Pretty good actually. I'm fairly laid back at this stage of the game and just really focusing on getting my tempo set with lots of shortish runs. As a result my speed is increasing. I few weeks ago I ran a half marathon PB and I'm now consistently running around 7.30min miles and occasionally dipping below 7min.
All of this begs the question (which has been asked by the way) "what good is improving speed in short runs if your "A" race is a 100k ultra?"
Fair question, here was my answer:
You are absolutely right, running at that pace in a 100k probably isn't going to work out. My plan though is to build up speed in the "off season" and focus on distance from October onwards (essentially starting with the Auckland Marathon - of course there is also the added motivation of keeping the speed up for the Rotorua Half IM, since I'll be doing it in a team I really want to KILL the run course!).
I've found over the last year, and particuarly during Ironman that I got locked into a set tempo which was relatively slow. This was really hard to break out of, so I'm basically trying to re-train my legs to turn over faster. I know fitness wise I can sustain a much quicker marathon pace than I've run in the past, its just a matter of building the tempo and training the legs turnover at the right tempo. For the 100k I'm planning on targeting a pace of roughly 30 - 45 seconds (per k) slower than I'm running at the moment (bear in mind that I expect my "marathon pace" to increase between now and then meaning my 100k pace will in effect be closer to 1 min slower than my "marathon pace" (therefore around 5 min - 5.10 min k's) - well that's the plan anyway. For now its all about building speed and locking in a faster tempo.
At least that's the broad plan ...
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My question was more "why don't you do something exciting with that speed" ... like attempt a sub 1:30 Half or a 3:30 marathon ... and to be fair you already had these kind of things in mind.
I wasn't trying to imply that you're wasting your time going fast if your target is long.
Keep up the good (and FAST!) work ...
Keep on blogging
Mike
Nevertheless you do raise a very good point (although not necessarily your intention). The reality is, for a 100k race (much like the marathon in an Ironman I'd imagine) you should probably count on running slower than your marathon and certainly slower than your half marathon pace. So the balancing act for me is how much quicker do I want to "re-train" my legs before really focusing on volume, as I am going to want to train at the pace I'll actually be running the 100k.
In saying that, me being me I do have some very definite time goals for a marathon and possibly another half before the end of the year. For instance I believe that I have a 3.30 marathon hiding within me somewhere, and I really want to get it out. My problem in the past has been that I've been to cautious and as a result have made it to the finish line fairly "fresh" (thats entirely relative by the way) and dissappointed with my time. That is NOT going to happen this year!
Thanks for expanding on your question
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