an easy recovery day and ended up running 4k along shingle (every step is like half a step) as part of the run. Torture! What a div.

Parkrun at the weekend - first time in ages. Scared already. I've put on weight and have no idea if I'm vaguely fit for speed, but I need some practice for the Lakeside 5k roadrace baseline I'm doing on the 1st July. I can then measure my improvement from there over the next 7 months.

18:15 to beat at the Parkrun. It's not flat and is mostly grass, but want to beat that since my 10k is 35:23

[Taka]

Rather you than me, Charles!

18:15 to beat on a course like that - make sure you don some trail shoes. Or even cross country spikes if you have them?

[charlesr]

I wore my Vibrams last time....

[Terry Tibbs]

Been off my game the last week due to illness. It's so bloody annoying how often I pick up horrid bugs, and it's the direct result of two things: 1) Not enough sleep (had issues with this for years), 2) Having two super-spreading mini-me's bringing back every viral treat nursery has to offer. The cycle is my training starts going well, I ramp it up slightly, don't sleep, get run-down, pick up illness, lose a little fitness, repeat. Ah well, only missed a few sessions this time.

Plough Boy, well done on your open water challenge. I don't know if that time is good for 800m, but your ranking would suggest it's pretty darn respectable. So, nice one!

Taka, it might have been a struggle but those splits still look great. I might attempt one more interval session early next week, but no more hard running after that, as I have a local 10k race on 5th July -- it'll probably be a casual one, as I've not done any 10k focused training for a while. Plus it's gonna be roasting. Damn, I need to get more creative with my excuses!

As for unusual fitness activities, does 'kettlebells' count? I've signed up for a beginners class that starts in September. Should be fun.