My goal is to make it to the 2020 Olympic Trials in the Steeple and I will do everything I can to achieve this goal

Coebra wrote:

Update #55

@curious runner – Thank you. Your encouragement means a lot, really. Thanks for the advice; I have learned that specific lesson the hard way in the past two months

Quick update:

Monday: 3.67mi, 30min, 8:10avg.

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 3.45mi, 30min, 8:41avg.

Thursday: 3.64mi, 30min, 8:14avg.

Friday: Off (work ran really late - 6 hours late, just took off)

Saturday: 4.39mi, 35min, 7:58avg.

Sunday: 4.16mi, 35min, 8:24avg.

Total: 19.31mi, 160min

Got rehab in on Monday and Thursday. Started doing my own lifting today, nothing serious, just back squats and rdl.

Things are progressing. Hip stability is not that awesome but it isn’t setting me back any.

Kept myself mostly to the track for running, except for Wednesday. Hasn’t gotten boring going in circles just yet. Leg is sore and aches a lot but no pain.

I don't understand how you think you're going to make it to the olympic trials if you're only running 20mpw at 8 minute pace

Update #55

Gone too long. Thank god XC is finally over for another year.

Last month of training – sorry for wonky formatting. Kind of just want to get this up:

10/9 - - >10/15

Monday: 4.16mi, 35min, 8:24avg.

Tuesday: 4.72mi, 40min, 8:28avg.

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: 4.86mi, 40min, 8:13avg.

Friday: 4.88mi, 40min, 8:12avg.

Saturday: 5.52mi, 45min, 8:09avg.

Sunday: 5.44mi, 45min, 8:16avg.

Total: 29.59mi, 245min

10/16 - - >10/22

Monday: 5.44mi, 45min, 8:16avg.

Tuesday: 6.05mi, 50min, 8:16avg.

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: 6.04mi, 50min, 8:17avg.

Friday: 6.15mi, 50min, 8:07avg.

Saturday: 6.36mi, 50min, 7:52avg.

Sunday: 6.15mi, 50min, 8:07avg.

Total: 36.18mi, 295min

10/23 - - >10/29

Monday: 10min up & Down, 6 x 100m hill (12.5% grade) walk back recovery

Tuesday: 10min E, 7 x (300m medium-hard, 300 @ easy), 10 min down (continuous)

Wednesday: 4.99mi, 40min, 8:01avg.

Thursday: 4.91mi, 40min, 8:09avg.

Friday: 5.37mi, 40min, 7:27avg. Treadmill prog. Tempo

Saturday: 3.76mi, 30min, 7:59avg.

Sunday: 6.13mi, 50min, 8:09avg.

10/30 - - >11/5

Monday: 10min up & Down, 6 x 100m hill (12.5% grade) walk back recovery

Tuesday: 10min up/down 4 x 1000 @ 10k pace

Wednesday: 3.59mi, 30min, 8:21avg.

Thursday: 3.61mi, 30min, 8:19avg.

Friday: 11up, 20min progressive tempo (avg 80%vvo2), 9min down

Saturday: 3.73mi, 31.5min, 8:27avg.

Sunday: 7.47mi, 62.5min, 8:22avg.

I’ll try to add in a better commentary next week. A little crunched for time; trying to get all the stuff that went by the wayside during the post season squared off.

Basically just trying to do the correct mix of training and balance that between what I need to cause an adaptation and how much stress I think I can handle at the moment. Been lifting too, a few sore areas but nothing compromising for now

Update #56

Week:

Monday: 2.71mi, 21.5min, 7:55avg. (10up/10dwn, 6 x hill repeat)

Tuesday: Off [ankle hurt, took off]

Wednesday: 4.71mi, 32.4min, 6:53avg. [ankle good, Tuesday’s wkt 6 x 600 @ 5k]

Thursday: 3.53mi, 30min, 8:30avg. [easy]

Friday: 5.39mi, 40min, 7:25avg. [progressive treadmill tempo – 11up/9dwn, 20 @ 80% avg.]

Saturday: 3.64mi, 30min, 8:15avg. [easy]

Sunday: 8.38mi, 70min, 8:21avg. [long]

Total: 28.36mi, 224min

Got through the week and at this point, everything still works.

Ankle tightened up pretty bad on Tuesday; usually I have massage on Monday (and I think that would have avoided the issue) but massage therapist was out of town.

Pushed Tuesday’s workout to Wednesday + day off; everything was fine on Wednesday. 6 x 600 in 2:05 w/ 90s rest. Results: 2:01.8, 2:06.4, 2:06.1, 2:04.6, 2:04.5, 2:00.5.

Friday was a progressive treadmill run. Basic format for this is to increase the speed by 0.1 mph at regular time intervals. It helps keep the treadmill run interesting. From everything I’ve read, I think there’s something important about doing anaerobic conditioning along the entire continuum from 75% of vVO2max all the way up to 88% (or 92%, if you wanna go up to 10k).

Sunday was just run comfortably for 70min.

I think I have built up a comfortable mix of training now, incorporating all the necessary elements. Funny that it took an entire year to figure it out, lol.

Have a race in two weeks, the exact same and only race that I’ve done in the past year. Well, at any rate, we’ll see if we’ve made any progress.

Next week’s plan:

Monday: hills if ankle feels exceptional/30min easy

Tuesday: 7 x 500 @ 3k pace

Wednesday: Easy 30

Thursday: Easy 30

Friday: Repeat treadmill prog. tempo

Sat: Easy 30

Sun: Easy 70

Update #57

Week 11/13-11/19:

Monday: 3.73mi, 30min, 8:03avg.

Tuesday: 7 x 500 in 100s, Rest=100s

Wednesday: 3.74mi, 30min, 8:01avg.

Thursday: 3.73mi, 30min, 8:03avg.

Friday: Tempo Progression Run

Saturday: 3.65mi, 30min, 8:13avg.

Sunday: 8.45mi, 70min, 8:17avg.

Total: 33.36mi, 262min

Wanted to make sure the ankle felt good for race on 11/23, so didn’t do hills this week.

500s went really well, goal was 100s and splits were [100.8, 99.5, 100.1, 99.98, 99.14, 100.1, 101.1]. Good day for it; starting to get back in the swing of things.

Tempo progression was best yet; did the same as the previous two weeks and felt very controlled.

Long run went well too – just relaxing and having good form.

Week 11/20-11/26:

Monday: Hills - 6 x 100m Rest: walk back

Tuesday: 3.64mi, 30min, 8:15avg.

Wednesday: 3.85mi, 30min, 7:48avg.

Thursday: Race: Hilly 5k in 16:46

Friday: 3.71mi, 30min, 8:05avg.

Saturday: 3.73mi, 30min, 8:03avg.

Sunday: 3.74mi, 30min, 8:01avg.

Total: 29.12mi, 230min

Had a spring in my step on Monday so felt like something quick wouldn’t be too outrageous. Also had massage right after, which takes care of most of my ankle concerns.

All easy days this week except for Monday and Thursday; ran the course on Wednesday.

Race itself was the same as last year, except it was 60 meters longer and 1 degree colder. Ran solo from the gun and had a good time; first mile’s flat, second mile’s a b!tch (longest flat is ~200m, rest up/down ~ 900ft of elevation change) and then the third mile’s mostly flat.

I’d say I was surprised by the result, but eh. If I had run shitty I’d be disappointed right now but it was a decent time and I’m really just happy to have a relevant fitness marker right now.

Now that the down week’s over, gonna bump the volumes a tad.

You are running very slow. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with your body? From your college PRs, your easy days should be more like 7 min pace.

gdeegz wrote:

You are running very slow. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with your body? From your college PRs, your easy days should be more like 7 min pace.

Coebra, I was one of the people early in the thread who had a "go for it, you have nothing to lose, even if it seems like really long odds" response. But it does seem like you're barely training and at a pretty low intensity. Have you given up on the elite runner goal and set your sights on more of just fitness/local road races? I'm not trying to put you down, any running is good running IMO, I don't want to discourage anybody.

Keep it up!

You better be building the foundation before making a tall pyramid.

Could you do us a favor and post your week-week mileage up to this point?

Maybe listing that out, stating how many weeks you have left to go OT and reavalute where you're at?

When I see you were running 80 mile weeks then you crash to 30 it screams over training.. how many weeks were you at 50? 55? 65?

Are you using volume building periods where you ease back the workouts and bump up the mileage? You're sounding a little burnt out..backing off and getting hyped again could be a good goal.

Give it up, you need to run a 5k 3 and a half minutes faster to have a chance to qualify for the OT.

sdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

gdeegz wrote:

You are running very slow. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with your body? From your college PRs, your easy days should be more like 7 min pace.

Coebra, I was one of the people early in the thread who had a "go for it, you have nothing to lose, even if it seems like really long odds" response. But it does seem like you're barely training and at a pretty low intensity. Have you given up on the elite runner goal and set your sights on more of just fitness/local road races? I'm not trying to put you down, any running is good running IMO, I don't want to discourage anybody.

I didn't read the thread but he must have been injured or something. Still, do you have a pool or a stationary bike to get some more volume in Coebra?

Hardloper wrote:

sdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

Coebra, I was one of the people early in the thread who had a "go for it, you have nothing to lose, even if it seems like really long odds" response. But it does seem like you're barely training and at a pretty low intensity. Have you given up on the elite runner goal and set your sights on more of just fitness/local road races? I'm not trying to put you down, any running is good running IMO, I don't want to discourage anybody.

I didn't read the thread but he must have been injured or something. Still, do you have a pool or a stationary bike to get some more volume in Coebra?

That’s what I was thinking, but he would have to be injured for two years straight with no activity. He’s running 2:00+ for 600 meter repeats and 8min pace for 4 mile runs. That shows he has no talent and must not have been injured for 2 years straight.

Pretty sure this is the greatest troll job in Letsrun history.

Update #58

Week: 11/27-12/3

Monday: Hills - 6 x 185m Rest: walk back

Tuesday: 4 x 1200m in 4:09, Rest=2:05

Wednesday: 4.36mi, 35min, 8:01avg.

Thursday: 4.36mi, 35min, 8:01avg.

Friday: Tempo Progression Run

Saturday: Off

Sunday: 4.34mi, 35min, 8:03avg.

Total: 28.85mi, 214min

Week: 11/27-12/3

Monday: Hills - 6 x 100m Rest: walk back

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Off

Friday: 4.09mi, 35min, 8:33avg.

Saturday: 4.29mi, 35min, 8:09avg.

Sunday: 4.23mi, 35min, 8:16avg.

Total: 16.39mi, 133min

Comments:

New hill for hill workouts; this one’s about 185m long and a little gentler of an incline (6.6%). I like it; felt a different kind of burn at the top and a lot smoother of a workout, which puts less stress on my poor ankle, lol.

Was a little nervous going in to Tuesday, but this workout went amazingly well. Goal: 4:07-4:09, Splits: 4:05.3, 4:05.7, 4:03.5, 4:04.3.

Friday’s tempo was good and bad. Good, because I handled the pace well, bad because it fucked me over for a few days. When I was running I noticed that I was really favoring my right leg. Really bad Saturday, took it off. Reduced Sunday’s run and tried again Monday

Monday was decent, a little sore, but it pushed the TFL on my right hip over the edge. Took Tuesday through Thursday off to get over it (while doing rehab to get the correct muscles firing again) and eased back into running again over the last three days

Big scheme, doesn’t really disrupt plans much. Planning on trying to get into a 3k sometime in January so I’ve got 7 weeks or so to get back into training and get some gains.

I think a lot of what happened was due to training based off of a vo2max mile pace of 5:22 and then and then trying to do workouts based off of a vo2max of 5:05. As a result, I’ve decided to be less rigid when I construct my training blocks, ease into newer, higher fitness levels, and tweak a few details of my tempo progression runs.

I wish you luck

man if you didn't get injured, i'd think you could do it. But you really need to figure this thing out. More vitamin D? HGH?(kidding)

what can you do to not get injured? I see your PRs were significantly better than the shape you are in now.

What were you doing then that you are not doing now? What were you not doing then that you are doing now? Try to emulate the conditions that got you to that shape, and then slowly tweak things after you are back in shape.

epicTCK wrote:

I wish you luck

man if you didn't get injured, i'd think you could do it. But you really need to figure this thing out. More vitamin D? HGH?(kidding)

what can you do to not get injured? I see your PRs were significantly better than the shape you are in now.

What were you doing then that you are not doing now? What were you not doing then that you are doing now? Try to emulate the conditions that got you to that shape, and then slowly tweak things after you are back in shape.

What can he do? Maybe stop being delusional would be a start. He’ll need to run 7and a half laps at 68second pace jumping barriers. He doesn’t seem like he can one flat lap in that pace. I’m 60and I run more miles a week and at a faster pace. I’m not going to qualify either.

Comments Reply

@sdfsdfsdfsdfsdf:

The goal has not changed, the odds have just gotten longer by a factor of about 10

@TarahumaraLight:

I’ll think about doing it, but I’m going to need some time to gin up the courage to face those numbers

@Hardloper:

I did have a ‘several weeks off’ injury 3 months ago and a minor ‘3 days off’ injury last week. Yes access to a pool and a bike, but placing stress on my body isn’t the issue, doing it wisely and recovering from it is

@epicTCK

I am trying to do exactly as you prescribe

@ hounddogharrier:

I don’t know why you feel the need to reply if you think this is so stupid.

I started this as a way of keeping myself honest. I thought that forcing myself to make these weekly updates would make me think critically about what I was doing and make the challenge more “real” than just a goal you tell people about.

In that regard, the thread has worked perfectly, and its has been a f u c k i n g awful experience so far, so congratulations, your trolling has paid off. You are the reason I hate having to come on letsrun and update this thread.

What makes you think I’m enjoing all this? Every week I’m having my nose rubbed in s h i t like a dog that left a chocolate fudge dragon on the living room carpet. Even worse, every so often I’m hoodwinked into thinking things are going well for me and then, poof, I get a s s f u c k e d by another setback.

I need to run a 5k 3 minutes faster? Wow, what a genius f u c k i n g observation. Why didn’t I think of that? Man, if I knew that a few weeks ago, I could’ve run 3 min faster and been on my merry f u c k i n g way to the OTs. Gee, thanks for the advice, mister!

I’m happy that you can run more, and faster, at age 60, then I am running right now. Must be nice not to have your mediocrity shoved in your face, after you see the results of every single run, interval, time trial, and race. Must be nice not to have to feel like all your prs are worthless, that you’ve never accomplished anything worthwhile, and that the only chance you have, to prove to yourself that this all wasn’t a complete waste of time, is to try and achieve this long, long, longshot of a goal. I don’t know where your reading comprehension failed you, but what I said in the beginning is that this is an attempt to train myself to the point where I COULD run a steeplechase fast enough to be one of the thirty fastest men in the US in 2020. That was the dream I made public over a year ago.

I don’t expect you to understand and I really don’t give a s h i t if you ever do end up making that cognitive leap. I said I was going to try and make the trials. I got roughly 2.5 years left to try and make something of myself. I’m going to keep posting updates, regardless of what you, or anyone else thinks is reasonable or attainable, because I said I would.

In fact, please, do me a favor and keep replying. I’ve never had a hater before and it’s way easier to motivate myself when I have a person to direct my anger and frustration at instead of having to deal with my own self-loathing.

Make sure you check in every week until then. I’ll be here.

Whenever you're feeling down or feeling like garbage and lack the motivation, remember this.

Good luck and keep grinding

If you ran 16:46 a few weeks ago, why are your easy runs so slow??

You can use my posts for all the motivation you want , you are NOT making the Olympic trials. If you are dumb enough to post here for a year and say you are going to make it, well you need a reality check .

Hounddogharrier wrote:

You can use my posts for all the motivation you want , you are NOT making the Olympic trials. If you are dumb enough to post here for a year and say you are going to make it, well you need a reality check .

He repeatedly said it is an extreme long shot. What do you want from him?

I think what people are confused about is the thread title, and the type of training Coebra is doing.

He has some talent (15 flat 5k). From there you could imagine someone building up to 100+ mile weeks. As a steepler, you'd expect some really fast speed work too, plyos, etc...

Instead, we are seeing the training of a fairly in shape 45 year old insurance salesman.

You might think Coebra got injured and really out of shape, but that's not the case as his 1645 hilly 5k tells you he's not in BAD shape, just not 15 flat shape.

Coebra:

More MILES! I think you could easily go, 40,50,60,70,50,70,75,80,65,80,80,80

Especially at the slow paces you're running. Then, after the mileage buildup, I would think you would want to get fast. Stay in the 70s and get your 5k well into the 14s. Then you could say you have a REALLY long shot at the trials.

at this point it is just stupid.