Welcome to another edition of RRTT
Goal: sub 17 5k and sub 25 200
Next race 5k on Oct 1
M: 8 w/ 2 mi tempo 12:40, strength after
T: 25 min rowing
W: 8 w/ 6x10" hill sprints
Th: 8
F: 8 w/ 4 @ ~6:30
S: 8 w/ 4x10" hill sprints
Su: strength
Total - 40
Welcome to another edition of RRTT
Goal: sub 17 5k and sub 25 200
Next race 5k on Oct 1
M: 8 w/ 2 mi tempo 12:40, strength after
T: 25 min rowing
W: 8 w/ 6x10" hill sprints
Th: 8
F: 8 w/ 4 @ ~6:30
S: 8 w/ 4x10" hill sprints
Su: strength
Total - 40
Goal race - marathon in 10 weeks
Current fitness - oof!
S-6
M-13 (8:35)
T-6
W-rested (sore)
Th- rested (sore)
Fr- 15 w/13 at MP (7:25)
Sat-res
Total-40, all on trail
Friday was my first "speed" workout all year. I was very encouraged - last year I got 3:10 (7:10s) after a lot of training, so to run 13 at 725s after nothing but 6 weeks of an easy buildup to 50mpw was great. The two days off before was probably cheating though!
I will likely need an extra rest day because my quads are shot (lots of downhills on this trail). But now, I can set a goal of maybe 3:20.
Good luck to everyone! And nice 2 mile tempo Pewow!
Thanks for starting the thread pewow-looks like you're getting a good base built. Don't think anyone had any marathons this week but hopefully all training went well, and that IllinoisRunner had a good race yesterday.
Monday: 0.75 w/u, 1 c/d, speed workout with a big hill
240,480,480,240,480,4x240, not sure of rest, not full recovery but a fair bit
41's on most 240's, 480's 1:24/1:25' last one in 38-this is tough due to the speed of it and the big hill that you go up then down in the middle. The 480's were just two loops of this park (so the hill twice). Tough workout mainly due to the number of reps and the fact I'm not a speed based runner.
Tuesday:5.5 easy
Wednesday:1 w/u, 1 c/d
Workout was at a park (nice grass, a bit uneven in parts)-multiple different loops you could run
2x1500 (5:04,5:00) 1220 (4:06, 780 (2:27)-about 4:30 recovery
This is one of our team's bigger, benchmark workouts. Very happy about the times and the way it felt, definitely a fair bit faster than last year's identical workout while feeling more relaxed.
Thursday:4.75+10x200 long strides in the middle (mini-workout)
Friday: 7.75 easy
Saturday: 5 easy+6 hill sprints (15 seconds or so)
Sunday: 11.5 long-ran 2.65 to and from a park, where I ran a 10k memorial run-all of it nice and easy (7:31 for 10k section, 735-40ish for the rest
Looking forward to opening up my season this week, planning to go out controlled and hold that pace.
Playing a bit of catch up as I have been on Holiday's for the last two weeks so have been laptop free
Target: Sub 2.40 marathon (10/30)
3 Weeks Ago
Mon AM 3 easy (8.26 min/m) PM 6.2 easy (7.07 min/m)
Tues AM 7.7 easy (8.15 min/m) PM 4.1 easy (8.28 min/m)
Wed AM 6 x (2k @MP/ 1k steady) PM 3 rec (9.25 min/m)
(Splits-paces):
(7.30/4.02) - (6.02/6.29)
(7.34/4.07) - (6.05/6.38)
(7.31/4.08) - (6.03/6.39)
(7.33/4.08) - (6.05/6.39)
(7.33/4.17) - (6.05/6.54)
(7.37/4.13) - (6.08/6.47)
Total Session: 16.8 miles w/ 11 ave 6.17 pace
Thurs 6.4 easy (7.42 min/m)
Fri AM 5.7 easy (7.52 min/m) PM 5.1 easy (7.37 min/m)
Sat AM 7.1 easy (7.42 min/m) PM 4.4 easy (8.06 min/m)
Sun 4x8 min @LT heartrate 3 min rec
Splits: 6.02, 6.02, 6.07, 6.15
Total Weekly Mileage:77.5 miles
2 Weeks Ago
Mon AM 8 easy (7.55 min/m) PM 4 miles easy (7.25 min/m)
Tues 12 min MP (5.54 min/m), 6x1 min hills , 6 min MP (6.00 min/m)
Wed AM 7 easy (8.08 min) PM 4 easy (8.05 min/m)
Thurs AM 5 easy (7.50 min/m) PM 4 easy (7.18 min/m)
Fri AM 4 easy (8.07 min/m) PM 5 Fartlek (7.12 min/m)
Sat OFF
Sun OFF
Total Weekly Mileage: 50.6 miles
Last Week
Mon AM 6 easy (7.55 min/m) PM 4 miles easy (7.24 min/m)
Tues 6 miles easy (7.35 min/m)
Wed OFF
Thurs OFF
Fri AM 6.4 easy (8.00 min/m) PM 5 easy (7.05 min/m)
Sat 7.4 easy (7.59 min/m)
Sun 21 easy (7.50 min/m)
Between travel etc and a foreign trip to doctor which was an experience missed a few days and mileage was good bit lower than planned (and had planned on being lower anyway as I knew these weeks were on the radar for a while)
Managed to keep ticking over though so should be grand as long as I keep the head down for the next 4 weeks should be grand
First some comments I didn't get around to making for last week
Consistency - I'm a pretty big fan of progression runs now, used to only do them on the odd days that I felt really good and just went with it. This is my first time really trying to purposefully do them and they're turning out great so far. I think being able to work into the faster paces slowly helps me stay relaxed when I get there.
Thinkaboutit - Nice job on the marathon! Sounds like you found some training that really payed off for you. Were you thinking of trying to tackle those shorter distance PRs relatively soon or taking some time off and trying to get them during the Boston build up?
Kendo - nearly 4 PRs in one race??? That's insane, keep it up
Pewow - is 2 days off a week for running pretty normal for you?
S - 10.5 progression, first mile 7:09 last mile 6:11, 6:47 average
M - 3 sloooooow
T - 3, new deadlift PR of 295 lbs
W - 5, 3 miles of 1 min on 1 min off
Th - 3
F - off
S - 7, 5k in 18:47
Total - 31.5
Still absolutely no idea how my long runs are going so well. I think it might be because I take about an hour to an hour and a half to stretch and do glute activation exercises beforehand because I actually have time to on the weekends. The fastest mile I've done in a tempo so far was a 6:09 and the 6:11 I ended with is only the 2nd time I'ved dipped under 6:20. It still felt pretty relaxed too.
Getting the deadlift PR was nice, haven't been going to the gym as much lately, maybe 4 days a week instead of 6-7. Not really trying to force it anymore because I don't want to burn out, can always take it more seriously when winter hits. A couple tips on form from a friend helped me pull this one off.
First 5k I ran since August of last year, this one was about a minute faster than the last one. Kind of an interesting race, started on roads, then on grass through the park, then roads, then the park again and roads to end it. Was raining so the shoes were a little heavy and the grass a bit squishy but I'm pretty happy with the time considering I have less than 2 months of training after a pretty long break. No mile markers but I could hear the lead bike yelling out where they were (I took 3rd) so I think my first 2 were pretty even at around 5:56 but when we hit the grass again on the last mile my legs felt pretty dead.
I think it's time I start to bump up the mileage back into the 40-50s range. Bit late in the season to try to go above 60 and get any real benefit, I figure I'll stop running as much once late November/early December hits but we'll see.
It's been some time since I've posted on this thread, but I figure why not.
I recently cut my mileage from 80-85 a week to 65-70 a week, so this week isn't very high in terms of volume. What I'm doing though is taking some quantity, and cutting it out, and adding some quality in place of it.
Here's how my week went:
M: 6 (7:32) /// 4 (7:24)
T: 4.1 (8:01) /// 5 Mile tempo* w/ 10' Warm up, and 6' Cool down
W: 4 (8:01)
Th: 7 (7:32) /// 6 x 800m** w/ 10' Warm up, and 1 Mile cool down
F: 7 (7:41)
S: 12 Long (7:32)
Su: 5 (8:00-10)
Total: 65 Miles
5 Mile tempo*
5.02 Miles, 30:30, 6:05 Average
Splits:6:09, 6:06, 6:03, 6:09, 5:57
Things went well. Mile 3 was a bit down hill, and mile 4 was a bit uphill. The last mile was a bit fast, because it was on the track.
6 x 800m**
Plan: 2:40 Through 4, wind it up on #5, and hammer #6.
Splits: 2:41, 2:37, 2:39, 2:38, 2:30, 2:10.7 - 6 Second PR!
Pumped about this session, it was a good one for sure.
Solid week. I have 2 races next week, so that'll be fun.
I hope everyone had a good week.
good weeks all around, gentlemen
Myles- nice 2k/1k alternations session. Glad you are healthy and, at 6 weeks out, ready to hit the heart of your marathon training.
T Dodd- your training looks a lot better than I remember. Those slower paces on easy days are perfect. Good tempo. You don't mention the recovery interval on the 6x800, but 2:10 is brisk
Logan- nice 5k.
Pewow- good luck with the upcoming 5k! I'm not a 5k specialist but curious if have you ever run a "deek's quarters" workout or maybe something like 5x(800@5k, 100 jog, 300@mile, 400 jog), or some like 4x1600 @5k pace w/ 90" recovery, but that's a brutal one in my opinion
Pale ale- sorry I never wrote back about fueling. I take a Gu about every 6 miles give or take. Trying to coordinate some water bottle handoffs on the course with family as I don't like cups. Turns out my Skratch Labs stuff is only a few steps removed from watered down Gatorade! but I have been into that too
Thanks consistency and pewow for the advice in the other thread about workout today
Training (goal Chicago marathon 3 weeks from today)
M- 9
T- 9
*W- (10.5) 2xmile, 3 miles continuous, 2xmile... Rec- 1' jog btwn one mile reps, 3' before and after the 3 miles. Splits- (5:31, 5:31), (5:38/5:33/5:32), (5:30, 5:27)
Th- 14 med@6:58 pace
F- 9/5
S- 8/5
*S- 4.5 w/u@6:58 then into half marathon in 1:18:14(5:58 pace, slightly faster than goal mp), 2 cooldown @7:19.
89 miles for the week
Wednesday's workout surprised me. it was maybe the cooler temperatures that allowed me to run faster than anticipated.
Today there was traffic and big crowds getting to the race, so I didn't get in 7miles before the half as planned. But 4.5 was fine. It was quite humid- (75 degrees F with dew point of 68)..So I was already drenched before the 13.1 marathon pace segment started. Workout felt fine. The 30k at 6:05 pace a few weeks ago felt easier, but that was under better weather conditions.
That looks like an awesome week, slo-twitch. Running the half like that in what certainly must be worse conditions than what you'll face in Chicago has to be a good sign.
Niceguy, good work dropping the pace on that MP run. And you've still got 10 weeks. Keep it up and you might find some more surprises in the future.
Logan, congrats on the deadlift PR! Is that close to double bodyweight?
TDodd, that half workout is nuts. My high school 800 pr was 2:09, I can't imagine running that at the end of a long workout in the middle of a big week. Super cool.
So I am 99 percent sure I'll do that Half Marathon on 10/16 (as opposed to the 5 or 10k). This week I did a couple workouts to get a feel for the kind of paces I might be able to do in the race, as right now it feels like a bit of a shot in the dark.
M, 3.4 easy
T, 10.1 with last 7 at possible HM effort (not timed during run, but after I found I avg'd 6:26)
W, 8.5 easy, half on trail
Th, 4.4
F, 6.2
S, 14 with 3 x 2 mile 6:20/6:20, 6:30/6:28, 6:47/6:48)
Su, 9.1 easy on trail
55.8 miles total, again my biggest week yet.
Tuesday's run was awesome. It was warm but dry and I just cruised. Still, not sure I can hold that pace for another 6 miles as I think the middle miles (3-5?) might have been a bit slower.
Saturday's run was tough. It was much warmer and windier. I definitely fell off the pace on that third set, but maybe not quite as bad as it looks. Set 1 was on a protected bike path, set 2 was normal conditions, and set 3 was exposed and into a stiff headwind. Good for simulating unknown race conditions, but not as good for pace stuff.
So I'm not totally sure what kind of pace I'm capable of. Maybe 6:30's on the fast end and 6:40's on the slower end. I've got a few weeks to play around with it.
Tomorrow will be a day off, though. I didn't mean to, but I hit 20 days in a row of training. I'll probably drop the miles a bit overall next week, then have 2 bigger weeks, and then do a short taper into the race.
Male, 15, Sophomore
M: 4 x mile on dirt/grass trails with around 6:00 rest in 5:20, 5:16, 5:15, 5:16. Our goals were to hit our paces from the 3200m time trial that we did last Saturday, so this was a pretty hard effort. All of us were a bit slower because of the tight turns on the trails.
T: 6 + strides
W: 2 x (4 x 200m) in 30 seconds with 3:00 rest after each interval and 5:00 in between sets, then about 10 minutes later a 3 mile tempo in 17:03. The 200s were nearly all-out for me, then the tempo felt comfortably hard. I was expecting to feel a lot more tired during the tempo, but the 200s made the pace feel slow. It definitely felt weird doing a tempo after hard 200s.
Th: 7
F: 4
Sat: 3 mile invitational on Illinois state meet course in 16:32. Rough race for me. Went through the mile mark in 5:09 with a pack of guys and was in position to finish top 10 in the fresh-soph race. Around the 1.7 mile mark I fell off, then after that I started struggling badly. The course was a bit muddy, so according to how other teams did I would have maybe been around 16:20 on a dry course. I was still hoping to run a lot faster, but I guess it was just an off day for me.
Sun: 7
Total: 44
That's a solid race, IllinoisRunner. Especially after those Monday and Wednesday workouts. Those no doubt left you heading into the weekend with a little bit of tired legs.
For the race itself, as that your usual opening mile? It seemed faster than your mile repeats and 2 mile time trial. But I know the Detweiler course is somewhat notorious for fast opening miles, what with the super long, gradual downhills.
Keep up the solid training. You should have a lot of strength going into the more important races at the end of next month.
Also, I can't believe you're only 15. I'm quite jealous of your training and times. I wish I had a HS cross experience like yours.
@slotwitch awesome week. Hope you enjoy the taper (assuming you're taking three weeks).
@canadianrunning good luck in the opener. Any specific goal or results from previous years you're hoping to beat?
@Illinoisrunner looks like the racing is coming together. Hope you're dialing down those easy runs to let yourself recover. Best of luck in the coming weeks.
I took this week fully off. Quads were sore after last week's marathon for a few days but now feel good and itching to go again. @logandecker I'm thinking I'll jump right back into things and target some fun fall road races. Still not sure what the long term goals will be. Planning to join a local running club and just kind of roll with the training.
consistency wrote:
That's a solid race, IllinoisRunner. Especially after those Monday and Wednesday workouts. Those no doubt left you heading into the weekend with a little bit of tired legs.
For the race itself, as that your usual opening mile? It seemed faster than your mile repeats and 2 mile time trial. But I know the Detweiler course is somewhat notorious for fast opening miles, what with the super long, gradual downhills.
Keep up the solid training. You should have a lot of strength going into the more important races at the end of next month.
Also, I can't believe you're only 15. I'm quite jealous of your training and times. I wish I had a HS cross experience like yours.
Thanks for the comment! I don't really have any other races from this season to compare my opening mile to since they have either had inaccurate mile marks or a major change in elevation in the first mile. Effort-wise, I'd say that first mile felt slightly harder than usual, but this time I faded much more dramatically than in my other races. Last year at this meet my split was 5:23 and I ran a 16:38, so I kept telling myself that I needed to open in a 5:10 in order to reach my goal of breaking 16. Looking back, opening in 5:09 was probably too fast, but like you said, it's definitely easy to get out fast at Detweiller.
Anyways, thanks for the comment and good luck with your training!
A lot of good training all around! I'll try to comment later...
Goal: Chicago Marathon
M - 4/6.6
T - 15, 7 miles @ MP
W - 10
Th - 3.5/10, 6 mile tempo (550,542,543,545,545,540)
F - Off
S - 8.5
Su - 20, 7 miles @ MP
Total: 77.5
I think I might have over done it this week. Between running a pretty hard half last saturday and my third straight week around 80 on 6 days running (that's a record for me!) I'm feeling rather beat up right now. Probably pushed it a bit much with all the MP work this week. Tuesday's medium long run felt good and Thursday's tempo was great, but Friday and Saturday I was feeling pretty crappy and I've developed some pain in my left hip/glute which I'm a little worried about. Today's long run didn't feel great. I was hoping to do 10 @ MP pace, but my body just wasn't having it and I had to jog the last 3 miles in. I'm hoping that I can get things feeling good again this week with some rest and decreased volume. If the hip is better by next weekend I will race a tuneup 5k, but the goal right now is to not ruin what I've been able to build over the last month.
pewow - Thanks for getting that started. I like that your goals are for two completely different systems. What have you been running your 5Ks in recently? Also, is the 10" sprint a 10-second all-out up a steep hill?
Niceguy542007 - Glad to hear you are in optimistic shape. What kinds of trails do you run? I try to do as much trail as possible but they aren't the kind where you can go MP on ;-)
CanadianRunnin - Good luck this week. When's the race? Is it a 5K?
Myles Splitz - I'm really interested in following your training. You're a bit faster than me but I like the simplicity. I find my easy runs range from 8 (first mile or two) into the mid-7s. Your approach seems to be volume-based with lots of doubles and a much longer long run. How much do you run at MP?
Logan Decker - I've been guilty of skimping on stretching and complimentary strength for my whole life. At 40 I have found I really _have_ to stretch for a number of reasons. Many days I can warm into a run and get by without a stretch, but it takes awhile. Some days my Achilles will take me down (and exacerbate my training for days or longer) if I don't. I also find that my easy shuffle turns into a regular pace fresh off stretching. I'll jog half a mile and then stretch ham/calf/quad and do some misc arm/neck and some active stretches involving the glutes, hips, and hamstrings. Then I'm pretty good to go. Anyway, nice to see the 5k improvement. Good work.
TDodd - I'd be pumped about those 800s as well. You were flying! Getting a PR at the end of an interval workout is always a good sign you're about to fly off the handle...
slo-twitch - What's your target time in Chicago? What kinds of paces do you do your easy runs in? Your Wednesday workout looks great, and your HM--that time for a workout?--must be nice. That's about what my PR is from about 15 years ago. I'd like to get back there but we'll see...
consistency - you sounds a lot like me -- not sure what your pace is, hitting all-time weekly distance PRs, accidentally running weeks in a row without a day off :-) Good luck figuring out the pacing for the HM. What's the course like?
IllinoisRunner - You're training through your season so it's not unexpected that your races will be up and down. Luckily, there are more races plus you got a good look at the state course. You'll get there.
paleale - It looks like you've built something pretty incredible and I'm sure the hay is in the barn, so to speak. Sounds like a little backing off is a good idea. Hopefully your body is just giving you a warning and nothing more. What's your MP?
I love coming to this thread to see what everybody is doing. I guess the trick is to keep coming and watch training and races unfold... I posted the first time a couple weeks ago without having any specific goal races. Since then I signed up for my first race since 2013.
Goals: 30k trail run October 22, road marathon Dec/Jan?, 50-miler March 4, 2017
The current goal race is just less than 5 weeks out and it's an 18-miler on single track which is mostly uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. I have decent foot speed but my higher speed climbing gears have disappeared after a spring of injury and a summer of low mileage/heat. I haven't raced in 3.5 years but I'm hoping for 1st OA in this race although I know that depends mostly on who shows up. This last week was supposed to be a big climbing week to help recruit those climbing muscles back, but it ended up high mileage week as well (58). A new weekly high mileage record for me.
Mon (7.5, 8:14 pace) progression on road with one big hill (total climbing, or vert: 980')
Tues (6.5, 13:14 pace) easy social trail run (vert: 1804')
Wed (9, 11:30 pace) easy (hot!), mostly technical trail, some off-trail scrambling (vert 1463')
Thurs (6.3, 9:31) 10x 400m hill repeats
Fri (10, 7:38) moderate road miles, 7:40 pace, last two in 6:55/6:22.
Sat (6, 8:11) easy with strides
Sun (13, 10:55) big hill climb, technical (vert 2600'), last two on road: 6:56/6:48.
Week total: 58 miles (34 road/24 trail), 8471' climbing
It's probably hard for the road runners to corroborate the slow paces on trails so I'll just say this. I live near some pretty technical trails that I love. Partly that's why I run -- to get away from the city. I also run mostly in the dark between 4 and 6 in the morning, and everything is overgrown from the summer monsoon (I live in the desert where scrub bushes grow across the trails and grass obscures the footing). The road running is new (sort of) but is more conducive to workouts, running fast, and easier in the dark. Plus, fewer snakes and skunks, an important consideration since I run with my dog.
This week I'm planning on taking it a little easier (45 miles) but with a mid-week 8-miler around 6:45 pace (I'm guessing my MP at 6:45). I'm trying to incorporate more of the marathon pace into the second half of my medium-long runs. From what I've been reading about marathon training, getting in lots of miles at that pace, or just under it, is good for getting the body used to running that speed under fatigue conditions. I figure marathon-specific training might be good for the trail 30K and it sets me up for running a winter marathon as well. This is all kind of dynamic -- usually I figure out what I'm going to do the night before or the day of, depending on how I feel, so putting this down in a document feels somewhat risky but I would be grateful for any kind of feedback.
Here's my tentative plan for the next 5 weeks (date corresponds with end of week).
Sep 18-24 - 45 mi - 6x1mi @6:30 w 1/4 mi jog, 10mi w/5@6:45-7:00, 12 mi trail long run
Sep 25-Oct 1 - 46 mi - 3x2mi @6:30 w 1/2 mile jog, 15 mi w 8@6:45-7:00
Oct 2-8 - 61 mi - 2x3mi @6:30 w 1/2, 12mi w 7@6:45, 17-mile trail long run
Oct 9-15 - 47 mi - 6x1mi @6:30, 1/4 mi jog, 9mi w 6@6:45, 10-mi trail run
Oct 16-22 - 48 mi - mostly easy, a 5k 6:30 tempo, strides, then 30k trail race
Nice training team1. Like you, I struggle to plan things out too much v. listening to what my body needs at the time. I think I planned a little too much last week as I'm still feeling it today.
I'm curious to see how the MP stuff will factor into your 30k trail run. To me, it does seem like a good pace to train at. Especially given all the leg strength and aerobic strength you'll need for the course. But I wonder if it might be better to train at MP effort while on a similar trail. I doubt it would be as fast as 6:50s, but it might simulate the race conditions a bit more? Hard to say for sure.
Also, do you do any technique stuff on the trails. Fast turnover, descents, etc.? I've never done that, but in my one season of trail racing (over a decade ago) I wish I did. But I seem to be a natural climber and an unnatural descender.
The half I'm doing is moderately moderately hilly. It's got a downhill the first mile (and I know I need to be super careful there), then a med hill at mile 2, a bigger hill at mile 5 and the other side of that big hill at miles 8-9.
The good news is the course is 4 blocks from my house, so I'm going to check out those hills a bit more over the coming weeks.
Thanks, consistency. You'll have a home course advantage! I imagine you'll be nice and comfortable with those hills on race day. Maybe a little love-hate?
I strive to have a plan but I'll still have no issues changing it on the fly. With 3 young kids and trying to listen to my body so I won't be injured I want to be able to change things but still no what I'm taking out and how (or if) I should replace it when I can.
I like your suggestion to do some of the race-specific workouts on similar trails. I can get to some similar trails with a short drive but I may not have time during the week. Definitely something to work on though. I can probably steal some early mornings for that and do some on the trails and keep some of them closer to home. My biggest challenge with this whole plan is getting enough sleep :-)
I don't do any trail technique -- We're different in that way. I'm not a great climber but I'm a great descender. I know I need to get stronger glutes and hamstrings, so I try to do strength exercises there but I've fallen off lately. I've also started picking up hill repeats.
In terms of turnover, I try to work on cadence on the roads for my road runs -- nothing formal, I just keep reminding myself to keep the turnover high. I can tell the difference after I've been doing that a few weeks -- cadence naturally gets higher for all speeds as a result (typically I'll be at 170 but after focusing on it it will be closer to 180 for long runs and 190 for speed work). It also drops off if I stop focusing on it.
Myles Splitz - I'm really interested in following your training. You're a bit faster than me but I like the simplicity. I find my easy runs range from 8 (first mile or two) into the mid-7s. Your approach seems to be volume-based with lots of doubles and a much longer long run. How much do you run at MP?
Last two weeks were holidays so very little quality but the plan is to have alot more quality stuff over the next few weeks. To be honest haven't done a whole lot of MP miles just yet. It's my first proper marathon (have paced people to sub 3 hours a couple of times) but biggest weakness has been time on feet for long runs hence the focus. Pace not one I am worried about as I come from a decent HM background.
Plan is simple
2 long runs sessions a week with the rest easy miles
Midweek sessions
6x (3kMP/1k steady)
5x (4kMP/1k Steady)
5,4,3,2,1@ MP w/ 800 rec
4x (5k MP/1k Steady)
Weekend runs
21 mile progression (last 7 @ MP)
17 steady (6.30-6.45)
24 miles easy
19 steady (6.30-6.45)
In terms of easy run paces I actually started to improved when I was better recovered for sessions so my paces dropped from 7.00-7.30 to 8ish although it must be said that alot of my easy days are with a backpack coming too and from work as commutes as I work 70+ hr weeks and irregular hours so just get it in when I can how I can.
Consistency - I'm hovering around 150 lbs right now so it was just below double body weight. Have seen pretty quick progress with it, didn't really start taking it seriously until January and at that point the most I attempted was 205. At this time last year I couldn't even do 100 lbs due to back pain but the chiropractor helped sort that out.
Have you thought about doing some doubles as you keep bumping up the mileage? I guess 56 isn't huge in the grand scheme of things for some people but usually when I got to the mid 50s I liked to do 1 or 2 easy 3 mile doubles. I found them really beneficial when I did them at night after a hard workout, woke up the next day feeling somewhat fresh.
Team1 - I'm still a ways off from 40 but having some back issues along with ITBS has really shown me how much I need to focus on my flexibility. It's probably a good thing that I realize this now and can try to make a habit of it when I have time to do it.
Seeing how much you climbed over the last week really makes me feel like I need to get out there and do a hill workout, I've been putting it off for the last month or so and keep telling myself I'll do them. They were always my go to workout when I was out of shape, I figure I can't cheat a hill so it's going to suck the entire time and get me used to feeling tired again.
Nice work on that deadlift, Logan. Glad to hear it is helping the back, too. A few years ago when I was having back problems, I pretty much realized the problem was weakness. Deadlifts and kettlebell swings have been huge for me. Keep it up and in a few weeks you'll probably hit the 2x bodyweight, which is just kind of a cool benchmark.
I have thought of doing some doubles. Two weeks ago I did my first double ever, and it worked out quite well. And I like the idea of getting out a couple times for easy miles with my dog (she is great for helping me keep it easy).
Right now I'm in a recovery week and feeling a tad beat up. So first I might just drop back to the low to mid 40s and hang there for a little longer. We'll see, though. It's only been 9 months of regular running for me after a decade+ off, and April I was sidelined with injury for coming back too fast and hard. Whoops.