My goal is to make it to the 2020 Olympic Trials in the Steeple and I will do everything I can to achieve this goal

Cool that you keep updating this thread. Good luck!

Too old and too slow.

Give it up

Update #23:

Replies:

@800ftw.

They’re on the first post I believe:

PR’s

800m: 2:00.99 (2012)

1500m: 4:00.68 (2014)

Mile: 4:20.4 (2014)

3000m: 8:40.78 (2014)

3000SC: 9:27.54 (2014)

5000m: 15:10.00 (2012)

8000m: 25:55.3 (2014)

Half: 1:17:56.00 (2016-Hilly ass course lol)

@nocensorship

Thanks, friend!

@ Coach G.

Until I haven’t made it, I will not give up

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Weekly Report:

S: 50min, 6.66mi

M: 50min, 6.73mi

T: 50min, 6.64mi

W: 51.5min, 6.77mi, really cold

R: 50min, 6.85mi, treadmill

F: 50min, 6.21mi, heavy snow

S: 50min, 6.37mi, clear, legs beat up

Total: 351.5min, 46.23mi

..

This week was marked by cold and snowy conditions. “Cold,” here, meaning sub-zero wind chills. Kind of bounced between two different routes this week trying to get through the runs; the sense of euphoria and freshness has officially been subdued for now. Thursday’s run was on the treadmill, which was kind of fun. Friday was bad weather wise- tried to get the run in right after work before the snow could really fvck things up but that didn’t happen. It was slow going and my legs were pretty sore the next day. Saturday was better, footing-wise, but yeah. Winter around here seems to exacerbate just how $hitty the traffic is around here. Wish all of these people and their dumb cars would just go away, lol.

Anyways, feeling a little nervous about next week; it’s the first time I’ve done doubles in a while and I’m still feeling a little bit banged up from the last week. Just taking it day by day, though.

First workout is the Monday after next! Excited! Depending on the weather, I’m going to keep the longer stuff on the treadmill for now (tempos, maybe 1500 specific) and hopefully do the speed development stuff outside on the track. We’ll see how that holds up under this snow, though.

Update #24:

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Weekly Report:

S: 65min, 8.05mi

M: AM: 30min, 3.62mi, PM: 50min, 6.54mi

T: 50min, 6.42mi

W: AM: 30min, 3.62mi, PM: 50min, 6.38mi

R: 50min, 6.39mi

F: AM: 30min, 3.7mi, PM: 30min, 3.71mi

S: 50min, 6.33mi

Total: 435min, 55.13mi

..

Well, the first week of doubles is in the books! Let’s start off with the morning runs- did these on the treadmill just because it was going to be a lower impact and I could control the pace. Started near 6mph and just worked my way up .1mph every minute. The goal of these morning runs was to shake out and warm up the legs for the workout later; not to bash out a good hard 30min run.

The all of the pm runs were pretty meh. I attribute this to a few things, the first being the strength sessions on Monday and Wednesday that completely wrecked me and the second being the cumulative load of the miles. Wednesday was pretty bad in terms of being worn down and hurting while running (left foot, second metatarsal, right hip flexor, right IT band, all sore/tight), though the last few days I’ve been feeling much better. Friday’s runs were very chill and on the treadmill for this specific reason. The laid-back pace has helped and today’s run, while slow, had none of the nagging issues that I’d been dealing with during the week.

Also, the treadmill. For a while, I was concerned about trying to figure out the specific combination of incline, speed, and whatever to mimic an outdoor run. Then, I realized, that none of that matters. Sure, the incline probably needs to be at 1-2%, but let’s ignore all that and get back to the goal of training. The first goal is consistency of training. The second goal is to execute the workout as faithfully as possible given the conditions of the day. If I’m running a tempo on the treadmill (like I will next Friday) my first goal is to run and the second goal is to do a tempo as faithfully as possible, which means running as less than or equal to my lactate threshold as possible. I can do this by running 10mph on a treadmill at 0% incline. Will it be exact same thing as running outside? No. But I believe it will get me close to what I want and that I will still gain the lion’s share of the workout benefits.

Anyways, first workout is Monday. Weather looks like I’ll be able to get out on the track for the workout. Here’s hoping it stays clear!

Coebra wrote:

the first being the strength sessions on Monday and Wednesday that completely wrecked me and the second being the cumulative load of the miles. Wednesday was pretty bad in terms of being worn down and hurting while running

Visit an anti-aging clinic. You need it.

As long as you have money, the IAAF won't care if you test positive.

Interesting thread, please keep updated. Will coincide with my hs career. Rooting for ya, sorry I don't have any advice I'm a freshie

I'm not pursuing trials, although it's a dream goal. I'm in your boat. I had a rocky career, especially in HS. Ran in college and currently in post collegiate. I just want sub 4 1500 and sub 2 800.

I think you need a coach. I hired one online coach who knows mid distance because I can't coach myself or else I get injured. You also don't have to spend money on PT because they give you strength workouts. Daniels is a good training method, but when I don't think it's good when it comes to mid distance and steeple. However, you can take a couple workouts that you think that can get you faster. That's my opinion though.

I also think you can do it. Make sure you have reasonable goals. You need to improve speed. Get sub 2 and sub 4.

just popping in to say good luck! always feel free to voice your own worries or anything, you will always get some positive support or advice from myself or anyone. from my own experience, i know it can be a tough road especially when the workouts get real tough and the weather can suck real bad. from what i've read so far, you're on the right track - consistency is the BIGGEST thing, in terms of mentality and physically which means both getting out the door to run AND staying healthy and injury-free.

Personally I think he should reach out to Tinman, his training style would suit someone who is slightly more susceptible to injuries.

Update #25:

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Replies:

@1600/800 guy: Thanks! I plan on keeping this updated every week.

@Ifeelya: I agree with your speed comment—but rather I need to improve everything, haha. Thanks for the support! As for a coach—training is simple. The more important part, where the coach comes in, is when both he/she and the athlete must be mature and make tough choices. I can’t really afford one that’s going to tell me more than I already know.

@good luck: Thanks! Appreciate it. Really.

@UATC: I will look at his posts on Letsrun and make a decision about that. Thanks for the heads up!

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Weekly Report:

S: 65min, 10.14mi

M: AM: 30min, 3.67mi*, PM: Wkt, 6 x 150m, 250m rest. 25up, 15cd. 7.35mi

T: 50min, 7.98mi*

W: AM: 30min, 3.7mi*, PM: Wkt: 4 x (2x300m), 100m r btwn, 400m r btwn sets. 25up/15cd. 8.11mi.

R: 50min, 7.97mi*

F: AM: 30min, 3.66mi*, PM: 30min, 3.7mi*

S: off

Total: 440min, 56.28mi

*denotes treadmill run.

..

Lots of stuff this week. Let’s get the workouts out of the way so we can talk about the big stuff.

MONDAY: Speed Dev. 25min up, 1200m stride straights, jog turns (2 @ 3k pace, 2 @ 1500m pace, 2 @ 800m pace) 6 x 150m @ 800m pace w/ 250m walk/jog recovery. 15min cool down. Target was 26 seconds per 150, results were 24.79, 26.90, 27.51, 26.59, 26.96, 26.96. It was very windy (20mph winds), so pleased.

WEDNESDAY: 1500 specific wrkt. 25min up, 1200m stride/jog, 4 x 2 x 300m repeats, 100m walk/jog between reps 400m jog between sets. 15min down. Target was 54, results were 56.84, 55.98, 53.79, 50.21, 54.65, 51.88, 54.69, 53.46. First set was a little slow. Haven’t done pace work in years, so once I figured out the pacing, things went more smoothly. #4 was just dumb; I tried to run on pure feel, not looking at the watch. Overall, satisfied.

TREADMILL RUNS: Okay, as I described last week, the well where I draw my fvcks about treadmill incline and wind resistance has dried up. I decided to just mark these runs as *treadmill runs and stop looking at mileage as if it’s the only thing that matters. My chosen measure of running volume is TIME, anyways.

Did a lot of running on the treadmill this week because it absorbs more shock than asphalt and I can control the intensity. I can also look at the fool in the mirror in front of me and work on my biomechanics.

FOOT ISSUES: I don’t know if “issues” is the word I’m looking for, but my left foot has been bothering me. Specifically, the area right around the joint between the metatarsal and the proximal phalange on my third toe. Anyways, what does this mean? It means I woke up Saturday morning (today) at 5 am to do my shakeout, and had a gut feeling that I needed to take time off.

Let me backtrack a bit, to tell a story to flesh out the context a bit. April 14th, 2012, ~8:00am, I woke up and felt a throbbing pain in my right femur. A point-sensitive pain. I texted my coach, telling her this, and got a response saying that I should more or less, run if I feel I “should”. I ended up running. 1 week from that day, I ran at another track meet, where I pr’d 5 times in two races, with the help of 1000mg of ibuprofen to manage the pain. I ended that season with a femoral stress fracture and was out for much of the summer.

So, I guess what I am trying to do, here, is the opposite of that. The foot pain reached its peak around Tuesday of this week, and has been on the decline ever since I have been on the treadmill and icing it. I have run on it with little issue all week, even in flats for the workouts. But now I am worried that this will become a larger issue. One of the blessings, I think, of having been injured so much is that I know how to tell the different types of pain from each other (muscular vs. bone, etc). I think this is the kind of pain where I back off. I’ll evaluate every day where I think I am with it and we’ll just take it from there.

Not much else to do, I guess. Just hope I can trade a few days here for 6-8weeks down the road.

Anyways, thanks to all of you for your support. I really appreciate it!

Coebra,

Glad to see things are going well. I think your approach to the treadmill runs is the correct one. That is, using it for the additional volume, taking advantage of the shock absorption, not worrying about the incline, etc.

Igy

looks like you are using the Rubio plan. not bad plan.

Update #26:

Replies:

@Igloi: good to hear from you again! Always glad to hear you weigh in on my training opinions—your insights usually help me refine them.

@ifeelya: Yes! The Rubio is the foundation for all of this. I like it so far.

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Week Report:

Only did 1 run during the week on Wednesday: it was a test run to see if I could return to training. Went for 20min or so, 2.35mi, cut it short early.

..

Comments:

After the negative results of the test run on Wednesday, decided that it was necessary to take a further 1.5 weeks off to make sure I get over this foot issue. I have self-diagnosed it as a stress reaction and 2 weeks of no activity is usually enough to get over that.

My plan to come back is, more or less, the plan I was going to use to get back up to mileage at the start of the season. I’ve tweaked it a bit and I think this version’s better:

Before: 1 week off, 1 week every other day, 1 week @ 60%, 1 week @80% volume, then spend 4 weeks working up from 80 to 100% volume.

Now: 1 week off, 1 week every other (20% vol), 1 week @ 40%, 1 week at 60%, 1 week @ 80%, then a down week, before doing 1 block (4 wks) at 80% volume.

The other thing that my winter running lacked was adequate time on the treadmill, which is what I plan to use as a stand in for all the trail running I do during the spring, summer, and fall.

..

Since it helps me to have a system in place to guide my decisions, I came up with a list of priorities for the overall training scheme, to help make decisions regarding training.

Priority #1: Consistency of Training is paramount, which means taking voluntary days off now to avoid forced days off later and reducing hard training to easy training when necessary.

Priority #2: Execute every workout as faithfully as possible given the conditions.

In addition to these, I came up with the priorities for each of the seasons:

FA ’16: Primary: Mileage

SP ’17: Primary: Mileage

FA ’17: Primary: Mileage, Secondary: Improve Aerobic and Anaerobic conditioning

SP ’18: Primary: Kick ass, Secondary: Get faster across all paces

The focus from there on remains to be ass kicking in the spring and aerobic/anaerobic conditioning in the fall. I feel as if I need to be around 80-100 mi/week to effectively train at this level, preferably in the 90-110 area. That will take time to build up to so I figure it would take about 3 seasons to adjust to.

..

On a similar topic, I think I may have been too ambitious with my spring plan; scheduling 7 races and doing 3 workouts a week. I only say this because during the fall, I only managed about 4 workouts in total and barely any strides.

So, I figure it might be a good first step to work on mileage and shoot for 1 consistent workout a week. I’m planning on varying it between tempo work and 5k paced work, but we'll see how I feel.

..

So yeah, that’s it. just a bunch of words this week and a bunch of rest. Should be good to go in 1 more week.

Regarding the above... lol how embarassing! I accidentally posted under a throwaway handle.

Anyways,

UPDATE #27

No real update. Foot feels fine; testing it out tomorrow with a 30min treadmill run.

Tried out a cryo-chamber treatment this week; a friend told me of a place that just opened up nearby and with the first treatment being $20, I thought, 'eh, what the hell' and tried it.

Hard to describe, other than "cold", haha. I think it works on the principle of shocking the shit out of your body and making it go crazy healing itself after the treatment. Will try it again to see if there's any benefit to doing it.

You are an inspiration man, keep it up. I think you are doing well playing it safe with your foot as well, you've got over 3 years so a week off now will help you big time later. Seriously I just read your whole thread for 45 minutes and can't wait to keep following you. Btw, when you start getting your track times up (SP 2018) I think you should contact Hoka for a sponsorship.

Keep hitting those miles and stay off of injury. Another idea, write a book about this in 2021 no matter what happens, your kids (and grandkids) will love you for it. These updates are great keep at it and I'm cheering for you.

Update #28

Replies:

@ Glorfindel1

Hey, thanks! Really appreciate it. I was feeling a bit down on myself earlier today, and while I know the best way to deal with “the questions” is to not think about them… my brain doesn’t always agree. Posts like yours remind me that I’m out here trying to turn mud into gold and I don’t have to worry about ‘what I’m doing here’ because it doesn’t apply. Wondering why you’re ‘here’ is only a valid question when you’re a 4:17 miler standing on the line with a bunch of sub-3:55 milers and really, nowhere else.

So, thanks. I really appreciate it. I’ll keep you updated on the book, haha!

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Weekly Report:

S: 30min, 3.54mi*

M: off

T: 30min, 3.65mi

W: off

R: 30min, 3.78mi

F: off

S: 30min, 3.75mi

Total: 120min, 14.72mi

*denotes treadmill run.

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Comments:

Well, made it through the week okay! Foot has been fine on every run so far, especially once it gets warmed up and all the blood starts flowing through.

Ran treadmill on Sunday, taking it super easy and feeling very out of shape.

Planned to do the same on Tuesday, but ended up running at practice while the boys were out on their run. (Also found out that I am the head distance coach for the track team this year. Pressure! Haha.)

Thursday’s run was good; ran on the golf course during practice. Still a bit squishy from all the rain recently—still amazed that its mid 40s in January.

Got out on the trails for Saturday. Other than the limestone being a little squishy and having a mini-panic attack over an ache in my foot (which went away as I got warmed up), it was a great run and a great day to be outside.

Just going to stick to the plan and see how it goes. Planning on doing 50min for a ‘long run’ tomorrow at the old LR course I was using during the summer and fall. Here’s hoping it’s a good one!

Coebra,

I keep following your thread.

Best,

Igy

Update #29

Replies:

@ Igy

Good to hear from you! Hope things are well. Thanks for popping your head in!

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Weekly Report:

S: 50min, 6.32mi

M: 30min, 3.8mi

T: 30min, 3.92mi

W: 40min, 5.27mi

R: 30min, 3.84mi*

F: 30min, 3.93mi*

S: 30min, 3.92mi*

Total: 240min, 31mi

*denotes treadmill run.

..

Comments:

Good week! Feel great and foot feels fine so far.

Sunday it was warm, so went out to the state park to run the trails. Beautiful. Felt great, even going up and down hills.

Monday through Wednesday ran with the HS boys I coach; kind of just putzing around. There’s a golf course near the high school so I ran on that Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, we all went to the local park and hit the trails.

Thursday through Saturday I went to the gym after practice and ran on the treadmills.

No complaints; really like the new start of season progression of starting at 20% of goal and moving up to 40%, 60%, 80% and then taking a down week.

Longer long run tomorrow; gonna treadmill. Also, I have two doubles scheduled for next week- that’s gonna be interesting with work; think I got a good plan though.

Not much happening and I like that! Id rather have boring training with progression than interesting training.

Coebra,

Improving week for you. I have had a bit of a foot issue myself. Some Achilles swelling on the left foot. Went to the PT and received therapy beginning to turn the corner. These things should be expected, critical to get it taken care of. You seem to have turned the corner.

Igy