Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 06/16

pablo - I was literally about to hit the post button to start this thread before checking one last time - I am glad I did! Thanks for getting us started. Glad to hear your cold is passing - you look ready to go for next weekend...Good luck!

Base Training Week 5

Goal: Stay healthy

Goal Race: Philadelphia Distance Run (9/15)

Goal Time: Gold (TBA), Silver (1:20:00, Bronze (PR 1:22:19)

Next race: Cooper River No Frills Series - 1 Loop (7/9)

M - 6mi easy (7:56): including 4x100m fast strides after

*T - 8mi total (6:50): 2mi warmup, 2x.25mi T-pace (6:00/mi pace), 3.65mi race in 20:54 (5:44/mi average), 1.7mi cooldown

W - 7mi recovery(8:24)

Th - Rest

F - 9mi total (NW): first 6.5mi with slower teammate around 8:30/mi pace, last 2.5mi with faster teammate around 7:30/mi pace

**Sa - 8.5mi total (8:03): 2mi easy, 8x:45 Hill hard with 3:30 recovery jogs, 2mi easy

Su - 7.5mi easy (7:30)

Weekly Total: 46 miles

YTD Total: 1195 miles

*Was very pleased with the race on Tuesday evening. Warm (78 degrees, 60% humidity) and windy (15-25mph) conditions, but ended running most of the race stride for stride with the eventual winner - a younger kid who was clearly fitter and sharper than I am right now. Was also happy with the splits and effort (5:38 44 56 38) given the wind in our face from 1.0-2.6mi. He finally gapped me with about 1/2km to go, and I felt like I could have closed it if I "unleashed the dragon," but it is early in the season and I figured there was no need to kill myself.

**I ran the hill session on a local hill about 225-230m long called Triple Hill - Ghola probably knows this hill all-to-well from high school. It's moderately steep and levels off twice before the severe peak at the top. I ran most of them right around 44-45 seconds, and I blasted the last one just under 42 seconds. A few residents in the area walking their dogs or collecting their newspapers looked at me like I was nuts. Only other runners would really get it.

Hope everyone else had a great week. Happy Fathers' Day, everyone!

I guess it was an okay week of training didnt get to run as much as i wanted but i hope everyone had a good week!

Monday:AM 5 easy

PM 6 easy

Tuesday:AM 2 up, 10x400 @5k pace 75-77

PM 5 easy

Wednesday: off allergies were killing me

Thursday: 10 easy

Friday:AM 2 up, 7 cruise mile repeats 5:30-5:35 happy with my pacing

Pm 5 easy

Saturday:12 long run

Sunday:5 easy

Goal race: Falmouth road race

Monday: 6

Tuesday: AM: 6 + PM: 6 = 12

Wednesday: AM: 1wu/wd + 4x1mile (2:30 rest) + PM: 6 = 12

Thursday: 6

Friday: 6

Saturday: 2wu/wd + 8 in 46:18 = 12

Sunday: 16

Total: 70

Good week for me, splits on my mile repeats were 5:18 5:04 5:15 5:08 (serious head wind on the 1st & 3rd, tailwind on 2nd & 4th). Splits for my 8 mile tempo were pretty even at around 5:40 - 5:50. I'll be running my first race next week, a 5k on Thursday. Hoping to hit around 15:40. I haven't been doing to much speed so it could get interesting.

@ Pablo- Wednesday's workout looks like a blast! Nice work, I need to incorporate something like that in my training.

@Numbers guy- Looks like you had a balanced week, I love that your goal is to stay healthy. That's one of the most important aspects of successful racing.

2mile- great week of training, you got plenty of stamina/speed workouts. When do you race again?

Here's my week....

Sunday- 2.5 mile warm up 4x35secfast/1 easy 7x3minfast/1easy, 1x800 on the road-2:31, 4x35secfast/1 easy.2 mile cooldown

Monday- am-5 miles

pm- 6 miles

Tuesday- 11 miles

Wednesday- 2.5 mile warm up, 17x1minfast/1min easy, 2 mile bleacher circuit.

Thursday- am-5 miles, pm-7 miles

Friday- 4 miles easy

Saturday- 2 mile warm up, Dads day 5k in Houston-17:27(I was pretty happy with it because it was 32 sec faster than 2 weeks ago and I ran strong) ended up winning 1st female, 3 mile cooldown

pm-5miles easy

Not had a great week running wise... a very mediocre 18.5km done. Monday through to Thursday i was suffering with a nasty spell of migraines which left me bedridden and absolutely flushed of energy. Friday through to today have consisted of easy running, basically treating it like a comeback from injury. Feeling loads better now and hopefully i can resume training as normal :)

Also this week i looked back at my training logs from last years Leeds Abbey Dash training and i will probably use the same method that got me from 35'52 to 34'20 for this years training, basically i started at around 30 miles a week and every 4th week i increased mileage by the amount of runs i did a week (so every increase was 6 miles) while also increasing the intensity. This seems a reasonable method seen as the race is 5 months away so i have plenty of time to increase the aerobic part of my running while still putting in hard sessions.

As i'm on my mobile, comments on others weeks will follow later this evening. Happy training all! :)

Goal: 8:45/15:15 by the end of summer.

Monday: 15km easy (15)

Tuesday: 16km easy with 6km barefoot in 27 mins (16)

Wednesday: BRAT open – 800m, 3rd in 2:06.8 off a 62ish first lap / 3000m, 2nd in 9:18.60 pacemaking for a friend 15 mins later (16)

Thursday: 12km easy (12)

Friday: 16km easy (16)

Saturday: 6×800 off 400 jog: 2:20, 22, 19, 20, 21, 16. Raining and windy. (17)

Sunday: 14km easy (14)

Week total: 106km

I used an open meet as a training session. I did the 800 as a bit of speed work then paced my friend round the 3000 about 15 minutes later.

Happy with the session yesterday, but it was a tough one and left me feeling pretty knocked out for most of the day.

Next race: Midlands Championships - 5000m. Next Saturday.

Going into a 6 week aerobic block to extend my fitness out to 5k now.

Goal Race: 1 mile in early August.

Next race: 2 mile on the track this Wed.

M - rest

T - 1 mi w/u; 8x400 @~3k, 800 hard with 400 jog all reps; .5 mi c/d. 70,75, 69,71,72,71,72,72, 2:18. Closed the 800 in 65.

W - 1.5; 1 mi w/u, 800m race 2:07.6

Th - Noon 3; PM 4 recovery

F - 6 easy + 8x80m strides

Sa - AM 4; PM 6.5 w/4mi. tempo on the towpath - 22:42

Su - 10.5 easy on Appalachian Trail (78:00)

Total - 41 miles

Wednesday's 800 was just an impulse as I happened to get off work early enough to run it. Splits: 65, 62. Ran it cautiously at about a 95% effort, but there was definitely lactic acid the last 200m. I'm pretty surprised where my speed is, though. Based on that run I could probably go 2:04-2:05 in a real race. Essentially my open PR...

Will come back and comment tomorrow. I meant to do it last week but had some crazy last minute stuff come up at work.

Sunday: 18.4k easy with a 5k tempo thrown into the middle – 17:57. This run presaged the weather we’d get all week: rain, wind, and thunder.

Monday: 14.5k easy (am), 18.5k easy (pm).

Tuesday: 16x400m on the trail with 400m recovery between reps, broken up into three sets with longer rests in-between because of irregularities in the trail. Aimed to do all reps in under 75 seconds. Came in at 72, 74, 72, 75, 74, 74, 75, 75, 75, 78, 76, 75, 75, 73, 75, 72. Less consistency than I’d like.

Ran into an old running advisor of mine for the last three reps – he was just cruising back home from his office, which made him a perfect pacing slingshot.

With warmup and cooldown, 18.5k

Wednesday: 14.5k easy (am), 18.5k easy (pm). There was a terrific thunderstorm in the middle of the afternoon. Last half of second run felt like a real grind.

Thursday: 5x1 mile repeats with 800m recovery jog between reps. Goal was exactly 5:13 for each rep. Went 5:12, 5:07, 5:15, 5:13, 5:13. More variation than I’d like, but I’m continuing to develop a feel for what 3:15 min/km feels like, which is goal race pace. Just like last week, this was still a tough workout, but it felt less difficult than previous – I remember distinctly the way my legs felt on the last 400 of my last rep two weeks ago, and I was suffering less this week. So either I’m making progress or I’m just getting used to feeling miserable.

With warmup and cooldown, 18.5k.

Friday: 25.7k easy. Had to do my long run after work because I was at a conference on Saturday. Went pretty well. Really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of “Bonfire of the Vanities” while running – Tom Wolfe can be very funny and evocative. Also ate large quantities of fish tacos and homemade ice cream sandwiches after.

Saturday: 17.6k easy. Did this one in my fivefingers – been feeling a bit of numbness under ball of right foot lately on longer runs and workouts. Running in the fivefingers, on grass where available, made my joints happy. I think I need to hit a pool sometime in the next few weeks for a recovery swim.

Total: 164.7km. Not thrilled with how this week’s workouts went, but not too disheartened either. I’m hoping my body gets used to these 100-mile weeks soon. Looking at my logs, I jumped 20km+ from two weeks ago to last week, which was probably ill-advised. I’ve got two more weeks to really get acclimated before I start key race prep workouts and greater doses of speed generally.

Next race is a 5k next Saturday. Under perfect conditions I’d like to do something below 16:30, but given that there’s fairly good odds at least half of the race will be on a gradual hill and the weather might be terrible, I’m just hoping for anything under 17 minutes.

pablo: Good luck next week! Your long run is a good tell, and it's nice to hear that you're coming out of your sickness.

numbers: Another solid race effort. I really admire your ability to hold back in a race – I often struggle not to try and chase down people ahead of me on recovery runs, never mind in a race.

Rushed: Dem repeats! Good luck in that 5k – I'm interested to see how it goes, since you seem around my speed, but your 5k goal is way more ambitious than mine.

RunRun123: Congrats on the win! Always nice to cross the line first.

dcrunner0910: Eeech, bummer about the migraines. Good to hear you're back in the saddle, and that you've got a while before your goal race. Your plan for boosting mileage intrigues me, as I usually try to follow the 10 per cent a week rule.

brumrunner: Solid times at that meet, and good luck next week! Do you have a goal time for this one?

Happy Father's Day, everybody. I'm off for beers and Star Trek watching with my dad, who really got me into running.

I have plans, to get a fatter bum. I know how much LRers love to chin in about my body like they have some say

what a week

Monday – 20 out 18:20 back and 1500m swim

Tuesday – off

Wednesday – off

Thursday – 20 out 17 back 1k swim

Friday – 10 out 930 back-- shake out run

Saturday – one of the most arduous and harrowing ordeals of my life 2:42 total time, ~40 minutes behind the leader (i took twice as long on the swim and 25 minutes longer than the leader on the bike and maybe like 2-3 minutes on the run) it was a bummer.

Sunday - off

A little bit of insight – my it band was acting up all week and so I decided to scale back the running a bit, plus I wanted to be fresh – Thursday’s run was actually harder than I intended (6:30’s out and then on the way back I worked down to 6 minute pace for a mile – 5 minute pace for ½ a mile and then ran a 65 second 400 on the trail I run on and it felt fine.

i was confident going into saturday's tri, even when the race officials announced that the course wasnt accurate. started towards the front on the swim, then got battered by other people as we swam around a lake. As i got out and looked at my time, i realized the pool i was swimming in was not as big as i thought, so all those swims aren't the right length. also, i was in 215th place or something.

as i got to the bike, i figured i would make up some ground, but i didnt really make up very much ground i passed maybe 15 or 20 people.

i almost quit after that because at that point i realized i wasn't racing and was just sort of doing it, and that was a bummer. it was also depressing seeing how many old people were ahead of me since everyone had their age written in sharpie on their right calf muscles.

after some cajoling from a friend who did the sprint tri, i set off for the run and passed between 80 and 100 people. I still only had the 4th or 5th fastest run, and was running 630's but stopping to get water and stuff.

i was so mad after the race i couldnt talk to my friends for like 20 minutes or so.

today i don't even feel that bad. i'm disappointed that this happened. i may hop in a 4 mile race on the fourth. but idk. pretty bummed.

chicago sub 230

others in the meantime

m: 10/4

t: 10

w: 12

t: 0 unplanned

f: 13 steady hilly

sa: 20 unbelievable hilly

sun: 0 semi unplanned

came back from a wedding last night...between 20, little food, and a lot of beer im not feeling a run today.

69 in 5 days...i prob needed a rest week

also, in hindsight it was a poor decision, but i stayed out til 330 with the people i was with and we got really drunk before the tri. so that probably has something to do with the poor performance

but it was still a bummer that i did so poorly on the swim/bike

Comments later and stuff.

Goal races: Mile, 3000, and 5000 at all-comers meets so I can get faster when I go back up to longer races

Goal times: 18:30 for the 5000, 10:50 for the 3K eventually (but probably sub-11 this week), sub-5:30 for the mile

Pretty good week, nothing too exciting though.

Monday: Corework in the AM. PM 8.6 miles at 7:45 pace. 7.8 with a group, the rest alone. Legs tired but felt very good otherwise. Caught myself going 7:00 pace for a little and had to back off on purpose. Arch was still annoying.

Tuesday: 6 at 7:58 pace. Tired and sore at first, but got into it by the end. Strides after.

Wednesday AM: Hilly 5 at 8:05 pace, nice easy morning jog. Calves and glutes sore.

Wednesday PM: Practice, 9 total with a 3.5 mile tempo at 6:22 pace (a bit fast, but felt good) then 12 minutes of jogging into 5 x 150m strides. Supposed to be 30-31 but everyone goes fast for these. I was lagging behind at 28-29, kind of awkwardly in between a stride and sprint, trying to stick to the workout without looking totally lazy. Pretty good workout overall. Strength after.

Thursday: AM 8.5 at 7:58 pace. My legs were killing me, but I felt good otherwise. Little bit of arch pain, iced, went to PT later in the day. PM corework.

Friday: 7.5 at 7:54 pace with a teammate. Definitely nice to have some company on a Friday morning run. Felt pretty good, foot a lot better after PT. Strides after.

Saturday: Practice, 9 total with a 3000 tune-up! 2 x 1500 with 2:30 rest. Ran 5:31 / 5:30, pretty even within those too. Felt strong at the end, but still very tired. I was a bit stale from the mileage though. Wore my trainers since they're easier on my foot. Not sure what to make of this. Box jumps at the end of practice and strength after.

Sunday: 16 at 7:49 pace, mostly with the group. Some hills, speed varied. Legs felt tired but otherwise I felt very good and very strong. No foot pain.

Total 71, decent week. Mostly I'm just happy that my foot is doing well. I've been doing all of the exercises my PT showed me, icing after my runs, and everything, and I think I've managed to fend it off before it turned into real plantar fasciitis. Going to continue with my exercises obviously even when it doesn't hurt.

The 3000 is on Wednesday. I'd wanted to run a 10:50 but I think after that workout 10:59 might be more reasonable for my first one. Who knows, though. My legs were really stale during that workout (felt like bricks, warm-up quarter was only an 88), but I'm only doing 7 and strides tomorrow and I'm taking Tuesday and Wednesday morning totally off, so I should feel nice and fresh. I think I'll try to go out at 88s and pick it up about a mile in if all goes well.

The good news is that I have at least two female teammates running the 3000 with me, and one of them I honestly think is capable of keeping up with me for shorter races even though she usually practices behind me, although I don't want to influence her race too much. But it should be nice not to be totally and completely alone or only racing guys, haha. Although my boyfriend is going to lap me :(

Goal Race – 10k end of June, hopefully sub 32 but place is the main objective

M – Botched workout (10.5) terrible rain

T – 8 easy

W – 1 Mile race (11)

T – Off (planned)

F – hilly 14

S – "Michigan" workout (12)

S – 16 @ 6:13 avg pace

Total Mileage – 71.5

Monday’s botched workout:

2.5 mile warm-up/3 mile cool down

3200 @ T with 400m active recovery – 10:34 (5:13, 5:21)

1600m @ T with 400m active recovery – 5:28

4 x 400m with 200m active recovery – 75, 72, 70, 67

It was pouring rain all day here in Jersey, and I tried to time the weather just right so I could get my workout in. I failed. By the time I finished my first tempo mile my trainers were completely waterlogged. After a crappy second and third mile tempo effort I just decided to call it quits on the threshold stuff. Afterwards, I ran some 400s out of frustration (which was a bad idea cause it was like running with ankle weights on and wasn't part of the day's plan). The original workout was supposed to be 4 x 3200m at threshold.

Wednesday’s Mile race:

3 mile warm-up/6 mile cool down

Mile race - 4:26.97 (splits: 65 (409m), 66, 68, 68)

10 minute standing rest

4 x 200m with 200m active recovery (spikes still on) - 29, 29, 29, 28

I'm happy with the race, as I decided to do it somewhat impulsively. It's nothing crazy, but it's probably the only mile I'll run all year. So a sub-4:30 effort is good for me. I was happy with the 200s afterwards. It's amazing how easy it is to break 30 even on tired legs when you're wearing spikes. I'm used to doing all my workouts in trainers.

Saturday’s "Michigan" workout:

3.5 mile warm-up/3 mile cool down

1600m hard / 1600m up-tempo recovery - 4:48 / 5:56

1200m hard / 1600m up-tempo recovery - 3:40 / 5:59

800m hard / 1600m up-tempo recovery - 2:22 / 5:59

400m hard - 63.5

Overall, I'm very happy with the workout. It's not the fastest I've ever run it, but it's up there. The 1200 was a little off target pace but everything else was pretty much on.

I'll post some comments tonight, flying back from a wedding in Cape Cod today.

After my x-ray Monday, I started to get some ART sessions on my shin but I still cant run without significant discomfort. I'm thinking of taking another down week and then getting after running one way or the other.

M: 4 on treadmill, 60 minutes aqua jogging

T: 8 miles

W: 65 minutes aqua jogging

T: 10k on treadmill

F: 30 min elliptical

S: 60 min elliptical

S: off/travel

Due to time constraints just my week for now... I'll check again later ;)

M - 12,5 easy

T - 10 x 800 with 600 jogg (2:21 avg.) (14,5)

W - 10,5 easy

T - 9,5 easy incl. 5 x 100 hill sprints (10)

F - 4 x 1,5 mile with 1 K jogg (7:20 avg.), 2 x 200 with 200 jogg (27,3 avg.) (15)

S - 10 VERY easy

S - AM 2,5 easy; PM 10 K race - 1st. in 29:36 Min. (PR) (12)

(total: 87 miles)

The 10 K was on a slighly rolling course and it was HOT. It should be a tempo run, but I went out way to fast, felt good and decided to go with it after a couple of minutes... After 5 K in 14:43 I knew it was a good day... So I am incredible happy about my performance. I won the race with a huge margin, so I guess I am on a good way, as I am convinced, I can run faster in lower temps with competition... YEAH!!! :-)

Nice Sunday @ all!

Week 6 of base

M: 8 miles (7:00)

T: 8 miles (7:45)

W: 6.5 miles (7:25) + 4 x striders (~80m) + 4 mile bike

T: 9.5 miles (6:45)

F: Rest

S: 8 miles (7:25) + 6 mile bike + pick-up game of soccer

S: 12.5 miles (6:45)

Total: 52.5

Had a bit of an injury scare with my hip in the beginning of the week, but I think I'll be fine.

The long run felt good. I was going about 6:30 pace for the first 6-8 miles, bonked by the end, but still felt pretty decent once I finished.

Side note: I learned on Saturday just how bad at soccer I am.

Looks like a good week for everyone!

My loving wife got me a pass for a Phillyl beer trolley tour today. I'll post tomorrow. Happy Father's Day all!

Page 1 comments:

2mile - love that cruise mile repeat session...wow, seven, very impressive!

Rushed - good luck in the 5K on Thursday!

RunRun123 - congrats on the win and the big improvement from a couple weeks ago...all that speed you are implementing is definitely paying off.

dcrunner - ugh on the migraines! Feel for you, man. Glad to hear you are past them and hopefully good as new for this week.

brum - two impressive sessions this week! Next Saturday's 5000m should be a real barn-burner!

Ghola - so you closed your 800m on Tuesday's workout and opened your 800m race on Wednesday both in 65? I think you definitely have more than 2:04 in you right now if you were to target a fast race and taper. If you stay healthy and keep the fast stuff going along, that mile race in August should be a monster!

Bonham - another big week with some good quality in there. Just curious, are you backing off the mileage at all before next week's 5k?

john berryman - bummer that you didn't get out of the tri what you were hoping. I have never done one and have no desire to because I almost assuredly would end up how you are feeling. Any plans for another one or are you back to exclusively training to run now?

themack - looks like you did the classic runners' "reverse carbo-load" - 20 miler followed by lots of beer. :)

xenonscreams - it's nice to see these great volume weeks with solid quality sessions becoming a routine for you. Good luck in the 3000m on Wednesday!

NJ Truth - again, wow. You never fail to impress me.

cmm268 - keep a positive mind, you are doing all the right things.

Pikachu - I knew two weeks ago that your fitness had you in solid sub-30 territory - I was just two weeks off on the performance! Very nice running, must have felt awesome.

Wasteland - looks like you had you own version of a triathlon on Saturday, with your soccer playing on par with john berryman's swim performance.

VF Runner - a truly Happy Father's Day! :)