How does this week look for a typical "in racing season" week?

bump

Looks reasonable. If you are 4 weeks out, then I might do 4x1k on Tues and a bit more on Thurs.

good schedule!

That sounds good. In that case, maybe I can do 4x1k with 2 min rest + 2x600 with 2 min rest on Tues, with the 600s thrown in just so I finish faster.

Then on Thursday do something like 8x200?

Sure. I often have my guys do 3x500@1500 pace on Thurs.

In that case maybe I will do that instead. I can do 4x1000 with 2 min rest on Tuesday (possibly with some 200s afterward), then 3x500 on Thurs (how much rest?). That shouldn't tire me out too much for Saturday's race.

What are you training for? Mile? What's your weekly mileage at?

By the way, if you're training for the mile I'd say this looks good. I would just include some type of strides on friday if you don't already. Just a few like four 80-100m at mile race pace with plenty of recovery. Enough to were you're heart rate is back to normal.

I'm actually training for 5k.

In my opinion, it's still a good week but I'd be doing longer repeats and more volume. It would give you the strength/confidence to stay strong in the middle of the race and not "just hang on" until the kick.

In that case, maybe on Tuesday I could do 3-4x1200 with a lap jog, and 3x500 with 2 min rest on Thursday?

subdiudgdgjdjkk wrote:

I'm actually training for 5k.

If you are sure you can recover off of one easy day, then leave the order as is. I think you said 4 weeks out so you may be racing every saturday, but racing a 3k or 1500. Guess it depends on whether you are talking about outdoor or indoor.

In any case I would do this workout on the Tuesday:

WU; 4x1200 at 3:30,3:27,3:24,3:21; 3-6x300 cutdown at 47,45,43; CD

(times are just for example -- assuming a 14:35 5k'er) This would start you at just slower than VO2max pace and the next 3 reps would be right at it or so ... 69-68-67.

I am thinking up some other good 5k workouts that aren't just a variant of the one above ... but I think that you should do more work than 6x200m. This is why I always want more than just one easy day between workout and race which means moving the Intervals from Tues to Monday and the Thursday to Wednesday.

I think 6x200 is of limited value to "build" for a 5k. Maybe in your last 2-3 weeks of the season when you are trying to maintain rather than build, but not during the meat of the season.

Yes, racing every week, each race is still somewhat important so I want to still have something left for those. Maybe I could do 3x500 then?

Also, I'm not quite that fast. I am a post-collegiate female runner who is probably in around mid 18s shape for 5k right now.

another canuck wrote:

Looks reasonable. If you are 4 weeks out, then I might do 4x1k on Tues and a bit more on Thurs.

Agree

bump

subdiudgdgjdjkk wrote:

Also, I'm not quite that fast. I am a post-collegiate female runner who is probably in around mid 18s shape for 5k right now.

In that case I would do this type of thing:

Sunday - long -- this could be 60-90 minutes -- I would DROP it down the last 4 wks of this racing period, 90-80-70-60 min

Monday - WU, 4x1200 4:24,4:21,4:18,4:15(3:00 rest or 600 jog betw); 3x300 accelerations 100 run/100 fast/100 sprint; CD; adj times to your ability, but this starts at 5k pace and ends at 3200 pace.

Tuesday - easy run

Wednesday - WU; 4x800 at 3k pace with 2:30 rest; 3x300 at 57,55,53; CD

Thursday - easy run with 10x100 with 150 jog

Friday - short and easy

Saturday - race

This would work well if you are able to recover from your long run for a Monday interval workout. If you cannot, change the order to the one you wrote out.

As an 18:30 runner you don't need to worry about your speed. These intervals are VO2max training and NOT threshold, so you need to do them at that pace (4k race pace).

Just run 1:45 slower than 5k race pace for your easy runs. The more months and years you do longer miles at this pace, the better you will get.

If I want to have at least 2 days of rest before a race (to ensure I am still running a solid time), is there any harm in doing back to back workouts? That is, that workout on Wednesday then another on Thursday. I know Daniels mentions this. However, this 2 days enough time to recover from that?

subdiudgdgjdjkk wrote:

If I want to have at least 2 days of rest before a race (to ensure I am still running a solid time), is there any harm in doing back to back workouts? That is, that workout on Wednesday then another on Thursday. I know Daniels mentions this. However, this 2 days enough time to recover from that?

Doing a "workout" that is substantial enough to make a difference in your fitness, will put enough of a hurt on you that you don't want to do them two days in a row. Stress and recovery are not a linear thing, in other words ...

1 hard day is more or less equal to one easy day, but ...

1 + 1 hard days are not more or less equal to 1 + 1 easy days

Some will say otherwise and that they put three hard days together, but as an 18:30 female, I think that you ought to stick to 1 hard / 1 easy and experiment with how many days you take EASY before a race. My experience has always been that when I was doing "training" races (those BEFORE the last 4 weeks of track season) I could run pretty well with 1 easy day before the race as long as I was getting 1 easy day in for each HARD one. We were often asked to do interval workouts three days straight with ONE extra in the morning too. This "digs a hole" for you that makes it hard to be fresh to race off of, with only one easy day.

Also, I was a 16:00 5k'er at first and then 15:xx and then 14:xx so it was different for me.

At this point at 22 or older you should have a pretty good feel for whether you can handle a track interval workout the day after a "long" run, and also whether you need two easy days before races or if ONE will work. Before the most important races you should definitely take TWO easy days before with 4-10 strides after each run.