Week 8

Monday Aug 2

AM 13 miles, 1:31min

PM 6 miles, 43min, grtc drills

Tuesday Aug 3

AM 7 miles, 50min

PM 10 miles, 67min

Wednesday Aug 4

15 miles, 1:42min (last mile 5:07 on track)

Thursday Aug 5

13 miles, 1:31min, strides

Friday Aug 6

AM 13 miles in 1:25min w/ steady state run:

3 laps of Jamaica Pond (7,050meters in 22:50) splits: 7:33-7:43-7:33~7:36avg.

PM 10 miles, 67min

Saturday Aug 7

AM 12 miles, heartbreak hill, 1:17min

PM 8 miles, 55min

Sunday Aug 8

20 miles, 2:16min

127 miles

Pretty good week, lots of good efforts there, many of which I probably ended up running more than indicated, unless I use the GPS watch, most of the time I count everything as 7min pace. Good example of this is Saturday on my heartbreak hill run. If my buddy Andreas didn't have his GPS, I probably would have added another 5 min.

Anyway, this was indeed a tough week but I'm starting to see some breakthrough in my aerobic development. I am trying to do the full Lydiard training now that I have more time away from competitions. During the base phase Lydiard's main focus is developing the aerobic capacity. He focuses on 3 things during this phase: the steady state runs (at MP, starting at 4 miles and increasing to 10 miles), long runs (1x2hour run, 2x1.5 hour runs) and fartleks (anywhere from 1-5min). This is the current phase that I am on and it should last at least 16 weeks. I am already starting to feel very strong and am excited to continue the development.

So after about 7-8 weeks of adjusting to training and increasing the mileage to its highest, I added my first effort: a steady state run averaging 7:36/lap at JP. Goal was to run at about 7:55/lap, which would be about 3/4 effort or marathon goal pace as Lydiard suggests, but it can be hard judging pace after not running fast for a long time. This effort felt all aerobic which is good as Lydiard suggests keeping the heart rate between 160-174. The hard part will be to increase this steady state run from 4 to 10 miles little by little with patience while keeping the HR in check. With adjustment to training and natural aerobic development from the mid and long distance runs, this should be attainable though (ie running 52min for 10 miles at the end of this phase with ease). For now, that's all I got. Hope everyone likes the new look of the site.Questions/comments always welcome!