Low mileage 400/800 training

Week of 8/10-8/16:

Monday: 7 miles steady

Tuesday: 6.5 steady

Wednesday: 1.1 mile warm-up, 18x150m hill, 2.1 mile cool down

Thursday: 5.3 miles steady

Friday: off

Saturday: 1.6 mile warm-up, 6x800 @ LT with 1 minute rest, 1.6 mile cool down

Sunday: off

Pretty good week overall. Tuesday’s run was a little long because I had to take a bathroom detour. Just bought a Garmin 245 and I really like it, especially the heart monitor part. Switched hills so now it’s 150m long. Felt good. HR was around 180 for the uphills. Felt like garbage on Thursday but I didn’t sleep much that night. I got called into work on Friday and I didn’t feel like doing a workout afterwards. Saturday’s workout was great: 800’s went 3:05, 3:00, 3:00, 3:00, 3:02, 3:02. My HR was around 165 for the majority of the reps. During the last 2 it started to get up into the 170s. I felt really good during the workout, really didn’t feel like I had to push at all. Little over 30 miles this week, even with just 5 days of running. Not going to change much next week besides adding a mile or so onto my long run.

Week of 8/17 - 8/23:

Monday: 7.5 miles

Tuesday: 3.2 miles of warm-up + cool down, 20 x 150 meter hills @ 5:20-5:30 pace

Wednesday: 5.3 miles easy

Thursday: 5.3 miles steady

Friday: 3.2 miles of warm-up + cool down, 6 x 800 @ 3:00, 2:57, 2:57, 3:00, 3:00, 2:57 w/ 1 minute rest.

Saturday: off

Sunday: off

For the weeks work, it was pretty off and on. Felt like absolute trash on Monday. Was just really tired the whole day and really pushed through the run. Tuesday was the same, slept a ton that day, but the workout felt a lot better. After 3-4 hills that were either too fast or too slow, I really settled in on that 5:20-5:30 pace. Wednesday was just fine, and the same for Thursday. Friday’s workout was strange. Didn’t feel great going into it, but once I started it was not bad. I initially wanted to do 7x800 @ 3:05ish, but my body seemed kinda set on that 3 minute pace. I only really had to push on the last rep to get the time. Had a really hard time breathing in the beginning of the workout, got better half way through, and towards the end it started to get difficult again, but I imagine that was because of the workout itself. I’ve been having a difficult time taking deep breaths for past 3 weeks or so, sometimes on workout days, sometimes just during easy runs.

Since I got my Garmin, I’ve been really into the HR monitor. It’s the reason I got it. I’m starting to think that the HR is a tad inaccurate. During my 800’s it says I got up to over 180 for the last rep. I know I was going faster than I should have on that workout, but I don’t think it was so fast that I was near my Max Heart Rate. The Garmin also says that on a 5 mile run @ 8 minute pace my HR was at 160, which seems incredibly high for a steady run. I don’t think I was pushing it; I’m a really big believer in easy days easy, and I don’t think 8 minute pace gets my HR to the 160s. I read an article that did a study on the wrist based HR Monitors, and it found that even at 8-9 minute mile pace, the wrist based monitors were off by about 5-6 beats a minute. If anyone has worn the Garmin and also a chest HR monitor, I’d really like to know the difference.

Finally, I know this isn’t super interesting right now. I can’t get on any tracks and the workouts are pretty limited to hills/fartlek/tempos right now so there isn’t a ton of 400/800 specific training going on here. I can’t even get onto a field to do strides after my runs. But I’d rather just plug along and stay somewhat in shape until I can properly train again.

Week of 8/24 - 8/30:

Monday: 7 miles @ garbage pace

Tuesday: 3.2 miles of warm-up/cool down, 21 x 150m hill reps @ 5:25 pace

Wednesday: 5.5 miles steady

Thursday: 5.5 miles recovery/steady

Friday: 3.2 miles of warm-up/cool down, 7x800 @ 3 minutes w/ 1 minute rest

Saturday: 0.75 mile warm up, 4x flying 30 w/ 3 minute rest, 0.75 mile cool down

My Monday long runs have been trash for the past couple weeks. Probably because I work two long ass shifts in a row on the weekend. Was thinking maybe a short 1-2 miles easy in the morning might make it not suck in the afternoon.

I seem to be figuring out how to make myself feel good on workout days. Hills and LT 800’s felt good, didn’t have to really try until the last couple hill reps and maybe the last LT 800. Wish my recovery and steady runs would feel as good.

Starting to get concerned about my top end speed. I’ve had decent natural speed but I feel like it’s fading, probably because I can’t do any strides or real speed work. That’s why I did the flying 30’s on Saturday, I wanted to start touching on that area again. I did it at night after work since it’s illegal to use parks right now and I didn’t want to get caught.

I’m in the mid 30’s with my mileage right now, which I’m happy with. I’m hopeful that lockdown will be lifted soon and I can get back on the track again. Only change for next week is to do a short easy run before my long run, to try to “wake my legs up” a little beforehand. I remember doing the kids warm-up with them and it made my runs later in the afternoon feel better, so I’m hoping for the same effect.

Past 3 weeks:

2 weeks ago i had probably my best week of training in 6 months. Did my 3x7x150m hills @ about 5:20 pace, and was finally able to get on a track that week (albeit a dirt one) and had a great LT session: 7x800@2:55 with 1 minute rest, and my heart rate was in the low 170's the whole time. Felt excellent. Took a down week last week; work has been very busy and it seemed like an okay time for small decrease in mileage. Only ran 4 days, did the same hill workout and I did an LT workout also. The Hills were fine, the LT sucked ass. I didn't sleep much at all that day and i only did 6 800's because by the 6th one i was struggling. I could have done the 7th but it would definitely not have been at Lactate Threshold. My heart rate got up to over 180 so I was right to cut it off.

Week of 9/13-9/19:

Sunday: hungover, didn't run

Monday: 7 mile run

Tuesday: 5.5 mile run

Wednesday: off

Thursday: 1.2 mile warm-up, 4x8 second hill sprint @ all out effort w/ 3-4 minute rest, then 5.5 mile run @ 8 min pace

Friday: 6x800 @ 2:55 with 1 minute rest.

My LT 800's started out fine but went downhill towards the end. I was okay until around 5, where I started feeling it. I planned on doing 7. Once I got half way through the 6th rep, I knew I wasn't doing a 7th. I made the right call because I checked my HR after and it was in the 180s on the last rep. This was kind of a testing day, because i wanted to see how well I came back from the short hill sprints yesterday, and my legs were certainly a little more tired during the workout, but I don't feel like my HR should have jacked up that much. I also don't really think 2 weeks of reduced mileage should have affected me that much, but what do I know. Maybe next week I'll feel a little stronger. I would appreciate any insight if anyone actually reads this.

My training is weird because of my work schedule now. But I should get back to normalish next week. Long run sunday, Hills monday, 2 steady runs over tuesday and wednesday, and then off friday and saturday.

And LT 8's on Thursday

Im back baby (sort of)

I was starting to have a little bit of soreness in my achilles, most likely due to lack of sleep/overuse. I decided to take a week off because i didnt want to tear it again. it was still sore and i was also about to move, so i decided to take more time off. That turned into taking about a month off. I then was training for a firefighter exam and running took a backseat to lifting and swimming. i was doing about 10-15 miles a week at 8ish mile pace. My test is over and my achilles is feeling better, so once again im starting up. Hopefully with no stops for quite some time. Currently I am: running 5-6 days a week, about 30 miles a week, around 7:45-8:15 pace depending on how i feel. I do one workout a week, alternating between fast 6-8 second hill repeats with full recovery and several 150m hill repeats with jog back. I lost all speed so im very focused on the all out, short hill reps at the moment. I would like to add in LT work or fartleks in the near future.

DougieSmalls wrote:

My goal is to hit 1:52-1:53 by summer time. I want to hit what I think I should have in college before I get too old to do it. The other is to show my training..

Do you have a revised goal for this summer?

1:52.xx is still the ultimate goal. But it will depend on whether I can get back on a track this spring. If I can train through february and get back on a track by March, then I can attempt that this summer. But if everything remains closed in my state throughout the spring then ill have to adjust. I was feeling good on one particular day in October, a week or two before i took time off, and I did an all out, uphill 200 after 7x800 workout, and I did it in about 24.xx seconds. Rolling start and the hill's gradient was only about 6%, but if I could do that then I was in at least decent shape. If i can get into that shape again and then get 6-8 weeks of track work in, I would feel comfortable attempting an 800 TT.