Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 11/29

Stone- Nice write up. I think you did the smart thing by not looking at your watch during the race. The conditions weren't perfect so anything couldve happened. Because of this decision you still ran a great race and got that sub 2:50. However, it is sad to hear you won't be around but given your situation it is completely understandable. I hope things work out for you and we hear from you sooner than expected. Good luck with everything.

Goal Race: CIM (1 week)

Goal: sub 2:18:00

Mon- 20 mile easy long run at 6:35 avg. No progression.

Tue- 10 miles at 7:09 / 4 miles at 7:05.

Wed- 12 miles at 7:04. Strides.

Thur- 14 miles. 8 mile tempo at 5:15 avg. 5:18>5:12. 80 degrees.

Fri- 8 miles at 7:01 / 4 miles at 7:01.

Sat- 12 miles at 7:00. Strides.

Sun- 11 miles. Fartlek with 2 min on / 2 min off x 8. Just went by feel. 6:45 avg overall.

Total- 96 miles

Well, this is it. Race is one week from today. Nothing else left to do really but race. This next week will all be about recovery. I won't push anything. As of now the weather is looking good. Predicted low of 39 and high of 57. Couldn't ask for much better. I have no excuse. The plan is to run a slight negative split. Nothing crazy. When I ran Houston I was 1:09:36/1:08:36. The goal this time will be 1:09:10-1:09:20 then drop it the last half. The course has most of its hills early then has a steady/slight downhill the last half. I have a feeling it's suited perfectly for me as all my workouts are run on a .91 loop that goes up and down the whole time. There's supposed to be a group going out on pace as well but I've had bad luck in the past with it so I'm just going to do my own thing and just use the group as an indicator of where I'm at in the race. I feel confident and ready to go. Wish me luck but hopefully I don't need it lol. Hope everyone's training went good this week.

Stone- nice recap and good race. thanks for everything with this thread- hope you are back soon.

Runnersfix- almost game time and you are definitely ready to deal. Sounds like you've picked a great course to throw down and have a solid pacing strategy. I look forward to hearing about the race- You are gonna destroy.

I didn't run at all this week. Legs feel fine now- this week they were really not as beat up as I thought they'd be after the race. But I told myself I'd take at least a week with no running.

Will add some more comments after others post training later

Stone- We will miss you. I hope all is well for you and your family, and that you will rejoin us again sometime soon.

Male, 16, sophomore, PRs of 2:16, 5:04, 10:59, 17:28.

Goals: Build solid base for track, improve speed

Next race: Road 8k on Dec 20th

M: 4.5 very easy

T: 2 warmup, 10x150m hill sprints with full recovery, 3.1 cooldown. Then leg day at the weight room.

W: 6.3 easy

T: 2.1 warmup, 2x1.5 mile reps on the track at tempo pace, 90 seconds rest. Hit 10 minutes on both, and felt really relaxed. 2 cooldown.

F: 6.5 easy

S: Couldn't run because the roads were iced over and parents wouldn't take me to the gym (can't drive yet) to run on a treadmill. Not a big deal, but it's frustrating.

S: Hopefully going to do a 90 minute long run soon, most likely on a treadmill. I've got some podcasts to listen to so I'll be okay. Might watch Rocky :)

I'll post the results of my long run and more comments later. Any of you got any general tips for an 8k? I've never run one before and I want to have a general outline for how the pace should feel. I'm not gonna do any specific workouts for it, but I feel I should race okay off of just base mileage.

Stone Cutter - nice short report and a brave decision to go by feel. Enjoy your well earned rest. Good luck going forward with everything, you will be missed on the forum, but some (many!) things are more important than the Letsrun forum!

Runnersfix - even though you don't need it, I wish you luck, it sounds like you know what you are doing though.

Goal: win a local 10k race in 2 weeks time or at least beat last years winning time (37:21)

So to my week. I changed mt VDOT paces up from 55 to 57 after last weeks race.

Monday - 14km E run 4:53

Tuesday - 4x 1200m I (Pace should have been 4:15/1200m but I actually did 4:09 4:10 4:16 4:17 the last 2 were hard) 12.5km total

Wednesday- 12.9 E run 4:48/km

Thursday - 15.1km E run with strides 4:45/km

Friday - 1600m 3200m 1600m T (6:08 12:12 5:55 poor pacing again, but the lights weren't on at the track so couldn't see my watch - 1600m should've be in 6:09) then 4x200m R ( 37, 36 36 32) 14.1km total

Saturday 11.7km recovery run 5:30/km with girlfriend

Sunday 24.7km L run 4:52/km

Total 105.1km

Hope everyone else had a good week!

Stone - Thanks for the writeup and everything you've done with the thread over the past while. I know there are even greater things ahead for you. Heck, I remember when you were just a "Numbers Guy" ;). Keep us updated.

RunnersFix - Monday is in the bank! Best of luck.

Slotwitch - I'm looking forward to seeing you get back at it.

Oklahoma Guy - Good week all around. Hope the LR went well!

NUFCrichard - Nice work on the 4x12! Hopefully the effort felt the same and the time dropped a bit.

My week:

M - 7.75 / 4.5

T - AM: 3 x 2 miles 10:10, 10:10, 10:00. PM: 30 minutes.

W - 8.5 / 4

R - AM: Turkey Trot 5 miler in 24:49. PM: 30 minutes

F - AM: 15 x 1:00 / 1:00 PM: 30 minutes.

S - 8 / 3

S - 19.5 in 2:02:30

Total: 103ish

A bit more quality this week that usual. Locked into a good rhythm on the 3x2 then came back with a good Turkey Trot race on Thursday. Had fun and finished second overall in a new road PR. A fartlek on Friday and a solid LR this morning to cap out the week. I hope everyone (in the US at least) had a good holiday and hope you have a great week!

Stone Cutter- You'll certainly be missed by all on this thread, but hope you have fun with running and life. Hope to see you back running this thread in a while.

6K XC PR: 20:27 (16:55-17:00 5K based off of conversion calculators)

Next Race: 8K New Year’s Day

Goal Race: February Half?? Or Track season (mile/2 mile)

Sunday: Off-rest day

Monday: Off-rest day

Tuesday: 3 miles easy (7:22), 6 strides

Wednesday: 3 miles easy, drills

Thursday: 3 miles easy- 1.5 out very easy, picked up on way back, strides

Friday: 3 miles easy/moderate (6:50)-felt pretty good, played with pace a little bit

Saturday: 6 mile easy “long run” (7:17), strides

Finished up my 8 day break after a grueling but successful XC season on Tuesday. Obviously, the runs are very short, but with no indoor there’s no need to rush. Very uneventful week, I feel pretty good so far. This next week will be low mileage again as I have a big non-running event Friday-Sunday.

I also did circuit training all 7 days this week, as I really want to make the supplemental training a priority. I did a fair bit during the summer, but very little (1-2 times a week) during XC. The drills were difficult as I’m not used to that kind of thing, and will take a while to get used to.

Hope all your weeks went well.

My week went pretty well.

Commenst will follow... Especially for Stoner Cutter! You are an inspiring person and I will miss you here - but absolutely understand your reasoning :) All the best from me!

Monday: 9.4 miles (6:22).

Tuesday: 9 miles (6:25) with 10 x 1' on/1:30 off (4:44 pace for the fast bouts and 5:58 for the 25 minutes). Felt good and relaxed for most of the run but it was pretty uncool to run that fast in the darkness. Ran on a lighted street and yeah man... Traffic. Not smart. Need a light for my head.

Wednesday: 15.5 miles (6:49). Started at super chill mode and rolled a bit in the last 3 miles (about low 6s). Nice.

Thursday: 6.3 miles (6:28). / 10 miles incl. strides (6:18).

Friday: 11.2 miles with 10 x 500 in 1:32.4 avg. (500j, 10k total: 6:02 miling). / 30' stationary bike.

Saturday: 12.5 miles (6:22).

Sunday: 19 miles (6:18).

93 miles total. This week was about getting in more base mileage, working on my mechnics and introducing some faster stuff at sub 5 minute pace. Nothing crazy. But pretty solid. Coming around!

Pikachu

Unfortunately just a quick drive by post from me this week. Getting to that end of semester time

Goal: 1:59.69 800m

M: 8 w/ 2x2 mi tempo @ 6:15, didn't feel great

T: off

W: 5 w/ 6x10 sec hill sprints

Th: 7 w/ 5k road race in 17:10

F: 8

S: off

Su: if I have time

Total - 28-36

Race Report

Temp was ~30 degF. overcast but no precip during my warmup so I decided just to race in shorts, singlet and gloves. Came outside for the race and pouring rain/sleet. Not very windy though, but I wasn't dressed anywhere near warm enough.

1st 400 gradual downhill out of a parking lot, then flat. Went through the mile in 5:18 if the guy I was running next to's garmin was correct. 2nd mile was also flat but that guy started to gap me by 20 meters. 3rd mile started flat, with 800 to go had run maybe 200m across a muddy field on like a snowmobile trail. Last 400 was gradual uphill back across the parking lot. Kicked hard and felt like I had something left in the tank but when the guy ahead of me heard me coming in the last 100m he just picked it up to beat me by 1 sec. 17:10 and 4th place overall.

Very happy with running 17:10 as I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have run sub 6 pace during the last 7-8 months.

Jumping in after catching the last few weeks of people building up for Philly. I wasn't a contributor to this thread prior to the race but ended up just north of 2:40.30. I had been hoping for something closer to 2:38 but the wind, etc got the best of me. Fortunately it was a slight negative split and my last 10k was probably my strongest of the race so I left feeling pretty good about things overall. Anyway last week looked like this:

M: 0

T: 0

W: 0

Th: 0

F: 0 (light hiking)

Sa: 0

S: 8!

Pretty standard week off. Quads were wrecked early this week but most of the soreness was gone by Turkey Day. Had some aches and pains on this morning's run but hopefully I'm ready to ease back into things. Not running on Thanksgiving felt sacrilegious but that's the way things fell this year. Next on the radar is Boston 2016. Would love to get back down into PR Range (sub 2:37) but am definitely gunning for a sub 2:40 at my second Boston (ran 2014 in 2:41.20ish). It's an arbitrary time goal but for some reason it just has a nicer ring to it when the 2 is followed by a 3. Hoping I canbe a regular contributor between now and April!

Stone- Nice, brief race report and I hope you have a good break.

Next race: Half Marathon time trial sometime late-December or early-January

Goal: 1:22

Indoor track goals: 2:15, 4:55, 10:40

Outdoor track goals: 2:12, 4:50, 10:25

M: AM- 2 in PE

PM- 6

T: off

W: 7

Th: 5k trail race in 21:08* + 2 w/u

F: 8

Sat: 6 mile tempo near HM goal pace in 37:40 (6:16) + 1.6 w/u and c/d. Felt ridiculously comfortable in comparison to the 4 mile tempos at sub-6 pace we did during XC.

Sun: 0- Feel like garbage and decided it would be better to rest today

Total: 37

5k trail race*- 18 inches of melted snow over the past week and rain made for an extremely muddy course. Stupidly decided to wear my racing flats and lost a lot of time on the trails. Gained a lot of ground during the last mile, which was on a field with a lot more traction. Still a fun race, though.

Hoping to get some good, higher mileage weeks in before indoor track.

Hope everybody had a great week.

well I've missed a few weeks, nothing eventful (~100 miles last week with a long fartlek).

StoneCutter - Sorry to see that you'll be gone for a while, but great race in Philly, huge PR.

Slo-twitch - Congrats to you as well, solid race, glad to see you and stonecutter had good days.

Runnersfix - looks like you are ready, looking forward to your results.

My week went well, raced a turkey trot, for a much needed race (can't recreate the mental aspect of racing).

M: 8

Tu: 5 / 12

W: 5 / 12

Th: 12 including 5 mile race in 25:13. Race report at bottom of this message.

Fr: 12 / 5

Sa: 12

Su: 17 including middle 13 @ 5:30 pace. Felt OK during this run, goal was 5:35, and hit everything between 5:27 and 5:33, thought about going 15 but it was getting pretty windy so it was hard to keep going.

Total: 100

The race went well, but it reminded me of how rusty I am in actually racing. I have spent the last few years either being in a race where there are some solid runners so I'm not really near the front, or trying to hit a time, so doing more of a time trial. This clearly showed on Thursday, we hit the 2 mi in 10:15 and I took over at that point (since I have no speed and can't go much faster than 5:00 right now) last 3 miles were 5:00, 4:58, 5:00 but I found myself around 4.5 miles in a small group at the front of the race and almost didn't know what to do. Didn't make a move even though I felt OK and ended up getting beat, I finished and felt fine, didn't even kick it in. Good reminder that I need to race every so often.

Some more comments/

Forcerunner- really great well rounded week. Nice run in that 5 miler. I'm impressed with how quickly you can recover between faster efforts. you are very fit right now- will look forward to seeing you hammer out a few more prs in the coming months

Oklahoma guy- I love 8k, but Im by no means a specialist. Assuming you have a good general sense of your fitness/goal time, Maybe just try to run goal pace (or maybe start a few clicks slower) and stay relaxed for the first 3 miles and then start picking it up from there if possible.

NUFC- nice volume in singles and good interval sessions mixed in. You mentioned the upcoming 10k course as hilly, but I think you can go under 37 (unless it's some kind of crazy hill situation)

Muscle Beach- great run last weekend. you must have passed me somewhere in the last 10k. Looking forward to following your upcoming training as I'm aiming for similar goal time in Boston.

Pikachu- very solid week. Great 500s session- You were hammering! I may have to steal that workout. Nice long run, medium long run and fartlek session as well.

pewow- nice 5k sir/ Sounds like you ran it really strong.

back into it- glad that training is going well and that you are healthy and busting out monster long runs like today. I'd imagine running that workout so well has to give you a lot of confidence. The Turkey Trot sounds like a good race too

Stone congrats on your decision and on a great race. Those winds at Philly were intense. That being said, you ran a strong race and who knows, maybe the training bug will start biting again this summer, but whether it does or does not, you will have spent more time with your family in the interim, a great thing. Thanks for all of your contribution to this thread, the best one on the entire website. It has helped my marathon PR go from 3:35 to 3:09 over the course of 9 months of planning, injury, training, racing, and great advice from this thread. Miles of trials, the trial of miles.

Last week

Sun - Marathon PR at 3:09, splits were 1:35/1:34, goal was 3:07, it was windy

Mon - off

Tue - off

Wed - off

Thu - off

Fri - 3 easy

Sat - off

Major life event happening in January so Philly was my last real shot at 3:07 until next fall. May either try again at a local marathon next week, or just hold on to this fitness level until jumping into another race build up starting in the summer.

Good weeks out there, and good luck to all!

Sad to report long run was a failure. Went to the YMCA and hopped on the treadmill and was fine for a while. Then I had the worst stomach ache I've ever had and had to get off and stop every 1.5-2 miles and wait for it to subside. Still got 81 minutes, 9.8 miles. It happens, so I'm not too bothered. About 41 miles this week, but I'll be looking to hit 50s until track season begins hopefully! Well except a down week or two.

RunnersFix- Hope the taper week goes well! You should race great! I take it the goal is OTQ?

NUFCRichard- The pacing doesn't seem bad at all on those tempos. Solid week all around really. Looking good for the 10k!

Forcerunner- Lots of quality! Most impressive is the race-fartlek combo. As I recall, you were wanting to get in more long runs in the 2 hour+ range so nice job there too!

Pikachu- Even though it's not safe I love running fast in the dark. I feel really fast when I do. Why 500s? Only time you really hear about people doing 500s is training for 400 or 800. It just seems harder to pace a 500.

pewow-Good luck with school stuff. Still put together a good week!

IllinoisRunner- Very nice long tempo very early in training! This should be a great training block from you.

back into it- Agree with you all the way on the mentality of racing. It's so hard to run with the sort of attitude needed to beat people when you haven't done it for a long time. The word that comes to mind is ruthless. I've found early on in the season I generally don't have the balls to go after people with tactics, but by the end I'll try anything.

Personally, I'm thinking about starting up a season of 2-3 long road races. I'd start with the 8k, and then hopefully find some 10ks or even a 12k. I'm mostly likely not having an indoor season at all, so this would be something to keep me busy, and I feel like it'd help build a base. I'm curious to see how I handle them, as I've always considered myself a true distance guy. Best at 2 mile and up, but competent enough in a mile. I'll just have to see.

Howdy everyone

Upcoming race: December 12th Jingle bell 5k

11/24/2015 - 11/29/2015

Base Week 3

Monday

PM 5 easy

Tuesday

AM 6 easy + 8x strides

Wednesday

AM 2 up + drills 3x1600m @tempo 1.3 cd

Thursday

AM 6.1 easy + 8x hill sprints

Friday

AM 6.4 unexpected progression

Saturday

AM 11 long run with hill surges last 3 miles

Sunday

PM 3.9 easy

total: 45.5 6h 03m

Little bit of a down week for the holiday. Hopping to get to mid 50’s next week.

I'm very enthused that we have so many strong runners posting in this thread. That includes both those who run fast and those who run consistently and with great attitudes, even if somewhat less fast. I'm always motivated by you guys - and nobody more so than Stone Cutter. For the past two years, he and I have chased, more or less, the same marathon goals. We have had the same PRs, within a matter of seconds across all distances. Both of us are at (or near) middle age and have families and demanding work schedules. We've had eerily similar setbacks and comebacks in the past two years. He has been so inspirational to me personally, and in general I just appreciate all of his effort to keep the flame burning with this thread and to have so many good words to say for others. Stone - we will miss you here, but your decision to step back just reinforces why you're such a good dude in the first place. Good for you! Still, I do hope that you drop in periodically - or at least lurk.

Here's my week:

M - 9m easy

T - 8m easy

W - 10m with 8x400m @ 1:20 and 2x800 @ 2:45

T - 9m easy

F - 9m easy

S - 15m, hilly at 8:00

S - 10m plus 10x100m strides

70m total. Light stretching, foam rolling and strength/core after each run.

Looks like a lot of other great weeks of training among you guys. Hope you all had a nice Thanskgiving weekend.

Male, 18, college freshman, PRs of 53.0, 2:02.3, 4:34, 9:54. 17:08

Goals: Gain Fitness again

Next race: Mile? (January)

Brief Backstory: Was a pretty decent runner in high school but just took a huge break this summer and fall to adjust to college (Cornell) but I have now decided to start up running again. I have not ran (aside from maybe 1-2 20 min jogs) since June 12th, my last race of HS besides the times below. I also ran a 5k today at close to all out to see how much fitness I have really lost. My goal is to get to a comfortable fitness where I can challenge myself and stay healthy even if i don't run some of the faster times I did in HS. My immediate training plan I think is to take two weeks just to run light starting every other day or so working my way back to training 6 days a week and I plan on adding light workouts in week 3-4. Feel free to comment on how I should get back and what I should be doing for training.

Training so far:

11/19 22 min easy

11/22 50 min moderate

11/24 24 min easy,

11/26 30 min moderate

11/27 34 min 720 (real training) pace,

11/29 Rob's Run 5k. 8 min warmup, leg swings 5k 19:54.

I was going about 85% the whole race, I say i could run 30 seconds faster without the cold win and not being boxed in, maybe 45 if I warmed up properly. Overall, I was happy that I didn't run 23 and completely shatter my confidence but its still a far cry from what I could do when I was fit; I have probably went on training runs faster than this 5k. Anyway its a start and ill see where it leads me.

some solid weeks out there!

Stone Cutter - all the best for the future man. you're the reason why myself and others post on this thread... a true inspiration! I feel for you on the whole family/running situation but you seem to handle it well.

I returned to training this week following a small break after my 10K on 11/15

Age: 22

Residence: UK

PRs: Mile - 4:44, 5K - 15:49, 10K - 32:16

Mon: 4 miles (28:38, 7:09/m) + strides (4.7)

Tue: 6 miles (43:39, 7:16/m)

Wed: 8.49 miles with 10 x 200m Hill (recovery - jog down hill) 40,37,37,37,37,37,38,38,38,38

Thu: 6 miles (44:45, 7:27/m)

Fri: 5.48 miles (40:59, 7:28/m)

Sat: 12.48 miles with 40 minutes alternating 5 minutes @5:43/m + 5 minutes @6:19/m (entire workout @ 6:00/m)

Sun: 3.1 miles (22:42, 7:19/m); 5.2 miles (38:24, 7:23/m)

Week Total: 51.45 miles

:)

Great post Stone, hope to see you back! Kudos to you both on and off of running. You rock.

RunFx- GOOD LUCK!

slo-twitch- def ease into it after a marathon, good plan

ok guy- our prs are very similar, but interestingly in HS ithought of myself as slow, but your 5k pr crushes mine. I was at 1845, but all my other prs are fasters than yours under 5k. So interesting. Whats your best 400?

NUF- first I've seen you on the thread, but I haven't looked on her for awhile. Good luck in your 10k!

Force- Hey again. Are you marathon training? I can't remember. that 5 miler is impressive!

work it- are you competing for a school right now? Just curious

Pikachu- Hey man I haven't seen your training in forever. Have you hit a marathon PR in the last year? I remember a year ago you were around 2:18. Are you living in the states by the way?

pewow- 800m training! Interesting. We don't see too much of that on these boards. Although I'm marathon training, I love the 800. I wish there were opportunities for it here. But alas, I live in the bush of ST croix and no 800 races here that I know of haha.

Muscle- I love how you post a week of all 0s to contribute to the thread! It's kind of a testament to how strong this thread it haha. yay.

illinois- strength based runner? How old are you by the way? Do you race those under distances often? (under half marathon I mean)

back into it- to jokingly quote you "yeah..no big deal just about 100 miles last week" haha. I love it. I'm building up to 100mpw. I hope I can say that one day. I'm really determined to not give up PRing without the benefit of high mileage.

nice guy- 3:09 is solid. what a PR. good for you man. I went from 327 to 314 my first two marathons. That was so exciting. Never Pred since then, but next year I'm running chicago, the first fast course since running the 3:14, so I'm excited to see what I can do. I did all intense, hard marathons in the interim haha I don't know why.

ok- do you not like the treadmill? I know a lot of people don't I'm a big fan of watching a movie while running on the treadmill. I'd rec it! It's a good way to zone out.

cogs- whats your 5k goal?

hereford- poignant words about stone. I agree! Solid week too! any races coming up?

itbell- youll be back in the 18s in just a few races, It's surprisingly easy to get back in shape. Improving your max is frustratingly much harder haha.

matthias- Solid week! kudos!

Goals.

1. Be healthy and happy- did ok this week. sunday was very stressful.

2. see how my body adapts to a high mileage plan- 10% a week is the goal, which I have attained so far. I will maintain 100mpw at max. Will def take down weeks too. Once I get comfortable with 100mpw, I'll incorporate variety. strides, tempos, etc. Just building up for now.

3. sub 250 marathon chicago next year- nowhere near that fitness but getting closer

4. figure out my musculoskeletal imbalances- just start chiropractic stuff, we'll see how it works

5. perfect diet- getting there,

Last week was 40 miles. this was 45. On par so far :).