Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 7/26

Hello all!

I forgot to post last week but my week was pretty uneventful: 24.41 miles with a really hilly 4.7 mile race in 26:30 + 3 days off nursing a sore calf. Managed to recover quite well from it

Don't think i've recorded a week like this for a while, had a corker!. starting to move onto more harder, race specific stuff now. Trying to peak for a 10K on the 6th September. Current PB is 32:16 and i would like to get close to take some time off of that.

Mon: 10.43 miles with 2 x 1:50, 4 x 75sec, 3 x 50sec, 6 x 30sec (equal rest). Did plan a session on the grass track but the field was being used so did something similar on roads. Found a few hills along the way which made some reps tough but managed to get through the session without no bother. Didn’t have a GPS watch to monitor my pace but everything felt pretty hard.

Tue: 4.48 miles (7:41)

Wed: 3.95 miles (7:19)

Thu: 8.67 miles with 5 x 1K + 4 x 200m on grass track. Recoveries were 2 minutes after the K’s and equal distance jog after the 200s. Target was to hit the K’s at slightly faster than current 5K race pace and the 200s at mile pace or faster. Splits were 3:13,3:09,3:08,3:09,3:09 + 34,34,34,33. 1st rep a little slower than planned but apart from that, everything went according to plan; 3.1 miles (8:12)

Fri: 3.1 miles (7:24); 4 miles (7:17)

Sat: 3.1 miles (7:18); 4 miles (7:11)

Sun: 12.4 miles (7:30)

Week Total: 57.23 miles

Happy training all :)

Current PB is 32:16 and i would like to get close to that or take a respectable chunk off.

corrected that haha

Goal: ~35-45 mpw by December/stay healthy consistent (6 days/week)/maybe spring HM/fall 2016 marathon

M: 3

Tu:4

Wed: Planned Rest

Thur: 4

Fri: 3

Sat: 5

Sun: 3

Total: 22

While not impressive or notable for this board, this is the first week that I really put thought into ahead of time; this really helped to put a focus and context to each run--I'm not just running for a number, I'm trying to recover, or I'm trying to push the distance, or I'm doing a long run that (given my progression) is a hard effort. I enjoyed it.

Next week will be interesting, since I'm back to school (I'm one of those awful, do-nothing teachers) so I have a decision to make: run at 0400 (which means wake up at 0315-ish, which, to be honest, is not really an issue) or wait till after school and run when it's in the mid/high 90's.

Hope everyone else had a great week

stone cutter - thanks, training has been going really well and feeling pretty good.

So this week was a rest week, but really M-F was a rest week as Saturday was a big workout (first long run workout). Next week will probably be some down mileage as I'm thinking of running a race, and then back into the 110 range. Legs are a bit sore so trying to take care of that. All of my runs M-F were easy (7:15-8:00 pace) except for the diagonals.

M: OFF (felt so nice)

Tu: 12 / 6

W: 12 including 20 min of diagonals / 3

Th: 10 / 7

Fr: 12 / 6

Sa: 20 miles, including 18 miles @ 95%. I took this a little faster than 95% (95% would be 5:38) as I'm not at altitude and I chose a very flat course (but Berlin is flat so maybe that's fair?), it was 80 degrees and humid though. Avg for 18 miles: 5:30 pace, splits below:

5:30, 5:30, 5:30, 5:31, 5:30, 5:31, 5:29, 5:33, 5:29, 5:29, 5:31, 5:30, 5:31, 5:32, 5:30, 5:33, 5:29, 5:20

Su: 12 very easy

Total: 100

Mileage was higher than expected but I was feeling pretty good this week. Need to be cautious though as I still have 8 weeks to the marathon and don't want to overdo it. Next very easy week is in 3 weeks, and that should be ~80 miles or so, so I'll see how this next block goes.

Stone- Yeah, those mile repeats went pretty well. Not my fastest but close enough. 3 second avg difference. But I hope things are going well for you training wise. You deserve to crush your PR's. I was wanting to ask, how is the weather in Philly during late October? Is it better than September? Just asking for my buddy racing the RnR half. There's also a very slim chance I'll run it.

Mathias- That 4.7 mile race looks good. Sucks that you had to nurse an injury but you ran good. I think dipping under 32 is likely. It's only a few seconds a mile difference. If you think about it like that then it's very possible. Looks like you had a good week. Things are looking good for a PR!

Back into it- Geez...what a long run! That puts you in a great position for this cycle. I honestly couldn't do a long run fast in training if I tried. With all the mileage and tough workouts it makes everything much harder. I would be extremely happy with that. Let's hope it felt good and doesn't take much out of you. What race distance do you plan on racing here shortly? I'm really looking forward to Berlin though.

Goal: Stay healthy

Stats: 37, male, 5ft 11in, 168 lbs.

Goal Race: Philly Marathon (11/22)

Goal Time: sub-2:43 (6:13/mi pace)

Next Race: TBD

M - 10.1mi (7:54)

T - 5.3 mi (7:57)

W - 10.7 mi including hill workout*

Th - 4.1 mi (8:50) // 4.1 mi (8:03)

F - 10.1 mi (8:05)

Sa - 17 mi hilly including workout**

Su - 10.1 mi (8:57). Ran with the woman I coach.

Weekly Total: 71.5 miles

YTD Total: 1,772 miles

*12x .25mi hill with jog down recoveries. Averaged :83 up/2:04 down. 6:53/mi average for the 6+ miles.

**Targeted 4mi/3mi/2mi/1mi at moderate effort (85-90% MP pace: 6:50-7:09/mi) with 1mi easy in between. Actual Splits: 7:04/00/02/6:55, 7:38, 6:54/58/56, 7:41, 6:55/54, 7:42, 6:49. Averaged 7:05/mi for the 13mi of quality, 7:19/mi overall for the run.

Good week for me. Hill workout was strong on Wednesday, long run on Saturday felt even stronger. I modeled the workout after a Canova MP pace workout (6k/5k/4k/3k at MP with 1k moderate recoveries) but adjusted it to my current fitness since I am still in what Canova would call the "Global Period" (pre-"Specific" training). I might try the real workout in another 10-12 weeks. Still 17 weeks to go until Philly, so keeping it conservative.

Hope everyone else had a great week.

RunnersFix - Thanks, I was very happy with the long run. I did wear flats to make this feel a little bit like a race (and I knew I would need to feel good to get through this) - normally don't try for long runs this hard, but trying to follow the canova training and so far the workouts have all felt controlled and within my capabilities. Surprisingly I felt pretty good though, didn't start feeling too difficult until ~15 miles in, although did take a while of me laying on the floor of my house to feel better. The race I might do is a 5 miler, which I don't expect to be able to really crush (all my hard running has been 5:15-5:40 pace so not sure what 5:00 will feel like), but it'll be fun.

RunnersFix wrote:

I was wanting to ask, how is the weather in Philly during late October? Is it better than September? Just asking for my buddy racing the RnR half. There's also a very slim chance I'll run it.

The weather that time of year is usually perfect temp wise. Highs usually around low-to-mid 50s, which puts a morning race around 40-45F. My kind of racing weather. :)

The only thing sometimes hit or miss that time of year is wind/rain. Think NYC marathon a couple years ago when it was super windy. But more days than not, I would think you would be golden. Certainly worth the risk of registering if your friend is chasing a fast time.

Goal Race- San Jose RnR

Date- 9/27

Mon- 10 miles at 7:25 / 4 miles at 7:28. Strides.

Tue- 12 miles. 2x3miles with 5 min active rest. Bombed this workout. 15:21 (5:08, 5:06, 5:06) and 16:58 (5:45, 5:42, 5:31).

Not sure why it cut my post off but here it is again.

Goal Race- San Jose RnR

Date- 9/27

Mon- 10 miles at 7:25 / 4 miles at 7:28. Strides.

Tue- 12 miles. 2x3miles with 5 min active rest. Bombed this workout. 15:21 (5:08, 5:06, 5:06) and 16:58 (5:45, 5:42, 5:31).

Goal Race- San Jose RnR

Date- 9/27

Mon- 10 miles at 7:25 / 4 miles at 7:28. Strides.

Tue- 12 miles. 2x3miles with 5 min active rest. Bombed this workout. 15:21 (5:08, 5:06, 5:06) and 16:58 (5:45, 5:42, 5:31).

I guess I'm not allowed to post lol. I tried 3 times and it'll cut my post at the same spot. Am I doing something wrong?

RunnersFix wrote:

I guess I'm not allowed to post lol. I tried 3 times and it'll cut my post at the same spot. Am I doing something wrong?

Are you trying to use the "less than" or "greater than" sign? For some reason the posts usually cut off the moment you insert either of those symbols.

back into it--first off, fantastic week. your diagonals workout brought up something I've been wondering as I try to think of workouts I'd like to eventually incorporate.

When figuring out the mileage, that diagonals, is it as simple as just time divided by the pace you're shooting for, or do you use a GPS watch?

sdp - I just mostly ballpark the figure for the diagonals. Since it was only 20 mins, I just added it to the rest of my run and said 80 mins = 12 miles. If I were doing more I might count how many loops I do and guess a little over 300 meters per loop.

Stone cutter- Thanks. Looking forward to following your build up to Philadelphia. Looks like this was a really good week. I am thinking of trying the 4/3/2/1 workout or the Canova 6/5etc workout at some point

Sdp- glad you are training healthy and smart

Back into it- all I can say is that 18 miles at 97-98% mp is boss! It sounds like you are in great shape and training well.

Matthias- the race sounds solid also the 5x1k +200s workout

I got a late start today and am just heading out for a run...will come back later & post training for the week

the counting loops suggestion is perfect. can't believe i didn't think of that (well, I can; if I had thought of it I wouldn't have asked).

cheers