I started a 10k training plan with my fenix 5s, and im not sure what to think. Initially i chose the distance 10k in 60 min. with coach Jeff. I did the benchmark and i got a program. The first workout lasted about an hour and i covered a total of 9.55 km, so i was pretty confident this would be no problem. I felt like the acceleration training in this workout to get a smoother transition between running and walking didn't work well for me. I don't plan to use the run walk method, as the achievement of running 10k with no walking would be greater than finishing a bit faster using walk breaks - that's just my personal preference. So i switched to coach Greg and the long/easy run was an 80 min. workout. 5 min. warmup and cooldown, 50 min. easy run with an optional 20 min. run (as i remember - it was 80 min. total). I haven't run for 50 min. straight yet and i'm not confident i can (at least not during a 3 run/week training plan, maybe as a singlular run during a week.), so i switched to coach Amy. This program was nothing special... nothing i couldn't make myself, it was just three runs at progressively longer distance. 3.5k, 4.5k, 5,5k... much like ju-jus magic 10k program, which made this more or less useless tbh. I then read if i never completed a 10k before i should select the goal to finish and not how fast i want to finish. So i change my goal time of 60 min. to just finish the distance and changed back to coach Greg. This time the long / easy run was a 50. min. workout. 5 min warmup and cooldown, 30 min. running with an optional 10 min. run. I took this plan, it seemed great - i could just opt. out of those extra 10 min. and i knew i could run for 30 min. straight, no problem. First run was a progression run, 5 min. warm up and cooldown, 20 min easy pace with 10 min. medium/hard pace at the end. Unfortunately i had to stop this workout short - i figured the plan would adapt if i missed out of important training. After 2 full days of rest, i completed the long run including the additional 10 min. because i felt great - my longest run to date covering a total of 7.53km in 50.03 min. (mind 10 of those min. are warmup walk and cooldown walk - i ran 6.53km in 40 min.) avg. pace 6:37 min/km, avg hr. 169bpm. After 1 full day of rest i did a stride repeat workout 15 min. warmup and cooldown with 10 x 20 sec strides with 45 sec recovery. This workout almost killed me, and my watch went straight into unproductive mode. After another full day of rest i had another progression run, but this time i finished the workout. Good workout and my watch changed to maintaining. Another 2 full days of rest and i have another long run identical to the first one. 5 min warmup walk and cooldown. 30 min runs with 10 min. optional run. This run didn't go well. I only did an extra 5 min. running just 35 minutes. My pace was slower at 6:52 min/km my effort was harder with an avg. hr of 175 bpm, way to hard for an easy run - my watch blasting me straight back into unproductive with a cooldown time of 63 hours. I know i don't magically lose this fitness during a week, so something else must cause this - not enough recovery or training to hard during the week. But my plan hasn't changed. My next scheduled workout is still the same day even though its inside my recommended cooldown time, and its the same stride repeats that almost killed me last week. The progression run is harder this week with an additional 5min of easy running before the 10 min. harder run. The long run is 10 mins. longer at 40 min. and tbh. im not sure i'll be able to make it. If last weeks easier program left me with barely enough energy to do 35min longrun... i have a hard time believing a harder program will get me running 40 min. again. The watch is telling me i need to recover, because my workload is good but my fitness is declining, as my long runs shows is correct. But the garmin coach adaptive training plan is like, *** recovery, you need to work harder? Does the training plan only adapt if you actually can't finish a workout? If i force stop my longrun after 20 min? Because it dosn't seem to be listening to the other metrics. Or does it just need a lot more time? Like a full week of unproductive training and declining fitness before it adapts?
