I'll weigh in on my experience. 41M (5'11", 150 lbs), ran in XC way back in high school (slow for the team, ~18:50 5k), decided to start running again 2 winters ago, don't really race, did a 10k in 44:00 last fall.
Was running 30-40 MPW with 1 Daniels Style hard session, a long run, and a bunch of random Z2-3 miles. Was making some progress (trying to build to 40-50 MPW) but was feeling sore quiet often after the hard stuff. Got sick in February and tried to run through it, burnt myself out and took a few weeks off.
After building back up in March/April to 40-50 MPW doing Z1-Z2 stuff, I stumbled on this thread and the idea of less hard stuff and more sub-T to stay on my feet seemed appealing so I decided to give it a go and stick to the plan for 10-12 weeks and see what happens. Weeks have all been the same. Last LTHR test was about 173, kept Max HR at the end of the subT workouts closer to 168-170.
M - Easy 6 Miles
Tu - 3x2k (~7:15/mile) w/ 1 minute recovery + WU/CU
W - Easy 6 Miles
Th - 7x1k (~7:00/mile) w/ 1 minute recovery + WU/CU
F - Easy 6 Miles
S - Easy 6 Miles
Sun - Long 10 Miles(3 Easy, 4 @ 7:30 pace, 3 Easy)
Basically, 50 Miles a week, 12 miles at sub-T (20%), All the rest done in upper Z1/lower Z2 (9-10 minute pace), repeated since May 1.
Did a 5k TT on February 15 just before getting sick:
36 deg F out - 20:57 (6:44 Pace), Avg HR 172, Max HR 179, Splits 6:35, 6:51, 6:48.
Finally ran another one yesterday:
82 deg F out - 20:56 (6:44 Pace), Avg HR 168, Max 175, Splits 6:29, 6:47, 6:57.
Needless to say, I'm pretty bummed. I was hoping for a strong signal that the work had some effect.
Thoughts:
- I feel like I'm generally fitter, I've jumped up and additional 15-20 MPW and I feel much stronger on the larger workload. Very rarely sore, fine to repeat sub-T workouts 3x a week. Way different experience than Jan/February.
- I feel like I'm really comfortable running in the 7-7:30/mile pace now.
- That 5k felt way different than the hard running from over the winter. Almost Like my body doesn't remember how pull hard and maintain it, I ended up falling back to my workout pace by the end of it.
- If I squint real hard I could say it was 40F hotter and way more humid out and I ran the same time (same course) at 4 BPM lower HR (even though I faded).
I don't know if it's just the heat or that I haven't really pressed myself in almost 3 months and I forgot what time trial/race pace effort feels like or if this type of work is just not the stimulus I respond to.
Was there any progress here? I don't know. I'm tempted to stick it out another few weeks and maybe run another 5k or two to see if it's just a matter of knocking the cobwebs out of my legs.