TrainMe: 400m to 5k

Looks good. What did the rest of the week look like? How many days between workouts?

That hill sounds fine. You could always go to a steeper hill next workout and see how your legs feel. If its very steep, you could drop the distance down to 50m or 10 sec bursts and increase the rep number.

Those interval times seem very fast for a 24min 5K runner. You must have been drowning in lactic acid after that 3rd rep. I personally like that feeling. You may have also been a little more hungry the rest of the day too...sprint intervals can raise your metabolism for hours after the workout is complete.

Nice work.

Thanks for the input.

Last week was hectic. I basically shifted my week by one day. Only 4 workouts. I wanted to do this first week conservative so i didn't come down with an injury. All the Achilles talk had me a little worried. This week I'm doing the full workout.

Monday: Couldn't run because of a hectic day. Wasn't finished until 9 pm.

Tuesday: Hills

Wednesday: 3 mile easy

Thursday: Off

Friday: Intervals

Saturday: 3 miles easy

Sunday: Off

I have a shorter and steeper hill that I have run on before. I think it's closer to 10'-12' for 50m.

As to the times, I'm pretty good at short distances. Also, you said to do them all out, so that's what I was doing. Hence the headache and nausea. And as much as it hurt and was uncomfortable, I do like the feeling of pushing that hard.

The spikes felt good and I didn't have an issue with my foot strikes. I have to force myself to heel strike, but right now it is a little hard on my legs to stay on my toes for that long. It'll get easier.

I must have strained my right quad last week. Whenever I tried to sprint it stung when I raised my leg so I couldn't do either sprint workout. So, I did the mile warm up, tried the workout, and did the cool down.

I also had to go out of town this weekend so my schedule was screwed up again.

M, T, Th, and Su: 3 miles easy.

F: 1 mile easy, 2 miles fartlek 5 x ~100m at 6:45-7:15

Lame.

Probably not too big a deal. If you can cross train, I would try biking for a week instead of running...though light running will probably do the trick. You could also take 2 or 3 days off back to back and see if that helps.

When you start doing workouts again, maybe drop the intensity to 85% and shorten the rests between reps for a week.

You may need a better warm up for track sessions. Try warming up for 1.5 miles of light jog, then run .5 miles around the track running accelerations on the straight away (4 total). I think a good stretching routine after an adequate warm-up helps...there are a lot of haters when it comes to stretching these days, but I believe you need to be limber to sprint train. Also, you can drop your cool down to just walking or a short jog if your legs are trashed.

It feels fine now. It only hurt when I lifted my leg fast and that pain was a sharp sting in the middle of my Sartorius about a third of the way to my knee. I'm planning on doing the sprints a little slower this week.

I usually like a 2-mile warm up then a lot of light stretching. But, I'll give your idea a shot.

I have been thinking I may have to switch the days I do the hill and intervals. The rubberized track I have access to gets some use during the week and I think Monday its less busy. This week I'll stick with the regular schedule since the hills are easier on me and I don't feel as much pressure to go all out. Seriously, spikes make me want to run hard.

Thanks for taking the time to actually follow this.

That is good news on the quad.

The accelerations or striders (as some call them) are a way of gradually getting up to a fast speed and then gradually coming back down (an abrupt slow down can tax the legs as much as a quick acceleration). I think they wake the legs up and get the body ready for lactic acid clearing mode.

I usually do my track work on Saturdays or Sundays to avoid traffic. Lucky for you, you're doing mostly 400 and under work and should have clearly marked staggers if you want to run in the outside lanes...probably easier on the legs anyway.

You should check around for some indoor all-comer's meets in your area. They are usually a lot harder to find than outdoor meets, but you might live in an area where that isn't the case. You might have fun entering some shorter events sometime in January.

One thing I forgot to consider for you is your climate. If it gets real cold, you may want to lay off the sprinting stuff during that time. Hills should be ok, but you may want to switch to 20-30 min tempo runs instead of the track if its below 45*. Definitely be careful on how you start up on cold days, it might be better to use a flying start and try alternating between sprinting and floating (trying to maintain speed with less effort)during reps.

Good Luck.

Hills workout: Run 10 x 60 meters at 85% no faster. Only take a 1:15 minute rest no longer.

Last night I probably didn't do the strides in my warm up properly. I'm sure I did them more like slow sprints. However, the extra time and stretching definitely helped.

Warm up was 1.5 M easy (13:50.69), light stretching, 5 x 100m (23.96, 22.80, 23.48, 21.67, and 23.67 seconds)/100m walk, finish with light stretches. I also do a bunch of different skipping exercises before and after I run.

Hills were: 6 x 100m (21.81, 24.16, 22.10, 22.17, 22.56, and 22.65 seconds)/4 min. rest. I made sure to not do these all out to make sure I didn't aggravate my quad.

Cool down was 2 M easy.

I live in Orlando, FL. It only gets really cold here from late January through early March. February can easily get down to 20*.

A trainer friend told me she thinks there is a track series in Cleremont, FL. That's pretty close to me. I think there's a strong tri community in that area.

I have thought of making Saturday my track day because it's a bit annoying to try to get to the track right after work and with the time change I might not have enough light to see.

Thanks for all you time and input!

Hill workout: Run 10 x 60 meters at 85% no faster. Only take a 1:15 seconds rest no longer.

Sorry about that.

Thanks for the suggestion. The Best Plan suggested something similar. I think it's 10 x 50m all out. I don't recall what the rest is.

I'm going to do different lengths/structures in my hills and intervals. I know I'll get bored doing the same thing each time. Also, I'm pretty sure its good for me to switch things up to work different systems.

Please, keep checking back and offering your insight. I really appreciate it.

I found an awesome track facility in Clermont, FL that I am going to check out. I'm probably going to change my schedule to do track workouts on Fridays/Saturdays at this facility.

http://www.usantc.com/

'Monday: Couldn't run because of a hectic day. Wasn't finished until 9 pm.

Tuesday: Hills

Wednesday: 3 mile easy

Thursday: Off

Friday: Intervals

Saturday: 3 miles easy

Sunday: Off'

You need to do a lot more running. You need ot be doing 5 miles on non workout days and a long run at weekend. Maybe 1 day rest

Build up to this gradually

For the first two months my week is supposed to look more like this. I can add/change hill and intervals a little bit.

Typical Week:

M - 1mile warm up, 6x100m hill sprints, 2mile cool down

T - 3 miles easy

W - Off

Th - 1m wu, 6x200m on track (full rest between ea.), 2mile cool down

Fri - 3 miles easy

Sat - 5 miles easy (do 20min of plyometric leg exercises afterwards)

Su - Off

Total: 19 miles per week

I've modified the warm up to be a bit longer and use strides. I'm trying to back off distance (was hovering at ~40 mpw) and focus on speed. So far I have missed a couple workouts because my schedule has not been consistent and I'm being conservative to avoid injuries from the hills/inervals. Of course, when I try to start a new program I get a lot of obstacles thrown at me.

Thanks for the input. I'm really impressed at how much positive feedback you all are giving me.

You are in the perfect environment for sprint training.

To train like a 400 runner, you need high intensity workouts with full rests. This is pretty much the opposite of the type of workout 5K runners tend to use. Its also very hard to recover from these short intense intervals vs. longer slower paced intervals.

Let me know how you feel during your rest / recovery days. We (or really you) should be constantly tweaking the schedule based on how you are feeling.

Before you get too far along, you might want to run a 400m time trial, so that we can track your improvements. Do your normal warm up of 1.5m jog, 2 laps of striders on the straights, and a full stretching routine. Then run an all out 400m and see how you do.

Time Trial Strategy:

Accelerate as quickly as possible over the 1st 50 meters. Continue to slowly accelerate the next 50 meters. The next 100m should be run as efficiently as possible (try to run easy without slowing down). Try to accelerate again on the last 100m curve. For the last 100m try to hold form and exaggerate your arm and knee drive a bit. You will be locking up at this point, but try to minimize your deceleration.

After you recover from your time trial (at least 10-15min), you can run another .5-1m of light accelerations on the curves, or just cool down and stretch.

M:

WU: 1.5 M + Strides 0.5 M

100 m Hills: 21.81, 24.16, 22.10, 22.17, 22.56, 22.65

I ran these at about 85% so I didn't aggravate my quads.

CD: 2 M

T and W: Off. Felt OK, but still being conservative and I'm adjusting my schedule to run track intervals on Saturdays.

Ice and heat on right quad at work just to be safe.

Th: 5.10 M easy.

Quads are fine.

F: Off.

S:

WU: 1 M + Strides 0.5 M

Intervals:

3 x 100 m, 5 min. rest: 18.1, 17.9, 18.8

3x 200 m, 8 min. rest: 35.4, 34.9, 36.1

1 x 100 m, 5 min. rest: 19.6

I felt terrible after the last 100. I started running at 11:00 am. It was cool but there were no clouds and no shade. I couldn't cool down during my rest so I abandoned the last bit of the workout. Nausea and headache.

I wanted to do this workout:

3 x 100 m

3 x 200 m

2 x 100 m

1 x 200 m

Su: 4 M easy

A little sore in my Achilles and hamstrings from Saturday.

I like having my intervals on Saturday. I just need to make sure I find shade for my rests.

I'm going to do the time trial tonight as part of my 5 M easy run. No spikes, just flats.

Looks good, but I'm a little worried about the nausea & headaches.

The lactic acid build up must be causing problems for you. Here are a few things that might help:

-make sure you are well hydrated, and drink some water between intervals.

-try to find some good stretches to loosen up your arms, shoulders, and neck before working out...wiggle your jaw a bit while stretching also. Its important not to neglect these areas before sprint workouts.

-keep walking around between reps...shake out your arms and legs...gently roll your neck and shoulders around a bit.

-try to keep your form when rigging up at the end of reps. Make sure your jaw & fists are unclinched...I once read closing your mouth too tightly could cause headaches. Keep your back straight and try to let momentum bring you in. You can't apply speed through grinding or increased effort once the lactic acid is flooding your body, you have to stay loose and try to minimize deceleration.

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On the 400TT: I would definitely do that trial on the track with your spikes. If you can't get to a track before Saturday, I would just save it until then. That can be your workout.

The jaw stuff makes sense. It has felt a little sore/tired since Saturday. I also felt my neck and shoulders tightening up. I was sitting during my rests, so that's going to stop. The sun was really killing my eyes too, it was pretty brutal with no shade, no clouds, and full noon sun.

Is it weird that I don't get these problems doing hills.

I was drinking Accelerade, but I did start to think I needed just water because I wasn't really cooling down too well. Between reps in the 200s I felt my stomach sloshing around too. So, I need to get a handle on drinking during intervals.

I might be able to get to the track before Saturday.

For breathing, I usually follow this pattern

Right - In

Left - In

Right - In

Left - Out

Right - Out

Left - Out

Oooops.

I've always found hills to be less taxing than track workouts myself. The turnover rate and range of leg motion is greater on the track. Plus, walking back down the hill probably kept you more loose throughout the workout.

I've never really paid much attention to breathing pattern, but you might find more on it somewhere else. An old coach used to tell me that running with your chin slightly tilted up, helped open up the airways...He also said to raise your arms up and lock your fingers behind your head immediately after a sprint interval to help the lungs expand fully...and to not hunch over, but keep the back straight.

That makes sense.

I don't recall where I got the breathing pattern from. I read it in a piece about stopping stitches with your breathing. Something about a muscle attached to your diaphragm that get's pinched when you start your inhale on your left foot. It works for me anyway.

Thanks for your time and advice. I really appreciate it.