Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 8/30

Goal: run consistent/healthy (6/week); ~35-45 mpw by winter

Goal Race: possible late-spring HM/10k; fall '16 marathon

after last week being filled with bad and stupid decisions made both by and for me, I at least tried to get back into the swing of things this week

M-off (planned)

Tue-3

Wed-off (planned (ish)meeting + stuck in traffic on the way home meant no time between getting home, dinner and bed)

Thurs- off (kind of similar--got stuck at school much later than normal)

Fri--4

Sat--5 (4 + 1 of diagonals at MP-ish)

Sun--6

Total: 18 (of planned 27)

The last two weeks have been trial and error, with much more of the latter than the former. Hopefully I've figured out what is leading to poor performances and can use that knowledge to my advantage.

If everything goes as planned I'll hit the 27 I planned for this week, which means I'm right on pace for the mpw goal.

Hope everyone had a good week!

Comments from last week, will post after I run here in a bit.

hantph96-Nice week. Great to see someone doing some multi-sport stuff here (is that the word?) Nice session after breakfast haha. I couldn't run at all 30 minutes after breakfast.

Stone Cutter- Getting some awesome long workouts!

back into it- Lots of people here are doing 5k repeats here. Doing a tempo after a fartlek sounds weird, how was it supposed to feel?

Niceguy- No big deal about missing a short easy run. Nice Tuesday session.

slo-twitch- again killing it with the alternating pace workout! And I just noticed you said you did that workout for 7.5 miles on the track. Hardcore, dude. So excited for you to run that marathon.

IllinoisRunner- I approve of the name change. Nice race, even while sick. The fact that you were 3rd while sick should give you a huge confidence boost.

Matthias- You probably won't read it until after you race but good luck on your 10k today.

stone cutter - The heat was pretty bad. I just had some water bottles out there and tried to drink during the recovery jog, was OK, but tough

Oklahoma Guy - The fartlek/tempo was meant to simulate bursts during a race (fartlek) followed by a sustained hard effort. The fartlek was mostly MP to 105% of MP.

This week was solid, not as many doubles as I would have liked due to work.

M: 9 / 6

Tu: 10X1200m w 1min rest followed by 15X200m. Goal was 103% (5:12 pace). Averaged 3:50 for the 1200's, ranging from 3:52 down to 3:46. Took a 7 min rest, then did the 200's, from 35 down to 33.

W: 12

Th: 12

Fr: 12 / 6

Su: 22 including 20 @ 93.5%. Ended up right at 95%. Ran 20 miles in 1:52:10 (5:36.5 pace). Thought about going 2 more and a long cool down to see if I could make it a 2:35 marathon, but I thought that the psychology gain would be heavily outweighed by the physical pain.

Su: 12 very easy

Total: 105

Before posting my week, I just wanted to throw out a little inspiration to everybody. The next 12 weeks are going to be the most challenging weeks of running of my life, including 15 of the most challenging workouts I have ever attempted.

I am not sure if anybody saw the Nike Commercial Thread this past week, but there are two that I felt appropriate to share:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnYcuRW_qo

Not one of us is ever to going to make an Olympic final or win a Diamond League Race. I am sure there are many people in each of our lives that wonder why we do what we do. They may think that we, like the young lad in this video, are simply ridiculous. But he, and we, strive to achieve a greatness that few will ever know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0jVOiR2mTo&list=PLmwxNTPs3Lf4GZ1nygMLyG5HF_QElgQrw&index=2

I find that the number one factor in holding runners back is fear. Fear can be a scary thing. Until one day you say eff this.

My Week

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, possible 5k on Labor Day

M - 5.2mi (8:02)

T - 6.9mi (8:37) // 4.1mi (8:08)

W - 11.1mi with hill workout*

Th - 8mi (8:06) // 3.2mi (7:46). Strides.

F - 13mi (7:42)

Sa - 4.8mi (7:48) // 4.5mi (7:39). Strides.

Su - 10.7mi including long interval workout (Canova Workout #1 of 15)**

Weekly Total: 71.5 miles

YTD Total: 2,141.5 miles

*The Stone Cutter special: 12 x .25mi hills with slow jog down recoveries. Run progressively faster. Last one all out. Splits: 90 89 84 83 82 82 82 81 79 80 80 72. So 82/avg. Recoveries were ~2:20 each. This one was all about turning my legs over, I never really seemed to be laboring with my breathing. Even the last one I recovered quickly. So good sign of strength for me.

**10 x 800m w/90 sec jogs. Goal: 110-12% MP (2:43-:47 per 800m). Actual splits: 2:44 45 44 44 43 45 44 43 43 41. Rattled off lots of 41 sec 200s. Great rhythm. Opened up slightly on the last one, but was still relaxed and not all-out (to simulate the finish of a 5k in case I jump in one next week). What makes this a Canova workout and not just your run of the mill Yasso 800s is the 90 sec jogs instead of equal time recovery. Keeps the workout a little more honest.

Hope everyone else had a great week. And don't be afraid to find your greatness. :)

Goal race - 3:10 marathon in mid September

Plan - Pfitzinger 18/70, this week was the first week of tapering

Sun - Rest

Mon - 7, w 8x100 strides

Tue - 12 easy

Wed - 5 easy with 6x100 strides

Thu - 5 easy

Fri - 9, w/6 mile TT at 6:40/mile pace

Sat - 16

Total - 54

The time trial on Friday went 6:45, 6:41, 6:40, 6:38, 6:35, 6:34, so I was pretty happy with that, and coming back for 16 the next day was not too bad. Every marathon time predictor out there is telling me 3:15, so I will probably need a great day to hit 3:10. Otherwise I will use Pfitzinger 12/70 and try again in late November. And thanks for the advice Stone, I will do my best to rest in these last few weeks.

Goal Race- San Jose RnR Half Marathon

4 weeks

Mon- 12 miles at 7:34. Weights.

Tue- 10 miles at 7:45 / 6 miles at 7:28. Strides.

Wed- 15 miles. 6 mile tempo at 5:06 avg. (5:13, 5:09, 5:09, 5:06, 5:03, 4:58).

Thur- 12 miles at 7:36 / 6 miles at 7:40. Weights.

Fri- 10 miles at 7:32 / 6 miles at 7:13. Strides.

Sat- 15 miles. 10x1k with 2 min active rest. 2:58 avg. (3:02, 2:58, 3:01, 2:58, 3:00, 2:57, 2:59, 2:56, 2:59, 2:52).

Sun- 12 miles at 7:30 / 6 miles at 7:25. Weights.

Total- 110 miles (*115mpw equivalent)

I just barely survived this week but it ended up very well. My hip started hurting pretty badly on Monday and I couldn't get my second run in. I actually attempted it but ended up having to walk home. Luckily it got better the next day and didn't hurt anymore of my training. For Wednesday's tempo I was able to run a few ticks faster than planned. Goal was 10 seconds slower than goal pace so 5:07 and I managed 5:06. It was about 78 degrees with high humidity like always lol. Then for Saturday's 1k session I was stuck having to do it in the middle of a storm. It was a pretty scary experimence, especially with the lightning but once I started I wasn't going to stop. It rained on my literally the entire time and soaked my shoes. Somehow I was still able to run the workout successfully. So, I'm 4 weeks out and feeling confident. I'll hit my peak mileage next week then will start to decrease it. Feeling ready to roll. Hope everyone's week went good.

Next Race 4 mile road race in November

Goal ~22 min

Mon 4 miles 8:41 pace with 2 sets of high knees, butt kicks and bounds and 4 strides

Tue 5.67 miles 8:11 pace with 2 sets of 10 jumps, 10 push-ups, 20 lunges, and 10 sit-ups

Wed 5.67 miles 8:04 pace with 2 sets of high knees, butt kicks and bounds and 4 strides

Thu 5.67 miles 8:12 pace with 2 sets of 10 jumps, 10 push-ups, 20 lunges, and 10 sit-ups

Fri 4 miles 8:25 pace with 2 sets of high knees, butt kicks and bounds and 4 strides

Sat ~2 mile WU 5k in 19:58 ~2 mile CD

Sun ~12.25 miles 1:39:21 7:58 pace on 8 measured miles

Even though I have felt fine, I took a precautionary easy week. When I ran in college I had over-training issues so I am playing it safe now. Saturday's 5k tempo went very well splits were:

97 98 97 98 - 6:31

98 97 96 97 - 6:29

95 94 96 91 - 6:18

39 - 5k in 19:58

I actually ran more evenly pace then it seems because the 1st two miles I had to pass an elderly couple each lap because they were taking up lanes 1+2. By the third mile they moved over, which was very nice of them. I am very excited my 1st tempo run went so well.

Sunday's long run was very nice. It was on a crushed gravel trail on the side of a mountain. It was on a two miles up, two miles down out and back course, but I ran a little past the turn arounds each time. Measured miles in order were 9:15 up, 8:50 up, 7:56 down, 7:18 down, 8:20 up, 7:39 up, 7:30 down, 6:57 down. Then there was this side trail that went straight up the mountain .75 miles with 560 ft elevation gain. I thought it would be a good idea to try it out, but some how I got lost on this smaller trail and ended up running further than I wanted.

Goals: Sub 17:30 5k XC, top 30 at state. Next race: 4k on Saturday

Sophomore, 15, male

M: 4.05 easy+4x100 strides/.80 mile w/u+ 1x800 at goal 5k pace (2:47)+3x.30 mile repeats surging around turns on very uneven grass/dirt surface, about 3 turns on it, with hill on the last one. Then .40 cooldown

T: 3.2 easy+4x100 strides/ 0.40 warmup +5x.29 mile repeats surging around turns on a different course, then 1xmile tempo+.40 mile cooldown. I'm super ticked off that we did the same workout two days in a row again. It just doesn't make sense and I don't understand why we do it on my team.

W: 3.9 easy+ what my coach calls a progressive quarter. Run a 400 and get faster every 100 until you are almost all out the last one. Ran it in 70/ .50 warmup + 800, 600, 400 all at tempo pace. I felt awful today and was ticked off because I don't think doing this little volume at tempo pace gains me any fitness but it also doesn't allow me to recover.

T: 3.5 easy/2 easy +4x100 strides

F: .85 easy+4x100 strides. This is what my team does before every race.

S: 1.5 warmup+ 2 mile race in 11:39.9. Good for 11th place and 3rd on my team. According to the Garmin the course was 80 meters long and I came through 2 miles in 11:26. My pacing could have been better, and I hit 5:40 with even splits the first mile but then slowed to 98-99s until the last quarter in 80. Then got 1.7 miles cooldown.

S: 80 minute long run at a pretty easy pace, 9.35 miles at 8:34 average.

Total: 41.4 miles.

This wasn't a good week training wise but I am pleased with my race. Thankfully, my coach is very open to letting me try different things in training. I sent him a sample week of what I want to try and he said he would be open to it with only making a "few small tweaks" as he said. I start that schedule tomorrow. If you are curious, the schedule I sent him has a tempo run on Tuesdays, Intervals or speedwork on Wednesdays, races on Saturdays (obviously would adjust schedule for races on other days of week), long runs on Sundays, and everything else easy. I may have to run alone for most of my easy runs but I'm okay with that. I just want to do what I think will give me success.

M - 8 / 4.5

T - 9 / 4

W - AM: 3 miles warm up. 10 x 3:30 on, 3:00 off. 11.5 miles fartlek in 65:00 so 5:46 average for it. PM: 4 miles.

R - 8 / 3

F - 8 / 4

S - 11.5 / 5

S - AM: 14.5 with 2x3mi MP (16:04, 16:11) 4 miles jog, 8 x 200 hill.

Total: 105

So so week. Great fartlek on Wednesday. Didn't feel beat up from Sunday's longer MP run. Saturday was another story. Wanted to get out at 9am but didn't get going until 5pm. Nutrition was all off and it made for a miserable attempt of a workout. Planned 4 x 3mi at MP but got through one rep and new it wasn't in the cards. Came back this AM with 2x3mi + some hills to get a bit of quality in. Not exactly what I was looking for but felt much much better this morning. I was actually slightly encouraged because it was my first failed workout of the block and I was able to bounce back the next day. I hope everyone has a great week!

Stonecutter- nice hill work and 800s session. I have a general aversion to all things Yasso 800, but I like your session with the shorter rest.

Niceguy- I'm not sure how you are getting 3:15 from the calculators- maybe using the time trials as race times? between you hitting all the marathon pace workouts and this week's time trial as well as the 9 or 10miler from a few weeks ago, I'd say you are in at least 3:10 shape (given solid pacing/fueling/good conditions). I think you could run a half at 6:40 pace.

Back into it- really great week. I always learn a lot from following your training. I want to do something similar with a big long run around 95%mp maybe 4 1/2 weeks out. Nice 1200s +200s workout too.

Runnersfix- I'm glad the hip situation doesn't seem to be lingering. Another excellent week of training

Oklahoma guy- nice 2 mile race. Your proposed training schedule sounds like a lot to me with tempo run & intervals on back to back days plus weekly race and long run.

Forcerunner- I like that mid-week fartlek workout. I think you made a good call last week not doing that long run alternating fast/slow miles in the heat. That one snuck up on me even in cool conditions

Hi guys! Hope you all had a great last week of August/summer (for most).

Goals:

Sub 27 cross country 8k

~4:20 mile indoor

Week ending in 8/29

Sunday: AM Tempo Fartlek. 6 mile continous with 400m @ 8k pace (80 sec) and then 1200m @ steady state (6:15).

PM 3.5 miles easy (7:30) + Swim 500 yards + Lifting

Monday: AM 3 miles easy (7:27)

PM 8 miles easy (7:08) + Sriders

Tuesday: 6X800m on grass. Average 2:25. 2X400m on track. Average 72. 2X200m fast. 25.5, 26.5

Wednesday: 9 miles easy (7:13) + Striders

Thursday: AM 3.5 miles easy (7:30)

PM 2X15min (1 min rest) @ Lactate Threshold. Average 5:42 pace

Friday: Am 3.7 miles easy (7:25)

PM 3.1 miles easy (7:40) + Striders

Saturday: Long run 14.6 miles. 1,300ft of elevation gain. (7:40 pace)

Week Mileage Total: 74 miles

I felt really good this week. The tempo fartlek wasn't great but it wasn't bad. Lots of volume. The 800's went amazingly well. Felt great, and i've never hit 800's that fast on the track let alone on wet grass. And the 200's after were painful, but I think my speed is staying with me very well. Thursday I ran with our top guy and told myself i'd back off if the tempo pace felt too fast for me. But for whatever reason I felt great. I was pushing our top runner who I never used to be near and I felt fine during and after the run. For the long run we drove out to the country/woods and ran two 7.3 mile loops there. The hills were ridiculous. Nothing we've ever been used to before. Straight up and then right back down, basically the whole time. The quads were pretty sore after that, to say the least.

my training....

goal sub 2:40 Chicago marathon (6 weeks)

m- AM*workout 4x2mile @hmp w/ 90 sec very slow jog recovery. splits: (5:43,5:43), (5:42,5:43), (5:46,5:43), (5:44,5:44), on a road loop (pretty flat), trainers, pretty warm out

PM-4.5

t- 10

w-8

th-*specific block: AM- 6 miles @94%mp (averaged 6:25), 3:00 rest, 6 miles @mp (5:58,6:03,5:59,6:05,6:03,5:58)

PM- repeat same workout, ran a little faster

Avg-6:21 for first 6 miles, then (6:01,6:03,5:52,5:59,6:00,5:51)

overall avg of 6:23 for slower miles (95%mp), 5:59 for faster miles (102%mp), 6:11 total average for the 24 miles. This was really hard workout, but Maybe I need a very slightly faster goal mp?(current goal 6:05-6:06). Ate very little between sessions, but took gels during the running

f- 5.5 crazy slow

s- 8.5

su- 8/4.5

Good Week,

M - 10 and drills, 8xstride

T - 11 and circuits

W - 9.5 and drills 10xstride

Tr - 11 and circuits

F - 9.5 and drills, 10xstride

Sa - 13.5

Su - 6.5 and light circuits

Total - 71 miles

A good-feeling week for me. Strides felt good and put the pop back into my legs I think. The gym I usually go to was closed so I did bodyweight exercises in addition to circuits. Next week I think I will add in a little speed and progress from there. Also hit a new "PR" for not checking my watch, which was the entire long run, before I had done about 12 w/o checking.

sdp - Good that you have figured out what is leading to poor performances, good luck going forward

back into it - Speed session looks reall nice with a lot of volume. MP run is killer as well, making it a marathon would've been pretty cool. Very nice week

The Stone Cutter - "The Stone Cutter Special", I like that. You were really flying on the last one. Canova workout is very good as well, 800 repeats are a favorite of mine. Best of luck in these coming weeks.

NiceGuy542007 - Good cutdown on the TT and long run the next day. I didnt realize how soon your race will be. Have fun with the taper.

RunnersFix - Exciting sounding week in good and bad ways. I don't think I would be able to run in a lightning storm, let alone do a workout. Very nice week.

Running again - Solid temp run and long run. I dig the supplementary stuff you've been doing as well.

Oklahoma Guy - Weird with the Monday and Tuesday workout, and I'd agree with you on the tempo stuff as well, but sometimes you just have to roll with it. Great though that your coach is open to your ideas. I don't mean to sound rude, but you should not run shorter race with a watch on, let alone with a Garmin. Nice race and great finish.

ForceRunner - very nice fartlek. Rough sounding Saturday, but you still got good quality in later. To answer your question from last week, I am mainly hitting 6:40 - 7:00 pace on my runs, maybe a little faster on weekends when I can run in the mid-morning, so nothing crazy, just relaxed.

Oedipus- I only use the watch too take splits after the race is over. Only looked at it once or twice during the race. I like to be able to analyze stuff afterwards.

Slo-twitch- it does sound like a lot on paper, but in the past I've been able to handle it with a lot of success. The long run is very easy and the tempo is pretty relaxed, never push that hard. With my coach writing the track workouts you never know. Sometimes he gives a cupcake and sometimes something ungodly. Worst I can remember from him is 3x500 at 800 pace with full recovery. In any case, I certainly think it's better than getting 3 or 4 harder days in a row like I did this week.

I've been sitting here thinking about what you said and it made me think that I should alternate the long run with a rest day. It had been something I thought about few weeks ago but discarded it.

For anyone who wasn't here last week, I changed my name from "incoming freshman" to "IllinoisRunner" so I could post on here as a junior or senior and not have people think I'm a freshman. This will be the only time I change my name and sorry for any confusion.

Next races: 2.05 mile on Wednesday and 3 mile on Saturday

Goals: Win fresh-soph race on Wednesday, be competitive in the freshman race on Saturday. I'm not setting any time goals yet since it's supposed to be in the 90s on those days.

M: 7.5

T: 6 x "The Bitch", a steep, 450m-long hill on grass with jog down recovery.

W: 6.5 including 6x100m strides

Th: 2 mile w/u, 10x30m sprints with 500-600m jog recovery, 5 mile "c/d"

F: 1 mile w/u, 8 x 1:20 hard on grass with 3:00 jog recovery, 1 mile c/d

Sat: 8

Sun: 0

Total: 43.5

Not a fun week for me. Still felt like crap up until Wednesday, and I got my butt kicked during the hill workout on Tuesday. Luckily, I started feeling better later in the week and was able to perform well in Friday's workout. Anyways, our first official XC meet of the season is on Wednesday and I am pumped.

Hope everybody had a great week.

same procedure... post my week now and will comment tomorrow!

Goal Race: 10K on September 6th (Current PR 32:16, hoping to go close!)

Mon: 3.1 miles (8:01); 4 miles (7:28)

Tue: 5.67 miles with One Mile Race in 4:44. This was an annual race our club holds every year. Its held on a makeshift track on an abandoned theme park car park. Came 2nd with winner running 4:38 and 3rd 5:13.

Wed: 3.1 miles (7:23); 4 miles (7:22)

Thu: 2.1 miles (8:03); 6.11 miles with 2 mile Relay Leg in 10:34. The course for this relay race was up and down all the way with a mix of road, trails and grass. I went out 2nd leg out of 3, 1st leg on our team came back 5th place so i had a bit of work to do, but managed to chase down all 4 runners ahead of me. My time was briefly the course record until our last runner (same guy who beat me in the mile) ran 10:20 to round up a massive victory for our team.

Fri: rest day

Sat: 4 miles (7:09)

Sun: 11.9 miles with 2K on/1K off for 12K. Paces for each segment (offs in brackets): 6:27 (3:50) 6:26 (3:48) 6:25 (3:49) 6:26 (3:53). Last big workout before the 10K, got to say it went pretty well. Hopefully i can feel that comfortable next week

Week Total: 43.98 miles

:)

Incoming Junior

Mon- 7 at 6:50

Tue- 4 at 6:44 // 5 at 6:46

Wed- 3 up, 8x 200 (29-33) w/400 jog +4x 50m sprint, 3 down (9 total)

Thur- 8 at 6:53 + weights

Fri- 7 at 6:39

Sat- 4 at 6:50 + 4 strides

Sun- 2 up, 2x mile at 5:15 (1:00 rest) + 4x 200w/200jog (34-36), 2 down

Total: 51 miles

My coach told me in the middle of the week that it would probably be best to run about 50 miles this week just to keep fresh. I definitely have a tendency to be very consistent and run a lot of volume, which is a good thing, but sometimes I can get a bit too greedy. It's nice having a coach that understands me well and knows when to hold me back.

The 200s went pretty well. Near the end of the summer I like to do a workout like this just to remind myself what running fast is like. I was aiming for around 34s (mile pace in the spring) but found myself running 31-32s fairly easily. I kept the rest around 7:00-7:20 pace, which felt like 8:00+ after running quick. The long rest kept me completely aerobic and made for a pretty easy workout.

I was going to do 4 of those tempo intervals on Sunday, but stomach problems resulted in me cutting it short. It was kind of frustrating, since the 5:15s felt super easy despite a heavy wind on the backstretch (I was aiming for 5:20s) After a bathroom break, I ran some 200s around 2 mile effort just to get something in. Oh well, life happens and all I can do is move on. I know I'm good shape. My season doesn't even start for 2 weeks, and we're not starting the real workouts until mid October, so I have to stay patient. I'm chomping at the bit to start racing though!

Goals: Sub 17 5k XC, team wins

This was a bit of a weird week for me, the full varsity is back now and everyone is a bit over eager to push the pace, so some workouts ended up being too fast. Overall a solid week though.

Monday: 1.25 w/u+8 miles in 52:54 (6:36/mi)+5x80m strides. Long run ended up faster then expected, Split: 6:47, 6:55, 13:20 for 2, 13:09 for 2, 6:24, 6:19. Felt very relaxed, didn't even feel the pace was hard.

Tuesday: 8.4 easy pace

Wednesday: AM: 1 w/u+5 miles in 31:59 (6:23/mi)+5x80m strides PM: 3.25 easy. Coach wanted us to do 5 at 6:30 pace, we got a bit excited and split: 6:35, 6:18, 6:12 (realized how fast we were going), 6:27, 6:27 PM: 3.25 easy

Thursday: AM: 1 w/u+2 mile tempo in 11:23 (5:41/mi)+5x0.2 hill sprints+2 c/d PM: 3.75 easy Felt relaxed on the tempo even in some heat, split 5:43, 5:40.

Friday: AM: 7 miles easy trails PM: 3.25 easy

Saturday: 1.25 w/u+1 mile "time trial" in 5:14+2 c/d. Another time trial to track progress for newcomers, ran it in trainers not all out, closed in a 75 feeling pretty good.

Sunday: AM: 7 easy PM: 3 easy

Total: 62.15

A lot of quality for one week, compensated a bit by running very easy on the PM runs and pretty easy on the easy days. Feeling pretty good going into the season (first meet is in 2 weeks).