My goal of sub 4:00 1500-I will not stop until I reach my goal.

Boingo and Joe... Awesome! You both ought to be running some good times and winning races the next one out.

For me - Two recovery days - Managed 15 miles yesterday and did 10 tonight. Jonesy would be proud. Did the 15 in 1:53 and the 10 in 74 min. On the track tomorrow if all goes well.

We're on our way.

Uh... I walked a mile in seven minutes yrs ago.. how's that for being in shape???

Nice, now design a workout for someone with asthma and torn ankle ligaments of excruciating pain (me).

Solo Joe, that is one hell of a workout.

I would love to do a 15miler. We have next Saturday off so I plan to use that day as a nice, long easy run. Ron, about what pace do you your 8milers at? I'm curious to know as a comparison to your 15miler(732pace)

This morning I was able to get in 9miles, and in the afternoon we did 4x1200m dirt loops w/ 3min rest:

336(teammate and I got a little carried away),350,352,345

I'm running the mile in Flagstaff this weekend. With a 9 second conversion factor, I hope to run sub 436.

Did my first workout today since about October. 800, 400, 400, 200, 200 and back up the ladder. Jog half the distance as my rest.

3:00 (90, 90)

80

80

35

35

35

35

77

75

2:58 (88, 90)

First bunch was the pace I wanted to hit so I was happy. Always went straight into the jog upon finishing the interval, nothing puke-inducing. Speed felt a little awkward but not unmanageable. Didn't feel much accumulation in the legs until the 3rd 400.

No idea what this says about my training, but wanted some turnover nonetheless. last 4 weeks were 42, 43, 48, 43 mpw. Couple of easy runs the next few days and going to consider a 4 mile tempo later in the week if weather cooperates. Somewhere around 6:55-7 minute pace.

55, 66, 43, 89, 67, 54, 76, 34, 87, 77

Good gravy miss daisy. Eddy mother trucking Lee.

Get a leg up my friend. Fire up the fronds. Douse the cabinet capers until the dispersed is no longer dispatchable. Only on god's green earth. Only on god's green earth.

Eddy mother trucking Lee

34, 55, 24, 65, 67, 67, 96, 73, 57, 35

Cold and snowy, cold and crispy, green out, windy woods.

boingo, you're right that I need to get the speedwork in if I want to do anything at the shorter distances. I'm taking a few steps in that direction. I've had track access for the past couple weeks and now I know when I can get a workout in. During this time, I've been doing strides frequently, using 2/3 to 1M of striding the straightaways pretty hard. Also, I'm doing situps, pullups, bench, toe curls(? calf exercises), lats, quad lifting, and the rowing weight machine daily (alternating). The situps have already improved a lot. I take the treadmill down to 6:00 pace and then down to 5:30 pace in my last mile most days. I did the 6x1200m workout and then today I did the middle distance coach's workout: supposedly all at mile pace, 880y, 90 sec rest, 440y; 5 minute break/jog; 880y, 90 sec rest, 440y. I got sick on Sunday but I did the workout anyway today (solo, in trainers, 160m track): 2:26,71; 2:28,70. Of course, I followed that with another 10 miles with drills and strides, and had 15 for the day. The illness made it impossible to run the target of sub-2:20, but I got the sense of what this should be like and that is pretty easy in that while the runs are hard, they are over very quickly and I have plenty left to run my mileage. Since they're not taxing, I think that when healthy I'll do these middle distance workouts as one of three workouts per week, adding a tempo when the roads are not icy and the usual 3k-5k pace repeats on the track from the long distance coach. mileage last week was 90 in six days.

You guys are doing some sick workouts. You have some wheels. When you combine those with some quality tempos and quality mile repeats, to bridge the gap between your very fast shorter stuff and the race distance, watch out. Sweeney, you ran very solidly and it's time to be more ambitious in your workouts, particularly the tempo pace.

Glad to see you are starting to do some speed work jonesy. I, on the other hand, plan on doing some more VO2 max work on the days when the team is racing and I am not, since all we do in the MD group is speed stuff.

Today's workout was 8x200m with 90s rest between. It was the best workout I've had since having a minor knee injury over xmas break. I hit 26, 27, 26, 27, 27, 27, 28, 27. Flying start on all of them. I definitely feel like I can run sub 2 next time I race. I was getting my ass handed to me every interval, but the 3 guys in my group are 1:50-1:52 guys, so I didn't feel TOO bad about it.

Good luck in your race Eddy.

Here's a list of 200 meter intervals that I've run in 2009 so far. All on a flat track with usually 2 minutes rest in between

28, 29, 27, 31, 27, 29, 32, 27, 28, 30, 32, 27, 29, 35, 32

33, 34, 28, 29, 34, 27, 33, 35, 27, 29, 37, 33, 28, 31, 34

27, 31, 32, 34, 29, 29, 31, 32, 27, 31, 32, 32, 27, 36, 33

31, 32, 29, 27, 31, 28, 33, 31, 28, 27, 35, 31, 29, 33, 31

29, 35, 30, 32, 28, 26, 30, 32, 28, 31, 30, 32, 27, 34, 30

33, 34, 28, 29, 34, 27, 33, 35, 27, 29, 37, 33, 28, 31, 34

34, 29, 27, 31, 27, 29, 32, 27, 28, 30, 32, 27, 29, 35, 31

30, 32, 29, 27, 31, 28, 33, 31, 28, 27, 32

I've come to the conclusion after 8 years of running that I always run really well at the beginning of the season, or in a season with no structured workouts. By structured workouts I mean more like planned workouts; like 5xmile, 20x400, 8 mile tempo, etc. Over summers I just run mileage and on days when I feel good, I'll pick up the pace to maybe 1/2 marathon pace. When I don't feel good, I'll either slog through the miles anyway but at a slow pace, or cut the run short.

Now after a year long battle with foot injuries, I'm just now coming back into running again. I just ran a marathon on 3 1/2 months of cross training only (no running) and ran 2:53. I want to run another marathon, but this time for real. After doing my first workout last night in 4 months, my feet are killing me (not fatigue related, I know the difference). I know it is difficult to accomplish, but is it possible to run 2:30 down the road sometime off just high mileage (100+ mpw) with a few tempos randomly thrown in there?

For reference my PR's for shorter stuff is...

15:12 5k

31:46 10k

Back from a meet and a week of iffy training, at least on feel.

Monday we did our pure speed stuff: 350 300 250 200 150. It was windy and cold (surprise) but I ran the same times I did for the last occurrence of the workout without the urgent need to empty my stomach after the 250. I ran 48, 40.5, 34, 28, 20.

Wednesday we did 6-4-3-2-1x2 at increasing speeds, jog upcoming interval. Did not feel great after the first set - I should have been able to hit the same times again, but I think I had started coming down with a minor bug this day.

1:38 61 44 28 NT

1:41 64 46 29 NT

Yesterday I ran a 3k, 800m, and a 4x4 at our meet. (My lord, my calves are sore today...) A small PR in the 3k: 9:01. I just wasn't mentally in it - as soon as I finished I was disappointed in how I ran it. 2:00 in the 800m - sat in the back for first 400 (and I still went through in 58) and pushed the last lap. Tied up really hard on the home stretch - if I had been able to maintain I might have run under 1:58. And a 54 low in the 400 about 20 minutes later.

All in all it was pretty decent - the 800m felt like I gave it everything I had the last 400m, which made up a little bit for my wimp out in the 3k.

Alright Eddy, I'm going to try to get in on this too. I also hope to run sub 4 for 1500m this spring. Maybe seeing your workouts will help motivate me. Here is my background:

Physical:

22 years old

6'0"

150 lbs.

PR's:

1:57 Spring 2004

4:28i mile Winter 05

9:10i 3k winter 06

16:20r 5k winter 06

Ran in college, but had a lot of injury problems. Good luck trying to find me using an internet search, because I train by myself and coach myself.

Anyway, I just now started getting into my VO2 phase of training. Base phase went pretty well, I was running about 75-90 miles a week and doing tempo runs and fartleks. The end of my base phase wasn't as good (both in terms of mileage and workouts) because I got the flu. Just recovered and am ready to get back after it.

1/22/09

2.5 mile warmup, stretch, strides

6x1000m with 2 minutes rest between

2.5 mile cooldown, stretch

Interval times were 3:05, 3:06, 3:05, 3:06, 3:06, 2:57. Obviously I saved a bit too much, but it was the first workout like this I've done in awhile, and I was used to my body dying when I had the flu so I didn't hammer in the middle in fear of not being able to finish the workout.

Racing 3k this weekend, aiming for 9:15

Hmm....definitely a recycled post of mine

Good workouts eddy - those 1200s were pretty fast!

Two semi-decent, building-up weeks for me. Boring reading I'd say. Foot slowly but surely seeming to come around. Not in the shape I'd like to be though! All in good time, just happy to be running.

Mon: 22wup, 14min tempo, 4-5min break, 18min tempo, 13min run+10min bike cd. Foot sore, stomach not great. Otherwise, felt nice and easy.

PM 49min easy

Tue: 63min easy run 11min bike 6min easy run.

Wed: 65min easy run 10min bike, 6min easy run. Foot sore, damnit.

PM: 30min run 10min bike.

Thur: 20min wu, 27min tempo, 15bike 18min run. Had to stop tempo, foot sore.

Fri: 63min easy. Foot sore to start, got better.

**Went to physio - painful stuff with needles in calf!**

PM: 47min hard bike

Sat: 50min (run-bike-run). Leg too sore after physio for more.

Sun: 25min run, 17min bike 33min run

PM:45min run, nice+brisk

(~72ish)

Mon: 68min run inc 17 tempo - sluggish, foot not good, 12min bike.

PM: 32min run 8min bike.

Tue: 50min run.

PM: 55min run inc 4.5mi in 25min treadmill, 15min bike. Foot not great.

Wed: Off took the skin off the back of my heel on the treadmill.

Thur: 65min run (inc 22min barefoot - trying this again - felt pretty good!), 15min bike.

PM: 28min run, 12min bike, foot not great.

Fri: 70min run inc. 35:30 tempo (22, 3-4min break, 13:30), 10min bike.

PM: 10min bike, weights, 34min run. Foot a little better.

Sat: AM 73min easy

PM: 8min bike, 35min run v easy.

Sun:79min run inc 3x9:30 hard barefoot, 2:30-3:00 break. Not as fit as I'd like.

PM: 39min easy. Foot def improving.

~80, maybe a little above. Good week!

Plyometrics workout day after the track workout, took 2 days to get that feeling out of my legs. Saturday, 9 Hills on one mother of a hill, 4 at steady run pace, 3 at a good tempo pace (7 minute pace?) and 2 all out. Now nursing a fever and a cold but almost gone.

I can hear the advice coming already but there's a 3 miler on the 7th, a 5k on the 15th and either of those on the 28th that I can make, schedule-wise.

Should I run them? I don't want to see a time I don't like. Any workout I should do to indicate if I'm capable (4xmile, 6x800) or should I use the race as the indicator and deal with the possible bad clocking?

Also, does 19:19 on the 3 miler count toward my sub 20 goal with the conversion?

I'm moving from Australia to Bakersfield, California in March, and want to keep running at some level when I'm there.

I've scoured Google earth but haven't been able to spot a track, but am hoping there are some letsrunners who know of a running group or 2 who do a bit of track-based stuff. Or even anyone who can give me a rundown on track availability, paths, trails etc?

Background: I'm 23, male and a 3.54 1500m runner, but maybe more like 4.0x at the moment. Any hookups to cycling groups would be appreciated also.

10.4M today:

4.1M w/u (32:50), 1.1M c/d.

5M solo tempo-26:43 (21 sec pr)

-5:26,5:25 (10:51),5:26 (16:17),5:20 (21:37 4M pr), 5:06.

last three in 15:52. last four miles in 21:08, a pr also.

48 deg. took me 21 years to break 27 (counting from when I started racing 8k/5M in college). started out close to pr pace so decided to take a shot at it. at my age, you take the pr's when you can get them, because you don't know if you'll ever be ready to get them again. (yeah, I know that workout pr's and enroute pr's don't count, but nurmi and zatopek got a bunch of them). probably a good rule for any age. after the marathon, there's no way that I'll have a good shot at a pr for probably 6 weeks. felt pretty good the whole way through except struggling for the last .3-.4 after screaming obscenities at dog owners who had their dog unleashed by the bike path, forcing me to slow a little and run through a huge puddle right next to the dog, which didn't bite me probably because I sounded like a madman. that was a little exhausting. otherwise, a good run in heavy trainers and maybe the great goal of a sub-26 in a race will be possible next year.

Would you consider using capital letters and the ENTER KEY like the rest of the reading world? It will pay off for you if I ever meet you in the real world ... I won't hit you.

Actually this block of text has many topics, you just don't recognize that.

Here is how you wrote it:

48 deg. took me 21 years to break 27 (counting from when I started racing 8k/5M in college). started out close to pr pace so decided to take a shot at it. at my age, you take the pr's when you can get them, because you don't know if you'll ever be ready to get them again. (yeah, I know that workout pr's and enroute pr's don't count, but nurmi and zatopek got a bunch of them). probably a good rule for any age. after the marathon, there's no way that I'll have a good shot at a pr for probably 6 weeks. felt pretty good the whole way through except struggling for the last .3-.4 after screaming obscenities at dog owners who had their dog unleashed by the bike path, forcing me to slow a little and run through a huge puddle right next to the dog, which didn't bite me probably because I sounded like a madman. that was a little exhausting. otherwise, a good run in heavy trainers and maybe the great goal of a sub-26 in a race will be possible next year.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Here it is written in a way that takes four seconds more:

48 deg. today.

It took me 21 years to break 27 (counting from when I started racing 8k/5M in college). Started out close to PR pace so I decided to take a shot at it. At my age, you take the PR's when you can get them, because you don't know if you'll ever be ready to get them again. (Yeah, I know that workout PR's and en route PR's don't count, but Nurmi and Zatopek got a bunch of them). Probably a good rule for any age.

After the marathon, there's no way that I'll have a good shot at a PR for probably 6 weeks. Felt pretty good the whole way through except struggling for the last .3-.4. I was screaming obscenities at dog owners who had their dog unleashed by the bike path. It forced me to slow a little and run through a huge puddle right next to the dog. It didn't bite me probably because I sounded like a madman. That was a little exhausting. Otherwise, a good run in heavy trainers and maybe the great goal of a sub-26 in a race will be possible next year.

I went up to West Point this week with my team for a meet. It was pretty windy, so the times were not grand - seeds for the 800m were off by up to 10 seconds. Only one guy broke 2:00, and he's run 1:52...

I ended up doing the 1500/800 double yet again. 4:06 and 2:05. I think my splits were 67-68/63-64/66/66, and 61/64 for the 8. Both were pretty easy feeling - I tried hard to keep it consistent on the third lap. Everyone else around me just died. It happened even moreso in the 800m - the curve in the last 200 was entirely into the wind and I went by the leader as he rigged up.

Today we did: 2 mi up, 14:00ish

6 mile tempo, 36:15. windy and cold. ran 5:50/12:08 (for two)/6:03/6:24(uphill)/5:50

3 down, 22:00ish

and lifted. (benched 135 for the first time today. hooray almost body weight)

The tempo was good, because I've been doing a not-great job of keeping my mileage above 60. It'll help out.