Great weather lately. Ran a 10 mile fartlek this morning.
Good to have you back, Rabbanah. Thought the thread was over. We can press on.
It appears you're a lot further along in your training phases than me, but I suspect I will be back in tempo form in 3-4 weeks. I've never felt as week as I do now, but I think part of that is the heat (on cooler days I feel like my old self) and part of it is my lack of consistency for nearly 6 weeks. Getting better now.
Last two days have been easy runs of 5 and 7 miles. Lifted shoulders again today, did some core work also. Legs are tight which prompts a bit more stretching, but right now its purely static so I'm anxious to work into some dynamic stuff. Cheers and best to you.
Yep Cass, I won't be going anywhere till 14xx is in the books. I am going into a scheduled down week so I won't be posting much till next Monday as I won't be doing anything exciting. Pretty much this week I just run light miles by feel till I feel like I am done. Don't even take a watch with me on the runs this week. I will check in on this thread to see how everyone else is doing though.
Joining this group on Rabbanah's advice. 16:49 road 5K Oct 2. Goal sub 16 road, low 15 track. PRs 16:10 road, 15:26 track. Here is my training from last week:
Increased my mileage to 60mpw from 40mpw by adding a few more easy and recovery miles on letrun advice.
Monday: 5mi tempo in 28:45 (even pace)
Tuesday: ~10mi in 1:12
Wednesday: 5mi easy
Thursday: 4mile tempo in 23:30(progression) as before, but added 4.2miles (30min) before and 3miles after (instead of the usually 1.5mi warmup and 1.5 cooldown)
Friday: 10easy on grass fields
Saturday: 17mi (7:15pace, First 1/2 7:30pace, second 1/2 7:00pace).
Sunday: 4mi 24:30 (7min first mile)
Monday: 4x1600m 5:13 avg with 400m rest (2:30)
I think the slow running has allowed me to increase the volume without feeling any different in the workouts. Will back off to 50 this week just to be safe, then increase again. Any suggestions or advice regarding these workouts/runs?
What should I do for a workout today?
See the above message for my goal and last weeks training.
since then...
Tuesday: 10 easy
Wednesday: 5 easy
Thursday: Ran easy the last two days so I can get in a tough workout today. What should I do? Getting tired of the Xx1600m workouts. Should I just do a 7mi tempo or something? Haven't done tempo over 5mi yet.
Solo, welcome aboard. I think you should definitely mix things up. Are you following any sort of workout schedule? Or, are you just doing what you have done? I think that a structured plan will get you to your goals much faster than anything else and it really does not matter what type of plan you are following. Any plan is better than no plan. Being tired of Xx1600s is exactly why I put down weeks into my training plan. Gives me a mental and physical break. There is much more to it than just going out and hammering the miles or piling them on till you can't anymore.
tomac wrote:
The kid's legit.
http://www.cisport.ca/e/championships/cross_country/2006/men_results.htm
It didn't help his credibility to use the exact same opening post (times alone changed) as Eddy Lee.
The general plan for me tends to be track workout Tuesday, Tempo run Thursday, and Long run Sat. or Sunday with easy runs in between these.
I guess what I'm looking for are basic Tuesday track workouts that I can do for the 5-8K other than 5K pace workouts. I'm willing to split them up as 1. early season 2. mid season 3. late season, but I don't want to pencil them in for specific days.
For yesterday (Thursday) I was just wondering if I should skip the usual tempo and do something like 8x400m repeats in a faster pace(perhaps 3K pace or faster?) to build some strength. Since mile repeats and tempo runs are close to the same pace/effort, I'm afraid that, by doing just this, my body adapts to that type of running and I stop improving. I've been able to run the equivalent of 4x1600m in 5:15pace and no better for 2months now.
Anyways, since I didn't get a response, I just did 3mi(in 6:45 pace), 7mi tempo on the track 5:45pace for 1-6, 7th 5:30), 3mi(6:45 pace) continuous. Wanted to up the tempo from 5 to 7, but ran on the track because I didn't know if I could handle the distance and wanted to make it an easy transition the first time. Probably should have run a little from the beginning or added another mile or two given the 5:30 last mile. Sorry for the long post.
solo runner wrote:
What should I do for a workout today?
See the above message for my goal and last weeks training.
since then...
Tuesday: 10 easy
Wednesday: 5 easy
Thursday: Ran easy the last two days so I can get in a tough workout today. What should I do? Getting tired of the Xx1600m workouts. Should I just do a 7mi tempo or something? Haven't done tempo over 5mi yet.
_____________________
for the 5k? I suggest 400m repeats with a quick 200m jog for recovery. I improved more doing quarters than anything else, when focused on bringing down my 5k time.
Try as many as you can with a short jog for recover, and you will see some results.
Pace?
I think that sirico may be right. I am just about to head into another phase of training and I will be doing just that. Quarters in around 80, slow, but only 60 second recovery between each. I do a lot of them, 30-40, but mostly go by heart rate. If after the minute, my HR is over 120 then I shut the workout down. I do this workout 1-2 times a week for awhile and slowly phase it out as I start to put faster stuff in.
Back at the full time training again. It was a good rest week and I feel great. Tonight I did an eight mile run at 5:50 pace. Felt great, nice and relaxed.
Good pace. When's your next race?
The added mileage is starting to catch up to me. Legs are constantly heavy. My training paces haven't slowed, but they're a little harder to sustain. Ran a 5K this weekend in the same time I did 1 month ago (6:47ish) which is a little disappointing because of all the work I put in since then. Hopefully it's the added miles and I'll reap the benefits when my body adjusts. I really think I need to throw in some speed though (like fast 400s) which I'll do this week. I can sustain 5:45 pace confortably, but if I drop down into the 5:30s or lower I fall apart fast, can't breathe, muscles burning, etc...the 5K was painful!
As I'm trying to build up to marathon training, I put in 20mi on Sunday in 7min pace. I guess it's the lack of long runs in my history, but I can never seem to pick up the pace after 90min. I've never been able to do the typical MP at the end of a long run. For a 20mile run, it's just "finish without stopping" for me.
Solo, I don't race very often. I may run in a turkey trot or a Christmas/new year run, but my main focus is on a race in Feb. Your heavy legs is probably a result of the training. You might try backing off the pace a bit. Save the racing for racing. Make sure you are getting plenty of rest. I think you will see the times drop as you progress in the training. If you are truly trying to build up to marathon training then I think that you might see your 5k times stagnate for quite awhile. Eventually they will come around as a result of the miles, but marathon training and 5k training are nearly opposite ends of the spectrum.
Last night I got in a lighter run doing 7 miles at 6:15 pace.
How do you stay motivate without racing? When I didn't race well, my last (very experienced) coach would tell me to race more because some racing is required as part of your training.
Last night's track workout was bad! Going to back off the rest of the week.
Solo, whenever I have run a long run over 15-18 miles I cannot remember a time when I was not flat two days later. Usually I felt good the day after, but it was the next day that it got me. It may be this that made you have an off day. See how you are tomorrow before you decide to throw in the towel for the rest of the week.
As far as motivation goes for racing, how many elites do you know that race every week? I really get up for races, but my day to day training is my motivation. To me, it is a release and I look forward to it everyday. Every workout has its own purpose and its own goal. Achieving the goal everyday keeps me motivated to run the next workout. Unless I am in an off season or a rest time, I never go out on runs without a pace in mind. Some days it is not there, on those days I chalk it up to fatigue or whatever the case may be, but I find that those days are less and less when I am enjoying it and not seeing it as a chore. I used to see running as something that I had to do and I faced the unmotivated slumps too. But, just like a race, you gotta relax and let it come to you. You can't force training or you will end up crashing. I am feeling better everyday about the training I am doing, and while my times are not what they once were, they are dropping and dropping fast in comparison to the past. It won't be long before I am fully back.
Tonight I ran 15x1000m in 3:37 with around 2 minutes rest between each.
Can you explain why so many reps?
I'd do 6-8x1000, and faster if I were trying to hit a goal 5k.
I usually run too fast given my PRs....but your volume is huge!! Looks more like half/full marathon training.
Bdubs, this is way early in my training. The smaller volume and faster reps are coming. I would say that these reps are mainly used as a break away from just mileage runs. Gives the mind something to do. I use an OLD version of the Purdy/Gardner program to plan my training. This particular version was big on getting mileage through interval work. But, the interval work it prescribes is not what most typically think of as intervals. They are designed to make you tired, but not tear you down to the point you could not come back the next day and do the same thing again. Most other programs I have seen use some variation of the hard easy hard easy pattern with hard intervals to tear you down and then rest days to build you back. There are very few super hard reps done and very few super easy days on this plan. There has not been a year go by where I did not PR while using this system. There may be other systems out there that are better, but I know this one and am comfortable with it.
I have been following the thread and also have the same goal. After running a timed mile in 459 after a 19 month layoff from running I have begun my quest to break 15 as well. I am in my second week in training and enjoying it and seeing how far my fitness has dropped from college.
My Prs
400-54
800-203
1600-418
3000-845?
5000-1509 indoor 200m track(jr year college 2nd last race before i got hurt and stopped running until now)
10000-3249 (not all out)
Running weight- 130
Current weight- 145
My training:
10/26 20 min 2.5 miles
10/27 26 min 3.5 miles
10/28 36 min 5 miles
10/29 25 min 3.5 miles
10/30 43 min 6 miles plus strides
10/31 50 min 7 miles
11/1 40 min 5.5 miles plus strides
week 1 total 33 miles
11/2 38 min 5 miles plus strides
11/3 19:03 min 3.5 miles (19 min for 5k then short cooldown-way too hard for current fitness...became close to all out effort but wasnt supposed to be more than a med-hard run, plus i cut it short by 3 miles)
11/4 45 min 6 miles- ran easy
So I will try and post my updates on here semi-regularly as I attempt to reach sub 15 in the 5k and train for club xc next year. Good luck everybody!