advice to run a 9:40 this track season

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All He Does Is Win wrote:

Enter a mile race.

Hobby jog it.

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I think you might have mental problems.

Its definitely not an unrealistic goal, though it will definitely not be easy. However, since you have never really pushed your mileage up too high I think you could it achieve it, just try to slowly build it up during winter before track and just focus on tempos/fartleks only. Don't do any pure speedwork during winter.

alebranc wrote:

I have am in xc season right now and I have run 16:50 so far. My track PR's are 10:12 3200 and 4:44 1600. I have been running very low mileage all throughout high school (around 40 at the most, averaging around 25) I know 9:40 would be a big goal, but I think increasing my mileage would really help. I was wondering if this is realistic and for some advice on how to achieve it. I am a junior by the way.

Your mileage is way too low to get you where you want based on where you are. 25 MPW is no where close. Yes, increasing your mileage will really help.

Start your buildup immediately after CC season is over for you. Don't take 2 weeks off unless you are injured. Take 3-5 DAYS off.

With averaging 25 miles a week, I am assuming you were probably taking a day off in there. No more! A day off should come VERY rarely.

M - 4

T - 4

W - 5

TH - 4

F - 3

SA - 1

SU - 6

27 miles the first week

M - 5

T - 5

W - 6

TH - 4

F - 3

SA - 2

SU - 7

32 miles the second week

M - 5

T - 5

W - 7

TH - 5

F - 4

SA - 3

SU - 8

37 miles the third week AND the 4th week (if you were at high mileage, this 4th week would be a step down in mileage).

M - 6

T - 6

W - 8

TH - 6

F - 5

SA - 4

SU - 9

44 the 5th week. From here, the key is to continue to build that Sunday run up to as much as 14 miles if you can handle it. If not, cap it at 12 (below that is not ideal). Wednesday run can be 9-11 miles ultimately. Get the 6 milers up to 7-8, the 5 up to 6 and the 4 up to 5. If in your buildup you need to stay stagnant for a week or even drop the long run down (don't go down more than 2 miles for the long run) then do so, but then right back to the buildup after that.

The vast majority of this should be done at conversational pace until mid March. If you want to make the Friday run a tempo pace, you can do that before then.

Many runners have improved from 10:12 as a sophomore to 9:40 or faster as a junior...physical maturity is a big part of that, so it depends partly on where you are with that, but averaging 25 miles a week is no good...you will do much better with more mileage.

If you want to kill it as a senior, get your summer mileage up to 70 MPW and then stay in the 60s during the CC season.

Good luck.

Thank you, this confirms what I thought about my mileage. I will talk to my coach about this.

To run a 9:40 you must run at around 4:51/mi which is an increase of about 5.5% per mile. You most definitely want to increase your mileage to build more strength, but make sure to have a recovery week after three weeks of build up where you drop down in mileage to make sure that you don't get injured. It's always better to be undertrained than overtrained and being hurt. Make sure most of your runs are easy during the winter as you are in the base phase, but you could also add in some 150s, 200s, and hill sprints to improve leg speed.

I'd agree with everything flagpole said except the early stuff about not taking a lot of time off and "rarely" having days off. I run 6 days a week more often than 7, and use the day off as a full recovery day. I stretch, roll, do yoga, bike, swim, cross train, anything basically. It still is a bit of work, but it gives me a bit of the mental reset I sometimes require. I would say that over the course of the 52 weeks in a year, 30 of them are 6 days a week and 22 of them are 7 days a week.

But, in a buildup, I would agree that there's no point in having a day off. Once you hit your goal mileage though, it's not so bad.

Shade77 wrote:

I'd agree with everything flagpole said except the early stuff about not taking a lot of time off and "rarely" having days off. I run 6 days a week more often than 7, and use the day off as a full recovery day. I stretch, roll, do yoga, bike, swim, cross train, anything basically. It still is a bit of work, but it gives me a bit of the mental reset I sometimes require. I would say that over the course of the 52 weeks in a year, 30 of them are 6 days a week and 22 of them are 7 days a week.

But, in a buildup, I would agree that there's no point in having a day off. Once you hit your goal mileage though, it's not so bad.

Once you hit your goal mileage, you don't want to then take a day off...makes the rest of the days too much. A day off once you build up to decent mileage is 3-4 miles. If every 4-5 weeks you need a complete day off, then go for it. If you are too injury prone that you need to take a day off every week, then you won't get as good as you could have. Now, this is for people 35 who are still competitive. Over 35 and you need to take a day off every week to keep you running, then that's what you have to do.

Geb ran twice a day every day except Christmas. High school kids can run every day and even twice a day a couple times a week with just a very rare day off..

Do whatever Katelyn Tuohy is doing.