Training log and goals of an HS runner

Today was another workout as follows:

1.2 mi warmup at about 7:30 - 8:00

16x400 sets of 4 with 35 sec rest and 1:15 rest between sets averaging 80 - 81.

1.7 mi cool down 8:00 - 8:30

So, this workout felt a little bit more intense than the last 16x400 but that’s expected with less rest, but I felt like I was in the zone and could’ve gone another set or two if needed. Also, my slowest was 82 and fastest was 78, but usually hit 80.

Really happy with today’s workout, I really think im a short distance runner (800/1600) but we’ll see. I’m gonna try and go out at 5:40 on Wednesday (same slow course as last week) and then see what I can hit after that. What do you guys think of the workout?

yeah i definelty think your a shorter track guy. also todays wokrrout i think you can be at 17 min for xc defineltly aha godd luck

Hey everyone, so today I ran 6 mi easy out medium back (3 out 3 back) and probably averaged 7:45 - 8:00. Also a note about yesterday, I averaged 79.8 on the 400s yesterday, so I feel really good about those. Also thanks hsxcgirl!

So my race today did not go as planned, I ran a 18:52 at the same course as last week, so that sucked. But I’m gonna try and do better this weekend and hopefully finally break 18. Splits were 5:38, 6:13, 6:24. As you can tell it was just crap and our #1 JV beat me so yeah, just not happy with today. Looking forward to speeding up this weekend

So today went a lot better. I did a 9 mile run at 7:10 pace, which was really weird because I did breathe hard at random times while talking to my friend, but I started around 7:30 and worked down to 6:45! It was so weird because it just felt like a medium run, but last year I didn’t even run that fast until a week or two from state (2 - 3 weeks from now) and that was hard for me then! So, I’m definitely in better shape than last year, I just really need to kick in to gear with my races. Anyways, thanks for reading!

hi, sorry to hear about your race , maybe you should slow down at the beginning more, or maybe you should take a few days off to let your body recover. are you having problems like knee? yesterday, you ran at a pretty good pace not sure about the breathing tho.. anyways good luck at ur next race

5:38 wasn’t too fast for me, but I might go a little slower at the start. And my run was supposed to be medium, I just want a little bit harder and the breathing was only because I was having a full on conversation with someone, not because the run was hard or anything, which is what surprised me. And no, I don’t have any problems really, except my hamstrings are a little tight sometimes, but I don’t think that would make such a big difference because of how minor it is. Thanks, good luck at yours too!

You may be overtraining. I know a lot of people who run a lot faster in races and keep their easy days easy. 7:10 is a hard pace, and unless that was for a workout, it's way too fast. Idk though, maybe it works for you, but it could also be limiting you.

I’ve thought of that before too, so I’m gonna try and take easy days a lot easier from now on. I’ve got a race later today and we’ll see how that goes.

forgot to say good luck and how did the race go ?

Hey everyone (and hsxcgirl this should answer you) I had my last invitational of the year and it went pretty well! I ran a 17:42 (21 sec PR for a total of 34 this year) with splits of: 5:34, 11:08 (5:34), and 17:08 - 17:18 (6:00 - 6:10), 17:42. So this was one of my best races ever and I did it by pacing with my brother (he ran 17:19). I feel like the difference was starting out WAY slower than usual and just going comfortable and making sure I had a goal (to stay with my brother) to keep me focused during the race. Anyways, really happy with the race!

haha see i told you! and congrats!

You’re right, haha

Also, forgot to mention this earlier, but we got 1st out of 36 schools! It was pretty sweet, haha

So today was a pretty successful day, but I’m gonna start with this week’s outline first.

Mon - 8 mi 8 strides

Tues - 5 - 6 mi

Wed - 5k dual meet (5 - 6 mi)

Thurs - 5 - 6 mi

Fri - workout (don’t know it yet) probably about 6 - 7 mi total

Sat - 5 - 6 mi, maybe more?

Total estimate: 35 - 40 ish

The reason I put up that schedule is because it’s a little different than previous weeks and the reason we’re changing it up is because my coach wants our dual meet to be more than just a workout (fastest opponent is low 17s and our fastest guys are low 16s) and we don’t have an invitational the rest of the year. (However we're planning on NXR and if we win state, then an invite only basis race post season).

Today’s run: 7.8 mi 3.8 out 4 back(took a little detour) with an average pace of 7:05 ish with about a mile or more uphill (about a half mile and 1/4 mi hills with little rolling ones later) making this a nice run, but what surprised me was it felt almost effortless at first (7:10 pace for a bit and 7:30 - 8:30 up the big hills) and got a little hard towards the end when I picked it up. Anyways, I’m really happy with today’s run and tomorrow is easy and Wednesday is a race. How is everyone else’s season?

Hey everyone, so Tuesday was just a 3 mile run with 8 strides afterwards for a pre race run and then yesterday we had a dual meet where we scored almost 15 points, but here’s how it went:

Mile 1 - 5:38

Mile 2 - 11:49 (6:11)

Mile 3 - 17:35 (5:46)

5k - 18:07

So, the mile markers changed this year and our coaches had to gps run it to figure them out, so they’re a little off, but probably close. I don’t know how I pulled off that last mile, but I feel like I had a great race and I just need to work on getting all of my miles under 5:50, I think. Thanks for reading!

Precalc_Runner wrote:

Today was another workout as follows:

1.2 mi warmup at about 7:30 - 8:00

16x400 sets of 4 with 35 sec rest and 1:15 rest between sets averaging 80 - 81.

1.7 mi cool down 8:00 - 8:30

So, this workout felt a little bit more intense than the last 16x400 but that’s expected with less rest, but I felt like I was in the zone and could’ve gone another set or two if needed. Also, my slowest was 82 and fastest was 78, but usually hit 80.

Really happy with today’s workout, I really think im a short distance runner (800/1600) but we’ll see. I’m gonna try and go out at 5:40 on Wednesday (same slow course as last week) and then see what I can hit after that. What do you guys think of the workout?

Going off by what someone else said, I do think that you may be working out too hard. You're consistently slower in your last half of the race. It could just be the course itself but some of your races are pretty drastic. With this little rest I would look at this as a workout to get your race pace in line. 80's is a 5:20 mile/16:40 5K. This is just my opinion but running it slower and consistently hitting 83's (5:32, 17:15s) or 84 (5:36, 17:30's) could provide much more of a benefit to you. Try to pick a point in the race where you know you need to move and make a conscious effort to get your form back in line and take off. You could run 17's consistently, you're definitely in shape for it, you just gotta work on actually racing.

Thanks for that! I have been thinking about that specific thing for awhile, but it’s a lot easier for me to draft off of my teammates and run a few seconds fast than it is for me to come dead last everytime but still pushing it (effort wise) because of my mentality, I guess. The thing is though, I feel really good for those workouts and just recently I’ve been feeling good for my races (these past 2) so I think it’s just been getting used to the workout, but also, maybe if I went easier in the workouts I could race better, which I’d love, but state is really the only race that matter and if I’m running this speed off of tired (ish) legs, then I’ll do much better on fresh legs when we taper and stuff. We have more 400s on Friday (I’m guessing anyways) and I’ll probably go 80-82s for it, because I really am not that great at knowing what the pace feels like either, especially in a race, but also in workouts. Sorry I’m all over the place but, I definitely get where you’re coming from, but my priority isn’t to be in the 17s every race, it’s to be mid to low 17s for districts and state. Thanks for the serious reply! Also, a little random info, I was at Nike Portland and my coach coached the Saugus head coach in high school and we got to meet him and he’s one of the best coaches in California (mainly his girls team, but his guys team isn’t too bad for CA) and he said sometimes he’s had weeks where he has his runners do up to 12 Miles before a race (day before) because it’s better to be tired during mid season and see what you can do on tired legs, and then end of season see how much better you do on hard conditioned fresh legs. This shows in my teams’ times at state too since most guys either PR or get at least a top 3 PR there as well. Thanks again!

So yesterday was just an easy run, about 35 minutes because we had team pictures and whatnot, and it was just a recovery day. Today was 12x400 really working on speed:

1.7 ish mi warm up

12x400 in sets of 4 with 1 min rest and 3 min set rest with an average of 72.5, low of 70, high of 74, usually hit 73.

1.7 ish mi cool down

Overall I was really happy with the workout, I know it can’t really be translated to a 5k because of such long rest, but the point of it was to work on speed, not pacing. I know I said I was gonna slow down for this next work out, but my coach wanted today to be more speed work than pace (hence the long rest with faster times). It went a lot better than planned, I thought 75 would be hard to hit (what my coach wanted me to average) and I ended up under 75 for all of them. Also, this was on a track with spikes instead of the black top trail we’ve been on lately. Last thing, sort of random, I feel like I’m in a lot better shape than track season and last year because I struggled to hit 80 flat for 12x400 with same rest as today both seasons, so I feel like I should be having some good races when we taper and reallya great track season. (I’m really hoping for sub 4:45, but I’ll reevaluate once the season’s over so I’m not drifting too much from this season).

Sorry for the second long post and sort of going back on my words, but thanks for reading! How is everyone else’s season?