Training Update: VO2max Phase Complete. Tempo Next.

 

Just checking in here to say that things have gone reasonably smoothly since my last post. I've now completed the VO2max phase. My best workouts included 5 x 800m on the track (pace=6:50/mile) and 6 x 3-min repeats embedded in a 9.2 mile run (image above, 6:42/mile). My HR has been peaking in the mid-170s (my max is somewhere around 180, I think) during these workouts. I'm real happy with how this has gone.

Meanwhile...my mileage has reached a best week of 55 miles with a long run of 22 miles. I'm very much on schedule to achieve the 70+ mile/week range that I was hoping for. I have some minor niggles, but mostly I'm holding up well. My right knee has not improved, but it has not worsened either. I've bounced back well even from the 22 miler a week ago that was run a little slower than 10 min/mile pace.

I'm surprised to have made it this far without another setback. I'm starting the tempo phase now. Did 3 x 6-min repeats at about 7:30/mile today, and held up well. (This was a treadmill workout...not sure how accurate that pace is.) I've feared this stage for a while, since sustaining fast paces seemed to lead to setbacks (i.e., major knee inflammation) over the last few years. Again it seems I'm risking doing too much. However, now I'm just a handful of tempo runs, steady state runs, and long runs away from getting to the starting line of a 24-hour race with a chance to go further than I've ever gone before. This is getting interesting.