Project Good For Age Week 12 of 30
Goal : Automatic Entry Into the London Marathon
How? : Run a 3:15 Mara @ Manchester Mara in April (Current PB 4:45)
First Step : Run a 45 Minute 10k @ Windmill 10k race on 12th November (achieved) (10k time at start of project : 58 mins) www.fyldecoastrunners.com/uploads/5/2/4/9/52490083/w10k3_overallresults_classic.pdf
Next Stop : Blackpool half mara in Feb – Target 1:37 (Current PB 1:58)
So I read, with great interest, yet another article this week about how running on the treadmill is completely different to running in ‘real life’
The article went on and on and on about it.
For some reason, this got my back up.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree.
To an extent.
But can someone please show me the guy who has trained exclusively on a treadmill then entered a race to see what effect it had on their time?
Didn’t think so.
Here’s the thing.
Ever since my 10k race, I have trained exclusively on the mill, and I’m absolutely lovin it.
I cant begin to tell you how tempted I am to keep this ‘exclusivity’ going……
Here I how my training went this week…
Monday 5k speed set on the mill
So I have got myself into a situation where I can run 5k at speed setting 14 on the mill (21:30) (At start of project it was always speed setting 10 : 30 min)
My strategy is to get that to speed setting 15.
Last week I did 0-4km @ speed 14 and 4-5km @ speed 15.
The plan this week was to add another kilometre @ speed 15 to that (bear in mind target race pace is speed setting 13)
So training looked like this…
0-1 @ speed 15
1-4 @ speed 14
4-5 @ speed 15
Here is how the first attempt went:
Despite the increase in speed the first kilometre was a piece of piss, I felt strong as an Ox and the HR Didn’t even get to much above 150.
I remember thinking “I reckon I could put it on whatever speed setting I wanted and probably get away with it for the first kilometre.”
Dropping it back to speed 14 for kilometres 1-3 and I was feeling strong and totally in control.
3-4 I began to get myself a bit flustered, I was more red hot than anything else and was aware that my HR was climbing into the 160’s once again despite the ‘lower speed’
I tried to steady myself and sort my breathing out for the ‘cranking up’ that was to come
4-5 and I turned it up to 15 for the final kilometre as planned.
From a ‘how my legs felt’ perspective once I first cranked it up they felt strong – its almost as if they prefer running at the faster speed which doesn’t make sense to me.
From a ‘breathing perspective’ my breathing quickened and the chances of me chit chatting to the ‘band of friends’ that I seem to have acquired during these speed sessions were pretty much zero.
From a HR perspective, it seemed to be settling at around 170 which I was very pleased with as I was expecting it to be higher as from an overall effort perspective and certainly a ‘overheating’ perspective I felt like I was pushing it fairly close to the line.
I completed mission having once again achieved my objective and the feeling you get once you conquer these little stepping stones is absolutely the thing that keeps this so interesting as far as I am concerned.
I now find myself pondering how far I want to take these speed sets….
Wednesday 5k on the mill
Exactly as above, 0-1k @ speed 15 : 1-4k @ Speed 14 : 4-5k @ speed 15
Fired up the mill and away we go.
First km felt like a piece of piss once again even though it was on speed 15.
km 1-3 were also very comfortable to the point were I was even thinking to myself ‘I could run at this pace all day cocker’
However once I got to 3k I started to overheat again which made 3-4 somewhat challenging – I just couldn’t cool down and my HR began to climb to the 160’s once more.
Just on the overheating, I have been threating to strip my tri suit down to the waist for a while now.
The way my body looks at present I would put it at a 65/35 ‘unacceptable/acceptable’ split with the majority falling into the unacceptable bracket.
Whilst the other gym members might not quite be at the point of calling the police should this happen, I think I shall wait for the scales to begin with the number 12 before attempting such an audacious display.
However make no mistake, ‘stripping to the waist on the mill’ is now ‘a goal’ and at some point on the journey, its gonna happen.
Given that I felt like I was overheating I was a little apprehensive about cranking it up for the final kilometre but once again, it was initially OK.
This time though I felt like I was really working and I was surprised to see me HR staying steady around the 170 mark as from a ‘how it felt’ perspective, it felt higher.
Ended the session literally soaking wet.
Upon checking the garmin I was over the moon to observe that I had spent the majority of time in zone 4.
Think i’ll treat myself to a spinach and beetroot smoothie in the gym café to celebrate…
Friday – 5k on the mill, exactly as above 0-1km @ speed 15, 1-4@14, 4-5@ speed 15
This was a tough session, I didn’t sleep well last night and went into the set feeling somewhat fatigued, which isn’t exactly ideal is it.
I had the needle from the outset today and it felt much more challenging than Wednesdays session.
I was holding on towards the end.
Todays drill was best summed up by my HR as the majority of time was spent in zone 5 (max) and it certainly felt that way – on Wednesday the majority was in zone 4 (one under max).
How can the same session produce such different results 2 days apart from a HR perspectve?
The mind boggles…
Sunday : 13k on the mill @ speed setting 13 (target race pace) www.strava.com/activities/1309258929
Sometimes, in fitness, mentally, you go to a different place.
I went there today….
Over to David Lloyd once again to fire up the mill for the Sunday sesh at target race pace.
0-3km were a piece of piss as you can imagine.
3-8km were strange, my breathing was ok, my temperature was ok, my HR was ok but my leg muscles, my calf’s in particular, were aching and my legs felt somewhat heavy.
However, at 8km something weird happened.
I began to feel good and instead of ‘aching’ the muscles started to get that lovely warm ‘lucid’ feeling.
I was feeling ridiculously strong.
I got that wonderful sensation today during km 9-13 that only those that have ever experienced it will know what I am talking about.
It’s difficult to describe.
It’s like a really euphoric, natural high.
I put it down to a combination of the energy gel kicking in and feeling totally in control towards the end of the session as I attempted a new distance for the first time at target race pace whilst listening to really loud dance music.
This ‘euphoria’ is extremely addictive and once you experience it, you want it again and again.
If kilometres 9-13 were a boxing match between me and the mill, the ref would have stopped the contest.
Long may this feeling continue…..
Bodyweight
My weight this week was 13/8 and my fat was 23.4% (start point 14 st /25% fat)
There is bags and bags and bags of potential gain here.
Something has caught my eye in this regard – i’ll keep you posted.
Exciting News…
I got some very exciting news this week that I am absolutely itching to share with you, but i’ll leave that for another day.
Next update : 17/12/17 – I don’t care that its Christmas Rookie, you must resist…..
To your amazing journey!
By the way, I have written a book, it’s all about how I went from zero fitness to completing an Ironman triathlon, it’s only just come out but it has got some fantastic reviews already!- you can check them out here: (also available on Amazon in the US but please read the UK reviews first!)
