Adding Race Speed (Half Marathon Training Vlog Pt2)

[@DevRunner]

Hey Chris! It looks like you're well on your way to a sub88! The speed session with your Dad looked solid - great to get footage without holding a stick! Keep pushing my friend!

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Thanks Paul. Looking forward to it, just need the strong winds to go that been hanging around for the past few weeks 🤞

[@gokiwi2642]

Excellent interval session, I like doing ladder type intervals 2x 400 2x 800 1 x 1600 2 x 800 2 x 400 just need to do more of them haha keep up the good work, onwards to the sub 01:80:00 half marathon, good luck ✅🥳🌿👊🏼😀👣

[@MichaelJones-by9gl]

Looking good for your half Chris

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Can’t wait 😃

[@grahamcook6702]

Top work sir!!

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Thanks Graham, roll on the half

[@runwithfester]

Nice one 👍 see you soon I

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Not long now…and then the Brighton marathon

[@runwithfester]

@@ThatRunningGuy and farnborough too

[@andrewforsyth4799]

Doesn't it feel great when you get another solid week done,my favourite sessions are 10 x 1km and 5 x 2km all on the track ,weldone c keep up the good work

[@ThatRunningGuy]

It does feel great to get some solid weeks behind me. Will probably start slowly tapering as the weather forecast this week is high winds and rain. 🤞 it improves for race day. 10k x 1k sound tough, the most I’ve ever done was 8. I remember the toughest session we did on the track was 20 x 400’s

[@IRunDaily]

Looking good for Farnborough, Chris. I'll be there too, hoping to go sub 90, but I've eaten a lot of cheese since my last marathon, so it's not looking likely! Interval wise, I like doing 2-3 minute reps with a minute recovery.

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Hopefully see you there 😃

[@HereWeAreRunning]

Well done Chris, another solid week of training and those intervals must give you plenty of confidence.

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Cheers Chris. A MASSIVE confidence boost!

[@davidrogers5443]

Awesome chris 👍💪🏼 Happy New Year as well

[@ThatRunningGuy]

👊 and to you and your family

[@davidrogers5443]

@@ThatRunningGuy 👊🏻👊🏻😀

[@henryjohn4142]

Another solid week. Interesting to see that you’ve kept your speed by doing parkrun

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Cheers Henry. With parkrun, it’s important that you treat them as a session rather than going all out

[@Shevock]

Good speedwork. We don't have weekly park runs in the US so I don't know how racing a 5k each week would affect my speed. I have a rough time thinking it would be good though. Most speedwork is less work than a 5k race. Qd, fartlek. Or Maybe timed intervals, such as 1 minute fast, two minutes recovery x 7.

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Cheers Dan. When running the parkruns most of the time I’m using them as a threshold or progression run. Racing a 5k every week who be really though. Running intervals on your own is tough, so it’s a good way to have company

[@runningwithaj]

Read the book. There is a very specific definition of Repetition and a different one for intervals. What was your recovery in between? Be careful running 1k intervals at rep pace. It's a recipe for disaster.

[@ThatRunningGuy]

6 x 1k with 3 minutes strict recovery. If I’d run them at my VDOT calculator interval pace of 3:45 they would of been to easy. The 3:30 rep pace seemed about right (3:30 is 10 seconds quicker than my 5k pace).

[@runningwithaj]

@@ThatRunningGuy I understand that it felt ok and that you have gone ok in this workout. It concerns me though that this is being shared as the best workout for people to increase speed. The theory that underpins the VDOT calculator states that the workout that you've done has significant potential for injury as the repetitions were too long and recovery too short. What have you used to calculate your VDOT score? When I use your 5k time it produces an interval pace of 3:37 and a rep pace of 3:22.

[@ThatRunningGuy]

@@runningwithaj The title was created by a AI program to get the most views. Ok I’ll adjust it. Regarding the VDOT calculator my times were based on my last 10k race when I wrote the plan (My 10k time was 39:40). Yes since then my fitness has improved. For me 1k’s are bang in the middle of reps/interval pacing on the calculator and the pace seemed spot on. Yes I could of done 1:1 but I recovered enough in the 3 minutes. Yes I’m probably in the shape of your VDOT calculation based on a 18:25 5k and the pacing would of been more or less correct. But I believe it’s important to use my last race time, which was only a week or so before I started the plan.

[@runningwithaj]

@@ThatRunningGuy I appreciate where you are coming from and adapting to suit your needs. I am massive advocate for data informed practice. I'm now, following this discussion, interested to go back and reread the Daniels Running Formula to see how often he suggests reassessing the VDOT. I do think that it's a good idea that you read the research if you're going to use the tool as it gives a solid grounding in how to make evidence informed decisions.

[@hughgurney8686]

The training plan seems to have morphed from when it was set out. The only speed sessions were going to be at parkrun - there was no indication of running 6kms at nearly mile race pace. How can we evaluate The Plan if it changes midstream? 🤔

[@ThatRunningGuy]

At 4:52 on the plan I said that I would also do 1k reps

[@hughgurney8686]

@@ThatRunningGuy I stand corrected, just taken a look back at The Plan video and you did indeed 👍

[@hughgurney8686]

@@BenNotley I think that's ok as no plan goes perfectly and it's sensible to give a big workout its best chance of success. Can't be long now until we see the fruits of Chris's labours 🍿

[@benhorley2354]

Hi Chris, will you take running gels for the half and brighton marathon? If so what do you recommend?

[@ThatRunningGuy]

Probably not the best person to recommend. I’ve only ever used SIS Gels, luckily they work for me. The key is to find what works for you. I normally take one 30 mins before the race and then every 30 minutes

[@benhorley2354]

@@ThatRunningGuy cool thanks matey. Will test some out 👍

[@Stevenc1984]

I'm guessing those previous intervals you didn't run 2 days after running 14 miles too! How long are you planning for the taper? I generally adjust it depending how trashed my legs feel.

[@ThatRunningGuy]

True. Honestly not finding the 40 mile weeks to taxing, so may continue another 40 mile week minus any speed work. Then taper fully the week before

[@Stevenc1984]

@@ThatRunningGuy Maybe substitute the faster stuff in for some race pace practice. 3-4x 2KM @ 4:10/KM with 2 mins slower floats, gets you used to running at the exact pace you'll require. 👍🏻

[@tworunningbrooms]

That session seemed to lift you mentally as well as physically. Great work. We noticed a few videos ago that you were using Wix to create your running website. Would you recommend them and did you find any issues with using Wix? We've just set one up but it doesn't seem to be appearing on search engines. We can't find yours either.

[@ThatRunningGuy]

www.wix.com/blog/amp/2018/10/how-to-get-your-business-found-on-google I’m just using mine as a go to page only

[@tworunningbrooms]

@@ThatRunningGuy thanks Chris. After a 2 hour self taught lesson on how to do it we got it over the line. www.tworunningbrooms.com