4/25 intervals workout: 1mile, 1/2mi, 1/4 1/4, 1/2, 1/4 with 1/4mi jogging recoveries between each rep. mile was 6:45 and other reps average 6:48 pace. Felt very solid but not easy. did another slow jog in the evening to bring total milage up to 9 and to try to prevent sorness the next day
4/26: 6mi @ 9:04
4/27: 3mi @ 9:45pace am // 4.5mi @ 8:00 pace pm this evening run was a light tempo run, halfmile warmup, three miles steady (~7:45, 7:25, 7:05) then a few laps cool down. Felt very easy
I'm impressed, however I dont know why you feel you need to add a run in the evening (4/25). Your pursuit of mitigating soreness by adding extra mileage may result in an injury from too much mileage. Walking, pool work, or massage might be better with less risk.
Thanks and that could be true. The evening jog was at an averagepace of 11:14 per mile. It was extremely light effort. I think it did help the next day because I didn't feel any sorness left over from the workout (I did feel sore starting the jog).
My average milage in the past few weeks, starting with the most recent
43.7, 45.7, 48.5, 33.0, 39.7, 38.4, 39.4
Averages over the past few months:
42.7, 37.3, 31.3, 40.0, 39.5, 41.5, 35.6
I have been keeping the milage pretty consistent overall since I began this topic. I am aiming to hit 40 on most weeks but don't think I've ever exceeded 50mpw in a single week. With the warm weather coming back I have been busy more often on the weekends so trying to get the mileage in during the week as much as possible.
Yeah Bill that run won't harm you. But in the past you ramped it up too quickly and suffered because of it. Glad to read that you've been so consistent with your mileage!
Yeah Bill that run won't harm you. But in the past you ramped it up too quickly and suffered because of it. Glad to read that you've been so consistent with your mileage!
You ramped up your intensity in the past, that or a big increase in mileage are not wise. Again, glad to read that you've learned.
Yeah Bill that run won't harm you. But in the past you ramped it up too quickly and suffered because of it. Glad to read that you've been so consistent with your mileage!
Very true. I would hate to deal with that kind of injury again, which seemed to be related to the psoas. I have not had any issues thankfully with that lately. I believe part of it has been supplementing BCAA to help with recovery. I've settled into a schedule of 4 days of lifting and ~40mpw which seems to be a good balance. I lift heavy on Saturday and Sunday, and light on two other days in the midweek Tues-Thurs.
I think another important factor was strengthening my core and my lower back. I started deadlifting about six weeks ago and was shocked at how incredibly weak I was at that particular lift. It was weaker than my bench press! Since then I have been deadlifting every Saturday and one day during the week I will do light weight DB goblet squats, light weight RDL on the smith machine and some cable work to reinforce. It has been a great success so far. My strength has improved each week as well as my form and control, particularly during the negative.
4/28: 7mi @ 9:17, strides
4/29: 3.3mi @ 9:21
4/30: 6k progression run. goal was to start easy and work down to goal 5km pace (5:15, 5:00, 4:45, 4:30, 4:15, 4:00) I ended up missing those faster targets, with the last 1km coming in at 4:04. That was due to a focus on pacing rather than being too hard. this was at a crowded trail and I was kind of zoning out people-watching and daydreaming instead of focusing on my pace towards the end. The last 400m or so I tried to make up for it and ran it in around 6 minute mile pace but I had already lost too much time to hit 4:00 by that point. Overall still a decent run with the last 2km being right around that 6:45-6:50 pace I had been targetting in last week's workout and still had a good amount in the tank at the end. Did another easy loop after and some strides total run was around 10-11k
5/3: intervals workout, 1mi @ 6:38, 8 x 0.25mi average pace 6:40, 0.25mi recovery. Good workout since I am chipping away at my paces here and feel confident I could run close to 6:00 for a single mile if I didn't plan on running more intervals immediately afterwards.
The workout was a little shaky because I ran much earlier in the day than normal and didn't have much time to do a full warmup. The mile run didn't feel hard but it felt HEAVY and I didn't feel loosened up. I felt looser towards the end of the mile and during the shorter reps afterwards. My recovery intervals were more generous than usual, averaging around 3 minutes recovery, towards the end walking the first 30 seconds then jogging. As a result the later intervals started to feel a little easier than the middle ones.
5/4: 5mi @ 9:29
5/5 6mi @ 8:54 kind of another weird run today. Yesterday and most days I feel very light and smooth running at easy or even tempo paces. I am light on my feet enough so that I can't hear my own footsteps on the treadmill when I'm running usually. However today I felt clunky for the first few miles.
I felt like I couldn't find my stride at these slow paces on a treadmill (trying to run easy 9:45 miles and save up energy to do a tempo tomorrow) but towards the end I just cranked out the last couple miles at 8 minute pace and for some reason that felt a lot smoother and was no longer thudding with every step. Overall I feel rested and hoping I'm up to a decent tempo or something tomorrow. If not then save it for the weekend.
I know I just updated this topic recently but I'm planning to ramp down the next couple weeks slightly and wanted to capture this nice tempo today before the updates get less frequent. Cruised most of this around 7:50 pace then hammered the last 1k or so around 6:50 pace to finish right at the 48 minute mark.
the run itself felt really relaxed and easy. Right afterwards however my legs felt very tight. Possibly from the fast finish or because Saturday mornings I deadlift high weight low reps and muscles were already tired from that. Aerobically this pace range is getting quite comfortable, would have been able to hold a conversation easily during this run. However my legs did nag a little here and there and definitely feel them after the run.
I think I have the engine for much faster times than I've posted so far, if I can give my legs time to completely rest and recover. Next couple weeks will be good for that. I am most likely taking Wednesday off this week and next week I will be going on vacation for a few days and just running/lifting casually as well. After I get back I'm hoping to be 100% rested in the legs and feel it would be a good time to shoot for a sub-21 TT.
workout felt very good and comfortable. felt I could have kept going to about 10 if I had to but my goal today was confidence building towards breaking 21.
5/16: Went out hard today to see how 20:59 pace felt. Didn't have it in me today, but it will come eventually. Came through 2mi slow and tired. Quit and treated it as a workout:
Just wasn't the day for it. Went hard at the gym Sat/Sun, felt stressed with work, trying to cram this in between 1:30 and 3pm meetings, didn't feel warmed up, couldn't find stride, had lunch too soon before starting etc etc. Still a good workout, will shoot for better next time.
glad I finally broke my old pr from March. Was hoping to be in sub 21 shape by now, but I pretty much knew I wasn't from last week's workout. Relaxed over the weekend but also drank heavily so that wasn't doing myself any favours.
The TT today was pretty much an all-out effort. Hopefully another month or two of solid training and I'll sail through the 21-min barrior and start honing in on that sub 20
tempo run day. I was hoping this would feel comfortable, since the pace was 35sec/mi slower than my 5k pace from Monday, and the distance wasn't much further. And it did. It felt like the sweet spot of comfortably hard where I was definitely working a little but not drained or sore afterwards. like a 6.5/10 if the TT felt like a 9.5/10
I'd like to do a 200, 300, 400 type workout next around 6 flat pace or better just to get used to moving fast and hopefully make 6:40 pace feel comfy and controlled before my next TT.
That sucks about the pelvic pain. I've had the same and thought it was then end of my running. I took it easy and ran slow on trails for a couple of months, and it has never recurred. I'm enjoying reading your posts. I'm currently at 23 low on 5K but recovering from Covid, so that has thrown a wrench in the works...
Glad to hear you worked through something similar. How was COVID? Did you have a rough case, how are you feeling now and how did it impact your training?
Yesterday (2/4) I did another 3 mile jog around 10 min pace and it felt okay, but not normal. Today I was feeling about the same if not worse in the morning and getting frustrated.
But I realized a "cheat code" today that seemed to work really well. I noticed the real pain seems to start around 9 minute pace or faster, with discomfort ramping up steadily from 11 min - 9 min pace. Below 11/12 minute jogging there is really no pain and feels the same as walking.
So what I realized is that I can go on the treadmill, ramp up the incline and jog at 11-12 minute pace with no discomfort and still getting a decent workout. Put in around 4 miles today around 11:30 pace with the incline up to 6%. This didn't feel hard but definitely felt like good exercise and my heartrate was up in the 170s. Going to experiment with this in the next few days and see what pace/incline works best. Also planning on visiting a doctor next week and getting an expert opinion.
I enjoy reading your posts because: 1) They are well-written and provide detail.
2) They are realistic and more representative of runners in general and not the outlier elites that post here (not that there's anything wrong with that either, but that being on the boards often conditions you to think 14:xx in the 5k is average and people saying it is slow aren't aware that time is well above average and elite). Many of the 13-14 min. 5k runners are pros, semipros or college studs here.
3) They are motivating to get others to train more consistently and harder regardless of time.
Keep up the good work! You're motivating me to get ready for the season.
Thanks jecht! I'm glad people are reading and enjoying this. I think it's good to have a reference for beginners who are actually serious about improvement. There are tons of resources for intermediate and advanced runners on here.
For beginners, people might be tempted to read reddit or similar places where there are tons of information for them, but the quality of advice tends to be very low and even counterproductive. Not that this is really an advice topic but at least it's a snapshot of one person's progress.
In any case I find it's very helpful for me to use this topic to stay motivated on a day-to-day basis. I feel like I have to share this stuff someplace to stay motivated, but no one IRL really cares so it's better to let it all out on here for me and keep it to myself IRL unless I'm talking with another runner.
I'm also excited to look back and reread this thread once I reach some of my goals to remind myself of everything it took to get there. While not exceptional, I am still really satisfied with my progress so far in overall fitness. I had started running about 1 year ago now. Last Memorial Day I was around a 30 minute all-out 5k. In those early stages I was doing run-walk for 1 hour every other day.
Sometime about a year ago, I think in early June, I remember the first time I had reached 6 miles in the hour, despite taking one or two walking breaks during the session. I weighed 194 lbs on that day (post-run weight) and was over 200lb recently before that with a big gut and a double chin, given my modest height. Now I'm 146lb, running 5km at sub-7 pace and do my easy runs and jogging recovery intervals faster than I could run all-out last year. Also stronger upper body than I was at 200, able to bench 1.5x my bodyweight and very close to OHP my body weight, goals which I couldn't have dreamed of reaching last year.
All that being said, the last few days have been a little rocky. Have been dealing with some lower back pain which seems to stem from a tight upper right glute. The pain is starting to get better today, but it was bothering me a lot over the weekend and prevented me from doing any serious running. Running didn't aggrevate the pain at all, and actually seeemd to alleviate it. Sitting down is the worst. Anyway, I didn't want to risk it by running hard. I'm hoping in the next few days I'll be back to 100%
5/27: 6mi @ 9:15
5/28: 5.7mi @ 8:48 - pain was pretty bad this day. It was supposed to be my 200s,300s,400s intervals day but I didn't want to chance it. I still did 10x200 around 6:20 pace just to get something in.
6/2: intervals workout 400x10 average pace 6:27 with 400m jogging recovery
6/3: 5.5mi @ 9:20
6/4: 5.1mi@ 9:54 really slow run then did 4x250m surges at the end (average 6:10 pace)
6/5: 6.1m fartlek run, 1k pickup, 600m easy, 1k pickup, 600m easy, 500m pickup towards the middle/end pickups were around 6:45-6:50 pace
not the most exciting week. Just been cruising kind of not pushing the envelope too much but just focusing on enjoying the process, trying to mix things up a little bit and not get burnt out by sticking to strict workouts and tempos week in and week out. I've been noticing how much easier my easy runs fel in the past couple weeks. plodding along at 9-9:30 minute pace use to get my HR up in the 165 range now more like 140-155 depending on the weather.
Thanks jecht! I'm glad people are reading and enjoying this. I think it's good to have a reference for beginners who are actually serious about improvement. There are tons of resources for intermediate and advanced runners on here.
For beginners, people might be tempted to read reddit or similar places where there are tons of information for them, but the quality of advice tends to be very low and even counterproductive. Not that this is really an advice topic but at least it's a snapshot of one person's progress.
In any case I find it's very helpful for me to use this topic to stay motivated on a day-to-day basis. I feel like I have to share this stuff someplace to stay motivated, but no one IRL really cares so it's better to let it all out on here for me and keep it to myself IRL unless I'm talking with another runner.
I'm also excited to look back and reread this thread once I reach some of my goals to remind myself of everything it took to get there. While not exceptional, I am still really satisfied with my progress so far in overall fitness. I had started running about 1 year ago now. Last Memorial Day I was around a 30 minute all-out 5k. In those early stages I was doing run-walk for 1 hour every other day.
Sometime about a year ago, I think in early June, I remember the first time I had reached 6 miles in the hour, despite taking one or two walking breaks during the session. I weighed 194 lbs on that day (post-run weight) and was over 200lb recently before that with a big gut and a double chin, given my modest height. Now I'm 146lb, running 5km at sub-7 pace and do my easy runs and jogging recovery intervals faster than I could run all-out last year. Also stronger upper body than I was at 200, able to bench 1.5x my bodyweight and very close to OHP my body weight, goals which I couldn't have dreamed of reaching last year.
All that being said, the last few days have been a little rocky. Have been dealing with some lower back pain which seems to stem from a tight upper right glute. The pain is starting to get better today, but it was bothering me a lot over the weekend and prevented me from doing any serious running. Running didn't aggrevate the pain at all, and actually seeemd to alleviate it. Sitting down is the worst. Anyway, I didn't want to risk it by running hard. I'm hoping in the next few days I'll be back to 100%
5/27: 6mi @ 9:15
5/28: 5.7mi @ 8:48 - pain was pretty bad this day. It was supposed to be my 200s,300s,400s intervals day but I didn't want to chance it. I still did 10x200 around 6:20 pace just to get something in.
5/29:5mi @9:26
5/30 2mi @ 9:17// 4mi @ 8:38
Your posts are honest, detailed and have context. No drive-by trolling and people take this thread seriously.
I'm happy to be back training too. Was out with what I thought was PF but it was a sore tallus bone. Took time off, got metatarsal pads and am able to run 4-6 EZ right now and base-build (which is where I needed to be).
Your posts are honest, detailed and have context. No drive-by trolling and people take this thread seriously.
I'm happy to be back training too. Was out with what I thought was PF but it was a sore tallus bone. Took time off, got metatarsal pads and am able to run 4-6 EZ right now and base-build (which is where I needed to be).
Glad to hear you are getting back at it. Do you have any training goals planned or just regaining fitness and avoiding injuries for now?
6/6: 7.5mi @ 9:16
6/7: 3.1mi @ 8:36
6/8 tempo run 4mi @ 7:16 felt a little harder than my tempo two weeks ago, which was the same distance and came out to be 7:20 pace. The paces were similar enough i wouldn't expect it to feel harder today, but I also didn't really warm up enough today (half mile warmup vs 2miles warm up last time). The warmup seems to make a big difference for me these days. I felt more comfortable on the second half of this tempo and picked up the pace a little towards the end.
About how tall and age? I'm mid 40s and started running more since the start of the yr. Was inactive since out of college.
Nice, good to hear you are getting back into it. I'm like 5'6 barefoot so way too short to be weighting 200lb like I was at the start. current weight is around 145. Age 29
Your posts are honest, detailed and have context. No drive-by trolling and people take this thread seriously.
I'm happy to be back training too. Was out with what I thought was PF but it was a sore tallus bone. Took time off, got metatarsal pads and am able to run 4-6 EZ right now and base-build (which is where I needed to be).
Glad to hear you are getting back at it. Do you have any training goals planned or just regaining fitness and avoiding injuries for now?
6/6: 7.5mi @ 9:16
6/7: 3.1mi @ 8:36
6/8 tempo run 4mi @ 7:16 felt a little harder than my tempo two weeks ago, which was the same distance and came out to be 7:20 pace. The paces were similar enough i wouldn't expect it to feel harder today, but I also didn't really warm up enough today (half mile warmup vs 2miles warm up last time). The warmup seems to make a big difference for me these days. I felt more comfortable on the second half of this tempo and picked up the pace a little towards the end.
Hi Bill, I'm base-building right now, but will use Hanson's 18-week beginner very shortly. I have a marathon in mid-October. Trying to break 3:10 (A goal) or 3:15 (B goal) and pace better.
I WAS going to do a 13.1 in August but it got canceled (Dublin Half Marathon!); however, a nearby 6.55 quarter marathon will take place and I may do that one instead.
Am able to run safely so far for 6 miles, no problems.
Did a 3-mile effort at MP yesterday (7:22-7:26 pace) and was able to talk to my friend running next to me. 1 up, 1 down too. But most of my running now is 8:50-9:20 EZ base to strengthen my legs, lungs and bones.