Road Racing and Training Thread- Week Ending March 26, 2017

oops that got cut off- the pm run today was 4.5. 70 miles for the week

I like the 1200/400 workout. Hadn't seen that one before, but may use it with the group I coach. 15:5x seems very much in your range.

So-so week for me.

M - 7 easy

Tu - 6 easy

W - 5 easy: 2 x 1.5 miles at tempo (averaged low to mid 5:20s); 8 easy

Th - 6 easy

F - 6 easy

Sa - 10k race (32:56)

Su - 22 easy

67.5 total

Workout was supposed to be 5 easy/3 tempo/5 easy/3 tempo, but it was in he low to mid 80s when I started and had PT earlier in the day. Just wasn't happening, so I got from it what I could and moved on.

10k was similarly disappointing. Though I could go 32:20s at least, but just didn't have it. Ended up 32:56 (just :20 faster than my 10k split on way to 15k 2 weeks ago). Was going to end up in second place no matter what (as a Brazilian who can beat me decided to treat it as just a workout and backed off early leaving me to run last 4 miles solo). Was also not fully recovered from Wednesday maybe.

Not too worked up though - 1 week until the taper. This is just how it goes some weeks. You adjust and move on. Even that time suggests a sub 2:32 marathon potential.

Slow-twitch- great week of training. The 4800 workout sounds tough! I think you'll hit your goal time easily in Boston.

smoove- great 10k race. I know a local guy from my area that's shooting for a sub 2:30 at Boston and he hovers at high 33's in 10ks. You should break 2:30 pretty easily as long as you don't have any weird issues. Too many weird things happen in marathons.

my week wasn't great. I just felt slow and blah, hopefully I'll break out of the rut next week. I had a pretty good workout Tuesday though.

sunday- 2 mile warm up St.Paddys day half 1:18:08, 3 mile cool down( I posted about the half last week. Wasn't a great half for me)

Monday- off ( played disc golf)

Tuesday- 1 mile warm up 4 sets of 800/400. 2:32/74, 2:29/72, 2:30/74, 2:31/72, 3 mile cool down.

Wednesday - am-6 miles, pm- 7 miles

Thursday - lunch run- 4, pm-7( 2 of those miles were with my dog)

Friday- lunch run-4 pm- 3 with my dog

Saturday- doggy dash 5k- ran the 5k with my dog in 19:48. We ended up winning the race. She won a cool treat. I gave her a banana, 2 treats and half a chick fila sandwich. She was happy!

Pm-4

Still haven't ran today. I did something to my quad in TRX Friday. Plan to go for an easy six though.

goal = sub 2:50 at Boston

First time in a while legs felt a little bit tired (almost as if I were trying to train for a marathon!). Had planned to take this week easier anyways + had a race on Saturday that I wanted to use as a fitness test. I wanted to maintain the mileage I've been running the last couple weeks if I could but I didn't want to be too anal about it and just take what the week gave me.

M - am: 5.5 easy, pm: 9.75 + 8x10sec hill sprints

T - 14.5

W - 14.5; deep tissue massage afterwards

Th - am: 5.25 easy on the treadmill just to be on a softer surface; pm: 6.5 easy

F - am: 5.25 easy on the teadmill again, pm: 6.75 easy + 8x10sec hill sprints

Sa - 3mi warm up, *8km race in 27:47, 6.5mi cool down.

Su - 8

week = 90 miles

Race recap: Felt surprisingly good from the start. Goal was to get under 28 minutes today and thought I'd really have to bring it to get there but the effort was relatively easier than I anticipated. Pretty much ran 5:35 give or take a second on each of the 5 miles. First race in almost a year, each mile individually were also the fastest miles I've run in a little over a year. Probably got a bit complacent though since I was feeling satisfied with each of the mile splits and opted to stay steady rather than test myself a little bit more. 8km is a far way from a marathon but I'm pretty happy with the result and where I'm at with just a couple more weeks to go. Guys wanted to go longer for a cool down and that was fine by me, felt like we recovered pretty quickly.

Hoping to stay at peak mileage for 1 more week then gradually tapering it down. Will be running a hilly-ish 25k next Saturday and still not sure what I'd like to do for that yet. I'm starting to think I'm closer to 2:45 shape (*no jinx*) and debating if it's worth it to me to start out closer to that pace on race day rather than slightly under 2:50 pace..

Nice 8k! Your definitely speedy enough for a sub 2:40. If you put in enough long distance miles if shouldn't be an issue! I ran a 27:30 5 mile race a couple of months before my marathon and I ran 2:53, but my last 4 miles were around 9 minutes.

What pace will you start out in your marathon?

Jack Daniels thinks you are in low 2:40s shape. I tend to agree, but at a minimum would definitely agree 2:45 is a goal more inline with your fitness than 2:50 is.

slo-twitch - looks like the shorter distance stuff is coming along well for you! hadn't seen either of those workouts either but they seem kind of fun to get the legs moving, that Sunday workout sounds brutal though

smoove - I think we see it often with the pro's that they also tend to "not have it" in the shorter races about a month out in the midst of marathon specific, right? Solid week nonetheless though, I'm too soft to go race/long run back to back

runn3rgirl - you seem to bounce back pretty quickly between efforts, and got some wheels with that Tuesday workout! I think I'd like to start out somewhere right between 6:20 and 6:25 (so, 6:23?) and see how it goes. I'm not going to be too wrapped up in a specific pace early though so I don't get caught up in thinking I have to force it to make up time and hope I have a good feel for where I'm at instead. I just don't want to go out too fast, I really want to just get under 2:50 for the first time just to clear the mental/physical hurdle. I'll probably be checking heart rate often the first 10-15km.

Yeah, it happened to me with my last marathon too.

8/15/15: 15:29 5k

9/12/15: 16:10 5k

10/11/15: 2:30 high marathon

It sucks when you want a cofidence builder, but having experienced it before ultimately makes it a non-issue.

Nice work everyone.

Two weeks from me.

Next race is an 8k in late April.

M: 8 w/ 4 mi cruise

T: sick

W: sick

Th: 8 w/ 6x10" hill sprints

F: 8 w. 15x90"/30" on/off, strength after

S: 8

Su: 8 w/ 10x10"hill sprints

Total - 40

M: off

T: 8 w/ 18 min tempo

W: 30 min cross training

Th: 8 w/ 6x10" hill sprints

F: 8 w/ 10x3'/1' on/off

S: 8, strength after

Su: woke up with a nasty kink in my neck and shoulder so I took the day off

Total - 32

Kind of bummed that my new training cycle has started off with getting sick and then having a wacky shoulder today but its also only a few days out of months.

43-year-old male.

Goal(s) = Top 5 at 50K mountain trail races on April 1 and May 13

Mon: 10 in 1:07:53

Tues: 14 in 1:44:00 with ~1,500 elevation gain

Wed: 10 in 1:09:11

Thur: 10 in 1:01:15 on TM with 1% incline (rain)

Fri: 14 in 1:36:53 with ~1,500 elevation gain (PR!)

Sat: A.M. 7.5 in 59:56 (trail) P.M. 10 in 1:04:30 on TM with 1% incline

Sun: 10 in 1:08:37

Solid week for me. Legs were pretty beat up from the mountain runs in N.M. at altitude the week before. Tuesday's run was done in 90 degree heat and I lost 13 pounds in sweat. Calorie bombed late Wednesday and early Thursday with lots of beer and Burrito Express. Was looking forward to a trail on Thursday and putting that beer and beans to good use, but it rained all day, so I hit the treadmill instead. Went for a sub-60 10-miler, but died with 2 miles to go. Friday's run was sensational. Ran most of the "up" with 2 cyclists (complete strangers). They'd smoke me on anything downhill (obviously), but I'd catch them on the ups. The last mile I fought to "beat them" to the final stretch to the top, but ended up about 15 seconds behind them. They stopped to shake my hand at the top and I thanked them for the pull. To be fair, they were both riding steel-framed "classic" bikes from the 70s/80s that probably weighed 30+ pounds. Saturday morning's run was a mixed bag, I felt really dialed in and killed the section to the saddle, but the trail was absolutely packed with hikers and MTBers. I spent tons of time dodging and waiting for people. Today I contemplated another trail run with some elevation, but decided to take it EZ instead and start a proper taper.

Off tomorrow (first off day in over a month), then trail on Tuesday and an EZ 10-miler on Wednesday. Two full days off, then 50K race on Saturday. Weather's looking good for Saturday. High in the low 80s in the Valley, then a high of 60 in Crown King.

Gonna do a long weekend along the Mogollon Rim in two weeks. Can't freaking wait to be on the Highline Trail again!

Some killer weeks on the board. And it's nice to see all of the Boston guys getting to the taper phase healthy.

Still just base aerobic stuff for me. I guess this is week four post-injury. All running remains at a very easy pace with no attention paid to my Garmin. All days were followed by 15-30 mins of strength and stability training. Also my diet has been outstanding lately and, consequently, overall, I'm feeling very good.

M - 6

T - 8

W - 8

T - 8

F - 6, afternoon physical therapy with core/stability

S - 10

S - off, travel to Seoul Korea where I'm posting this from

46m total.

This week will be less mileage since I'm traveling and pretty jet-lagged.

Smoove- 3 weeks out is prime time for feeling flat. better now than on race day. that 1200/400 is part of a series of Canova workouts (by way of Magness)... there's a Runner's World article (but there's a notable error in the 2nd of the 5 workouts that Magness addressed on LRC)

The 200/400- "Deek's quarters" aka Aussie quarters i got from Nate Jenkins, it's from Rob de Castella's training. For me this workout is the best "indicator" of 5k fitness. Whatever it works out to for 4800m is normally within 5 seconds of what I can do for a 5k road race. This was 15-16 seconds faster than I ran the workout in November before going 16:18 on a hilly course. So I think I am pretty close to where I need to be, but very little margin for error

Learning Curve- you are in way better than 2:50 shape

My week is coming... I am busy drinking beer w my neighbor. Some speeder raced thru our residential street so we yelled the first time. And second time I tagged his truck w a full beer... almost fisticuffs were avoided. I'm jacked and ready to race.

Oops, this was my week. Had a typo on my login and didn't catch that I wasn't prompted for my password... :)

34 m half marathon April 1

Sunday 12

Monday 7 hot and went out hard. Decent pace

Monday 8

Tuesday 6

Wed 3 am 9pm 4up in 6:45 pace 4 tempo 6:05 6:05 5:55 5:43 1down

Thu 10.5 last 4 in 6:30 range. Couldn't hold back

Fri 5

Saturday 3up 3 ( 6:05 6:00 5:35) couldn't hold back. 2 down

60ish miles.

Im as ready as I can be at this point in time imho

Had a solid week of training. Body is starting to respond in both good and bad ways. Finally rocked a solid continuous tempo effort, but body is also beginning to feel like its breaking down a little by the end of the week.

M - AM WU + 3K Time Trial + CD.PM WU+8x200m w/3min Recovery+CD Total: 17.31miles. I had decided a few weeks back that after 4 weeks of training I wanted to run a time trial to test my fitness. In January I tied my 1500m PR of 3:52, so I was hoping for big things in this time trial, to be honest I was hoping to be pretty close to my PR which is 8:15. Anyway, less than 400m in and my training partner is already off the back and I'm pulling away quickly. I end up running the whole thing by myself, beating him by over 20 seconds, which is crazy because on most workouts he's the one dropping me. I ran 8:48, and after a quick first mile was just struggling to hold pace. Most likely I just had unrealistic expectations for a 3k after running an average of 99 miles per week for the last four weeks. My body just isn't going to be fresh enough for top end speed like that. Came back angry in the afternoon and ran 200s all out, all 8 of them were between 30 to 29 seconds. I've never run a set so even, but I usually don't take a full 3 minutes either.

T- 10 Miles in 1:10:40. Afternoon massage.

W - AM 50 MInutes Tempo, 9.43 Miles, 5:18/mile, AveHR: 172. I would call this a break through workout for me. I've been running these around 5:25-5:30 pace. We went out to a loop we run in a flatter part of town for this and from the beginning we were just rolling. My training partner was looking for some revenge from the time trial on Monday so he took it out hard. Anyway, super pleased with this workout, big surprise and also the fastest average pace for a tempo in the past 7 months or since I moved to Malawi. PM Easy 6.4 miles to get in 18 miles for the day.

Th - AM 13.42 miles@7:49/mile PM 4.62miles@7:22/mile Total 18

F - One last quality session. AM Fartlek 3x4,3,2 w/2min Rest, 7 miles+WU/CD PM 3.4 mile shake loose. Total 18 Miles

S - Long Run, 20 miles, 2:23:15, 7:09/mile

S - Rest Day, No Running

Week Total: 101.42 Miles

Was considering increasing mileage again this week, but decided over the weekend to run another week at 17 miles per day, with the long run being a little longer. That will be three weeks at around 100-105, hoping the body will feel a bit more adjusted to the work load so that in the following weeks I can increase to around 110-115. Just have to wait and see. Good work everyone else this week.

That's a huge week of work. I cannot imagine running a 3000 time trial solo, particularly when doing so much work oriented toward the longer distance like you have been doing.

Just out of curiosity, what is your 5000 PR? I am going to guess 14:0x-14:10 based on the 3:52/8:15 and the fact that you seem to be more distance oriented.

Smoove wrote:

That's a huge week of work. I cannot imagine running a 3000 time trial solo, particularly when doing so much work oriented toward the longer distance like you have been doing.

Just out of curiosity, what is your 5000 PR? I am going to guess 14:0x-14:10 based on the 3:52/8:15 and the fact that you seem to be more distance oriented.

Actually the longer the distance the better I get. My 5000 PR is 13:51. 10000 is 28:41. But I haven't run a track 5000 in a few years and for the 10 I haven't raced a serious one since college.

That is a really crazy set of PRs. Even being strength oriented, with that 5k PR I would have expected high 3:40s for 1500 and 8:0x for 3000.

Are there good races near to where you are living, or will racing require major travel? Can you use foreign races to qualify for US OT?