Chasing PRs after a 10-year Layoff

July

Week 1:27 miles, 4 runs

Week 2: 40 miles/6 runs Time Trial: 4:40 mile

Week 3: 27 miles/4 runs

Week 4: 33 miles/6 runs

Legs were utterly wrecked by the 2nd week, but the time trial was a pleasant surprise. I have lost any and all speed I once had, and 70 second laps were my absolute limit that day. Sidenote, the real goal of this training is to PR in the mile.

The Goals, Moving forward:

1. Build a Base -Take my time building up mileage and intensity.

2. Avoid Injuries at all costs. -I plan on not running faster than 7:40 pace for the first 15 minutes of any run, as well as staying on trails for 40% of my mileage.

3. Run fast next spring.

August

Week 5: 50 miles/6 runs Time Trial: 17:25 5km

Week 6: 31 miles/4 runs

Week 7:

Day 1: x

Day 2: 8

Day 3: 6 am, 8 pm

Day 4: 6e

Day 5: 8 - w/ 5 x 2:00 minutes @ repetition pace, 1 minute cruise recovery

Day 6: 10P (Averaged 6:50 pace, including 2 miles tempo @ 6:10.

Day 7: 4e

50 miles/7 runs

50 is the most miles I've run in 10 years. It came surprisingly easy, but I did make the mistake of increasing both mileage and intensity. During week 7 my heart rate was a little high, and I struggled to sleep.

Week 8:

Day 1: x

Day 2: 9am, 4pm

Day 3: x

Day 4: 9

Day 5: 9am, 3e

Day 6: 7 w/ 3x 5 minutes on track, 3 minute recovery.

Day 7: 9e

50 miles/7 runs

I cut back on intensity and was rewarded with fresh(er) feeling legs this week, along with sleeping soundly once again.

Alright, so we're all caught up. From here on out I'll do weekly breakdowns of training, including pace and workouts.

0 to 50 in 6 weeks sounds excessive.

Sounds like you backed off the intensity at the right time tho.

Best of luck!

September

Week 9

Day 1: 4e

Day 2: 10P, 6:40 pace

Day 3: 4e

Day 4: 9 am, 3 pm

Day 5: x

Day 6: 10 am, 4 pm

Day 7: 8P

Hamstring and groin hurt all week.

From Wednesday on it was a dreadful week of weather. Rain, cold, winds. Spent a lot of time lying around and while doing so came across a couple Letsrun threads that have caused me to take second guess my current training schedule.

The first was that classic article by WEJO in which he talked improving by not rushing things.

Then an old thread talking about the training of Lydiard, Wottle, and various Kenyan and Japanese runners. Repeatedly stressed by all, from 800 to marathon, was the importance of an extended base of pure aerobic. Anywhere from 100 to 200km a week- slow, 2x a day if necessary, for 12 to 24 weeks. Or 12 weeks at a chosen mileage and 12 weeks of working to a higher mileage 2. From there some type of Lydiard-style progression moving forward- 6 weeks of mileage with hills, bounding, whatever, before moving on to quality work. So for an already very fit runner 18 to 30 weeks of easy running before even thinking about intervals. Which got me thinking, for someone lacking any sort of aerobic base, why move so quickly through this build-up? I'm lucky to have not injured myself yet. Time to slow down.

52 miles, 8 runs

------------------------

Week 10

Day 1: 3 am, 7e pm

Day 2: 3e

Day 3: 7

Day 4: 9 am, 4 pm

Day 5: 7

Day 6: 4

Day 7: 12

Lots of slow, easy running this week. Body felt sluggish but the hamstring felt a little better. I'm in desperate need of new shoes. Probably going to lose some nails this week.

55 miles, 9 runs

Week 11

Day 1: 3am, 7pm w/ 10 minutes at 5k pace. Legs were extremely fatigued.

Day 2: x

Day 3: 4e

Day 4: x

Day 5: 9

Day 6: 6T

Day 7: 12, 4

Took a down week after day 1, and legs responded wonderfully. Freshest they've felt since week 1.

45 miles, 5 days, 7 runs

Following and good luck! I have very similar PR's (4:26 mile, 15:52 5k) and also at a 9 year lay off (age 30). We are actually the same height as well. I ran at 165lbs in college but am currently fat at 220lbs. I quit soda a few weeks ago and have now been counting calories, after not giving a F for a while. Want to get down to 165 by my bachelor party in April. Also, eyeing a marathon in March to get the BQ and would ultimately like a mile PR down the road.

Have been doing 3 mile runs with my dog and boxing at night. I've dreamed of getting back in shape for one last "run" at prs. Now I'm doing it. Will let you know if my fat butt actually continues on.

awesome training thread. good luck man

Boston5335ffll wrote:

Following and good luck! I have very similar PR's (4:26 mile, 15:52 5k) and also at a 9 year lay off (age 30). We are actually the same height as well. I ran at 165lbs in college but am currently fat at 220lbs. I quit soda a few weeks ago and have now been counting calories, after not giving a F for a while. Want to get down to 165 by my bachelor party in April. Also, eyeing a marathon in March to get the BQ and would ultimately like a mile PR down the road.

Have been doing 3 mile runs with my dog and boxing at night. I've dreamed of getting back in shape for one last "run" at prs. Now I'm doing it. Will let you know if my fat butt actually continues on.

Best of luck to you as well! I imagine hard tabatas/circuits + easy running will be the recipe for you, at least until the lbs start dropping. Keep us updated!

Previous weeks:

20 miles, 3 runs

24 miles, 3 runs

15 miles, 3 runs

28 miles, 4 runs

27 miles, 4 runs

40 miles, 6 runs Time Trial: 4:40 mile

27 miles, 4 runs

33 miles, 6 runs

50 miles, 6 runs Time Trial: 17:25 5km

31 miles, 4 runs

50 miles, 7 runs

50 miles, 7 runs

52 miles, 8 runs

55 miles, 9 runs

45 miles, 7 runs

-----------------------------

Week 12

Day 1: 6e

Day 2: 13p, 4e

Day 3: 8 w/ fartlek

Day 4: 4e

Day 5: 9p

Day 6: 7, 4e

Day 7: 9

The down-week (and new shoes) worked wonders. Had my best run in ages on day three: 13 miles w/ the last 4 miles below 6:30 pace.

Hamstring continues to be a problem, but only when varying paces. To combat it I threw in some post-run sessions of squats, lunges, and mobility work.

64 miles, 9 runs

Awesome bro! Best of luck moving forward!

Take your time building that base first...slow down those easy runs, dont neglect basic speed and get in the gym a couple times a week and get STRONG!

Week 13

Day 1: 10 w/ 5k TT-16:59. (5:20, 5:20, 5:40)

Day 2: off

Day 3: 4 am, 7 pm

Day 4: 8 w/ fartlek

Day 5: off

Day 6: 9e, 4e

Day 7: 10p

52 miles, 5 days

Looking back through this thread as an outsider and my gut reaction is that the mileage has been increased too quickly. My body says otherwise- I still feel really good! The worst of the fatigue was 9 weeks ago when I first jumped to 49.

But boy, that time trial was ROUGH. At 1.5 miles I knew I was in trouble, and sure enough, the last half-mile was run close to 6 minute pace. Sick to my stomach, arms spaghetti.

TBH, I was pretty bummed with the time. I'm not sure what I expected- I've only officially run faster thrice: 2x in hs (16:55, 16:35) and 1x in college (15:55 TT on a track). Granted, we were also doing 20-some minute tempos at 5:20 pace back then.

I'm years behind the ball and patience is key. The plan is to keep the mileage in the 50's for 4 more weeks (making it 12 weeks of 50+ mpw) before moving up again.

Found this thread after creating my comeback thread and it’s awesome! Pretty cool seeing we were both around the same fitness level during our competitive running days. Seems your playing soccer throughout the years has greatly helped you vs my heavy lifting and bulking lol. I definitely feel what you mean about feeling heavy on your runs, but 8lbs over your race weight is better than my 40, so hang in there! Best of luck to you, @22twos!

Yeah, I dig this. As another 10 year off 30-something, this is cool to see. Bravo to the OP and cool to see his fitness build and times drop. Do you have specific goals for the Spring?

JFlo Runs wrote:

Found this thread after creating my comeback thread and it’s awesome! Pretty cool seeing we were both around the same fitness level during our competitive running days. Seems your playing soccer throughout the years has greatly helped you vs my heavy lifting and bulking lol. I definitely feel what you mean about feeling heavy on your runs, but 8lbs over your race weight is better than my 40, so hang in there! Best of luck to you, @22twos!

Best of luck to you as well, @JFlo Runs! I'll have to check yours out.

I spent years 20 to 23 doing the stereotypical ex-runner thing, drinking heavily 4x a week and just generally doing my best to become a worthless human. My roommate, a blue chip recruit, put on 40 lbs. Somehow I only managed to gain around 10 lbs in the same time frame. Thank god for genetics...

Anyway- to 81611, the (optimistic) goal would be to break 16 in the Spring, then come fall run a fast mile. I'm not sure if that 5k time is possible in the given time frame, but there's only one way to find out.

Ran a half marathon this weekend on 0 training. Felt not too bad until mile 8-10 thought I might pass out. miles 10-13 I slowed down a ton and finished in 2:09....very very slow but was a big mental breakthrough for making me actually stick it out and get it done. Now I actually want to lose the god damn weight and get faster.

how hard has it been to do this alone versus running with teammates? id imagine incredibly hard to get motivated, and at the same time boring.

running is a fairly individualized sport, but having a team to hammer through the workouts/intervals with certainly helps in terms of competition and keeping focused.

Found my original account, so I'll be using it versus my JFlo Runs I created recently.

Running alone has always been kinda nice for me for the most part and I don't really mind it a majority of the time.

However, to answer your question directly, it is a little harder to run and train alone versus with teammates sometimes. I have days, especially on harder track workout days or longer interval days where I miss running with at least one other person. It doesn't necessarily get boring, but sometimes I remember running with my teammates motivated me a bit more to stay on pace and stay together for our distance/easy runs or go out and really drop the hammer and try to beat them on a hard workout -- especially on speed days. It was also nice to know that you were surrounded with people who had personal goals to beat and loved running just as much you, so the accountability and camaraderie was always there. When it came to competing, even in a team sport like XC, I always had the mentality that as long as I focused on myself and my performance individually, I would help the team as a whole.

Running now while trying to juggle a bunch of responsibilities (50+ hour work week, military lifestyle, family life, etc.) having someone to run/train with would probably motivate me a little more and probably make my runs a little more enjoyable, especially when I'm feeling lethargic or lazy.

Thanks for sharing. I’m 30, thankfully keeping within 10 pounds of race weight and working to get somewhat close to my former peak form. It is taking years in my case. Motivation and drive are rarely in sync. I will definitely be following your progress for motivation to help stick with it!

what branch are you serving?