Time to take my running into next level

2014 is my second year of regular running. Recently I checked some summary data (me being geek and stats freak) and it turned out I ran about 1000 km so far. Not too much, but from zero to that in a year — I’m happy with that. Now, when I have set goals for this year, there is time to focus on running much more. So — how to get most of my training plan? By having smart goals and proper training PLAN ☺.

I’m so SMART ;)

If you don’t know what SMART criteria are, a quick reminder:

• Specific — I will run a Marathon
• Measurable — In 3.45 or faster
• Achievable- I can dedicate between 10 to 15 hours of weekly training, half of it being focused directly on running
• Realistic — I ran fresh half marathon in 1:46 and run part onf IM 70.3 in 1:55.
• Time Related — North Shore Marathon takes place on 7th of September.

The Plan.

In order to run marathon in 3:45, my average pace has to be 5:20 minutes per km. How to get there? First of all, starting in June, I will increase my overall weekly distance by around 10% per week. I will also get used to training load, by running often. I’m going to run 4 times per week: long run, two short runs and intervals session). I’m limiting my gym time to one core session per week and I’m using climbing as a recovery / relax training.

While doing that I will get back into regular cycling, as I want to do 160km event in the end of November. Now, this is not the priority, so I’m not going to focus on speed and performance, but just want to build the distance.

I can’t forget about swimming either, as it’s by far my weakest discipline. 2 sessions per week, lots of drills. Nothing too crazy.

Stats and numbers

The goal for marathon is to run with HR below threshold value (moment when lactate starts to accumulate in blood), so that’s where I want my intervals to be.

Right now my threshold heart rate sits at 166. That sets up my aerobic zone between 135 and 146 BPM and my sub threshold between 156 and 165 BPM. Majority of my running, at least in the first couple of months, will happen in zone 2, which means slow pace. By slow, I mean really slow. For example, 5:50 min/km still puts my HR a little too high. So between 6 and 6:30 min/km should do the trick.

For the intervals, it’s little tricky. I want to get to 7 6-minute intervals (3 minutes work + 3 minutes recovery). Today I tried running 5 sets, with 5:15 min/km work pace and 7 min/km recovery pace. It went really good, but last recovery was not as deep as it should. I will do that for couple of weeks and check then. Good thing is that 5:15 is often faster than 5:20 and I managed to keep myself under threshold heart rate all the time. I think it’s a really good starting point and I hope to come back to this post in 6 months saying “Wow, I was so slow”.

There is a possibility (quite high actually) that my numbers are off, as this is only Training Peaks calculation. I will get myself tested in the beginning of June and then update my training zones.

I’ve also sorted out my feet problems (thanks to guys from Sports Lab), got myself two pairs of shoes that are actually good for me and started working on motion range, flexibility, and other boring things related to run efficiency ;).

The plan is set and in motion already. And I’m hungry!