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| eurodonkey |
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I ended up with 63 miles. Rough week, as you know, but it got better at the end. - Wednesday: 2.5mi tempo - Thurs: circuits, lifting, hills - Sat: rather rushed 6x1min hill, still sore from Thu but as fast as my best last year: - Sun: group run - huge pack as everyone has marathons coming up. 16 miles, my longest of the year, with the middle 12 at 6:40 pace. I'm happy I was able to do that without cramping up, but no leg weights for me tonight! Off to Florida on Tuesday. I'm hoping that with jet-lag in my favour I can get up early and do an hour most mornings, and get the miles back up a bit... |
| eurodonkey |
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So, thinking a little about the workouts after the half marathon(s)...and about drills and speed. We want you to feel light and fast in summer so I'd suggest we start with what we can cut out or cut back: - forget about the heavy weight training. - you can continue the circuits if you're enjoying them, but they are less critical. It might make sense to tweak the exercises a bit, tire the legs less. Drills will fill this gap - high mileage is no longer a goal. If you hit 70s or 80s, fine, but the main thing is to be quite fresh for key sessions, and there's no harm at all if you end up in the 60s. Similarly, Sunday runs should be a relaxing 90 minutes, not a hard one. We should continue to look for two key workouts each week: Tuesday (either morning or evening) and Saturday. I think these should cycle through a variety of paces, from tempo down to 5k-specific down to miler-type speedwork. We also want to develop your top speed. This will make you run more efficiently at 5k pace. I suggest that as soon as possible you run a 200m on the track (at 95% effort, we don't want to strain anything), and then we do it again at end of phase III. The basic speed now and improvement will be very interesting to observe, and to some extent the faster you are now the less time we need to put into it. I re-read Pete Magill's 5k training article and it's good. But I would differ slightly on the frequency of drills and top-end speed work. Most Brits in club/college track do drills as a 'mini session' before their track workout twice a week. And since you've been away from fast running for so long, I think this would be very good for you. I can see 3 ways to schedule it: A. you can jog to the track (or hill), warm up, then do the drills before the main reps. This could add 30min to the session so may not work well if time is tight or if you don't feel bouncy enough in the morning. B. do them some other time when you're fresh, like the evening before a workout, or when taking the kids to the park on the weekend. C. Have a dedicated 'drills and strides' quality session, possibly on Thursday morning at the track. I always loved heading out to a playing field on summer evenings to do drills and speed work - but it needs 45min. We get long evenings up here (51' North) so I can take my son to the park after homework at 20:00 or later and sprint while he kicks balls. I'd do 3 things... 1. Warm up (exercises at home, or 1 mile run, some dynamic stretching, lunges etc) 2. high knees, heel flicks, skipping, bounding: do each exercise 2-3 times as Pete demonstrates, walking back between (rest matters!) 3. fast strides - anywhere from 4 to 10 reps, aiming for 90-95% top speed. My favourite approach is to focus on aspect of form at a time - e.g. relaxed jaw, low shoulders, rear elbow drive, high knees, drive off with toes, quick pull-through, running tall. I like to do 4x100 before track workouts More later on the main sessions... |
| eurodonkey |
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OK, I'll be manic all day and airborne tomorrow so had better get my thoughts down on track workouts. Bear in mind that there are hundreds of ways to do it and I won't be at all offended if you prefer different patterns. I agree with getting some 200/400 work in earlier but I would not leave all the 5k-specific work until the last 6 weeks. A classic 5k session is 6x1000 with 200m jog (90sec). If you're getting mean before a race you'll hammer them. But if you want to build up aerobic capacity, as Jack D suggests, you want to back off maybe 3sec/lap from your best, take longer rest (a full lap jog), and run at the pace he predicts and no faster. This really works - you don't feel exhausted or wear your legs out, and you can often do another rep or two. Pete Magill also seems to be mostly of this school, insisting on going off-track and running by time (see his Running Times article). For years I have done well off Frank Horwill's 5-pace system (used by the Coes). He also has a 4-second 'rule of thumb' for pace prediction for elites, or 5sec for club athletes, so a wild stab at training paces (once you have a few speed sessions under your belt) might be this....and strangely enough that's about where I was two summers back... 5000 pace: 82/lap = 17:05 3000 pace: 77/lap = 9:37 1500 pace: 72/lap = 4:30 800 pace: 67/lap = 2:14 400 pace: 62/lap = 62 I would suggest going twice through a three-week cycle where we mix in a tempo session, and one session at each of these paces or effort levels. During the first six weeks we'll try quite hard to keep some of these 'stopwatch free', running for time (e.g. 5x4min is 5k pace) or up a hill (10x1min is a 1500 session, and you can do any pace on a hill). The nice thing about these is that if a mile race pops up somewhere, you'll be ready; and if not, the sessions give you some idea of what shape you are in for those events and where the strength and weaknesses lie. Here are some examples of sessions at each pace... 3000 pace: 12x400 (100 jog), 8 x 600 (200 jog), 6x800 (400jog), 1500 pace: generally 1:1 recovery e.g. 70sec for 70/400 - build up the number of 200s off 40sec rest e.g. 16x200, then 20, then 24, with a quick 100m jog, in sets of 8. - 2 x (5x300) - 2-3 x (4 x 400) - the classic 10 x 400 - the infamous '1500m predictor) (Google it, save that for your 3rd cycle!) 800 pace: longer rests - 8 x 200 (long rest) - 6 x 300, (2-3min) - 3 x (3x300) (90sec between reps; 5min between sets) - 4 x 400 (5min) - 600, 400, 300, 200 (loonnggg rests..) 400 pace: essentially pure speed/speed-endurance. could be 8 x 150 ( 3 min rests) 6 x 200 (3 min rests) 300, 300, 200 with 10min rests Just to reiterate, in the first 6 weeks we should try to be 'off-road' or at least not worrying much about the watch some of the time, and you should finish every session feeling you have a couple more reps in you. In the next 6 we can start to pick one session each week where you run pretty hard. The other slight wrinkle I would add in is that we have to keep the aerobic base topped up. With the 400, 800 and perhaps 1500 sessions, you aren't doing all that much aerobic work, and with months of this you can go off the boil a little. One modern way round this is to stick in 1.5 to 2 miles of tempo at the end of a speed session, a bit slower than a normal one as your legs will be tired. This encourages you to hold back a little bit, knowing there is some more work to come, and means you continue to build the aerobic engine up. I'm guessing that the tempo and 5k stuff might fit best on a Tuesday, as it's less time consuming to do in the morning and needs slightly less of a warmup, and that Saturday will be better for long warmups and hard anaerobic stuff. So we might be looking at: Week 1: Tue tempo, Thu drills+strides, Sat 1500 Week 2: Tue 5k pace, Thu drills+strides, Sat 800 (+ 1m tempo) Week 3: Tue 3k pace, Thu drills+strides, Sat 400 (+ 2m tempo) In the second six weeks we get more specific and introduce 'race practice' elements like changing pace, Pete Magill's 3 x mile with faster bits in between and so on. How does this look as an overall pattern? |
| Impossible Dream |
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All of this looks fantastic Euro. I'm about to go out for my am run, but wanted to let you know I gave it a first read. I'll review again and post again. |
| Impossible Dream |
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Euro, A few more comments. I definitely think doing the drills on a separate day is going to suit me. In fact, I'll likely steal your idea by bringing the boys along with me after dinner. I can do the drills on the infield of the track, while they goof off and play soccer. I'll likely even get browny points with the wife for getting the boys outside in the evening. Plus, the facility is pretty safe, fenced and away from traffic. We'll likely have more discussions about mileage :), although specificity of training likely and logically indicates your approach is the correct one. My last couple of days have been a little rough after a great work out on Saturday. More stomach troubles on Sunday. Occasionally, I've thought that I'm either afflicted with food allergies of some sort or maybe a very mild case of Crohn's or other issue. But, these types of problems don't persist for me over long periods of time, so I've never bothered to go and get a diagnosis. Anyway, this issue combined with another physical problem related to my digestive system flared up and I was just feeling sort of crummy. Cut my Sunday run short to only 8 miles easy on the treadmill and left it at that for the day. This morning wasn't much butter and so I just put in a little over 8 this morning. Coupled with the fact that my problems with my lower right leg really aren't getting any better (not really worse, either), I'm considering taking off tonights short session and all day tomorrow to just get feeling right again. The weather hasn't helped either. Friday was beautiful. It go up to 70 F!! Then, things went downhill fast and we woke up to 3 inches of snow on Sunday. This morning, when I left the house it was 23 F! Oh well, the boys got a snowman out of the deal. Please insert picture of a crying baby as your mental picture of me right now :) .... Yes, I'm whining a bit. Anyway, all this is leading me to think a day off would definitely do me a lot of good right now. |
| Impossible Dream |
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Euro, Do you realize how strange this statement makes you sound to the general, no running public? :) Sorry, couldn't resist. Solid a week as one could muster under the circumstances and I for one would be happy with it! Good work Euro. Have a great trip to Florida. |
| eurodonkey |
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Here's a good one: get them to line up and shoot, you start when they kick, and chase the ball down as hard as you can! Almost as good as a short hill sprint. Mine is 11, in the school 'A' team, and can boot it at least 100 yards, so this is getting tougher on me! You should definitely take some easy days for that calf/achilles, and also keep massaging it (shins too). You will lose no fitness at all if you do 3-4 easy (single session) days in a row. Last week was a very good one, so make this one easier and reap the benefits.. |
| Impossible Dream |
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We might have to hold off on that one until next year. :)... My guys are 5 yo and 4 yo and still pretty small... Although my oldest did score a goal from the midfield kick off last season in pre school league! My middle boy scored 2 goals on Saturday. One for our team and one for the other team. The opposing team goal was the more impressive. He squared off space for himself, controlled the ball and calmly dribbled it, very deliberately, into the goal. It was very impressive and very funny. My youngest, 20 months, is showing a lot of promise though, maybe I'll have him be the kicker!! Training - I'm 80% decided to take a day off tomorrow, and then put in my tempo session on Wed if I feel better by then. |
| PhysMech |
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Euro - Please check your email, as I would like to meet when you are here in Florida! |
| eurodonkey |
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Done - looking forward to meeting up if we can! |
| Impossible Dream |
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OK friends, time to make a big old batch of lemonade due to the lemons my training has been handing me. And, this is exactly the crux of the situation. I can choose to get down, depressed, and feeling sorry for myself because injury wise things aren't going well for me or I can embrace reality and formulate plan b. I'm choosing to move forward positively and engage in a positive movement forward towards healthy legs and a successful resolution. First, what hell am I talking about? Well, as you may know from following the thread I have had some issues with my right lower leg and some general crappy (literally :) ) health the last week or so. As I had planned I took off my Monday evening session and all day yesterday from running to get myself healed up. This morning, I got up and got myself over to the track with the intentions of a 7 x 1600m cruise interval work out. There was a little discomfort in the lower right leg but no worse and maybe a little better than it has been. Got through my warm up ok and completed 4 1600's. Then, starting out on the 5th, I felt an immediate tightness and pain in the left calf and at 200 m into the lap, I shut it down and realized I better not push through it. I walked home and decided then and there I was going to go to plan b and get healthy for my April 16 HM. What's plan b? Likely 2 sessions on the elliptical every day, normal supplemental training, icing, massage of my afflicted areas and no running until 24 hours after I have no symptoms of pain in the lower legs. Embracing reality? First, I think its more the rule than the exception that guys my(our) age have to deal with injuries and if we want to have any type of competitive running "career", then its how we deal with injury that keeps us going and progressing. Second, the reality is I have progressed beyond what I think one could realistically expect at this point. Taking stock, I've had 3 solid months of base training and I'm running much faster than I thought possible at this point and I'm well on my way towards my goals. I can acknowledge that and go enthusiastically into plan b for as long as it takes or I can feel sorry for myself. I think the latter option is really foolish. Finally, my little injuries are nothing. I was reading a thread on this board the other day by a guy seeking advice on a comeback from a STROKE for God's sake. This guy is 3 weeks removed from having a stroke and he's out running. His big concern was falling down because of balance problems. How can I possibly feel sorry for myself after reading something like that... .I can't. So, onward with plan b. I'll be back running in no time. |
| Impossible Dream |
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A potential favorable development on the scheduling front. My wife has been running regularly on the treadmill and has expressed interest in running a 5k. This morning she made the statement that she is trying to get to the point where she is regularly logging 3 to 4 miles every morning and then she said she would like to get outside for some runs so she can see how she feels prior to taking on a 5k. I suggested that perhaps we can have family track nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where we take the whole gang over to the track. The boys can goof off, I can get my track and drill work outs in and she can jog around the track. She was pretty receptive to the idea so this could work out well for me and for the family. It has the added benefit of exposing my boys to the sport. I have in the back of my mind that I would really enjoy it if they wanted to run like their old man. But, I don't want to force it on them. On the training front, I jumped on the elliptical for 30 minutes last night. This morning, though, the legs just felt sore, so I'll put in 45 to 60 minute tonight on the elliptical and see how I feel tomorrow morning. Planning to do my circuit training tomorrow also. I'm hoping my legs feel good enough by Sunday to get in an easy run, we'll see. |
| VF Runner |
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Very sorry to hear about the injury issues ID, but I'm glad to hear your attitude about it. It's such a positive attitude that it is hard to believe you are an actual letsrun poster. ;-) Unlike so many of us, you have 1 very specific long range goal so making adjustments now and not worrying about it isn't too difficult. When it will become much more difficult is in the last 5-8 weeks before attempting 5k PR races - that is when you will stress over every detail. I may have a similar development with the running scheduling thing. Our daughter is now riding bike sans training wheels so track and maybe even some easy runs can be done while she is in my charge. From my training front I'll just say this - marathon tapering is frustrating as hell! Every run, frankly every step becomes the nagging "Why don't I feel perfect? Shouldn't this feel like jogging? Where is the bounce in my step? What shoe do I wear? Am I eating right? Do I need to drink more?" Aaaarrrgghhhhh... |
| Impossible Dream |
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VF, Thanks for the encouragement. I've altered plan b a little as I think the elliptical was actually causing a little stress on my injuries as well. I think I've boiled this down (self diagnosis) as originating with my right achilles. That combined with the pounding of that downhill 5k created other compensation issues. Although it wasn't excruciating at all to run, I was definitely falling into the trap of less efficiency in my stride and causing other injuries, like the left calf cramping because I was limping slightly on the right. So, yesterday was just an off day from cardio. I did get in my core work though. Today, I'm going to do my circuit, minus the burpees and hops. I may go a little lighter in the weighted exercises and do 3 sets to get a bit more of a cardio work out. Walking around, both lower legs are still a bit sore. I'm going to give it a go tonight again on the elliptical but I'm being cautious, so if I'm feeling twinges in the wrong places, I'm going to call it off. I want to be healed up ultimately so I can have great training for the summer. Hopefully, everything is good by Sunday or Monday and then I'll proceed with easy runs next week, supplemented by the elliptical. The April 16 half marathon effort I'm going to have to play it by ear. If I'm feeling great, I'll race. If not, I'll probably back off and just finish and perhaps think about a harder effort for the April 30 HM. VF, if you don't mind sharing what marathon are you running? Is there a specific time goal? Hope all are having a great day! |
| VF Runner |
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No I don't mind, and yes there is. I'm running the Gansett Marathon in Rhode Island. Fairly flat and a pretty decent (though small overall) field, I just hope the weather is good since wind is always a possibility near the coast. 2:50 is the goal. If I make it, it will be about a 2:45 PR. |
| PhysMech |
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ID, sorry to hear about your lower leg injury. Can you describe in detail how it feels? Does it hurt when you dig your thumbs into the area? If you can, measure how many inches up from the floor the area is (in bare feet) and say if it's more on the inside of your leg or not. VF, that's an interesting target time. I'll be happy if I can pull off something similar at Boston. Good luck! By the way, going for a prediction. Jessica Augusto from Portugal is making her marathon debut at London and will finish in the top 3 there. Maybe even win and shock some people. To me, she has an efficiency similar to Zersenay Tadese. Both their leg motions fit my ideas of efficiency well. So does Wilson Kipketer and Abubaker Kaki. |
| eurodonkey |
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Hi all, Sorry to be offline for a while. I flew out to Florida with family on Tuesday, had a couple of crazy days of meetings (now over) and a weekend of sightseeing in the Miami area, and am now on the Gulf Coast for 4 days vacation. All being well, Physmech and I might actually get to meet up on Tuesday! ID, I'm sorry to hear about the injury. It's generally accepted that you will lose no fitness whatsoever from up to a full week off running, so don't push it. And when you do run, don't make the first one a speed session...10min day one, 20min day two etc! I would also suggest massaging the whole calf, every day if you can; you are bound to find some lumps that aren't the same as the ones on the other side. |
| Quack |
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ID, I'm finally tuning back into your thread (and lrc in general) -- I apologize for turning into a fair-weather follower. I managed to over-do things and train myself into some anterior tibial tendonitis in late February, and then didn't quite back off enough to let it heal quickly (I thought 25 miles for the next week was "backing off", but apparently the thing wanted to be left alone). Following your progress tends to inspire me to go running, and I figured I needed a little bit less inspiration for a month there... I'm sorry to hear about your leg, but you might be interested by my discovery of a few weeks ago: I was walking home up some stairs to my house, and thought, "hm, this doesn't hurt to walk up...", and looked at the University of Pittsburgh's 34-story-tall "Cathedral of Learning" ... and discovered that I could climb up stairs until the cows came home with no adverse effects. To make a long story short, I channeled my inner ID + euro + physmech + malmo. My average day for the last week was a 7-ish mile run in the morning, followed by about 50 minutes of stairmaster or elliptical in the evening. And ... it seems to be working. I did a total of 12.5 hours of workouts this week, and ran my first tempo run on Friday for the first time in a month and a half: 7km at 3:55 per km. About ~6:18 pace overall -- pretty much exactly what I'd been running before the setback. I'm tired, but no one component of my body is hurting other than a strong desire to sleep a lot. It's taking all the effort I can muster to not increase my mileage by more than 1/2 mile in a single step, but the aggressive cross-training is making it easier to stomach (and I got back up to 52 miles this week). I think there's something to be said for it. Not that the stairmaster in particular is a godsend, but I think that from now on, I'm going to try keeping, say, 30% of my "mileage" as cross-training. Hope your calf starts feeling better soon. From where I'm looking, you're still a great source of inspiration! As the Chinese say, "man man lai" -- lit., slowly slowly come, or "don't rush, get it done slowly". I'm cheering for you to stick with the persistence and patience you've shown thus far in your comeback. |
| Impossible Dream |
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First, VF, Quack, PM and Euro.... Thanks all for the support. It helps an awful lot. PM - I think the original issue with my right lower leg is in the achilles. I would say a good 10 to 12 inches from the floor. In that specific area it is tight and tender on the outside portions of the tendon. As I have noted, the issues spread from there in compensation and so currently I'm still having some tenderness in the upper anterior shin and also the ankle is sore in general, but moreso on the outside portion. It is improving and I may run for 10 minutes on the treadmill tonight after I do an elliptical work out. I've been icing and massaging the past couple of days. Most of end of last week I was using a passive approach and just leaving it alone and not doing anything at all to aggravate or exercise the affected area. I'm thinking of looking into compressions socks. Bottom line, if I wanted to I could be running on it. I'm concerned, though, that like Wednesday when my left calf tighted up, that ultimately I'm best served by healing up the right leg completely so I'm not causing further problems and set backs due to compensation. This weekends HM is looking more and more like a finish the distance rather than run for a time or race. I'm still holding onto a little hope that I can run. I'm going to play it smart, but I did have a fair amount of focus investing in this April 16 event. I'm not really interested in skipping the race at all since I've got $60 invested in my entry fee ;) I think if it ends up being a jog, I'm definitely interested in running the April 30 HM hard and hopefully winning some cash. Quack - Thanks for checking back in. I'm very happy that you're back on track and you've found some ways to overcome the problems you've been having. Keep up the good work!! Hope all are having a great day! |
| VF Runner |
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ID - Don't let all the letsrun naysayers scare you away from the socks. I have a few different versions and I will wear them for the marathon (I think). I don't usually wear them while running, but after hard days or if I feel tight I will regularly wear them. Quack - If only we all had the same issues that this quote "... and I figured I needed a little bit less inspiration for a month there..." indicates. It shows the passion to want to do anything to improve with a touch of the wisdom it takes to be able to improve. |