1:25@50

Hiya!

Thought I'd start by re-posting (from the 2014 Cool Impossible thread) my Cool Impossible for 2014...

 

My original post....

"Bit of background first! I was forced to run in PE when I was at school and generally hated it because I thought I was no good and the teachers didn'r care. I left school in 1982 and didn't run again until about 1991 when I joined the army reserves, when I left them in 1993 I dindn't run until 2010! My first run in 2010 took me over 30 minutes to run 3 miles. Yet in April this year (2013) at the age of 48, I ran a half-marathon in 1:28:29 - and that was before I discoverd the Cool Impossible. That half-marathon time has put me in the top 4.5% of all half-marathon runners in the UK - that's all runners not just my age group. I want to improve on that time further, and whilst it might be a challenge it's a very worthwhile challenge for me and I've got a dream of being inside the top 4% in the UK.

So my 2014 Cool Impossible is to be inside the top 4% of all half-marathon runners in the UK by the end of the year - a great way to mark my 50th birthday in October 2014

There is nothing quite like an open declaration in public to motivate me! So you can check my progress here http://www.runbritainrankings.com/runners/profile.aspx?athleteid=27...

In particular look in the event rankings section on the lower right hand side"

Updates - I reckcon (to get well inside the 4% mark) I need to achieve a 1:25 half marathon. An becasue I'll be 50 later this year my challenge will be called "1:25@50"

The other day I posted "Don't ask yourself "what's stopping me?" instead ask yourself "what do I need to do to get my goal?" #CoolImpossible"

So this blog will be just that - what do I need to do? No self doubt or excuses - just a solid plan of action :-)

More to follow!!

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Comments

  • Feeling motivated once again :-)
  • Now rested and recovered, looking to get back into training. As I'm fifty on 30th I figure I still have a full year to achieve my 1:25@50 (and not foregetting my London Marathon training of course). Have been looking back over my 3 1:25 attempts, Bridgwater last Sep, Taunton this April and Royal Parks a couple of weeks ago, aside from some crap / hydration issues for Taunton, there are two key areas for me to focus on. Firstly, race day focus, I think I'm letting myself get too distracetd on race day and am not focusing on the job in hand, so need to develop some race day strategies to assist in that area. Secondly, I really do need to work more on race day pacing over greater distances (as opposed to fast track sessions) so I've been doing some research and have found something called "in and out miles" http://running.competitor.com/2014/02/training/workout-of-the-week-...  These are essentially mile repeats - alternating race pace mile with next mile at 1 minute slower than race pace. It certainly appeals to me, which is obviously very important, but was wondering if anybody else has tried these and if so what your experience of them is?

  • Glad your on the mend, hows your training been or are you taking a breather at the moment. Take care Rich

  • the piles weren't very pleasant, but all on thr mend now. interestingly a quick google search shows that running induced piles are not un-common, my Dr confirmed that as well
  • Rich approaching 2 weeks post your half marathon how are you & given the issues you've had, have you been able to run. Hope your on the mend, take care
  • Rich, your optimism is contagious! Thank you for sharing!

  • Ok - have been meaning to write this for a while now. I've lived with the Cool Impossible for about 19 months now, so thought I'd share a few words on what I like and have learnt from the book

    1. My training feels energised again - all the HRZ, SZ and interval sessions have given me the variety that was missing from my training
    2. Have learnt the key to speed over distacne lies in stripping back your training to  short fast intervals
    3. I've learnt about how HRZ and SZ work and help you get faster - had never used them before.
    4. Now understand how to judge "effort"
    5. I'd picked up training books in the past and got baffled by all the HRZ and SZ stuff and put them down again - utterly confused and turned off. The CI changed all that becasue I could see it was relevant to me as an individual and could be tailored to my needs
    6. I've really learnt how to figure out and cure running aches and pains through thinking about form
    7. I've realised how much of this running thing is actually in your head
    8. I love looking at my training plans and Garmin data and tweaking them based on what I've learnt
    9. I'm REALLY enjoying the 'chase' of my CI - I've had a few missed attempts but that only spurs me on to try harder
    10. I've learnt a lot about 'focus'
    11. I've had support from some great people on here - and hope I've given some back and look forward to continue sharing our experiences
    12. And lastly a thank you to Eric whose advice and support has gone way beyond the few pounds I paid for the book all those months ago

    Onwards and upwards!

  • once again thank you Andrew
  • You base those track sessions off your CURRENT pace, not your target pace.

  • I played with CI a bit for marathon and half marathon training.

    I kept the heart rate runs as they were, but for pace-based runs swapped them out for standard track sessions:

    12 x 200m @ 00:35 / mile faster than current 10k pace

    8 x 400m @ 00:35 / mile faster than current 10k pace

    10 x 800 @ 00:25 / mile faster than current 1/2 mara pace

    8 x 1200m @ 00:15 / mile faster than current 1/2 mara pace

    6 x 1600m @ 00:15 / mile faster than current 1/2 mara pace

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