Running/Fitness The Running Thread

[faible]

Most of the “speed” sessions I’ve found have been pretty short generally speaking.
I normally bookend them with a Z2 steady state depending on how much time I have.

The useful thing is that mona fartlek can be done a heap of different ways. You can do a faster jog / slower 'effort' to make it more of a tempo session, do the effort section uphill for some hill work etc...

 

[franko85]

doing 10k walks a day, some jogs. What about you guys?

 

[Mofra]

Got a bit of time to myself this morning. I'd never run around Prince Park before, managed 10km for the first time in a few years. On 4.5 hours of sleep, a banana and a coffee.

My pacing sucks though. Even when I feel I'm not putting in any effort I'm still a little quicker over the first 2-3 kms than I want to be.

 

[franko85]

Got a bit of time to myself this morning. I'd never run around Prince Park before, managed 10km for the first time in a few years. On 4.5 hours of sleep, a banana and a coffee.

My pacing sucks though. Even when I feel I'm not putting in any effort I'm still a little quicker over the first 2-3 kms than I want to be.

any goals?

 

[Mofra]

any goals?

Immediate goals are a 14.45 3.2km (my fitness test from firt year in the Navy) and a 25 minute 5km. Not too far off either right now.

I also gym & cycle so running goals aren;t my only fitness aims.

 

[whisper_metal]

Gave this a go tonight (had been meaning to for a while but one thing or another seemed to stop me somehow).
Went the slow end of my recovery pace (6’00”) for the float then started at 5km pace (4’00”) for the 90s and dropped 15” each time change.
Thought it was pretty easy to start, but those 30” & 15” come around quick (I also lost the last 5” to winding up to the working pace).
Would like to get the 15s down to sub-3 then I’ll work at bringing up the float pace (though not sure I’ll get it to 5km pace!).

I hope you enjoyed it. You can alternate pacing.....5km pace for the on and 10km pace for the float, 3km/5km pace variations or 10km/Half marathon pace. It depends on what you are training for and how fit you are. I tended to go for the 5km/10km. If you struggle with the session initially, you can always halve it until you gain confidence.

I only ever did it after I had retired from track running due to injuries and began training for a half marathon and did it on ovals in Banyule and Eltham on grass. As I got fitter, the 15sec on/off ended up being the same pace. Ultimately, the float has the greatest bearing on how far you travel during the entire Mona Fartlek.

My best distance covered was 6.2km for the entire 20min Fartlek. My training partner's best was around 6.6km and the furthest distance covered that I know of was from our coach Ken Greene's squad based in NSW; Jeff Hunt ran around 7.2km (granted he was running 2:11 for the marathon)! That time puts it into perspective the difference between elite runners and AFL players, albeit AFL players carry more weight/muscle.

If you need any advice, happy to help; I lurk but don't post much on the forum.

 

[Glorfindel]

I hope you enjoyed it. You can alternate pacing.....5km pace for the on and 10km pace for the float, 3km/5km pace variations or 10km/Half marathon pace. It depends on what you are training for and how fit you are. I tended to go for the 5km/10km. If you struggle with the session initially, you can always halve it until you gain confidence.

I only ever did it after I had retired from track running due to injuries and began training for a half marathon and did it on ovals in Banyule and Eltham on grass. As I got fitter, the 15sec on/off ended up being the same pace. Ultimately, the float has the greatest bearing on how far you travel during the entire Mona Fartlek.

My best distance covered was 6.2km for the entire 20min Fartlek. My training partner's best was around 6.6km and the furthest distance covered that I know of was from our coach Ken Greene's squad based in NSW; Jeff Hunt ran around 7.2km (granted he was running 2:11 for the marathon)! That time puts it into perspective the difference between elite runners and AFL players, albeit AFL players carry more weight/muscle.

If you need any advice, happy to help; I lurk but don't post much on the forum.

Cheers mate. I think I’m still new enough to dedicated running that everything seems to be working (gotta love noob gains ).
I’ve got a long(er) trail run on the weekend, recovery/long run on Monday then my speed stuff on Thursday.
Thursday I’ve played around and settled on 4 workouts I like and will rotate each week.
(1) Mona fartlek
(2) Moose fartlek
(3) 10 minute threshold followed by 8x30”
(4) Norwegian 4x4

 

[whisper_metal]

Cheers mate. I think I’m still new enough to dedicated running that everything seems to be working (gotta love noob gains ).
I’ve got a long(er) trail run on the weekend, recovery/long run on Monday then my speed stuff on Thursday.
Thursday I’ve played around and settled on 4 workouts I like and will rotate each week.
(1) Mona fartlek
(2) Moose fartlek
(3) 10 minute threshold followed by 8x30”
(4) Norwegian 4x4

Improving definitely helps with motivation when you begin. My advice to you as someone new is to listen to your body and don't push too hard too quickly so that your body adjusts and you can avoid injury. Getting into the habit/routine is the hardest thing and injuries often make motivation more difficult, particularly when you are recovered and trying to come back.

I hadn't heard of the Norwegian 4x4 but the rest are definitely great sessions. When I was running track in Summer, we would do a hard/longer session on Tuesday and Thursday would be something short and sharp, similar to your third workout: Easy 3-5km warm up, 10 minute threshold (at the time, this was a comfortable 3.2km on the track) and then some sprints like 6-8 x 200m in 26-28 sec jogging across the diagonal of the track between each followed by a 5-8km cool down. Great session to prepare mentally for a race and get speed into the legs, although looking at it now makes me feel exhausted

Thresholds sessions are great; ideally you should be able to hold that pace for an hour and I was always told you should just be able to hold a conversation at the pace too. There is a tendency to get into a habit of going too fast in a threshold (I found this more so when in a larger group on longer threshold runs).

With your long run(s), one thing you could incorporate after the run when you feel that the your body is up to it is to start doing some 50-80m run throughs/strides (4-6) at 80% pace) to get the legs ticking over again at a faster pace; it helps with circulation, reduces stiffness due to the longer distance run and helps with recovery. The emphasis is on maintaining and concentrating on good running form (arms moving and loose, running upright, knee lift etc) under fatigue rather than concentrating on speed (where injury comes into play). It will feel strange the first few times you do it; the first stride in particular always feels sluggish, but I found it helped, particularly mentally when it came to finishing a race. The great Haile Gebrselassie lived by this and probably why he could close the last 200m in a 10km race in 25 seconds!

 

[Running_Lifter86]

I have signed up for may latest run, 100km run along the great southern rail trail in VIC at the end of May.

I've been slowly building the kms since late December, i had an easy 3-4 weeks post my last marathon in late Nov last year.
My plan is to build to around 100km per week by mid March and then have a 5-6 week block of 100-110km weeks, may even do a 50km race end of March at the Brimbank running festival.

 

[Mofra]

I have signed up for may latest run, 100km run along the great southern rail trail in VIC at the end of May.

I've been slowly building the kms since late December, i had an easy 3-4 weeks post my last marathon in late Nov last year.
My plan is to build to around 100km per week by mid March and then have a 5-6 week block of 100-110km weeks, may even do a 50km race end of March at the Brimbank running festival.

Amazing, kudos.

How much to you plan for mid race hydration/nutrition when you're training for an event like this?

 

[Running_Lifter86]

Amazing, kudos.

How much to you plan for mid race hydration/nutrition when you're training for an event like this?

That is my biggest challenge, eating enough calories as i go, i generally like to run/exercise on an "empty stomach". I estimate i will be around 6,000 calories during the run, approx 12hrs.

There is aid stations along the way which will stoke food and water/carbohydrate drinks. But i will have a running vest and stock gels/food and will have 2 x500ml water flasks plus two spares, salt tablets etc. There is a bit of mandatory gear i have to carry like first aid kit, space blanket, jacket, gloves, headlamps etc. Around the halfway point of the race there will be s spot where the race organisers can place a drop bag which will have extra stuff i need.

 

[Glorfindel]

That is my biggest challenge, eating enough calories as i go, i generally like to run/exercise on an "empty stomach"

This is probably going to be my biggest issue doing an Ironman. Especially given I can’t see myself eating anything substantial the morning of or either night before.
Bike isn’t too bad as I can load it up with gels etc without too much of a weight or aero penalty, but not sure if I’ll take a belt or not on the run.