Weblog Alex Reuneker

I think the decision to switch the long run and intervals was a good one. On Tuesday, my legs were still feeling tired, but Wednesday, I felt much better.

The workout

A tempo session of 7 times 1000m at lactate threshold – around 3:50/6:10 – totaling at 14K including warming-up (2K) and cooling-down. In between the intervals, 500m at a slow pace for recovery. I ran at the industrial terrain near the harbour, because there are no traffic lights there and there's a stretch of road of approximately 1K with only three corners.

A piece of road very suitable for intervals up to 1K

Having no traffic lights to stop for is vital for intervals, but I kind of forgot that around the time of the run, all employees would leave their work to go home and there would be a lot of cars and trucks. Add falling darkness and you see what I mean. No real problems, though, although I hate having to look for traffic during intervals.

Afterwards

The intervals went great. Somehow, the pace, although a bit too fast in the first couple of intervals, and cadence felt very natural and I didn't have to push hard. Great run.

Workout data

If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.

Today, another long run. This wasn't the original plan, though. I'll explain.

After the race on Saturday, I was supposed to do a recovery week, but the next race is two weeks away now and during the last race, I could really feel I had already run more than 70K that week. So, I switched this week and the next - more mileage this week, less next week. I'm not sure it's smart, but we'll see. That's how I was planning to do a tempo run today of 7*1000m, but my legs feel tired still, so I decided to do tomorrow's long run today, and the tempo work-out tomorrow. Thursday I won't run, so that good after a tempo run anyway.

The workout

A simple long run of 17K, to the Kandelaar bridge and back.

Photo by S.J. de Waard (see Wikipedia)

Afterwards

Most of my runs, I use a metronome and for long runs, I mainly use 190 spm, but I sometimes feel this is too high for slow runs. I used 186 spm and while it might sound like a small difference, it is quite notable. My legs are still a bit sore, but the run went fine.

Workout data

If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.

Because of the race on Saturday, today I'll do an easy run.

The workout

An easy long run of 15K. Although the workout at the athletics club was fartlek and involved speedwork, I just took it easy. It felt like I needed it.

Afterwards

I can clearly feel my legs have had a beating yesterday, so I'll have to make sure to rest enough and don't train to hard the days after the race. 15K in zone 1 and 2 were okay.

Workout data

If you want to see the workout, check it out on Garmin or on Strava.