Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 2/1

Goal Race: TBD Next Race: Surgoinsville 10 Miler (2/28)

Stats: 40/m, 6’2+, working on getting down to 162 (+5 right now)

M: off

T: 7 easy (7:55)

W: 7.1 easy (7:55)

T: 7.5 progression (8:35 down to 6:45, 5 min and increase 0.2 mph)

F: Off

S: 11.7 @ 7:57

S: 5.1 easy (8:26)

Total for week: ~ 38.4

I’m still fighting this heel/foot pain. Wasn’t as bad this week, I decided to stay on the treadmill Tuesday through Thursday. Yesterday the long run was outside and felt good. Feeling it this morning when I got up and after the easy run today. It’s getting a little better now. I don’t know the cause still, so I’m working on just stretching the foot and the calves right now and it is manageable, but not perfect.

My injury was a lot more persistent than I expected, but I think it's finally working out. So this week was a mix of biking and running, but it ended with a 20 minute tempo yesterday and a bike-run today with 7 miles of running, all pain-free (but with some weakness and instability) so I think I'll be able to start actually training soon. I lost some fitness and probably gained some weight, but it's nothing that I can't reverse pretty quickly. So I'm still in for Eugene, although I might have to keep the mileage lower than I'd originally planned.

Otherwise my life has been totally nuts, so I haven't been here much, and running has honestly not been my highest priority (which I guess is OK when I'm hurt):

* I'm going to be an aunt in August

* My mom had surgery this week

* I interviewed with a professor at MIT for a Ph.D program yesterday

* I got a promotion at work

So yeah, emotional overload I guess, but at least it's mostly positive (and the surgery went well). I'll be over at thegradcafe more than LetsRun though. Hope all of your training is going better than mine is.

Goal race: 1:19 half / May 16

WK 2/6 Base

M 70 8.48

T 70 9.5 Treadmill w/30 Min Tempo

W 70 8.3

T 70 8.1

F 70 8.1 10 x 15s Hill Sprints

S 70 8.9

S 95 12.7

T 8:35 64.1

Nothing special other than the fact that I'm running more miles. I'll keep a hill session and a easy tempo session for the remaining 4 base weeks.

Easy runs will be 70 min long and I'm adding 5 min every week for my long run.

Also, I'm trying to lose some pounds, hopefully once I'm hitting more consistent mileage the weight will go down, but for now I'm still around 160. It's tricky because ~65mpw has been my peak lifetime mileage and I want to fuel properly for my recover. Anyway, I'm happy to be back in serious training mode!

Hope everyone had a great week!

Hey at all,

already some nice work here - will comment later on... had a rough week weatherwise but the sessions were ok despite icy and snowy conditions :)

M- 9.3

T- 14.5 with 10 x 800 2:23 avg.

W- 13.2

T- 10.2 with drills and short hill sprints

F- 13.5 with 20 x 1' on/off (4:32-pace for the on segments)

S- 9.4

S- 13 with 6.2 mile tempo run (5:05)

total: 83 miles.

Down-ish mileage to recover. Next will my 12 week preperations start :)

Pikachu

Matthias - Nice pace on the Wednesday run. Good volume on the long run as well.

Distance Fan - Solid progression run!

Xenon - Good to hear that life is keeping you busy, I would prefer that over being bored all the time! Hope you bounce back from injury soon.

Slartzio - Smart to bump up the easy runs from 60 min, and to keep the hill+tempo work in there. Looks like you're covering all your bases.

Pikachu - Quicker paces this week, nice! What was the rest on the 10x800?

Here is my week:

M - 4/8

T - 12 x 35s Hills @ 3k feel

W - 10/5

R - 8 w/ 6 Hill Sprints / 4 with 90,60,30s pickups

F - AM: 6.2 shakeout. PM: 3k in 8:33.

S - 4/11

S - 8/4

Total: 100

Tuesday was just a tune up for the 3k I ran on Friday. Set a PR by a few seconds so I was pleased. This next week starts the buildup into the spring Half Marathon I'm targeting so I'm excited for that. I hope everyone has a great week!

S - 20 mile long run @ 6:10 (miles 9-15 at 5:35 pace "uptempo")

M - AM 4 miles @ 7:04; PM 7 miles @ 6:24, had to rush the PM run before night class.

T - AM 8 miles @ 6:53; PM 10 miles @ 7:01

W - 13 miles @ 6:46, 8 x hill repeats

T - AM 5 miles @ 7:10; PM 8 miles @ 6:41

F - AM 4 miles @ 7:24; PM 9 miles @ 6:44

S - AM 5 miles @ 6:54; PM 12.5 miles @ 6:22, fartlek with 3 sets of 3-2-1 minute hard with 90 seconds easy jog between reps and 3 min jog between sets.

Total - 105.5

This is the highest mileage week ever for me. Training is going very well. One more up week this coming week before dropping down for an easier week with a race planned. The fartlek on Saturday was tough. I'm trying to use fartlek to get some VO2 work in since I don't have access to an indoor track and I think it's gone successfully so far. I averaged 4:54, 4:44, 4:29 for each of the reps. The hills were tough on Wednesday with a head wind but I'm happy I got them in.

Great work to everyone who has posted so far!

Goal Race- Grandmas Half Marathon / June 20th

Mon- 3 miles at 6:55 pace.

Tue- 4 miles at 6:38 pace. Weights.

Wed- 5 miles at 6:39 pace. Strides.

Thur- 6 miles at 6:17 pace.

Fri- 7 miles at 6:34 pace. Weights.

Sat- 8 miles at 6:18 pace. Strides.

Sun- 8 miles. Fartlek 8 x 1 min on / 2 min off

Total- 41 miles.

After taking a week off after Houston I'm back to it. Just taking it super easy though as you can tell. The plan is grandmas half marathon in June. I have my goals in place but like in the past I don't like mentioning them until the race actually approaches. However, most can probably predict what I'll be trying to run. I'll be doing a few other races in the build up to work on speed but the main focus is the half marathon. Still can't believe I was only 12 seconds off of making my dream come true, lol, but it'll just make this next cycle more interesting. Hope everyone's week went well. I'll be commenting this week as I'm preparing for my super bowl party. Don't get too many times to actually indulge in food and beer lol. But for the mean time:

Forcerunner- Solid 3k. You keep killing it. I can't wait until your half. Really looking forward to what you can run. Any goals in mind?

Pikachu- Nice recovery week. Also looking forward to these next 12 weeks for you.

Alright week

M 8/4.5 with weights and circuits

T 1600,1200,800,600,400,300,200 recovery 3:30,3,2:00,1:45,1,1

4:46,3:34,2:20,1:45,70,51,33

W 4.5/8 with circuits

Th - 16x300 Average 50.3 60 seconds rest

F - 10

Sa -15

Su rest

This week was pretty good except for Tuesday; I felt quite sick and just not there. Rest of the week was pretty good, next week will be hard and then race the week after.

Matthias - Run's at a decent pace are always fun, solid week

Distance Fan - Progression looked good, and long run

Slartzio - Cool that you are right at you're lifetime peak, keep it up

Pikachu - A down week is still solid. Nice tempo.

Forecerunner - Nice 3k, way to go. Was it indoors?

thelogisticain - Looks like a good week. super solid fartlek

okay week here to,

Still taking it easy

M: 30'02" for 7.56 km (with heart rate monitor: 150 bpm)

T: 35'23" for 7.00 km

W: 30'06" for 7.12 km

T: 21'36" for 5.41 km

F: 24'50" for 5.44 km

S: 32'00" for 7.49 km

S: 34'40" for 8.00 km

3 h26" running 48 km +-

Modest week here. Week 1 of 12 leading into Boston.

M - 8 easy, plus strength/core

T - 9 general aerobic

W - 12 hilly with 6 tempo starting at 6:20 ending at 5:40

T - 8 easy, plus 8x10 sec hill sprints, 8x100m strides, strength/core

F - 6 general aerobic

S - 17 hilly with 8 MP (6:30-ish)

S - 10 easy

70 total. Felt pretty fatigued for Saturday's run. And it was fairly warm (65-70) and windy. The MP miles took more effort than usual. It probably won't help that part of my recovery last night included drinking a bottle of wine. It seemed like a great idea at the time though :)

4 weeks till track starts

M- 10 easy/moderate (6:31) last 3 miles in 18:06.

T- 3 easy. 5 tempo 28:38 (5:50, 5:44, 5:45, 5:37, 5:32). 2 easy +strides, 10.5 total.

W- 9 easy/moderate (6:36) + strength

T- 6 easy 

F- 9 easy/moderate (6:34) +strides

S- 3.5 easy. 12x400m hills (76,75,74,75,74,74,75,73,75,75,68) jog down recovery 1:45-1:50. 2 easy +strides. 11.5 total.

S- off

Total- 56 miles

Weather has been crazy this week. Till Wednesday the highs were in the 70s, then it dropped to 30s with rain and snow, and that's how it's been since. Tempo went really well, my fastest and longest to date, felt smooth. Saturday's hill repeats were done in a mix of snow and rain. Was originally going to alternate between 1600 and 3200 pace for the 400s, but it was pretty slick so I just stuck with 3200 goal pace. Goal was just trying to feel comfortable at 5 minute pace, and I think that was accomplished

some good weeks so far, will comment later. This week was OK, lower mileage due to the weather.

M: 12

Tu: Off, snow storm

W: 5 / 12

Th: 5 / 12 w/ 50 min of hill workout

F: 5

Sa: 10 w/ 4 mile tempo: 5:14, 5:06, 5:00, 4:57

Su: 9

Total: 70

Will try to go 100-105 next week then roughly a 2 week taper.

last 6 weeks: 77,81,81,81,83,81

decent week for me...lots of hills

M 8 easy

T 12 w/ 9mi hilly "tempo" plus 5x200m with 3x hurdles in 37s

W 4/8 double

Th 3/7 double

F 4/10 double w/ 12x 300m hill repeats hard

Sa 17.7 uphill trail run, 4000ft climbing. slow/easy

Su 3/4 double plus 3hrs of trail maintenance

total 81.1

lots of short doubles this week, which means lots of slow jogging

saturdays long run was epic, point-to-point. my knee hurt on a rocky section but got better

week was looking good until today, but 81 miles is still good.

hit 371 miles in january, a new monthly PR by 19mi. i've hit 350 and 352 before, both in september the last 2 years. previous januarys were 303 and 296 so this was a big improvement.

i have a 3k steeple this friday, that i'm unprepared for. i've done 2 steeple "workouts": 8x200 over 2 hurdles in 38s, and 5x200 over 3 hurdles in 37s. my workout on tuesday is a ladder on the track but i probably wont hurdle at all. goal for the 3k is to have fun and run faster than 10:15ish, although i'll be trying to break 10

Indoor Track Week 11/12

Next Race 1 mile or 3,000m next Saturday

M: 8 w/ 2.5 mi warmup, 3.5 mi fartlek of 200m uphill, 200m down. Avg 40.0 uphill, Last 4 38.2, 38.8, 38.3 & 36.2. Two mi cooldown. Strength after

T: 7

W: 6, planned 8 but R. calf sore

Th: 1/2 block then called it

F: 0

S: 3, felt pretty good

Su: 5, Think I'm fine

Total - 29

Planned on running a 3k this weekend but that didn't happen.

Serves me right for not taking a down week in 6 weeks.

Next week will be down for what will likely be my last indoor race.

Hopefully the calf behaves.

Good luck with that, buddy..

Boston buildup. Snowy icy cold northeast. I run my easy runs very easy.

M - Easy 9 miles (treadmill - 1% incline). 8:58 pace. 30 min stationary bike.

T - Tempo (treadmill - 1% incline). 1 warmup. 2.65 @ goal MP (6:40), 30 min tempo @ 6:18). 1/2 cooldown. 9 miles. 30 min stationary bike.

W - Medium long run 15 miles (treadmill - 1% incline). 8:48 pace.

T - off

F - Hill workout (treadmill). Tried outside but too icy. 1.5 Warmup. 7 x 1 min @ 10% incline 7:30 - 7:45 pace. 3 mile cooldown. 7 miles. 8:53 pace.

S - Goal MP run. 9 miles @ 6:40 pace @ 1% incline. 1/2 cooldown. 30 min stationary bike.

S - 20 miles & 6 x 20-25s strides. 7:56 pace (w/ lots of stops for crossing streets and icy paths).

Total: 69.5

Matthias - nice week, keep building gradually and smart and you'll be fine in 11 weeks!

Distance fan - be cautious to not mess up you foot... Otherwise keep building as your goal race approaches :)

Xenonscreams - nice to hear it's getting better. Just see the positives, so you have more focus for other stuff... It all will work out :)

Slartzio - nice week! With the fueling I wouldn't put too much thinking into that. 60 - 70 miles is already pretty good and as long as you eat healthy you will drop to a pretty much perfect weight just from training IMHO...

Forcerunner - yeah man, 100 again and a great 3k! I took 600 jog rest. I usually take longish rests on intervals because with all the mileage and tempos I'm doing I concentrate more on a good stride and fast, relaxed running, not too much on short rests. In terms of tempo runs I would love to be able to handle 5:05ish for my marathon. We'll see... :)

thelogistician - great week. And no shame in struggling on Sunday - those paces aren't a walk in the park...

RunnersFix - nice to have you back! Looks like things are already going well... I think I know what you want to run in the half ;) And I really believe you'll make it.

Oedipus Rexing - solid wouldn't be nice enough to say... Really good week! Especially your interval stuff seems pretty legit, keep it going... :)

KrikeK - almost doubled the mileage... Good work!

Hereford - don't sweat on the MP miles being a bit harder than usual. I really couldn't have run 8 miles at MP easily, too. Still lots of time and conditions right now suck in many places. Just gut it out - it will pay off!

JSrun - your hill reps are super fast... And nice overall week!

back into it - am a bit sorry for you with the weather - but who knows. Sometimes less is more (recovery is very important, so who knows...). The tempo looked pretty solid winding it down to sub 5 pace. The shape is there for sure! Couple easy days won't hurt.

reed - again, very solid. I like that you doubled that much!

pewow - all the best for your race!

turtoise - 6:18 tempo pace isn't exactly turtoise-like ;)

Goal Race - Boston

Goal - mid 2:40s

Week started off horrible as I was still dealing with a resurgence of IT band issues. Should not have done that trail run last Thursday. As the week progressed it slowly started getting better and finally, by Sunday it wasn't making a peep. Still decided to keep it a bit easier overall for this week.

M- .76 - IT was screaming so bad I just called it a day and walked

T - 6 easy

W - 6 easy

T - 3.5 easy AM, 5 easy PM

F - 8 easy

S - 10 aerobic (started feeling much better)

S - 13 mile progression starting at 90% HMP and finishing on 10k pace.

Total - 52

Sunday's run felt really good and I easily could have extended it out which provided a nice ray of light moving into the final 12 weeks. Now to just stay healthy so I can get some solid consistency of quality into every week.

Ok, lurked for many years, decide I will join in as one of the slowest runners that post in here. That's how it goes though.

I'm 41, want to "BQ" because that's probably about my limits. I started running at age 35, having never run previously. Age 38/39 was my best period, in which I ran 4 halves at or under 1:30 (1:26, 1:27, 1:28, and a 1:30 flat). I ran those off of 35 to 40 mpw.

I've never seriously run a marathon, just a couple with my wife and once to just say I did it. It was a disaster as it also corresponded to my worst period of training ever. (Like 15 miles for the entirety of July 2014, 50 miles for August).

The last 2 years have been dismal for me. Due to various things, I all but quit running and gained weight. My "best" race was only a 1:40 half last year. That's about my current fitness level now.

My goal to BQ is almost certainly out of scope for the first half of 2015, but I hope that in the fall I can do it. Probably at St George (yea, easy course), but main reason is because that's where my wife and I went for our honeymoon and our anniversary is same week as the race.

Kicking around the idea of doing Charlevoix Marathon in June as a "full out test." It's in Northern Michigan and the temperature should be amenable to a decent run.

My wife and I are registered for Gasparilla in February, and with that I'll just want some positive sign of life in my legs. (We are trying to run a race in all 50 states).

Tentative Mid Term Goal: Charlevoix, 3:25

Short Term Goal: Gasparilla Half: under 1:39

Long Term Goal: Some marathon under 3:10

Last week I ran 6 times for 35 miles. Average pace about 8:15/mi. Very cold and icy all week (Ohio).

35 miles is about the most I've run in a week since early 2013. I hit 35 or 36 a handful of times in 2014, only to follow it up with a 10 or 15 mile week.

So my main goal will be to be consistent between 30 and 40 miles per week to start. Won't do any specific workouts until Mid march probably.