Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 1/13

Monday: elliptical Fartlek 2:30, 3, 3:30, 3:30, 3, 2:30 on 2:30 off 60mins total

Tuesday 4 easy + 30 mins bike

Wednesday: elliptical repeats 6x3mins on 2:30 off 60mins total

Thursday: 4 easy + 30 mins bike

Friday: 4 easy

Saturday: elliptical Fartlek 2:30, 3, 3:30, 3:30, 3, 2:30 on 2:30 off 60mins total

Sunday: 90 mins bike

Total 270 mins cross-train + 20 miles.

Hope everyone had a good week. Only incidents to report this week were a couple of falls on icy roads. Painful, but not running related injury.

Hi guys, I really enjoy reading this thread each week and I would like to contribute. Brief intro: I ran HS cross country and track in Ohio about 10 years ago. Now live in NC and I'm looking to better my PR's. I'm following the Hanson's Half training if anyone is familiar with that.

Goal Race: Tar Heel 10 Miler 4/20

Next Race: Indoor Mile 1/17

Mon: 6 easy

Tue: Off

Wed: 7.5 - 6x800 w/400 jog rest

Thu: 6 easy

Fri: 7 - 4 mi tempo @ 6:23/mi

Sat: 7 easy

Sun: 5 easy

Total: 38.5 miles

800 splits: 2:45, 2:47, 2:45, 2:46, 2:46, 2:42

The workout felt great, though the rest feels a little excessive. It takes me 2:30-45 to get around the track on the jog. I may try to speed that up a bit. I'm easing into a long run in the next coming weeks, so I hope to see greater gains from that.

My long term goal is a sub 60 minute in the ten miler. Immediate goal is a sub 5 minute mile on Thursday. Cheers!

Yuri G-The Tarheel 10 miler is a great race on a tough course. I ran it 3 years in a row when I lived in Chapel Hill. Last year's start included some short, hard hills to start, then the famous Laurel Hill climb on mile 8. Good luck in that race.

Reg Fields, As much as it may feel wrong to you, you need to do some of your runs at 7:30 to 8:00 pace each week. Don't train everyday in no man's land pace.

I'm still working through my new found friend tinnitus. I'm hanging my hat on just too much stress and anxiety lately as the cause. I'm going to be dialing back the stress and pressure. I'm also only going run when I feel sufficiently rested. Last week, that was 4 runs. Hoping for better weeks ahead and some enjoying my running as I train for New Bedford and Boston.

Last week

M: 8 miles on treadmill (60:00)

T: 9.6 miles outside (1:07:00) 5 at MP (low 6:30's)

W: Rest

T: 8.6 miles on treadmill (60:00). A couple of stints at MP or faster.

F: 9.3 miles outside (1:08:00). 3 loops of the YCMA 5k course.

S: Rest

S: Rest

35.5 miles

Saw this in another thread (the "When I did this?? ..." one) and liked it so I'll share it here for anyone that missed it. Maybe this will be a better thought for you to have in mind Reg than thinking about an actual pace for easy runs.

http://www.logicoflongdistance.com/2013/01/what-is-easy-run.html

Checking back in with some comments:

Brum: Nothing wrong with a hard run in the mud. Sounds kinda fun actually.

CTA: I train solo @ least 90% of the time, but like running with others when possible. I am less likely to bag it or skimp on intervals, etc. when there is someone else to keep me honest. If you have the option and time to workout with others part of the time, I would recommend it.

Marm: Nice 10K

DC: Solid tempo

Numbers: Nice work on the track

YG: A smooth and relaxed 8:41 3K! I am not worthy.

Pablo: Good to see you back up and posting

aaryno: Congrats on the new addition and good luck with the move

FC: Sub 18 and a PR - well done!

Another: good luck in your 10 mile race.

Al Tup: 70 miles already? You must spit nails.

grizz: 23 miler after drinking all night. Nice discipline on both fronts. Good luck @ CBAD.

Reg Fields: Steady week from you

Bones: Welcome back. Sorry I missed you @ Morely Field in October

Darwin: Nice 15K race

Des: Nice week in some tough weather. When I'm feeling worn down, I take a day or 2 off and reach for the bourbon.

Schmitt: Welcome

Tiger: Solid week. Stay upright buddy

Yuri: Welcome

A good week to all.

printer: Thanks for the info, I heard it was a challenging course, but I didn't know about the hill! Good luck with the relaxation. Running can be a stress reliever, but can also add stress when your plate is already full.

First time posting on this thread. I thought it might be fun to participate!

Goal Race: Boston, hoping to go sub-2:30

Next Race: 5/10k March 1st (haven't decided yet which distance)

M: AM 6 miles PM: 16 miles

T: AM 4 miles PM 16 miles

W: 21 Miles

Th: 15.5 miles

F: AM 4 miles PM 17 miles

Sat: 6 miles (barely had any time to run)

Sun: 15.5 miles

Total: 121 miles

Thanks for the read. I pretty much go with the flow on "easy" runs as it is now. My first mile or two is at 7:30-7:40 as I loosen up and before I know it I'm at 7:20 and by the last mile I'm under 7:00 in many cases.

When workouts start maybe I'll try to slow down the pace a bit. I think going back to 35-40 mpw is the right move also. I guess its easy to get caught up looking at other's mileage and seeing how fast they are and trying to emulate but that's just not me. I've never really been fast and I guess I just have to accept that.

Have a good week of training everyone!!

Looks like a LOT of good training going on around here this week and I am late to the party. I also owe a couple of replies from last week's thread too, my apologies.

So this past week started off strong and went downhill in a hurry.

Boston Marathon Training - Week 5 of 18.

Races/goals:

-Tallahassee Half Marathon - Goal ???

-Rock N' Roll New Orleans Half - Goal ???

-Boston Marathon - Goal - sub-2:30

Monday - 15.5 (AM-10, PM-5.5)

Tuesday - 18.5 (AM-13 with 8mi tempo, PM-5.5)

Wednesday - 16 (AM-11, PM-5)

Thursday - 13 (AM-8, PM-5)

Friday - 12.5 (AM-6.5, PM-6)

Saturday - 0

Sunday - 0

Total - 75.5

Tuesday workout - 8-mile tempo in 42:30!!! (5:18.8/mi).

Quick Summary of week:

Ran a "PR" for 8 miles in my workout on Tuesday. The qualifier being that it was on a treadmill (although the same one I have used in the past that's predicted my half-marathon race pace pretty well and I was honestly running as relaxed as ever). Then on Tuesday night my right foot started hurting on my shakeout run.

After my run on Wednesday I felt really tired and that night I developed a burning fever. I tried running through some mild flu-like symptoms the next few days before it got really bad on Saturday and I started coughing up yellow phlegm, ended up spending the weekend on my sofa drinking hot tea and napping. Today I finally got to see a doctor and he said I have a mild case of pneumonia or bronchitis and prescribed me some antibiotics.

It looks like I might have to take today off too and *maybe* tomorrow, but the forced rest could end up being a blessing in disguise as I was starting to have some mild foot/leg troubles. Just a little frustrated right now and need to figure out how to adjust my training for the next few weeks. Right now I am thinking I am going to do some light tempo/speed for the next couple of weeks, race Tallahassee half based on feel and then "go for it" in New Orleans.

KR- Sorry I never replied in last week's thread... (was getting sick and trying to stay alive). The max HR anomaly doesn't surprise me as I have heard the generic formula (220 - age) can vary greatly for individuals. Must be nice to still have the heart of a 15-20 year old :)

Brumrunner- Another good week with a quality workout and race. Good luck to getting some more continuous training.

CTA-Sorry to hear the planned MP workout didn't work out, but looks like you got in a really close substitute anyways. I have done 100% of my training runs alone for the last few years and I'm used to it. It sounds like a lot of the other posters in this thread are similar too.

Marmite- Looks like a really good quality AND quantity week, and the scalps from the race make for a very nice cherry on top of the icing on the cake!

dcrunner0910 Nice workouts and race.

Themack- Another good mileage week.

Numbersguy- Nice week. Good MP run and loved the 1000s workout.

Young Guy- Sick workouts as usual. Can't wait to see this mile in 2 weeks.

Pablo- Looks like you're still ramping up the mileage and quality too. Loved the parking garages idea, I did this once during college when there was a blizzard and the only place I could get to was the parking garage behind my apartment so I did a 60 minute run in there.

Aaryno- Nice progression on Saturday.

GNR1- Loved the 3x2mi, this was one of my bread-and-butter workouts when training for the half until I started doing 6-mi tempos more recently. (I find that sometimes the rest actually makes the workout harder for me as I occasionally have trouble getting going again)

Has been who never was-Must feel good to get in some fast running again. Looking forward to seeing more quality training from you soon.

RunnerFC- Congrats on the PR!. That 5K predicts about a 82-min half and 2:54-2:55 marathon, so it looks like you are well on your way to hitting your goals in the longer distances.

Another- That treadmill incline workout sounds brutal. I have been experimenting with some treadmill inclines, but more in the 2-3% range and not 8%! Also good luck with the 10-miler.

Np1112- Very nice workouts this week. Good luck this weekend and if your goal is "only" 76 minutes I think you are in for a very pleasant surprise.

Alf Tupper- Nice quality week even with the high mileage. Very impressive.

VF runner- Good mileage week.

Grizz- Nice solid runs this week, glad to hear the week ended well

Oh please- Congrats on the mileage PR. Keep up the good work.

cmm268- Good mileage week and smart to play it safe at this point.

NJ Truth- Hope that IT band gets better soon. Good to see you are at least able to run some.

Reg fields- Another good base mileage week.

Samblackbones- Congrats on the half PR. The best part is you know you'll demolish it the next time out when you are feeling better.

Cyhawk- Nice week. Love how you downplayed the Saturday run on the Newton Hills.

Darwinian- Nice 15K, definitely a sign that your training is paying off and your fitness is heading in the right direction.

Ghola/ho hum- Nice mileage with some quality added in.

Des- Nice workout on Thursday and impressed with the weekly 22+ milers.

Muebele- I like doing tempos on the track during the summer/fall too when it's not covered in ice/snow. Definitely makes it easier to pace myself.

schmittipaldi- Nice 400s, sometimes it's good to just get the effort in without becoming slave to a watch. Overall a solid week of training too.

Tiger_runner- Looks like you are recovering from your injuries nicely. Way to get after it with the cross-training too.

Yuri_G- Welcome! Nice 800s workout and your goal seems pretty realistic given your current fitness and the date of the race.

Printer- Good to see you slowly getting back into it.

The Angel of Death- Nice week of mileage! Also good to see someone else shooting for sub-2:30 in Boston.

SteveInAlaska: When my PR is 1:21 its hard to imagine dropping to 1:16. We will see how it goes though!

-------Early Report-------

The Angel of Death 121

marmite 93

Young Guy 80

pablo 78

SteveInAlaska 75.5

CTA 72

NP1112 71

alf tupper 70.55

brumrunner 69

Another 67.5

The Mack 65

VF Runner 63.75

Darwinian 54

Numbersguy 51

aaryno 47

GNR1 40

Yuri_G 38.5

Printer 35.5

Has been that never was 35

Tiger_Runner 20

Runner FC 11

******Stat(s) of the week******

Shout out to BlaznBison24 who ran 2:18 at Houston, I am pretty sure he is the fastest to ever particapate in the thread. Miss his posts

Other noteworthy stats, as of now there is 28,310 miles logged on the spreadsheet, that equats to .26 miles every minute for the past 11 weeks.

Hey all!

Pablo – Happy birthday dude!!!

Brum –Enjoy the downtime.

CTA – I do ALL my training solo. However, every few Sundays or so I do meet up with a group of guys I’m friendly with to long run.

Marmite – Sounds like your training is really starting to come together!

dcrunner – I like your idea of logging in minutes instead of miles, especially for recovery runs. I for one use “badger” miles.

Numbersguy – I love how consistent your 5x1K was.

Young Guy – Awesome workout, Friday!

aaryo and cmm –I would definitely start a regiment of daily patellar tendonitis rehab exercise ASAP. Aarno, congrats on the baby!

Tiger – Sorry to hear about you taking some spills. How’s the injury coming along?

Schmittipaldi, Yuri, and Angel of Death –Welcome! Angel, is there a story behind your name?

SteveInAlaska – Feel better, brother.

Ghola – BUSTED! lol

VF – Careful with the mileage increase. Sadly, I would know!

Grizz – Nice 23 mile long run; it tops my longest training run ever of 22.

oh please – Congrats on keeping up the consecutive days running. How many more are you planning on doing?

Reg Fields – Stay motivated! Also, I think some of your nagging injuries will start to go away if you’re planning on dropping a few pounds.

Darwinian – Nice race bud. I think it’s great that you’re being constructive and learning from your mile splits.

printer – We’re in the same boat. Training for Boston and dealing with injury. Get better soon!

des – Sorry I missed ya over the holiday break, but obviously with the ITB I didn’t do too much running. If you’re feeling tired, don’t hesitate to take some down time sooner than later. Maybe take more than just one day if you’re really feeling that worn down! Someone who does as much mileage as you do can certainly afford it.

NJ Truth- It is coming on as I expected. I would love to just jump back into a full intensity program but that isn't gonna happen. Last week I did 3 30 minute runs this week I would like to improve to 4 40 minute runs. The workouts on the elliptical are challenging and helping me. I am lifting to strengthen the leg and dropping weight to reduce the impact each time I run. It requires stretching every 10 minutes to avoid it being a big issue.

On the spills, I am amazed I did not do more damage. The first slip was more of a fall. I was over confident on my abilities to jump a puddle. In the end I jumped all three puddles, but kinda slid of the last one soccer style. I then rolled into the puddle to make it a very cold run back!

The second fall was running back to my house after practice and getting cut off by my roommate on a corner. That one was painful, my legs went right out from under me and I landed hard on my back. Still kinda recovering from that.

Great job everyone! CTA I would not worry about running 6:56 pace versus 6:50 pace for 10 miles . From a training standpoint, these paces are essentially equivalent. And I think you would have run faster with a group. I do maybe one run a week with a friend, maybe two in a group and two on my own. In a group includes races. I may or may not run with anyone specific but often end up running with people at least a portion of the time, depending how fast people are going.

One of my goals is to run a PR in the Hyannis half marathon (1:39:05 7:33 per mile) in late February and place in the filly category . Would love to break 21:00 in the 5k in a flat 5k on superbowl Sunday which I am hoping to accomplish via a few track practices and a slight uptick in mileage. Recently I have run 21:12.9 in the 5k. My mileage, while low, is similar to what it was during my pr except I have not yet run more than 1 hr at a time for a while.

23 miles

Monday: off

Tuesday: 5 about 9:00 per mile. Flat.

Wednesday: 10 min bike, 20 min swim

Thursday: 5 total, 4 in 7:31 per mile. Hilly 205 feet elevation gain.

Friday: 3 easy flat

Saturday: 3.15 in 7:02. Pretty flat. 1 8:58 warm down. Heavy legs

Sunday: 6 hilly at slow pace. Very heavy legs. Longest run in a while.

Sriday: 3 easy

Hi y'all. Busy thread again this week! I'm short on time, so won't get to comment on much, but just thought I'd pop in irrespective.

I've got to start with a shout out to blaznbison24 though. Quality running.

brumrunner - the xc is only little picture. Brush it off and move on. Some people thrive in mud too, so I bet some of those were ahead of you this time. My guess for alf tupper was the same as yours btw! :-)

marmite - you're really nailed on this campaign. Keep it going.

Young Guy - nice relaxed 3k!

Congrats on the new arrival aaryno. They grow up so quickly so enjoy every minute of it!

Nice week alf tupper. Are you equating the 92% HR target on the Tuesday session to 10k HR?

SteveInAlaska - take it easy and recover properly. I had pneumonia a few years back and it took me 4-5 months to get over it. Personally, having been through it, I'd not bother trying to make any plans for adjusting training until you're fully over it. Better a week or so off now, than losing months by rushing. And yes, nice to have the HR of a young 'un, though I don't get full benefit of it as my paces to lower HR are very poor. Apparently I'm a 'high beater'. I had tests done a few years ago and had my recovery HR set to 151 and below, which would apparently be an easy range for most.

As for me, well the steroids for the asthma are finally doing their job, but a lot of 'damage' has been done. I only managed 40m last week (in bold for Tiger_runner ;-) ), all easy. Part of that was the cold/chest problems, and part of it was being home in Ireland for a family reunion (first time all 7 siblings have been together for 2.5 years! :-) ).

I stood on the scales Monday morning, and I've got to lose 5-7kg (11-15lbs), plus my HRM is telling me that at the moment I'm probably 50+ secs per mile behind where I want to be for London.

Still, I like a challenge and I have the benefit of knowing I round into shape very quickly, plus it seems that I can at least run again this week, so should be able to start putting together some decent consistent training finally :-)

On the good news front, I'm still awaiting confirmation, but it looks like I got a national ranking for 2012. My Berlin time puts me 11th on the Irish marathon rankings, and though it's mainly because of the comparative lack of depth/quality, it's still pretty cool :-)

dcrunner0910 - great going at Booth Decorators League XC, that's a brilliant first race back. Yep, main aim is London, but I've got 1 more XC, 2 10k races and a 1/2M pencilled in between now and April

Numbersguy - great week, the 1000s on Tues and MP on Sat look excellent.

Young Guy - you have got enviable speed, your km reps are frighteningly quick and to be able to run an 8:41 3k at 95% effort (forget the 600s afterwards) is difficult for me to comprehend.

pablo - the "parking garage" long runs sounds a bit mad but will no doubt serve you well prepping for Boston.

aaryno - hope you can get the patellar tendonitis under control. Congrats on the little 'un!

GNR1 - nice, consistent 2M reps. It annoys the hell out of me when work gets in the way of training!

has been who never was - very positive early signs with the faster running. Wish the XC had been 10k, if I could run sub-33 over the country I would be well pleased ;-)

RunnerFC - congrats on the 5k PB, great going.

Another - very well structured week. Best of luck at the 10 miler, give it hell.

np1112 - the pace increase in the 3M workout on Wed was seriously fierce, damn! Great progression on Sat too.

alf tupper - you'll be posting 140mpw again in no time ;-) Looking good mate.

VF Runner - solid week.

grizz - sounds like a brute of a week, but good you're over the worst of it now. The long run felt fine after the XC, legs were a little fatigued but nothing major which was nice.

cmm268 - hope the achilles tendinitis settles down, some solid training in your week there.

Darwinian - impressive 15k race, well done that man.

Ho Hum - nice mix of miles and workouts in your week.

brum - as kr said, I would just put it behind you and move on. The XC will have an excellent training effect in any case and that'll all work in your favour as you move towards your target races.

SteveInAlaska - rippingly fast 8M tempo, but definitely take it easy if you have pneumonia/chest infection.

NJ Truth - hope the IT band comes good.

kr - good to hear from you. Great news regarding the steroids and I'm sure you'll drop the weight and get seriously quick in a few short weeks. Well done on the Irish marathon rankings.

brumrunner - be careful about your foot 34 on the nose.

CTA - You still got training every day well done. By the way I always train on my own.

Marmite - 2nd vet at 40 - well done

dcrunner - Building nicely

Themack - Keep going.

Numberaguy - Nice solid week.

Young Guy - This looking good!!!!!!!

pablo - I like it. The only hill i know in Florida is Macarther Causeway!!!!!

aaryno - Good luck with the baby

GNR1 - A great Sat Sun combo 24 miles

has been who never was - I liked the 5.43. It has been said the rust will come off.

RunnerFC - Make sure you are rested and injury free before you start your marathon training.

Another - Looks like you have had a busy week. Quick suggestion - drop the 10 min hill repeats. Did them years ago - waste of time :)

np1112 - Good week just watch your hamstring

VF Runner - Solid week good stepping stone to start with.

grizz - Its all in the bank now.

cmm268 - Be careful about your achilles.

Reg Fields - Good week.

cyhawk - Just love how you do 75 miles so easy.

Darwinian - Solid 15k for 4th well done.

des - Hope the rest will bring you round.

Muebele - 65mile in 6 days thats good, never did tempo back in the day. I think that this is the way forward. Doing them on the road will give you strength, track speed combo good.

The Angel of Death - Great mileage - what pace?

Oh please - Congrats Well done!

Yuri G - Hope you get your sub 5.

SteveinAlaska - Sorry about how you feel - back off and start again plenty of time

Kr - I read 87 to 92% is tempo running! just below LT. This is the only training band i want to stop in at the moment.

Congrats on your Irish ranking :) You have loads of time for London