FIRST Key Run Workout #1

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Tonight’s workout was one of the #1 Key Run Workouts from the FIRST Marathon Training Plan - a mile warm-up, followed by 4 x 800m (with 2 minute rest interval), followed by a 10 minute cool-down.

Once again, this experimental workout looked fairly doable on paper, but once again I struggled to perform. According to the training pace worksheet I’d recently completed based on my 18:00 5k time, I needed to run my 800m repeats at a staggering 2 minutes 39 seconds. I don’t recall ever doing repeats at this speed, but figured I’d have a go.

I jogged to the local High School track, which was actually closer to 2 miles than the suggested 1 mile, and included a few 80m striders to get my muscles ready for the impending shock of track repeats. As I passed the start line I clicked the lap button on my Garmin, soon settled in to a fast but not all out pace, and tried to maintain this for 2 laps of the track. 800m later I clicked lap again and glanced down at the display which read 2 minutes 49 seconds - 10 seconds slower than planned.

Slightly perturbed, I jogged round the track one time to recover and set off again. After 2 laps of quick cadence and heaving lungs I clicked lap, glanced down and read 2:49 (again). My heart rate after the second repeat was only 160bpm, so I knew I still had something left in the tank, so to speak.

One more recovery lap and I was off again. It’s amazing how fast that 400m jog recovery goes by! On this repeat the wind seemed to kick up quite a lot, and I struggled a bit on the home stretch both times. This time the Garmin read 2:50 and I don’t think I could have run any faster if I wanted to. Strange thing was my heart rate was only 170bpm. Last year my max was around 180 beats per minute, but lately I haven’t been able to get it anywhere near that. I’m really not sure why, but it is slightly concerning.

No need to worry about that for now though, the time had arrived for one final repeat. It’s always a great feeling knowing this is the last one. No matter how tired you were on the last interval, you can usually eek out something extra for the final effort. The wind was still gusting and it had now started to rain, but I gutted it out for 800m and finished in 2:49 with a max heart rate of 171bpm.

None of my times were anywhere close to the 2:39 goal, but at least they were consistent. One of the worst things you can do on a track workout is run the first and second repeat really fast and then fade badly towards the end. I’ve always had more endurance than speed, so I probably just need to keep faith with the FIRST plan. The other worrying thing is these training paces are based on my 18:00 5k time. To run a 2:50 marathon (which is my ultimate goal), I’ll need to adjust these training paces to be even faster.

Oh well, I have plenty of time. I haven’t even started the plan proper yet - I’m just experimenting with some of the workouts. I’ll probably attempt one of the #3 Key Run Workouts on Sunday, which is a longer run based on PMP (Planned Marathon Pace) plus a numerical factor depending on how long I need to run. Watch this space for details…