Road Racing and Training Thread - Week ending October 15

34 male. 5k October 28th and then a Turkey Trot (gobble gobble)

Decent week here. Not as much total volume as I wanted but that is probably a good thing. I got my legs good and tired on gravel and hills the week before so just ran enough miles in doubles to keep them tired. Also basically had two off days (Fri easy 4 Saturday off w kiddo). Had a hard time getting in a double digit run with work etc.

Mon - 6am 6pm

Tues - 4am 6lunch 4pm

Wed - 5k am 10k pm

Thurs. 1.5up 8x400 60s rest first rep and then 90s rest. ( 77-77-77-74-77-77-77-79) 4down. I was going to do 10 but bagged last two as I got to hot

Fri - 4am. Legs flamed out

Sat - off

Sunday - planned this evening 4up 5xmile T 4down. Want to get a long workout in instead of regular long run as 5k in 12 days. Increase pressure a bit.

Total 66 or so.

Decent week. Pretty good 2week mini build for me. 5k and then almost 150miles. I feel like I am super close to breaking 17 in a good race with someone faster than I in it.

I forgot. Thu- 4miles AM

Good on you both for edging the volume up.

Smoove, tough weeks are part of the game, as I'm sure you know. Nice work this week.

RRR, some good volume for you - did you really run three times in a day? Nice!

Semi-planned lower intensity week here. Knee was bugging me a bit too much for comfort on Monday/Tuesday, but it is feeling decent now. Still got in a workout on Wednesday.

M - 7 + 6 x strides

T- 6

W - 3 x 3000m at LT pace w/2 mins. jog rest (11:23, 11:17, 11:21)/4 in PM

Th - 6.5/4.5

F - 6 + 6 x strides

S - GFU Classic 8k in 28:09.8/4ish in PM

Su - 5/5ish still to come

Kind of strange week. Legs felt pretty good Wednesday, but felt like trash after Thursday. Friday comes along, feeling pretty out of it for the first couple miles, then legs start to feel better. Finish the run, strides felt AMAZING afterwards. Like, I felt so much fresher after those. Weird to feel such a big swing over one workout.

Race went well - got caught in the pack for the first few minutes (start was kind of narrow) but got into a rhythm after that. Finding myself wishing I would have put in more of a push over the last 1k-1 mile or so. Still satisfied with the race overall - ~10 seconds off my 8k PR. I'll be interested to see how things progress once I start some sharpening work the week after next (week of 10/25).

Running a hilly 4 mile race on 10/21, so that should be "fun". Haven't done some serious hills in a while...

Hope the recovery process is going well for all the Chicago runners.

Just a quick write up on my race. I did it! 1:29:40. New PR. Ran this race last year in 1:36:03. Weather was better than forecasted. Cloudy, high 60s but humid and a bit windy. Legs and body felt good the whole way. My ‘wind' really fought me. Mile 8 I had a stitch and it came and went til about mile 11 where it stayed from then on. Running into the wind really sucked the life out of me. Lucky the last mile and a half was with the wind. Thanks to everyone for helping me out with questions I've had and keeping my motivation up.

Great job. Nothing helps with motivation like a shiny new PR!

R4F - Great running! I really mean that. I have been rooting for you. Yes, wind can be tough, but it has sounds like you motored through it.

Smoove - Sorry about the race...but, as I am sure you know, you will start to feel 73 + 73 in a 15k.

RRR - Congrats on the volume! Gravel will get some other muscles in the mix, too.

Lauglin - My on-line West Coast pal...great 8k. That PR will come soon. Rigth now, I feel like running away from here...all the way to beautiful Portland, the Rose City.

My week...

My first week of teaching was tough. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most stress I have ever had at a job in one week. Not much time for running, either. Ran on only five days, and ran in the dark (no headlamp) on two runs...going from street light to street light, and some of the in-betweens were an adventure.

M: 5 at 6:24 overall pace, going 6:51, 6:33, 6:20, 6:13, 6:05...hard progression in evening humidity

T: 8.25 at 6:59 overall...warm/humid, but felt good...do not know how...hilly, finishing 6:51, 6:55, 6:27

W: 8.25 at 7:13 overall...hilly

T: 8.25 at 6:42 overall...this run blew my mind...a very hard day at work, and went 7:21, 7:04, 7:17, 6:47, 6:43, 6:28, 6:17, 5:53 on the hills

F: off (no time for running)

Sat.: 21 at 7:00.5 overall...also blew my mind...did not feel as fresh as in my other 21+ run, but was sub-7:00 in each of the final 11 miles...6:45 last mile

50 miles

So, I am exhuasted, more so mentally than anything else, but I made it through the week.

All the best to everyone...

Forgot two other things...first, I love all of you and value your support. Second, my 21-miler was on my hilliest route.

Smoove - Those hilly races will pay off down the road.

RRR - Nice 400s, getting some speed work in.

Laughlin - Nice 8k and good luck on the upcoming 4 mi.

Running4fun - Congrats on the PR, sub 1:30 is a big barrier.

OR - Nice 21 miler, and I can't imagine jumping into teaching without having time to prepare lesson plans, etc.

My money is on Laughlin for the 3-way 5k battle right now. RRR has endurance, I have speed, but Laughlin has both.

Goal: 16:56 5k before Thanksgiving

Next race: XC 5k in early November

M: 6.5 w/ (2x10", 3x20") (2x10", 2x20") hill sprints

T: off

W: 8.5 w/ 5x5' tempo w/ 30" jog. This was fun in cold wind and rain. strength after (med ball hop & throw, power snatch, multi lunge, back squat, 10 pull ups, 20 push ups, 10 rows)

Th: 6 w/ 2x5x10" hill sprints

F: My girlfriend and I had to put our cat down Friday morning, and this was a slow, cathartic 8.5 in a storm

S: 10.75

Total - 39

Pewow - I agreed of your three way race assessment, would be fun tho!

OR- hang in there. It will all even out teaching wise. Just an adjustment period.

R4F - after cracking 1:30 its all downhill! When I first started running at 18 I ran 1:31 the next year i ran 1:22 on same course. So just put in some miles and it will come. After that half is when I was deployed and quit running. Whommmmp

Thanks guys!! RRR that's the plan. Take it easy this week and next then build up my miles the next 6-8 weeks. Next half is in spring. Maybe 1:25? See how it goes. I have 2 races planned the rest of the year then nothing til april

Didn't have a chance to post last week, so nice work to everyone who ran chicago, it was fun catching up reading through how you all did.

R4F, great work in the half this week!.

Early 30s male, looking to get a month of 50mpw and maybe sneak under 17:00 for 5k before the new year.

Last week:

Monday: 7

Tuesday: 2 w/u, 6 x 15s sprints on a track (~120m), 2 c/d (Caught a cold from people at work, light fever, nothing in the chest but heavy head cold etc).

Wednesday: 7, felt absolutely awful, but didn't want to take it off

Thursday: 7, felt a little better, but not good.

Friday : 2 w/u, 3 x mile @ 6:00, :90 rest. 2 c/d. Over the sickness, but still felt pretty bad running.

Sat: Off

Sun: 10, felt quite bad on the run still, decided to cut back the distance from a planned 12

This week

Monday: 6, still a struggle, but better than the last few days.

Tuesday: 2 w/u, 6 x 15s uphill sprints, 2 c/d

Wednesday: 6, felt a ton better

Thursday: 6, felt good again

Friday: 2 w/u, 3 mile Tempo in 18:00, 2 c/d

Saturday:Off

Sunday: 12, felt good by long run standards.

I still feel I don't have enough consistent training to not be set back by taking the 3 or so days off I probably needed to be running 'healthy', so I pushed through it. I definitely suffered through a few extra days of rough running because of it, but am feeling ready for a strong week now.

We need to set up a neutral site track race for the regular posters trying to run sub 17:00!

Smoove wrote:

We need to set up a neutral site track race for the regular posters trying to run sub 17:00!

With a kegger to follow!

R4F - what kind of races you have lined up before spring?

Hi, gang.

Sorry for my absence last week; a monsoon thwarted my half last Sunday and I had my worst race in years. I didn't prepare well mentally because I was too fixated on the weather and the last two miles were a death march. The weather -- heavy rain, winds and a temp of 74 with a dew point of 71 -- frustrated me and threw me off my game. Had to take some time away to regroup, but I think I accomplished that this week.

I'll respond later this week with comments and responses, but here's my week

Goal race: Philly, 11/19

PR: 2:42:07

A Goal: < 2:40:00

B Goal: PR

10/9: 6 miles easy

10/10: 8 miles easy

10/11: 10 miles easy

10/12: 12 a.m. 4 p.m., 16 total

AM was a 60-minute accelerator: 15-minute dropdown intervals, going from 6:30-6:15-6:00-5:45 each 15 minute set

10/13: 9 miles easy

10/14: 22.25 w/ last 19.5 in 6:25 pace

10/15: 9 miles a.m., 4 miles p.m., 13 total

TOTAL: 85+ miles

Runrincerepeat wrote:

R4F - what kind of races you have lined up before spring?

I have a turkey 5 mile Nov 18 and a 5k Dec 2nd

Cool. Have 5ks. 28th October. Turkey trot. And December 2nd as well. Then going into serious mileage for spring races including 1/2 in april.

outsiderunner - good on you for still getting the miles in. Adjusting to a new job can be tricky, especially the first week or so. Hope things improve from here.

R4F - congrats on the big PR! Always feels good.

Chunky V - sorry to hear about your thwarted half. I think things will still work out for you in the end though.

pewow - that might be the first time someone's told me I have speed! I would always be towards the back when we did speedwork in college. I have been finishing better in races post-college, so maybe there's something to that? Nice tempo workout this week - way to be consistent. Sorry you had to put your cat down too - I've helped bury a few cats, and it is not a fun time.

Forgot to mention - my calves are SUPER sore today. Guess that's what comes from running hard in flats for a longer race...