Doc

I had some recent shin pains. The doc says it's probably not a fracture, but we are doing some tests to make sure it's really nothing more than generic stress in muscle/tendons/periostal material. No running, will get re-assessed next week.

Did some swimming today, four intervals of freestyle at 400,200,100,50 meters, to check my status and plan some training. I had no shoulder pain during these, so my gym plan, with emphasis on the shoulders must have done the trick. My results were 400m@7:40, 200m@3:16, 100m@1:25, 50m@37.5, which are not much different from the recorded times I have from 18 months ago, so I guess I am remaining at my usual crappy quality!

Running Track -> Shopping Mall

So I went for first mild bike effort yesterday. This was a route I had ran in November and it features a 300m climb. Doing it now on the bike seemed slightly harder since the ground is a bit slippery, but it was easier on the flatter bits. Still, I did not get too tired.

Today I was looking at my maps in order to decide on an easy recovery route and I noticed a stadium drawn in just on the other side of the river. Piqued, I rode over there. There is the new Ice-Hall... and what looks like an empty lot. Going around it, I could see a swimming pool and the rest was just dug ground. Apparently this is because they are going to be making a health spa. Oh well. There is still the open police stadium 2km away.

More frequent runs

I've been doing more frequent runs recently, aiming to keep the amount between 3-5 runs per week, even if it means running very slowly on some days.

At the same time, I've just completed my base weight training, which lasted three months. I finished 10 days of high frequency weight training - and a final week of high intensity weight training. For this last week it was very important to set targets for weights+repetitions and try to follow them. It gave me a nice sense of achievement. I will take the following week off and I'll pick up the effort the week after.

I think I am going to schedule my running workouts in the same way as my weight training work outs, with precise goals for each session. I'll only have time for those in the morning, it seems.

Now, skiing is not so easy to fit into the schedule. Cross-country skating is great - especially as a replacement for endurance-building runs at the aerobic - lactate threshold range. It is also a great exercise for hip muscles. Downhill skiing is another matter. All too often you cannot find an easy enough piste to ski down in. Last weekend I got my knees pretty tired from it. Ski touring would've been my preferred alternative, as it is a great workout plus it helps you to learn ski essentials. but there is not so much snow in the easier hill slopes and I am a beginner.

I wonder if that will leave me any time for swimming + water polo.

Speed versus exertion

I wanted to measure was how much exertion I was putting by running different times. So I ran a few 400m laps at different speeds, with various amounts of rest. This dataset includes all training data from two sessions, for all runs, including recovery runs. However everything done at a speed of at least 3.5 m/s is a proper run.


I added another two data points representing my heart rate while standing and walking at a slow pace, mostly for reference. In order to model the data I chose the function y = f(x) of the form f(x) = exp (ax + b) + c; this seems to have given a relatively good fit, particularly at the high-intensity parts of the work-out.
So, in theory at maximal effort, I should be able to run 400m at 4.5m/s, or push it to 5m/s by going at an exertion level of 110%. I have in the past done 5m/s on a 400m at time trials - and I was knackered at the end. (That does not mean that I reached 110% of your maximum heart rate, but that a maintaining a long-term 5m/s speed would require me to elevate my heart rate to 110% of my maximum) - interestingly, this 110% effort level is in agreement with the number given in some web sites for the VO2 Max % (which is roughly equivalent to maximal heart rate %).

On the other hand, this shows that I really need to somehow be faster with less effort. My 100m running times are abysmal.

This is my new training blog

I decided to create a blog specifically for my training endeavours. Collecting data, statistics and so on.
One of the things that I wanted to know was how fast other amateur runners are doing.. so here is some data from the 10Km 2006 race in Leeds, UK:



My current 10K time is in the 55-60 minute range, so I am clearly near the median - I will be satisfied if I reach the top 10% time I guess.