the last two years in track i've ran medicore throughout my seasons except in the 10k usually towards the end of the season when i drop my time by about a minute and a half. this year i PRed in the second 5k of my 10k by 15 seconds and dropped from a time that wasn't even provosional to a place that qualified for nationals. i was wondering if anyone out there had an opinion as to why i can't PR gradually?
drugs?
Training comes in different phases and sometimes you're not used to the workload in the beginning/middle of the season. In addition, the strength/base gains by themselves earlier in training aren't meant to make you faster by itself. But coupled with the speed/sharpening at the end of the training cycle, it'll all come together like a single engine. It actually sounds like your training is working well... but I understand you wanting to run better through the middle part of the season.
googlerific wrote:
drugs?
haha
Throughout my running career, I never made gradual improvements. It seemed like every time I PR'd, it was big. I found that I would run plus/minus 10-20 seconds of a PR for most of the season, then I would suddenly pop out a 1:30 improvement, and run close to that time the rest of the year. The same thing happened during my freshman, sophomore, and junior years.
its normal.. peak and plateau
I've got to agree that this trend sounds pretty good. 90 seconds per year int he 10000m. Unless you started college running 40 minutes, a few more years like this and you'll be elite. As long as you qualify for the late-season meets where you have a chance at that big pr then there's really no reason to desire a more step-by-step improvement. Good luck in the next few weeks.
Weather:
Outdoor track weather can be crummy early season, especially if you're from the northeast or the midwest. Come a sudden change in weather you can train and race much more easily. 90 deg F days are abysmal for 10K races, but early May is still better than late March.
Finals:
Are over. If your season extended past the end of your semester, better sleep and less work-related stress might account for some of the change.
d3runner wrote:
the last two years in track i've ran medicore throughout my seasons except in the 10k usually towards the end of the season when i drop my time by about a minute and a half. this year i PRed in the second 5k of my 10k by 15 seconds and dropped from a time that wasn't even provosional to a place that qualified for nationals. i was wondering if anyone out there had an opinion as to why i can't PR gradually?
I've discussed this with a lot of amateurs and I've narrowed it down to the 3 most commonly occuring reasons:
1) You forgot to put on your lead underwear for a late season race.
2) You thought you were running a 5k, but just kept going when you noticed nobody else was stopping.
3) By the time the end of season comes the season finales of Desparate Housewives, Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy are over so you're getting more sleep.
In the case of number 2, I once convinced a runner he was starting a 1500, resulting in a 3 minute PR for 10K despited carrying a monkey, gorilla and bear on his back over the last couple laps. After the race he told me he needed to work on his speed.