Just curious to know how fast you run your regular days when just base building and how that corresponds to your PR's. I just run by feel but know I should probably be holding back a little more.
Thanks.
Just curious to know how fast you run your regular days when just base building and how that corresponds to your PR's. I just run by feel but know I should probably be holding back a little more.
Thanks.
You're a little vague with info there (how much of a mileage increase? what's your daily pace vs your PRs? Do you have a history of fairly comparable mileage or is this a noticeably significant jump?) but that's okay.
I'm in the same boat as you; I have a tendency to put the hammer down whenever I feel good and its surprising how long it sometimes takes for it to catch up to you. I hammered a fair number of runs over the summer and didn't fall apart til late September (long story...).
Point is: in spite of this, there's nothing wrong with running by feel because sooner or later your body is going to force you to slow down (sure, I needed to take some time off early fall but I still ran some sweet PRs this summer). The trick is to recognize when your body is truly beat and adapt accordingly. That's why I think down weeks are so damn important to mileage building since they allow you to consolidate your fitness and get you in a mindset of building up more than breaking down. I've found my body generally does well with a 3 weeks up/1 week down type cycle but it can vary a lot from person to person (some people respond better to a 2up/1down cycle but with tapering the mileage less during the down week while other people will do better with 4 up/1 super easy week down while other people who are REALLY good at reading their bodies will just go until they notice something really falling apart and take a couple days off).
I also try to avoid doing just endless slow runs during a base period because if your ultimate goal is to run fast its a good idea to keep your body in touch with at least a little bit of speed at any time of year. So hammering some of your runs or even just throwing in some strides or hills or light fartleks or even something as simple as killing the last mile of a run is gonna pay off in the long run when it comes time to do more specific training. Again, listen to your body.
Thanks for the reply. My runs tend to become progressive in nature. I never really found a sweet spot with taking down weeks. I was just very slow in hitting a new mileage level b/c I wasn't gallowalking out there.
I pretty much ran in the 35mpw zone for 25 weeks. I ran 64 miles in one week as my highest. I tend to start slow (9:00) and then get down pretty quickly into the 7:30s and under. Tend to close under 7 if I feel fine. My PR's are 25:09 for 4 miles and just came off a 1:33 half, aiming for 1:30, held 6:50's thru 8.5 miles but wasn't ready for that length of time on my feet.
Back in 2008-2009, I got up to 55 mpw for a good 6-8 weeks. Tore a calf muscle little after that and started from scratch recently. This bump is planned as follows:
Oct.18-Nov 7
5x45 min
1x30 min.
1x60 min
42ish miles, strides 1x week
Nov 8-Nov 28
4x45
1x30
1x60
1x75+
42ish miles, strides 2x week
Nov 29-Jan 2
4x45
1x60
1x70+
1x90
51ish miles
strides 3x week
Jan 3-Jan 30
3x45
2x60
1x70
1x90
55ish miles,
strides 3xweek
tempo run every other week
Jan31-Feb28
2x45
2x60
2x75+
1x90+
60ish miles
After that, see what's what.
Looks like a pretty solid plan. I will say I've done strides as many as 3-4 times/week during runs in base cycles and found it to help a ton when it comes time to run fast but then again if a lot of your runs are progression style and you're dropping down the pace for the last few miles you're probably fine. If you find yourself a bit overtrained one week and you can't seem to drop down the pace then maybe don't sweat the pace that week and add in another day or two of strides instead. That way you'll keep on with a little speed without it taking as much out of you as a sustained faster effort if you're feeling a little beat. That sort of strategy could serve as a "down" week. And I know what you mean about down weeks being tricky. Sometimes I'll feel like shit for most if not all of the entire down week only to feel fantastic the week after when I've started a new cycle. That usually happens when I push a bit too hard and overtrain.
if you ever want templates to give you an idea of how to distribute your mileage throughout a week I have a bunch and they really came in handy when I first jumped up to the 50+ range. For example, to do 50 miles/week the template I would use as a guide in a base period was 10-6-6-10-6-12-off. It worked well so I never loaded any one day too high which is definitely a good thing when you're starting out.
The only other thing I'd say is while I'm not sure what your goal race is, it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea to jump into some 5ks or even a couple 10ks during your training. Racing is the best kind of speedwork and even if it means running a few miles less in a given week its well worth it considering the mental and physical benefits you get from running fast in a clutch setting. Far too many people today are afraid to race and so long as you have that passion and drive to go out there and lay it on the line then its a very good idea. The only exception to this would be if you're feeling a little tired mentally and need a break from it but that shouldn't happen too often especially if you train intelligently. So good luck, my friend!
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