Clueless about training hard and taking it easy

WONDER what truth there is to the claim that you should rest enough after you've done some running? What is enough and how much rest should you take compared to how tired you are after exercising?

I have taken two days off after I couldn't run continuously for 10K with an average speed of 11 kph. I was just too tired from the training I had done earlier that week. I had to run for 9½ minutes and walk for 30 seconds. After four times I had to walk 10 minutes and continue at a cycle of 2 minutes running and 1 minute walking. My running speed was approximately 10.6 kph (according to my GPS watch).

Now what should have been better: train less intensive and keep training, or--like I did last week--keep training intensively and take two days off to recover.

I don't have a clue.

Clueless training session

ERE'S A TRAINING SESSION I don't now what to think of. Today it was warm, humid and I planned to run a 10K in the run/walk technique, as described on Jeff Galloway's website www.jeffgalloway.com. So I went to the track, on which I train on twice a week with my running group, with some markers (cones) for the 50 m points. The plan was to run 1950 m, walk 50 m, and repeat 5 times, so I had a total of 10,000 meters. The target time was 51 minutes, just like my last race result. However, this was not how it would go.

Once I ran my 15 seconds per marker I felt this pace was way too high for the circumstances (temperature and humidity). After 1200 meters my head was pounding, so I had to stop and walk 50 meters. I tried some 200 metres running and 50 meters walking, but that was still too tough. So after just 1900 meters I was bushed and tired. Nothing else to do than to stop and go home.

Better luck next time.

Boy, how I hate those clueless training sessions. Those are so dissatisfying.

10 K race

I'm recovering from an injury in the groin area, and I thought a slow 10 K would be perfect to keep myself motivated for running. Only training and no racing can become very boring after a few weeks, and you lose some of your endurance and pace hardness.

So this was a small local 10 K race for charity (all proceedings will go to the Dutch Roparun Foundation for cancer relief, to help cancer patients and their family deal with the disease). While that is a good cause, there was still that little thing of running 10 kilometers without much endurance in my legs. I believe 73 man and 14 women started with a spoken count-down (3, 2, 1, start) by the race director at 7 PM in the evening.

The course consisted of three equal laps, with an extra 80 metres at the start to make it a full 10,000 metres. In the first lap, I helped some women make it through the head wind at a particular part of the race course. Because they weren't as fast as I was, they had to let go, but thanked me for my hard work. I completed the first lap in 17:22.

In the second lap, I saw a grandfather with his young grandchild watching the race. I went towards them a gave the grandfather a big clap, surprising the grandchild, and giving me a boost of confidence. Again, I battled the head winds on that same piece of road as in the first lap, only now without anyone to help (helping other runners helps me forget how tired I am). At a certain point, the runners had to cross the road, and while I was doing that, I had to avoid a small truck, which the race assistants had let pass by without noticing that I was crossing the road. The course continued with a narrow road, leading into a dirt track. About halfway there was a farm with people giving water to the runners. I don't believe they were an official drinking post (it wasn't marked on the course map at the entry station), but the water was accepted and just as delicious anyway. I completed the second lap in 16:42. That was a bit faster, because I didn't have to slow down to pace myself for those women in the first lap.

In the third lap, I thanked all race assistants for their help and hoped to see them next year in the same event. Of course, that was a good moral boost. I needed that, because my injury was beginning to hurt, every time I passed a speed bump in the road. Furthermore, I hadn't run such a long distance in weeks. The only running I had done was about 30 minutes of running during interval training. So I decided not to increase my pace, but to keep running at roughly the same pace. The third lap went in 16:49, and those last 80 metres in 21 seconds.

So that was 10 K in 51:11 (5:07/K or 8:14/mi). A slow result, but nevertheless a result.

After the finish every runner was awarded with a bag of French beans, which I gave to one of the spectators. I also applauded for the women I helped in my first lap when they finished, and gave the male runner I had passed at the drinking post in the second lap (he stopped to drink and I only slowed down, but kept running) a big compliment and a thumbs up.

Then I went back to change my cloths and put on a dry shirt, and biked home for 25 minutes, while enjoying a beautiful sunny summer evening.