Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 8/31

Good weeks everybody! It's been a couple weeks since I've posted so I figured I should provide an update.

8/17 - 8/23

70 miles. Workout for the week: 4x1.5 miles hard, 1/4 mile easy (7:37, 7:35, 7:34, 7:31)

8/24 - 8/30

70 miles. Workout for the week: 8 mile tempo in 42:38 (5:27, 5:25, 5:21, 5:20, 5:21, 5:20, 5:17, 5:09)

Not sure exactly what I'm training for but feeling as strong as an ox. A lot stronger than the half I ran earlier this year in 67:xx. I'm not running enough miles to put in a solid marathon this fall (not that I'm signed up for one anyway), but the thought is starting to pop in my head about taking a shot at 2:20 next fall. Then it's like well, if I'm going to shoot for 2:20 I might as well make it 2:19 for the Trials standard... But I digress, and those are pretty lofty goals. It would require the ultimate commitment.

I just looked through my log and it looks like I averaged just under 70 miles per week for the 7 months before that half marathon earlier this year. Definitely less of a focus on quality workouts during that build up compared to now as well. I'm hoping that the focus on increased mileage and more workouts will pay big dividends. I've been averaging closer to 80 since the half with at least one solid workout per week, sometimes two.

Keep it up people!

I've missed this thread the past few weeks. It's good to see everyone doing well.

Goal: Ramp up intensity, maintain volume throughout XC season.

Goal Race: State Divisional Meet 11/8

Goal for Race: A Goals: Advance to All-States, break 17. B Goal: Break 17:30 C Goal: Actually finish without passing out this year haha :P

Next race: First duel meet 9/9 Goal for Race (3 miles): Sub 17:45?

M - Hill workout :D One small hill is nothing compared to the mountains I've been dying on this past summer. Still a good workout though, no doubt. 1m WU. .55m fast WU ~ 3:30. 3 sets of a loop up and down the hill 3 times. Each set was about 3:05-3:10. Breathing hard the whole time, working especially hard up the hill. Felt great. Then 6 all out sprints up the hill and walk back down. 1.5m CD.

T - 1m WU. 5.2 blaaahhh. First time running at 2:30 in the afternoon since May... Everyone on the team died, one kid passed out on the side of the road. 85-90º I managed to survive...

W - 1m WU. 2.9 easy. Strides. Still hot, but it was an easy run. My coach told me he was picking me to be captain, so that's pretty cool. My increase in effort over the last 6 months has paid off in multiple ways. :P

T - Picture day then a scrimmage meet. The course is mainly grass and some dirt/wood chips, not too hilly. The distance wasn't really known, but I measured it online and it came out to be 2.1936 miles... 2m WU. Strides. Race in 12:18. That's about 11:12 2 mile pace??? My Pr is 11:09 on a track, so either I measured wrong or I am in really good shape. Probably somewhere in between... I guess I'll find out later. Their top three guys weren't racing, so they just hung around in front of me. At the end their coach told them to kick away from me, but I managed to outkick one of them. Perhaps that sprint work during the summer helped? Felt like I could have pushed harder in the middle of the race, just need to get some of that mental toughness back. 1.25m CD.

F - 1m WU. 7.6 at 7:27 felt good. A little sore from the race. Strides.

Sat - Felt lazy as hell and ended up skipping my run. Then later that night I got mad at myself and made myself workout in my basement for two hours which I hate doing. 20 min on the stationary bike medium effort. Then I lifted, upper body, which I need to do more often. Then I did some of Jay Johnson's GSM along with some of my own stuff.

Sun - 45:54 trails easy. Boobs are sore.

Total - ~35 Pretty low volume in terms of mileage, but definitely a good week. Lots of different types of work. Next week is supposed to be 85-90 every day soo.... this is gonna suck.

Netwerk Errer wrote:

Once and future: I was happy to make the first team, I really wasn't expecting to. First four scored and I got in ahead of two teamates who have run under 30 minutes for road 5 miles this year. It would have been nice to win but the better team won. The good news is that our team have a lot of really fast guys to bring in for County (same as state for the Americans) championships while yesterday's winning team doesn't. I won't be running in the County XC champs because of marathon training but I would be a mile away from scoring anyway. We will have a whole team under 28 minutes for an 8k XC race in the champs.

I will get around to posting my comments later tonight or tomorrow.

As for my statistics. I am 25/6"2/152 lbs.

When I said first team, I meant our club first team.

Bonham: No plan, well basic high (for me) mileage base period and then the last 6-8 weeks I add more quality and tune up races. but I've really struggled running long runs at sub 7 pace which was knocking my confidence, then we had a bout of fresher weather and suddenly mid 6 min miles feels fairly comfortable.. But its gone silly again.. the humidity kills me.

Matthias: pr's are a bit mixed as I rarely, if ever, focus on anything less than 10 miles and haven't raced them seriously for a few years..

5k 16:15, 10: 33:50 10 miles: 55:55, HM 1:13:30, M: 2:39:57 - the 1:13 points to somewhere in the upper 2:30's as being realistic..

The 2:39 was set on my own as I won by 5 minutes, but I did have a strong head wind going out then a strong tail wind coming in.. but that as off no taper, I'd literally just emigrated and decided to run that marathon the new day after driving across europe..

All of them, bar the 10 miler, are 2013 or earlier.. but with the heat of the summer I've not bothered racing much, just the odd 5k which I've ran mid 16's or low 17's.

Stone: wow way to tough out the late late workout Wednesday!

Matthias: great workouts. Especially if you ran those miles not npfeeling great.

Cmm: another awesome week. Wish I could be doing those faster workout outs like you. You look fit! RnR philly should be a great chance to pop a good one.

Hereford: how was the tempo after the 400s?

Jwill: dont over do things next (this?) week being so close to the marathon. I like all of the med long runs pfitz gives. They are usually tough mid week

Once and future: congrats on the mileage high. Sometimes the tempos aren't there on the higher mileage weeks. Your MP runs have looked spot on.

Bonham: I hate when tri races get in the way of workouts. Glad the season is over here. Great track workout. Even with people in the way haha.

I was dragging ass around 2:30 into the run and again after 4:10. I tried eating a lot of different things. Shot blocks, gu chomps, sport beans, and gels. The shot blocks and sport beans are harder to chew than the gu chomps. But I like the packaging of the blocks better. Still can't beat gels.

Printer: glad you see you back! That goofy challenge sounds tough!

Thelogistician: OT standard is 2:17:59 not 2:19.

Np - the tempo after the 400s is my favorite workout. The 400s make the tempo feel easy. And the back to back nature of the sessions allows me to work two systems on one day - which is important since at 44yo, I really can't do more than two hard days per week. I count the long run as a 'hard' day.

As I get closer to my goal marathon I will alter the balance of the combo run to include more tempo and less 5k stuff. I'll keep some of the latter just to maintain.

Anyway, this is just my thinking as of right now. I tinker with my training plan constantly and I might be doing something totally different next week! ;)

kendo - i wouldn't bother adding any more miles to your weeks, now that you are hitting the harder, more specific intervals. just make the easy days EASY and the hard days hard and you will crush it!

stone cutter - great time despite the conditions. hope you enjoyed the rest of the holiday!

np1112 - another top week.

bonham - almost 7 miles on the track? wow i would be bored after a couple! way to keep yourself in focus. that old guy sounds like a right dunce! The descending rest was just a random decision i decided to make halfway through the session, as i was feeling great. It definitely helps for shorter repetitions.

printer - sounds like you're getting into the swing of things again.

thelogistican - 2 solid workouts in 2 weeks! nice stuff

nop200 - sounds like an interesting race there. if it is a legit distance, you definitely are in good shape!

cwood - solid Pr's! would've been interesting to know what you could've ran in the marathon with no wind, a bit of competition and a taper! think you have a lot to come :)