I raced 10k yesterday afternoon. It was a spectacular day — the sky suitably blue and free of clouds. The gentlest of breezes disturbed the tall grasses in the paddock I have for a back yard. I was excited to be racing again and curious to discover how I'd react to 3 weeks of distance training. I've run weeks of 118, 112 and 108 kilometres. In the end, I had what I'd call an "okay with it" type of race. I ran 46:56 — 18 seconds slower than for last October's Melbourne 10k, but on a harder course. It was a 5-lap course — the first two laps included a short gradual hill, with the next three laps a long gradual hill. I had a fun race with JD (who caught me on the third lap) and an unknown girl in pink. It came down to a sprint finish. I managed to get the better of JD, but the UGIP came with a late rush and surprised the both of us!
I've been following what I like to call the Hosaka-Hadd Training Plan — running as many 'doubles' as I can — usually 6k in the early afternoon followed by 12k a couple of hours later. I've decided that a morning run at 4:30 a.m. isn't going to work for me through a Canberra winter. Running under a cool sun is a far more enjoyable prospect, so I've advanced my clock-on time at Tiny Global Corporation by an hour to 5:00 a.m. This means if I'm not working overtime I can be home by 1:15 p.m. and off for my first run of the day shortly thereafter.
I'm going to make a concerted effort to run what I consider to be "high mileage training" — at least for a number of months. For me that means running consistent weeks of 125 or more kilometres (78 miles). It's something I've never attempted before. Ever. In my wild youthful days there were some weeks of 110 to 130 kilometres, but never for weeks and months at a time. I want to do significantly more running than I'm used to in order to see if it has any positive effect on my aerobic fitness. There will be races during this period, but I'm not planning on tapering for these races.
I don't expect the Hosaka-Hadd Training Plan will be easy, but as Bryan Brown said in the following song by Karma County: "You've got to want, you've got to need. But most of all, you've got to put in the hours". I like this video-clip because it's quintessentially Australian — there's the Hills Hoist and the BBQ; and just like at the home of my youth, the car gently scrapes it's exhaust as it's driven into the driveway.
29 comments:
That's serious mileage Ewen. Best of luck. I'll be following six months behind so I'll be watching progress.
You've got to want, you've got to need. But most of all, you've got to put in the hours.
Cool.
You must be getting old if the 4:30am starts are getting hard!!!
Finishing work at 1:15 is something I could get used to.
Good luck and well done on beating JD.
As a lover of high mileage, I of course feel that you can do no wrong by bumping up the kilometers. I'm looking forward to seeing the dividends this yields for you in the coming months.
I'd fall over and collapse with that mileage. Your "okay with it" would be spectacular for me. Well done, Ewen. But I'd challenge you to a 100m any day. Well, maybe not.
125kms for a 50 year old must be equivalent to nearly 100 miles for a 30 year old. But not quite.
Ewen, I will be very interested to hear how your high volume program works out. You did well on the Hadd program in 2007 so it is potentially a worthwhile thing to do. As I understand it, the main negative consequence of your program in 2007 was loss of speed over short distances, so it will be interesting to see if the short hill sprints overcome this limitation. Do you intend to do regular tests such as the Hadd or Maffetone tests? Because individuals differ in their reaction to high volume, it seems to me sensible whenever you push the volume to a level substantially higher (or more sustained) than you yourself have done previously, it is important to monitor progress fairly carefully.
Good luck with the higher mileage. Be sure to listen to your body the whole time.
A good 10km time and 5 laps is not easy.
And 2 times running at day, wow!.
The week trainings > 100 km is enormous.
Goodluck.
Rinus.
www.rinusrunning.punt.nl
You gotta hurt, you gotta bleed ... I like it, great to see you again. The cabbie asked this morning what we were doing there, yes there is a marathon but it is also a good time to see friends. It's like a BBQ without the sausage..... or the BBQ for that matter.
Hi Ewen. I am also interested to see how the high mileage works out. For that type of mileage, two a day seems like a very good idea. Especially if one of them is at an easy pace. Marathoners include one long run, but I guess you are not going to do that. What will your racing goals be, based on this increased mileage?
Bob
HB, I am getting old - that's why I'm not aiming for 160k per week ;)
Canute, yes I think I will do the Hadd 2400m test every 4 or 5 weeks. Having used the test in 2007 I can compare the results. The difference in the training this time, will be higher volume with more of that volume in the upper aerobic range.
I hope that the short hill sprints (or sometimes 50m sprints on the grass) will maintain some strength and speed. We'll see!
Bob, I may increase the 'Sunday' run to 25k or so (from 17). I plan to race a couple of half marathons over winter, but the main goal is to improve my 3000 and 5000 times. I'd love to get closer to 20 minutes for 5k.
I don't blame you for opting to miss the morning run and opting for two afternoon ones instead. Will follow the reports with interest.
Aaah - the long runs. If you want some slow company on Sundays let me know and good luck with all that mileage. Don't wear yourself out in case there's an heiress out there waiting! And thank you for your support yesterday - very glad it's over - now I can eat chocolate and drink wine (in moderation of course)!!
Congrats on the 10k! You barely beat me. :)
Good luck with the high mileage. You can do it!
Will be interested to see how the high mileage, double days regime works out for you. I'm also considering doing doubles due to the harsh conditions over here.
Nice one Ewen
"You've got to want, you've got to need. But most of all, you've got to put in the hours."
Never a truer word was spoken
unless it was by that famous old distance runner "Kenny Rogers"
"You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to do speedwork and know when to run (long).
You never count your mileage when you're putting in the doubles.
There'll be time enough for countin when the knees are done.
Great race on Saturday, it was fun watching you guys battle it out.
Thanks for the support Sunday, and for the belly punches, I really needed them to stop me from burping.
Love the big kms ... might try some myself.
it was great to catch up with you again. enjoyed cheering you on. I have a photo of you giving the peace sign. you're a ham.
love my Hills Hoist. they'd be lethal i a country with tornadoes, though. if i ever move back, i'd really miss the hoist.
That's impressive mileage. I'd need to quit my job, and even then I probably couldn't do it.
wannabelimerickwriter said
Ewen thought he was racing JD
But a lurker in pink made it three
On the final slight rise
To their great surprise
She proved she is what they wannabe
I'm with speedygeoff, those sorts of kms must be equivalent to 100 miles for a much younger Ewen.
Lots of shoes & lots of maintenance will be needed.
Hi Ewen
First off, thank you a bunch for being so supportive of my '09 Boston. I never really had a chance this year, but didn't want to be all sour grapes. Just being able to run Boston is a gift.
I can't believe how much you have cranked up your miles! I know you were a little slower on this year's 10k, but were you doing this many miles last year?
Best of luck with everything and I really hope we get to run together some day.
we gonna do kind of the same km`s.
My serious programm starts in may. The stuff i run now is fun and freewheeling :-)
(tomorrow a 50 k trailrun in belgie)
i will also tru to put in 2 times a day training some days otherwise it is hard to do with a full time job.
greetz martine
www.runtodream.nl
excellent 10k race! all the best with the Hosaka Hadd increased mileage plans!
Going by my own experiences you should see a good improvement from following your high mileage program, you might be surprised just how well you can run 3,000- 5,000 m races off this training!
Also check out Mike Gratton's training program's for 5 k here;
http://www.209events.com/category.php?category=2
are you ever posting again or are you stuck?
And speaking of not posting again, do you know what happened to Eagle at Canberra? I saw that he ran a 3:17...wonder what happened.... Do you know him personally?
Yep, Eagle hasn't posted yet. Stay tuned?
http://ray42k.blogspot.com/
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