Run Less Run Faster

Had a major epiphany through this week. Bought a book called "Run Less Run Faster" which accompanies the Furman FIRST style of training. Basically this involves 3 Key Runs per week plus 2 cross-training sessions. Their web site is at http://www.furman.edu/first/

Anyway, this appeals to me and is in line with my own experience as a runner which says there is no way I am likely to keep up a program where I run 5 or 6 days per week with mega-miles. I need to have three highly targeted sessions with some cycling thrown in on off-days to keep me going.

So I have decided to follow this program which is for 16-weeks. So for Melbourne Marathon on 11-October that equates to starting on Monday 22-June. I have a Half-Marathon (Sri Chinmoy at Williamstown) on 31-May which I will use as my race by which to set my training paces and will try to complete the last 10-weeks of the half marathon program to take me to that race.

Phew!

So today was my first "Furman" session which I have based on my 10km time from a couple of weeks ago (44.58min).

This is hard!!! I had to complete 2x 1.5km easy (5.28min/km) and 3.5km tempo (4.38min/km) with a cool-down so a total session of 11km. I found pacing pretty hard to set and ended up running a little faster on the easy bits (7.47 and 7.56) and a little slower on the tempo sets (16.21 and 16.48). The second tempo set was surprising as I thought I had run faster than the first one.

Anyway, a great session. Calves held out well though legs a little sore now that I sit down for an hour or two.

Let's see how I cope with the long run on Sunday!