Thursday 19 August 2010

statistics - part 2

Well, here goes.  This is how I interpret the previous post.

Except for the crash training week my mileage appears to be slightly less than last year, so does the actual time spent running.  I'm not too bothered by this because I believe I'm now training smarter by including far more appropriate strength and conditioning exercises.  I'm doing far more of this type of training and lots more cycling too, both of which I believe will have a positive effect on my race performance.

Stretching, on the whole, takes about the same amount of time per week this year as last.  During the actual crash training week things were different though.  In 2009 I included two daily sessions of stretching whereas this year I stuck with my usual one.

Frequency of running is slightly reduced this year but the average distance of a training run has risen from 13.0 miles (21.0k) in 2009 to 13.6 miles (21.9k) this year.  This partly accounts for an apparent slowing in my running speed, other factors include age and that it included warm ups, cool downs and recovery time during speedwork.

It has been impossible to compare races this year with last as there is nothing similar between the two 4 week periods analysed.  I also appear to have been less tired at the end of the crash training week than when I did this in 2009 ... fitter perhaps (although my resting heart rate is slightly higher than last year).

I believe this year's training to have been better overall in terms of preparing me for the demands of a 24 hour race.  I've learnt from past performances and other runners.  This has meant cutting back on some of the 'junk' mileage and replacing it with cycling for endurance and weights for strength.

As a last thought.  Does crash training work ?

I'll let you know after Perth but it has worked for me in the past.

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