Ladywell 10,000 & Day 1 marathon plan
Early and long blog entry. A bit about yesterday’s track experience and a bit about what’s to come over the next few weeks.
I had a fair level of excitement about yesterday’s race on the track. I kind of had been preparing/training for it the last few weeks (expect the 2 weeks on holiday) and even took it easy most of last week in order to arrive fairly fresh to the event. It was my debut on this type of race and I was certainly keen.
I ran a 5000 a few weeks ago on the track in Canterbury but it didn’t feel like the right type of experience to learn much from. I struggled a lot with the heat and messed up my laps. Still rescued a decent time but the overall experience was tainted by other factors, I wasn’t able to learn from the pre-race arrangements, lane picking, race strategy, etc. Took some positives from it but not really what I wanted to get out of it.
My race last night (6th out of 7 races on the day) was scheduled for 17.40 which meant having to go through a different pre-race routine to the typical one I’d follow for a Sunday morning race. The breakfast and pre-race routine I would normally follow had to change and instead I tried to prepare for it the way I would for a demanding training session during the week after work. Early lunch and start thinking about it and visualising around 16.00
The family decided to come and support me as it was my official debut in this type of event and they felt it was important to be there for me. It’s always a double edge sword when the family come to a race.
In one hand I love the support and the love, it helps me dig in a bit more during the difficult periods of a race and I can also take my mind off during the less important moments before and after the race as I mess about with the kids, but in the other hand, I also have to spend more mental effort in taking care of the family during times when I should be focusing on race strategy or when I would want to have a moment of peace and quiet. This time around I was happy for them to share the experience with me.
We got there just before 17.00 which is great as I had time to warm up properly and absorb some of the atmosphere. I was even able to watch the previous race and familiarise myself with the track, the pacers and overall dynamics of the event. After the warm up I changed shoes and got myself to the holding area with about 10 minutes to go.
There was about 28 runners in this race. A high number for a track race. Before the race I had anticipated that this would mean a long string of runners separated by about 10 seconds. My pre-race expectations in terms of strategy were to go with the 16.45 pacer and then push on with about 2km to go. That would mean going for 33:30 kind of pace until the final 2km and hopefully give myself a chance to push for a sub33.
As we lined up for the start they announced 3 pacers, 16:20–16:30 and 16:45. I immediately changed my strategy and decided to go with the 16:30 and look for even splits.
The gun goes off and the pace is fast. I settle in at the back. Probably 2nd or 3rd last and, as I expected, the field starts to string out already.
After a couple of laps I decide to throw in a little surge and go past a few runners to get ahead of the 16:45 pacer. A little gap has started forming between the 3 groups and I’m in the last group so that little surge gets me in touching distance, at the back, of the second group. From 3rd last I move up about 5 or 6 positions.
I try to just follow the tail runners of the 16:30 group for a few laps and take my mind off things but they seem to be losing touch with the front runners of the group already so I find myself having to surge past them again and position myself just behind the 16:30 pacer.
There’s about 8 runners in the leading 16:20 pace group which means I’m probably in 9th or 10th position coming up to half way.
Just before the half way mark I do a mini internal check and things are relatively good. Legs feel a bit tired but ok, the pace is hard but manageable and I seem to be not too far from the 16:20 group, maybe about 100–150 meters behind.
My mouth has dried up and it’s really annoying me. I decide not to move out to an outer lane to grab water as I am comfortable with the striding and I don’t want to disturb my rhythm.
But when I’m starting to get into my groove, right at the 5km point, the pacer in front of me drops out. That really messes up with my head. It takes me no time to realise the next runner in front of me is about 50 meters ahead and I have no idea of his pace. He could be slowing down and I wouldn’t know so maintaining the gap is not a valid option. The risk of slowing down without even noticing it is too great.
For about 4–5 laps I’m in no man’s land. I hear the announcer talking about how we’re in the most difficult part of the race. There is about 10 laps left and in my head all I can think about is not losing too much time. I need to get me to 5 laps to go. If I do that, I can manage the last 2km.
I notice my girls running alongside me every time I get on the home straight and they are shouting out giving me encouragement. I gather my thoughts, relax a bit and go again.
I finally catch up with the guy in front of me with about 5 laps to go. It’s my time! I do another mini mental assessment. I am struggling but I will finish. In my head the sub 33 is gone but I know I can pick it up a bit in those final 5 laps. If I’m tired the guys in front of are also tired. I decide to go for it and hold nothing back. I hear one of the time keepers shout out my lap times over the final 5 laps. I’ve gone from 80–81 seconds laps to about 78 seconds laps. From about 3’22”/km (5’25”/mile) to about 3’15”/km (5’14”/mile).
I’m really hurting now. 4 laps left and I am able to overtake another runner. I start closing the gap on the actual leaders. I don’t know what position I’m in but I am pushing hard thinking I’m actually showing up and making people in front of me having to beat me. Another 78 seconds lap. 4 laps left. I now hear Simon on the home straight giving me support and telling me to get a move on. Thanks dude!
I have another 2 runners ahead of me that seem to be going backwards. I push on and pretty much catch up with them with a 76 second lap. 2 laps to go and I feel like I’m done. I’ve got virtually nothing left. I try to refocus. All my efforts are now in making sure I don’t blow up the final 2 laps. I feel like I am done trying to catch people up.
The only runner in front of me before the leading runners starts to kick with about 2 laps to go. I later found out he’s an 800 specialist but obviously seeing him go backwards until that moment to then, with 2 laps to go, start getting away from me made me realise I had nothing left. I had spent the last 4 laps pushing and now with 800 meters to go it felt like job done in terms of effort.
Lap 24 of out 25 in about 75 seconds. One lap to go. I glance at the big clock and it shows 32:03 when I hear the bell. Surprisingly I find myself putting in one last effort with a final lap of about 68–69 seconds. I am not aware of what time I will be doing and at that point and it does not really matter as I’m flat out anyway. With about 80 meters to go I can see the clock again but still have no idea if I’ll make sub 33. One final push and I stop my Garmin as I cross the line. It reads 33:00:08
I still don’t know what position I’ve finished in. I am thinking 10th or so until I am able to get up and walk back to where my family and Simon are when I find out I was 5th. Not bad.

I obviously have mixed feelings about the result. Pretty happy with the effort and overall race management. It wasn’t easy at all finding myself going solo from the 5km mark with no pace to follow. Looking at my splits I did drop the pace in the middle part of the race. Those few seconds cost me dearly but it’s to be expected. It’s very rare to have a completely perfect race.
I still think I can probably do a 32:45 or similar but on the day I got a 33:01.05 (official time). Lots of “if only” but in the end that was the outcome of all the variables coming together on the day so quite happy with the outcome achieved in my debut.
I made a lot of good decisions when I had to and that alone is worth a lot to me. More than the actual race time. Little things like when to stay, when to surge, staying in lane 1 as much as possible, not losing touch with the pacer, attacking when I did, and of course, starting at the back and finishing 5th.
On the “to do” column, be a little braver in the middle part of the race and perhaps have a little more general awareness of where I am in the overall race just so I don’t find myself with no one to follow that early in the race.
I don’t know how I will arrive at this point in future seasons but I would very much love to do this race again. Well organised, nice support, good pacers and close to home so one to have in my annual racing calendar.
Today the legs feel fine and energy levels are good. My back is a little achy but 2 days of easy running should take care of that. Next session now I am hoping to do is Wednesday as I kick off my official training plan for Valencia with a 2x8km @ 3’33”/km (5’43”/mile).
13 weeks to go to Valencia. The breakdown of my plan is as follows:
- 1 week of volume bridging and recovery. Only 1 quality session and 1 easy long run. Around 120km (75 miles) for the week.
- 3 lots of 3 weeks (9 weeks) of about 145/130/115 km (around 90/80/70 miles) mainly with 1 medium quality workout and 1 long quality workout and alternating so that in the easy week (every 3rd week) I substitute the long quality workout with a traditional easy long run.
- 3 week taper where the 3rd week is still hard in terms of quality running but lower in mileage (about 105km/65 miles) and then a more traditional 2 week taper.
Different mindset now. I now have to minimise the ad hoc decisions and focus more on the key areas I want to achieve. That means being stricter with food, rest and quality workouts. Th recoveries get slower as the key sessions get faster.
This time around I am aiming to follow a Jack Daniels plan a bit closer to his actual guidelines. I have, a priori, modified a few sessions but the overall structure and the introduction of some interval work is straight from his book (elite plan on the lower spectrum of suggested mileage).
That means 45–60km (25–35 miles) of quality work in two weekly sessions and everything else is easy/recovery so around 25%-35% of weekly mileage being quality work.
The hard work is only about 9–10 weeks but that should be enough coming from 33 weeks averaging 100.8km (62.5 miles) a week.
In terms of intensities and paces I will also follow Jack Daniels VDOT recommendations. I am currently VDOT 65. My recent race times are 15:53 for the 5k and 33:01 for the 10k and Jack Daniels gives VDOT 65 a 5k time of 15:54 and a 10k time of 33:01 — pretty much to the second on both distances without even trying ;-)
That VDOT gives me a potential HM time of 01:12:53 and a marathon time of 02:32:35. These are potential times based on research data collated over a long period of time and a high number of athletes looking at values like Vo2max, Running Economy, Vvo2 (velocity at Vo2max), etc. so it’s a pretty reliable indicator based on physiological performance given the right training and similar race conditions but it’s not written in blood anywhere so I don’t want to commit to a potential race time just yet. I need to see how I progress over the next few weeks. It’s just a great starting point.
I like to think I actually get better with distance but the VDOT is a great indicator to begin with. So I will use that number to start working at the related paces Jack Daniels gives. I will also try to wear my heart rate strap during the workouts to see what % that represents of my HRmax and get a good indication of actual effort levels. That is if I get around to replacing the battery on the strap.
Yesterday’s HR values on Strava are not reliable as they are ones captured by the Garmin watch from its optical measurement which I find it’s all over the place.
The paces are:
Recovery: 4:25–4:50 (7:05–7:45)
Easy: 4:00–4:30 (6:25–7:15)
Steady: 3:45–4:00 (6:00–6:25)
Marathon: 3:37 (5:49)
Threshold (Long): 3:28–3:35 (5:35–5:47)
Threshold (Short): 3:23–3:28 (5:28–5:35)
Interval and Rep training between 5K and 10K pace
As for intensities, I am pending a Vo2max performance lab test where I can be more accurate about my current thresholds, but my previous thresholds are as follows:
Recovery: sub 140bpm <70% HRmax
Easy: 140bpm-155bpm or 70%-77% HRmax
Aerobic Threshold: 155bpm-157bpm or 78%-79% HRmax
Marathon/Steady: 158bpm-170bpm or 80%-89% HRmax
Anaerobic Threshold: 171bpm-174bpm or 90%-92% HRmax
Anaerobic work: over 175bpm <93% HRmax
Max: 185bpm
As I mentioned earlier, I am due another test so I can be a bit more precise on that Anaerobic Threshold, but based on the recent 5k and 10k races, it pretty much marries with the pace Jack Daniels recommends.

