Some comments now, hopefully more later...
TDR: Looking good. Interested to follow your strategy for working in some faster running.
slo: Good to hear that the faster stuff is coming along. I remember you saying that you felt like that was going to be the limiting factor. Stay healthy!
RRR: Suspect that you will benefit quite a lot from the work you’ve been putting in.
Coach Jeff: It sounds like you’re training is going very well. If I’m following what you’re saying about the way that you’re approaching the M part of your training, I would be inclined to agree with keeping the HR in the 170s vs. the 180s. To my mind, that kind of running should feel like the fast end of easy rather than the slow end of hard. It does get hard if you run long enough, of course, but you want the difficulty to come from sustaining the effort for a long time rather than pressing the issue at any particular point along the way. (In my opinion.)
Stone: I did 400 workouts like that quite a lot when I was running my PRs and found them very useful. Really helps with running smoothly at a good pace without putting much stress on the body.
Bdubs: Congrats on the 5k! Awesome.
JCPP: I suspect that if you’re able to stay consistent with your training, you will significantly drop that 5k time. And continuing to work on your strength in the 5k and in tempo-type efforts should really benefit your performance in the mile as well. With that in mind, I would encourage you to cultivate a positive mindset when approaching that kind of work. Don’t say I stink at this, say this is something that’s helping me get better. Maybe you could benefit from breaking up the tempos, or running them progressively (i.e., not going out too hard). But the main thing is to put in the right kind of effort, and the fitness, and eventually the times, will follow. (PS: If you hit your goal for the mile this spring, you will beat my PR by one second.)
jotquill: Having banged up a rib recently, I sympathize with what you’ve been dealing with. Looking at your recent mileage build, a down week may not have been the worst thing in the bigger scheme of things.
Coyote Montane: Congratulations on the acronymic accolades! Well deserved.
jewbacca: Guess that little doggy will just have to find somebody else to scratch his ears. Hope you’re the one chasing down some big dogs at Houston.
RunnersFix: That is one long drive! What is your strategy for working on the downhill running? I have been thinking about this myself, because I am looking at a race with some big downhills this spring, and running downhills effectively is something I need to work on.
KidB: Looking great for Houston. Seems like there have been a couple of longer runs the last couple of weeks where you’ve run maybe a little further/faster than you intended. I don’t think that was necessarily a bad thing, but probably getting to the stage where you’ll want to rein yourself in a little more.
pewow: Nice mix of work for this time of year. I remember those Shorewood hills…
Bambino: Welcome to the thread!
Still Improving: That was quite a streak. Smart to take an easy week if you’re feeling a bit beat up. Better to know that now and take the time than to push into a new training cycle and find yourself getting ground down further down the road. In that sense, the 5k may have been a blessing in disguise.
Sub 6: I like the idea for the New Year’s workout. Looking strong with that long run.
cjhi: Welcome to the thread!