The ladder approach

I would confess that i am not a speed guru. But, once in a while everyone one of us thinks about the SPEED factor, the wind through the hair, long smooth strides, hard breathing, and the ecstasy that follows.

Once in a while i let myself indulge in it and see what is possible. Yesterday was an unplanned day, could have been an easy run of 10 Kms, but i was not sure to do that. So i just thought to run on a speed of 4.5 min/Km and see how far i can go. I managed a non-stop 2.5 Km stretch. Although it is not a lot, but it was good. I ended up running the distance in 10:50, which is faster then what i expected.
That gave me some confidence about the shape i am in, and what i can be in. Now I can think of doing same for a 3Km distance, and later a 5Km. My current 5k time is just under 24 min, the goal is to bring that down to 22:30. Not bad! That sounds like more speed intervals, more hill training and more drills :) I love the idea. Its cool to climb the ladder!
Cheers,
Guru.

Heat, Humidity and Speed Intervals

The race day for the 10K is arriving in another 3 weeks. So, i am taking all the weather "conditions" that could prevail on that day. Usually, like last year, it can go hot, but will have less humidity compared to Mumbai. Or, it can get even more HOT and a bit more humid. Lastly, it could rain as well.
I have been training in the humid conditions for a long time, so i can resist that. Rains are ok, we (intermediates) don't get too much impacted by them. Only big concern is heat. If they start the race at 9 am in the morning (which is extremely ridiculous, and happened last time), then anything can happen. So, in order to get used to the heat, i planned for a day time run (yesterday). To make it even more difficult, i made it an interval session. according to internet, the conditions were

Temperature - 95 °F
Humidity - 80%

I ran 8 intervals of half kilometers at a pace of 4.5 min/Km with less then 20 sec recovery in between. I used my racing shoes while doing so. Didn't want to push, so limited them to 8 , rather then 10 which i usually i do.
Overall, it was a good experience. If i have a cap and water then i think i will be able to resist the heat. I will try to do another 2-3 such day runs and try to get stronger.

Today morning, i ran an easy 7.5 Km in 44 mns.

Hill Training

They say that if you want to increase your running strength, nothing is better then hill training. Now, being a runner for over a year, i thought i could give it a chance and see if it works for me. Now, comes the tough part, since i live in mumbai, there are no hills apparently. To do it, i have to do it on any of the fly-over roads. I found one, which has no traffic in the mornings, which means clean air, it has a good sidewalk, which means no chance of getting struck by vehicles, all in all a good package as a hill. The incline and decline makes up around half kilometer. On the first day (yesterday), i did six loops at hard effort. I try to maintain the same speed at both incline and decline, which means hard effort going up and easy while coming down. I wish to do this workout once a week, followed by a rest/easy day. Honeslty speaking, it was tough on day one, the qauds feel the effect of the climbing, but no big pain. Today i did an easy 5Km at very slow pace to recover from yesterdays workout.