Training Log of a Distance Runner

1/23/22

40:51, 173 avg HR, 4.04 mi, 10:07 pace, 383 cal, 6274 steps

First run back felt awful. It was about 25 degrees (real feel 15). I started my run at about 8 am, and I only ran on a banana and about ten sips of water. It started snowing lightly about one minute into my run. The snow stopped after a bit, but came back closer to the end of my run. The run was pretty bad, but I tried to take it easy. I ran over a few hills during the run, but it was mostly trails covered in ice. I ran on the grass on the sides of the dirt trail, which was covered with snow (with ice underneath it). I had to slow down to not slip on ice in certain places, and so my pace was affected by that a little bit. Fortunately, it only started snowing hard as soon as I finished my run, so I am glad that I woke up earlier today to run. At times, my chin was freezing, but at other times, the wind calmed a bit, so it was bearable. Overall, I'm proud of the run and the fact that I ran in that awful weather. I was only trying to run 3-4 miles, so I guess I exceeded that (just barely!). Also, I saw more dogs than people on that run, which made me laugh. There was a guy getting ready to take his dog on a walk, a woman walking with two dogs, and another woman walking with her dog. 3 people, 4 dogs! I persevered through the discomfort knowing that none of my teammates or competitors were out there training today. Next training log will be Sunday, 1/30/22. I will try to keep the descriptions shorter.

ulphydro wrote:

1/23/22

40:51, 173 avg HR, 4.04 mi, 10:07 pace, 383 cal, 6274 steps

Forgot to add that after the run, I did 25 pushups, 50 crunches, 50 Russian twists, and a one minute plank

I don't think you need to be running 50 miles per week for a 5k race. In fact, I think that's too many miles and as your past has shown, you become unmotivated rather quickly. You are also risking injury if you are just now starting your training. I would come up with an actual detailed training plan or find one to follow. Also, keep in mind that mileage alone isn't going to improve your speed.

I ask this in all sincerity - are you obese? I wonder if dialing in the diet will make a huge difference for you.

thatsalotofmileage wrote:

I don't think you need to be running 50 miles per week for a 5k race. In fact, I think that's too many miles and as your past has shown, you become unmotivated rather quickly. You are also risking injury if you are just now starting your training. I would come up with an actual detailed training plan or find one to follow. Also, keep in mind that mileage alone isn't going to improve your speed.

For some reason, it says that an anonymous poster on a different device under the same username created my original post. This is me, ulphydro.

I've been told that 50 mpw is actually "medium" mileage, and 20-30 is low and 70-80 is high. I'm increasing my mileage to gain a better aerobic base and increase my aerobic capacity. In order to avoid injury, I am starting with low mileage, 20-25, maybe 30 at most. This is mileage that I can easily handle, and I know this from past experience. I know that mileage alone won't improve my speed, but since a 5K is 88-90% aerobic (or so I've heard), I think that an aerobic base is 1st priority. I will be adding in some tempos and faster workouts later to increase speed. What is your opinion on this?

local libt*rd wrote:

I ask this in all sincerity - are you obese? I wonder if dialing in the diet will make a huge difference for you.

No, I am actually not obese. Quite the opposite, in fact. My BMI is just barely "normal," on the border between normal and underweight. I don't know if "dialing in the diet" would be the best idea. Since I'm still growing, I also don't want to start eating less and risk any health issues or inch(es) that I can get.

10-4, disregard.

When you say past experience, when was that? In other words, have you been consistently running 20- 30 miles per week as in right now/recently? Just because you ran that, say, last year doesn't mean your body is ready for it now.

Maybe 50 mpw is average. To be honest, I really don't know. I'm training for a marathon and my average mpw is currently 35-40 and I will max out at 50. Now, I know many runners will run higher mileage when training for a marathon, but this has worked for me. I'm a 35 female and my first and only marathon (so far) was a 3:21. My recent 5k time (from last year) was 19:50 off of roughly 20 miles per week. I know this isn't a perfect comparison, but I do know, my speed came from doing speed specific workouts including tempo runs, intervals, and repeats.

When I ran in high school and college (5ks), my mileage was never 50 mpw.

Past experience of 20-30 mpw means that for the past 2-3 months, I've been running 20-25 mpw for about two weeks, then taking a 1-2 week break, then restarting. I was stuck in a never ending cycle that I am trying to break now. I could fairly easily do 20-25 mpw, and it wasn't even much of a challenge.

I've never trained for a marathon, but 50 max mpw sounds really low, considering many high school runners train at 50+ mpw for the 5K in cross country. However, if it works for you, I'm not gonna question it.

In terms of speed, I probably don't have the exact speed to run under 20 minutes right now (though I am close to sub 20 mile pace), but my biggest problem is endurance. Even if I can run the mile pace for sub 20 (my eventual goal is sub 18:56 by around October 15), I can't keep up this pace for 3.1 miles. I need to work on my aerobic capacity and endurance, so I am going to increase my mileage. Also, there is a ton of snow and ice outside right now, so running harder is not smart considering I don't want to slip and hurt myself. I know a 15:09 5K/1:57 800m/4:11 mile runner (senior year PRs) who ran 85 mpw during his last XC season and never got injured. I know others who ran 40-50, some 60 mpw and improved by 2-3 minutes for their PRs. Since I'm not trying for a fast 5K time right now and still have about 8.5 months left, I think that focusing on an aerobic base is best for me. Plus, we will be doing 5K specific workouts once the cross country season starts. I do appreciate your input though, thank you