Extend Track Season or Start Base Training Early?

Sorry, that last bit should read

"...3 5k's at the start, middle, and end of May, then take up to two weeks off..."

absolutely put in a few good weeks then try some low key races just to keep the competitive juices flowing. it will help you mentally too.

im in the same boat...

PR'd in 3k indoors, ran close to same pace for a 5k two weeks ago and just pulled hammy badly...havent run since wed and still 2 wks away im sure..but ill hop in a few open meets because putting in the miles.

just dont expect too much, have fun

get what you can out of the current track season. Don't look so far ahead. You will have plenty of time between June and Sept, to build a base for X-C season.

thanks

any more?

I am in the same boat. I completely fried myself, went to the Dr. and my red blood cell count was so low they thought I had a serious illness. I overreached for about 2 months too long.

Anyway to answer your question, I'm going to try and save a track season. I figure it's too long to go without racing, even if you PR and it's not what you wanted before the season starts it's better than nothing. Plus you can build a base and just race off that in early cross and still be ready by Oct/Nov.

Good luck on your comeback man.

Start your base training early. Another crapy couple of races won't do anything for you but hurt your confidence. The more base the better, you can never have too much of it (Lydiard). I didn't race for over a year because of injuries but after the injuries were gone I put in a solid 3 to 4 month base without racing. By the time track season started I had a burning desire to race and ran out of my mind. That solid base also helped me have a lengthy injury free season.

bump.

I'm in the same situation.

.truth wrote:

Start your base training early. Another crapy couple of races won't do anything for you but hurt your confidence. The more base the better, you can never have too much of it (Lydiard). I didn't race for over a year because of injuries but after the injuries were gone I put in a solid 3 to 4 month base without racing. By the time track season started I had a burning desire to race and ran out of my mind. That solid base also helped me have a lengthy injury free season.

See that's the kind of reasoning I had before my coach told me I should do the races.

I know for a fact that if I do them, the first 5k will suck, the next one will be a bit better, and the third one a bit better than that, but I'm pretty sure they will all be a fair bit slower than my PB.

Just over a year ago I actually had a stress fracture that kept me out for 3 1/2 months.

Once it was healed I put in 2 1/2 months of SOLID mileage and by the time cross came around I was super stoked and absolutely tore it up like there was no tomorrow.

My past experience and my intuition is telling me to heal now and then do a long mileage period, but the coach is saying race when I'm healed, then rest, then do a shorter mileage period.

He reasons that two months of base work before September is good enough because I don't need to be really fit until November, and that if I start base work too soon I'll be too fit too soon in cross.

I counter that with saying that 4 months is not too much base training, and that it's doing too many workouts too hard and too early in September and October that cause people to peak too early, not having started their mileage too early.

Anyway it's basically a decision over what I want/feel like I should do, and what the coach says.

More thoughts & comment appreciated.

I'm in a very similar situation to this also. I overreached also and have been feeling like crap the past month or so. I'm not in the exact same situation because I'm not on a team right now but I was planning on doing some track races. I'm probably just not going to race and start up my base for cross (when I will be on a team) in early May. I think a solid 4 month base will really help me out.

I've been really mentally down lately because of the overreaching but it kind of helps to know I'm not the only one that is having this problem.

i have a feeling that it happens to a good number of college runners, or people who follow a similar schedule as college runners.

Yea, this always used to happen to me when I was in college. I would have a fantastic indoor season and crap outdoors. By the time I was a junior or senior I considered indoor my main squeeze and always started my base early. I just fet I had more opportunities to run fast indoors cuz of all the fast indoor races in the northeast. By the time spring came and the semester came to an end I was just too busy and unmotivated to train. I kinda blew those races off. I needed to recover and work on my base. I know outdoor is supposed to be the main season but its so short in college and in the northeast it doesnt really get warm enough to run fast until its nearly over. Therefore, I took full advantage of the lightning fast BU facility and often peaked indoors.

I am in the same boat as you. I would put in a solid summer of running, run well in cross, tear up indoors, and then fall flat on my face for outdoors. Too much racing in the college system for most runners and, like you said, the end of the second semester of school just ends up being too much. And the coaches just throw their runners into this system because they have to field good teams for all three seasons. I was originally planning on "retiring" from track until this past year when I fell in the same trap once again and realized I have not come close to reaching my potential.