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

Alright, so it is my turn to be the annoying guy who posts up their training plan looking for feedback. You already know that from the subject though, so I'll get to the point.

I have it set up with 3 different weeks of training that I rotate. Here they are.

Week A (80-85 miles)

M - PM - 10 miles moderate pace

T - AM - 3 miles recovery PM - 5x1600m

W - AM - 5 miles recovery PM - 6.5 easy

Tr- AM - 3 miles recovery PM - 3x3200 LT Intervals

F - PM - 5 easy

S - AM - 16 long run

Sn- AM - 5 miles recovery PM - 6.5 miles easy

Week B (80-85 miles)

M - PM - 10 miles moderate pace

T - AM - 3 miles recovery PM - 12x400m

W - AM - 5 miles recovery PM - 6.5 easy

Tr- AM - 3 miles recovery PM - 10k cont LT run

F - PM - 5 easy

S - AM - 16 long run

Sn- AM - 5 miles recovery PM - 6.5 miles easy

Week C (65-70 miles)

M - PM - 8 miles moderate pace

T - AM - PM - 8x400m

W - AM - 5 miles recovery PM - 6.5 easy

Tr- AM - PM - 2x3200 LT Intervals

F - PM - 5 easy

S - AM - 16 long run

Sn- AM - PM - 6.5 miles easy

Rotation is as follows: A - B - A - C

A quick breakdown, since it is probably hell to read and figure out, especially quickly. Also added underlining to the more important workouts.

-The A week is the "main" week and happens every other week. Key workout is 5x1600m, I am using this as a metric to measure fitness/improvement.

-The alternate weeks have 400s for turnover and speed.

-LT work every week, mixing up continuous runs and intervals with small rest for variety, also not always on the track.

-Long run of 16-18

-Every 4th week is a big drop in mileage, in the past I have tended to run the same mileage all the time and I wanted to try out the periodization thing and see if it helps with freshness.

-Mileage varies a bit because honestly, I can't always get up to get the AM runs in. I work full-time and sometimes I need the sleep more than the miles, but I always get at least a couple doubles in on the week.

I made this up myself pretty much, and I think it is good, but I'd like any feedback on things that seems wrong or missing.

I have been doing the LT stuff at a good pace, so I am not worried about that, relaxed but fast, I don't have to push hard to finish it, just stay focused. Recently 5:35 pace.

I think the 400's are going well. Sets of 4 with 200 jog between reps and 400 jog between sets. These leave me wobbly, but make the other track work feel slow, so that is good.

I have some questions on the mile repeats - how fast should these be? I jog a 400 rest between reps in ~2:10, I am running the reps at 5:15. I would guess from the effort level that this is probably my current 10k pace. The workout hasn't been too tough to finish and I wonder if I need to push this harder. Should I be snacking on lung butter and puking my guts out to finish this workout?

How is the overall balance - should I be doing more shorter stuff? Am I wrong to key off of the 5x1600m workout and run it so frequently?

Thanks to anybody who has read this whole thing and if you've got some thoughts I'd love to hear them.

Zendrick... are you for real? If so, we'll reply.

no, all the stuff not from sair, you, me, solojoe, boingo, and sweeney todd, recently is recycled, including zendrick.

Seriously WTF?

I cruise into this thread to see what it's all about and I see my very own workout plan posted!

I threw that up early last week looking for some feedback on my 10k training. (Obviously not a 1500m plan) Anyway if anyone is interested it was in a thread "gimee some feedback on my 10k plan" or something to that effect, about 2 days now since it got bumped.

2 flat today. got boxed in. sucked

Solo Joe... use your elbows to get out. A good nudge to the side helps move folks along or out of your way especially if your wheels are moving.

Ran mile race this afternoon at ucmo.edu - 200m track. Another small drop. 4:37.62 - Felt really good. 2:18+ followed by a 2:18+.

Thanks for the info jonesy. Recycling does get old.

Great job, Radical Ron! You pushed hard early in your previous 4:40, and got a sense for what it felt like to run the first half at 4:30 pace, and today you ran even splits and dropped another 3 seconds. Your progress is amazing over the last year. What kind of workouts are you doing now?

Don't sweat it, Solo Joe. You'll get another shot and indoor 800s don't give you a lot of room to avoid the box. Two flat is still fast.

Drop is a drop :D

I didn't get to post my mile time from last week up in Flagstaff: 441 (432 conversion to sea level...3 second pr if that counts hahaha).

This entire week I've been nursing a flexibility issue. I had horrible knee pain following my Sunday afternoon run last week. To the best of my knowledge, my TFL was tight which caused some bad IT band prblems. Lateral knee and patellar tendon both hurt very badly. I was able to run each day due to a nice 10-15min foam roll both pre and post run. I'm perfectly fine now, though. I did a nice 8miler today averaging 632pace. On Thursday morning I did 6miles w/ middle 4 @ 603pace. Thursday afternoon was another easy 7. Mileage for the week will probably be around 60-65 after tomorrow.

4:41@7000 ft is excellent for someone not training at altitude. Those conversions are odd, because people training at altitude will adapt to the altitude after a month or so and then run much closer to their sea level times than people just up there for the meet, yet they get the same conversion, and the effects are particularly strong in the longer races, as you saw in your previous 3k there. For the knee pain, try what always helps me, quad strengthening exercises with ankle weights.

There are several stretches to start or after a while:

1) standing, lift foot back all the way and hold 40 seconds.

2) standing, try lifting foot back with your hand while pushing forward with your leg and hold 20-30 seconds.

3) on back, with one knee bent, lift leg straight back, supporting knee and hamstrings, hold 40 seconds.

Then you do just 20 repetitions every other day of the following:

1) on back, one knee bent, lift other knee back to chest and forward to mat, alternate.

2) on back, one knee bent, lift straight leg up above raised knee and down.

3) on right side, left knee bent (foot on ground, knee up), lift right leg straight up to knee height and back.

4) on right side, with right knee bent (knee on ground, lower leg pointed perpendicular to body), lift left leg straight up to about knee height.

5, 6: on left side, ...

7) on stomach, one leg straight, lift other bent leg straight up and down. alternate.

8) sitting, legs straight on mat, push legs down against floor and hold for 3-5 seconds.

9) sitting on a chair, lift one leg up to parallel to floor and down. alternate.

10) body weight squats, using a band (against your knees), knotted and thrown on the other side of a door.

This stuff got me over patellar tendonitis (of 15 years duration) and always gets me over periodic knee pain, plus it's twice gotten me over hamstring tightness recently.

Oh, I used my 'bows. I even got DQ'd from doing so. I hate the 800m right now.

I agree that "elbows" is too long a word to spell out fully. Keep rockin' the "'" instead of the "el"

Solo Joe wrote:

Oh, I used my 'bows. I even got DQ'd from doing so. I hate the 800m right now.

Thanks for that 80 character post about two absent letters. And thanks for all those recycled posts, eddylee stalker.

100.5 for the week. key workout: 2x1k-3:11,3:08, 4x400-68,68,68,67 (200-300 rest). last three on TMill yesterday in 18:07, 6.5 on TMill today in 43:02 (last 3.5-6:27,6:27,6,2:50). ran 14 point each day, almost all in singles. cramps so skipped speed work today. strides and drills every other day. six minute pace on the tmill is getting pretty easy.

I've been doing track workouts with Green Mountain Athletic Association, so props to a 41 or 42 year old Joshua Brown of GMAA (running 1k in 3 flat and 3x65's, I think, in the above workout), who just won the master's mile at the Boston Indoor Games in 4:34.3 in a kicker's race.

When are ANY of you guys going to make a serious attempt at breaking 4 min in the 1500? this year, next year, when?

I think if John Cook was Eddy Lee's coach he would tell him to give it up. "4min in the 1500 is just a dream"

There were three heats and I was placed in the fast heat. I put in 4:36 thinking I could hit it. Interestingly, turned out this was the slowest time seeded in the fast heat. So I was thinking I'll just ride the train and hang on. Came through the 200 in 33-34 and the 400 in 68. Was running last the whole time yet I always kept the pack in striking distance. During the 7-8 lap I started moving up and managed to pass some guys and managed to finish around 1-2 seconds behind main pack. It was cool in that when I called for my legs they were there. The wheels didn't come off this time. I think this is due eating at least 2 hours before the race. It was probably one of the best races I've run.

I've been doing 1-2 long runs a week of 10-15 miles. Hill repeats too. I've been hitting the track doing mostly intervals of 1000m. Last thur for example I did 4x1000m with 3 min jog. 3:11, 3:14, 3:17, and 3:19. I'm following DRF and I'm toying with starting 1st week of phase 3 of the 1500m/3000m plan A. I'm averaging 65 mpw on singles. Having an awesome time. Hope you all are too!

Remarkable that you're running 4:37 on 1k's in 3:11 to 3:19, and even more so because it sounds like you did the 4x1k just two days prior to your race, so it's unlikely that your legs were that fresh.

It looks like I'll race next at the end of the month, something like mile and 3k, and then run a road 5k the next morning. No more indoor track races around here and Boston's a long way. But I should be in pretty decent shape by then. I'm not yet doing real tempos but picking it up a bit on the indoor track and treadmill. Today I did a very comfortable cruise 5 1/4 miles on the indoor track in 33 flat (about 6:18/M despite a first mile in about 7), followed by an easy 7 in 48:18 on the treadmill (15 total). Track workout tomorrow. I'm a long way from contemplating sub-4 1500m but not far from doing a sub-4:20 equivalent 1500m (would be a pr) and very close to pr'ing at 3k and up. I'll be all in (tempos, speedwork, hills, etc.) in May-June. Boingo (4:22 mile opener) and Solo Joe are clearly close to 4 minute shape now. Eddylee's making good progress (dropping 8 seconds in the mile, if you give him the altitude conversion) and, like ron (has dropped about 25 seconds in the mile since last year), is pointing his training cycle toward outdoors.

Hey Jonesy... wasn't too tired during race from the previous workouts. The 1ks didn't do me in too bad. You've got to remember, I'm only 37! LOL!! What is really doing me in is the long runs. Doing these 15 milers kill my knees and hips and lower back. Feet are doing good. I can't wait until I'm strong enough to where these 15 milers don't hurt too bad. I will say this though... I can tell they are increasing my strength. Coupled with the speed work this seems to be a great way to get faster and have that extra gear when racing the last 400m. Back in the day, I never did 15 milers as training for the 800m and 1500m.

With your consecutive 100+ mile weeks you ought to be strong as an ox. I would think once you start working on the speed, your 1500m time will drop like a rock. Good to see you're hooking up with another group of runners. In addition, thanks for your encouragement. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Boingo... what are you doing?

Did a 4x1000m interval workout tonight on track. 3min recovery jogs. Awesome weather here in KC area. 62 degrees at 6:00pm. 3:16, 3:15, 3:12, 3:17 - tried a fifth but my legs were wasted.

We're on our way...

Some people can work out; some people can race. I wish I was in the latter group.

I took two naps today, was still tired, and then did 14.6 miles in the evening with this track workout in heavy Triax trainers indoors:

6x1000m (280m jog rest):

3:08,3:10,3:10,3:09,3:11,3:03.

I'm pleased with that. The first five were with a group and I was coasting for the first half of each rep behind guys and then picking it up. The last one, my fastest 1k in a workout, was solo, consistent, and I felt strong throughout. Then I did 4.6M on the treadmill in 31, dropping down on the last mile from 6 to 5 minute pace.