#hansons method

W10TD5: Easy 8mi @ 9m Target Pace

Pacing spoiled by the fact that I was busy enjoying breaking my new running shoes in. I’ll be more concerned with running at the target pace during tomorrow’s ‘Long’ workout.

As for the shoes, well they feel pretty damn good. A slight issue with the lacing of one of them - I might need to make an adjustment, but that’s easy enough to do - but apart from that they felt pretty ‘right’.

They’re certainly not the lightest shoe that I’ve ever run in (I think my Faas 300s are the lightest so far) but they’re still pretty light and have a bit more cushioning than my old New Balance 690v4s - which are showing some interesting wear patterns! On this evidence at least, the additional cushioning seems to have been good for my knees.

The major added bonus was that this pair cost me £34 ($43) - at that price I’m very tempted to go and get another pair, in a different colour scheme, tomorrow. Two pairs would cover me for the Hansons training plan  and through my first marathon - more details on exactly what that race will be soon!

I know that some people are incredibly loyal to a single brand or model of running shoe, but that's not me. From memory I’ve run in shoes from Nike, Adidas, Puma, Asics and New Balance so far - I don’t think I’ll be sticking with a brand until someone sponsors me! Any offers? ;-)

W9TD4: Easy 6mi @ 9m Target Pace

A little bit quick, but a concerted effort to not try too hard (how’s that for an oxymoron?) The average heart rate of 147bpm shows that I definitely wasn’t stressing my cardio system.

W9TD1: Easy 5 mi @ 9m Target Pace

This is too quick because a) it was bleeding cold and I wanted to get home to the warm and b) because I stupidly chose to run a badly lit route at night, as it started to get foggy. Whilst it wasn’t dangerous I’ve played enough Resident Evil games to know that those are exactly the conditions when you get attacked by the living undead or a zombie dog.

Also, today is my man day of teaching at the university, all I wanted to do after that was sit down and chill out...

W9TD2: Speed Work 5x1k @ 4m 06s Target Pace

Splits:

4m 16s

4m 04s

4m 05s

3ms 55s

4m 06s

Slow on the first interval but pretty much on the money for the rest of them. That did feel like hard work, despite the fact that I am capable of running faster than that. That might be down to me feeling a little bit rundown at the moment but is also due to me struggling to find the right pace.

W10TD3: Tempo 8 miles @ 8 minute Target Pace

If I catch up with the student who has given me this cold I will kill them.

So this is mile too quick, but I was feeling so under the weather that I just wanted to get the miles done and get back home (hence no warm-up or cool down). I was like a bloody radiator by the time I did get home and it felt like I had been sweating buckets.

W8TD5: Easy 6mi @ 9m Target Pace

A massively interrupted night of sleep meant this was a bit tougher than it should have been (one of my jobs is an absolute shit when it comes to sleep patterns!)

Definitely felt like I was running whilst fatigued today, which I guess is good because Hansons’ feels like it is all about getting used to that.

W8TD3: Temp 5 miles @ 8m Target Pace (1 mile warm-up, 1 mile cool down)

Yeah, I’m not so good at the warm-up/cool down thing, so I just kind of settled into the pace this morning.

A little bit quick overall but not something I’m losing sleep over. It certainly felt like harder work today, particularly during the first couple of miles but that seems like it might be a good thing. I hope that my body is beginning to adapt to being under more consistent physical stress than ever before.

W9TD5: Easy 5mi @ 9m Target Pace

Ever run with chronic heartburn? I have.

Not very comfortable at all, this run was purely about getting the job done. Miles in the bag and another workout complete.