Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 12/30

I'm the proud new owner of a heart-rate monitor so I've been mostly experimenting with that, trying to get miles in without re-injuring myself while also trying to get up to 50 mpw. After a 24 last week, I'm happy to be back over 30 and close to 40 again.

Goal race: TBD

Next race: 5K on 1/1/13

M - 4

T - 7.87 miles @125 HR (70% MHR), 8:21 - first HRM run

W - 9 - 3wu, HR max test: 6x150s, 1x800 (all out in 2:23), 1x400 (all out in 1:11), 3/wd -- max HR was 179

T - 7.87 miles @131 HR (73% MHR), 8:15 - progression in last mile to dead sprint to get another bead on maxHR (got 173)

F - 2 - tweaked calf on previous run, shut down early

S - 0 - rest calf, knee injuries

S - 7.87 miles @150 HR (83% MHR), 7:33 - soggy run in the rain

Week total: 39

YTD: 627

Initial impressions about HRM training - I have been underestimating my HR, likely because of a rapid drop in HR when I stop to take my pulse.

Humbling moment of the week - Running a 71-second 400m sprint with the knowledge that I could regularly throw down 55-second or faster 400 splits on my HS 1600 relay team.

Numbersguy - Good first marathon week.

VF Runner - Snow really slows you down. What's your park?

Another - I know I probably asked this already, but how are you choosing your target HRs for those runs?

kr - I hope you avoid the bug. Good luck with the marathon. I look forward to the big weeks!

CTA and cyhawk - Looks like great weeks for you and Boston will be a walk in the park with the kind of work you both are putting in now. I love that so many on this thread are training for Boston.

np1112 and SteveInAlaska - amazingly similar weeks. Are you two following the same plan? :-)

Hans E. - Congrats on the 3900 miles this year. Great job.

Reg Fields - Love the 12.25 run! Merry Christmas!

themack - good to see you ramping up.

pablo - I'm glad your quad is feeling better and congrats on your new deck!

RunnerFC - I have a similar 5K goal for a race in 2 days. Hopefully we will both do it.

Muebele - That's a lot of gummy bears. Good job on the mileage PR.

I didn't comment last week so I'll do it now before I post...

numbersguy - good week. Good luck with the marathon build up.

VF - yesterday's run sounds like fun.

Another - abolsute hero for knocking out a track session on Christmas Day. Awesome.

kr - sounds sensible not to try and chase fitness too quickly. One thing you're very good at is building up slowly for a race. The big picture for you is the marathon, not the half.

CTA - Tuesday and Wednesday runs look good. You're starting to get in good shape.

np1112 - nice week of training; the 10 mile prog run shows you have good strength. What time are you hoping to run at Boston?

Hans E - you have been consistently hitting similar mileage every week for a long time. Very impressive. What are your racing plans?

Steve in Alaska - nice long run and impressive week in general.

cyhawk - lots of 'moderate' running this week. I find that this can take its toll on me even if I'm not doing anything hard. Good luck with the Boston build up.

Reg Fields - welcome to the thread. Keep up the good work.

pablo - glad to hear you're on the mend.

Chris NJ - what kind of strength exercises do you do? I have a routine that I've been doing for the last few months that my wife set me but am always willing to hear good ideas!

Runner FC - Good luck with your marathon build up.

Muebele - well done on the mileage high. As I've probably said here before, high mileage isn't everything but it certainly does help.

aaryno - are you going to run all of your runs according to HR zones now? It'll be interesting for you to see how that goes.

...and as for me:

I've been getting more sleep and as a result have been running a bit quicker for my 'easy' runs. They usually work out at around 7:30-8:00 pm but have been more like 6:30-7:00 this last week.

I did a race at my old university yesterday and my time was over half a minute slower than my 5 mile split from my 10k 2 weeks ago. My legs were sore and I didn't have much fight in me.

Goal: Home town HM, 3rd March - win or PB.

Monday: Rest (0)

Tuesday: 12 easy (12)

Wednesday: 18 easy (18)

Thursday: 11 easy (11)

Friday: 12 easy (12)

Saturday: 8 easy (8)

Sunday: Coventry New Year 5, 8th in 26:26 – sore legs, never really got going (12)

Week total: 73 miles

2012 toal: 3427 miles

2012 Notes:

- 9 miles more than I ran last year (excluding what I will do later today)

- PB at every distance I raced except road 5k: 3000 8:53, 5000 15:32, 10k 32:22, HM 70:47, M 2:38:35

2013 Notes:

- all training recorded in metric

- 3000 8:45, 5000/5k 15:15, 10k 31:59, HM 69:59

Happy new year!

Used this time as down time for myself looking back i have run 29 weeks with just one rest week.So before i ramp it up ( all ready done one week )thought i would rest, but still kept running but no hard stuff.

mon 10 miles steady

tues 3 mile steady

weds 8:10 easy

thurs 3 mile easy

fri 7:10 mile steady

sat 3 mile easy

sun 10:45 mile easy

weeks total 44:65 miles all @ level 1+2

Goal nick beer 10 k 10th feb,

Also need to lose 6lb in weight

6 weeks to my first road race for 21 years,this gives me 5 weeks to up my training to the next level.Muscular based training tempo/cruise intervals/long hills,run at level 4 and 5 87%-95%.

From this race i will than set a few short term goals with along term goal as well.

One long term goal i do have is to get under 1:30 for my hilly 13 miler.Have a great new year happy new year!!!

thanks for the concerns the last few weeks guys- life's gotten in the way a bit. but things are settling.

steveinalaska- small race end of february, a marathon relay that i did last year with some friends. we ran 4 but this year might just be me and my roommate as one of our runners doesnt want to and the other just moved to St Kitts for grad school (!)

brumrunner wrote:

aaryno - are you going to run all of your runs according to HR zones now? It'll be interesting for you to see how that goes.

First of all, congrats on a great year. It's great to see you setting PBs in almost everything. I aspire to have 2013 be like your 2012. I love that you posted those and hope others do as well. I anticipate next week's thread to have a lot of Goals statements, too....

As for the HR training, I'm excited to try it out. My training plans may be interrupted mid-January with a baby coming but, yeah, I'm loosely following the Hadd Phase I approach (copying Hadd's instructions for "Joe", translated to my % max), but also reading Daniels' Running Formula (another Christmas gift). I'll run the HRs but the number/mathy side of me can't resist checking the time. At some point (once I get up to 50 mpw) I am actually going to do the 2400m Hadd tests where I will run sequential 2400m runs at 130, 139, 148, 158, and 167 with 90 second rest to benchmark my progress.

Good that you're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel Another. Nice week.

Nice tempo CTA.

CTA/Another - what's with the 'R' in your weekly training instead of 'Th' or similar for Thursday?

Another very good week np1112. And likewise SteveInAlaska. Your structure is similar to my ideal also.

Nice annual total Hans E.

That's a nice 5m time on sore legs brumrunner. And a nice recap.

And generally some nice training going on, despite the holidays!

Courtesy of my laptop crashing, I don't have definitive end of year stats (plus I've got my 2nd run for today to do still), but I averaged somewhere around 70-71mpw with a massive amount of rest days (115 +/-5).

Aim for next year is to start putting my mileage back towards previous levels and to see where it gets me.

Technically I did pb at 10k this year (33:25), but it was my first 10k since 2009 and it was also my first race in nearly 8 months.

Berlin was my second quickest mara at 2:30:19, but could and should have been so much better, even off of messy training.

Next year will be a year of 2 halves. Leading to my spring mara I'll be racing longer races - 10m-20m. Prior to my autumn mara I'll be racing more in the 10km-HM range. Just the structure of the races in this part of the country, but it should lend to allowing me to start putting down some good times from 10k-Mara.

VF Runner - sounds like a nice trail run.

Another, CTA, cyhawk - nice early weeks of Boston training.

kr - smart decision on the half. No need to compromise bigger goals.

np1112, SteveInAlaska, Hans E - impressive dedication and volume, especially for this time of year.

printer - a good time of year to take a rest. Recover well.

Reg Fields - welcome aboard. Those training paces alone should get you close to a 1:25 half without adding too much quality.

pablo - nice steady return to running. You've had an impressive year.

Chris_NJ - I know what you mean about the weather. Whatever you can get in feels like a victory some days!

RunnerFC - don't push that hamstring too much, especially with the faster stuff. Hope it feels better soon.

Muebele - nice week and year. Hope you can stay healthy and get that 2013 mileage goal.

aaryno - I had a similar humbling moment a few years ago when I raced a "balls to the wall mile" for the first time in years and couldn't crack 5:00, when I once "jogged" a 4:46 mile in high school gym class weaving in and out of runners. I have learned it is best to focus on the here and now, and how you can improve in the future. :)

brum - just an outstanding 2012. I admire your weekly consistency. One of the true models for the rest of us.

alf - another good week for this time of year. Good luck with your 2013 goals.

My 2012 notes:

1,383 miles (4 month layoff and 2 month slow recovery)

*5K PR - 17:08

*10K PR - 35:57

*HM PR - 1:22:19

My 2013 goals:

Stay healthy and roughly double my 2012 mileage

*Set a marathon PR at Gettysburg (2:59:50)

*Match or best my 5K PR in the summer

*Run a 1:20 HM in the fall

*Run as close to a 2:50 marathon in the fall

Goal: Sub 3 debut at Cleveland, May 19

Not a good week. Got head cold Friday night and missed two planned runs, including my "long run."

Tomorrow marks two full years since I started running metric (someone mentioned that earlier in the thread). I live in Ohio but always found myself thinking in terms of 5km segments when I ran, so I just decided to switch to metric so I would know exactly what my 5k segments are. I am now pretty comfortable being able to see my pace in km and knowing what it means effort wise, yet I always end up converting in my head to miles. I also have a couple "check points" memorized, such as 4:20/km = 7:00 mile, 4:30/km = 7:15 mile, 4:40/km = 7:30 mile, 5:00/km ~ 8:00 mile.

In the winter during the week I run after work in the dark, and I run a short loop (1.67km) for various reasons: it's lit so I don't need to carry light, and I go past my car every few minutes which seems smart in the event something happens. Don't want to die of hypothermia. One really cool thing is that three loops is exactly 5km. (Ok it's 5.01km). It does get incredibly boring out there. Probably done 1000 loops over the 4 years I've been running.

12/24: 11.3km, 4:50/km

12/25: 13.62km, 4:36/km

12/26: 6.13km, 5:08/km (snow storm)

12/27: No Run

12/28: 10.93km, 4:58/km (ran first 5k with wife)

12/29, 12/30 No Run

Total: 42km (~26 miles)

I do like the idea of stating all goals, so here goes:

Number 1 is to get to a proper running weight. Since I got out of the Army in 1997, I've always had a weight problem. I'm over 200 right now at 5'11, and all my PRs have been set while I weighed in the 190s.

So aside from weight (160 the goal), I want to PR at all distances.

5k: < 18:50 (2010)

10k: < 39:20 (2010)

Half: < 1:26:20 (2012)

Marathon: Sub 3 Debut

Yea the Marathon goal is going to be tough considering I've never run high milage and I'm currently fat. But we'll see. It'll give me something to chase and because of that, I'm sure I'll PR at the other distances. I could have PRd at the shorter distances earlier this year, I just never got around to actually racing one.

aaryno: I dont really follow a specific plan. Right now is just base so my coach told me to alternate a 6 and 9 mile progression and easy long run/ marathon pace long run every other week. Everything else is just easy/recovery running by how I feel.

brumrunner: I have no clue honestly. Right now in my head I have sub 240 in mind. PR is 246. I feel more fit right now, but not necessarily marathon fit.

Hey everyone, sorry I've been missing the last couple of weeks. Between the holiday festivities and being bummed out about the IT band, I've been away from LetsRun.

In short my last 3 weeks were:

60ish miles - thought I was getting back into the swing of things

30ish miles - realized I was not getting back into the swing of things

15ish miles - felt like an addict hitting rock bottom this past week; this IT injury is clearly way worse than previously assessed

The good news is that I've been doing a solid job lifting my legs and doing my hip exercises (in hopes to resolve any imbalance issues aggravating my IT band), although I've yet to see any functional benefit come from said exercises. I'll also be seeing my ART guy again in the new year. Hopefully I can get a somewhat fresh start after all this downtime.

Staying positive and looking ahead, here are my goals for 2013:

- GET HEALTHY! Work my way back into 100 MPW form (slowly). I hope to be able to run more consecutive 100 MPW this upcoming summer than last. I think the high summer mileage had a huge part to do with my PR's this past fall season.

- Still run the Boston marathon somewhat competitively despite the massive setback in training.

- Chase some non-marathon PR's come fall. Sub 4:20 mile, sub 15 5k, and sub 69 half.

Hope all is well with everyone else! I'll have to read through the thread to see where everyone is at. Pablo, I hope you're quad thing from your marathon wasn't major and that you're all healed up by now.

Happy New Year everyone!

Hello all, been gone a while in Ireland and have not had the time to post on Letsrun for the past two weeks. My training has been affected majorly by a list of factors that really look like excuses, but who doesn't enjoy a good whine? I will try and give that practice hopefully in the new year.

2 weeks ago: issues with knee develop from not taking time off from banging my knee into a wall raquetball (sp?). Take the weekend off cross training and rehabing.

last week: Take GRE monday after cramming as much studying in as possible the past weekend. Missed run as it was 2 hours there and back and it took four hours to complete the exam. Left for Ireland that night it took 36 hours to get there and with much travelling around to visit relatives meant that my hamstrings were super tight and any attempt to run failed. The shortest days of the year also didn't help when it got dark at 4 O'clock!

This week: Started the week with a reknewed attitude and got off to a good start. Knee problems persisted however as did the tight hamstrings. Resulted on Wednesday with a failed 5 mile run that involved a lot of walking a stretching. It band flared up worse than it has in a long time. Really regret not packing the foam roller! Hope to get back to bussiness in 2013

This week:

Monday 10 easy

Tuesday 7 easy

Wednesday 5 easy (it band problems develop)

Thursday off

Friday off

Saturday off

Sunday off

Last week:

Monday off

Tuesday off

Wednesday off

Thursday off

Friday off

Saturday off

Sunday off

The week before that:

Monday pool workout 25x200m repeats

Tuesday 8 easy

Wednesday 11 fartlek workout

Thursday 10 easy (knee problems began)

Friday 10mi bike

Saturday 10mi bike

Sunday 15mi bike

2013 Goals

Get the weekly/yearly reports done with goals included and summarized

Run a minimum of 3000mi

Run at least one 100mi week

3k: 9:30

5k: 15:59 (All-Conference/Top 10)

10k: 33:59 (All-Conference/Top 10)

Fall/Winter HM: 1:15:xx

Qualify for NAIA Marathon (2:50 "B" Standard)

Run NAIA Marathon

The 'R' is a holdover from college days back at RPI. R was Thursday in the class schedule.

How do I determine my HR levels. 1. Years of previous running by HR and 2. A guesstimate that my maxHR is about 188. Though I haven't approached that in years.

I ran a lot by HR early on in my training, then put it away when it cumbersome and I improved a lot without it. Now with a year of shitty running behind me I'm back at it. What I've gained in my last month with it is that, for some reason I'm not pushing hard enough to get to the faster paces I once hit.

For example, my 3 x 1 mile Tempo repeats. I only maxed at 164. About 18 months ago I would probably max around 168-169. So I've got room/pace to push still. I've got a 4 mile tempo scheduled for Thursday. I'd like to see 6:25-6:30/avg for that one. Still early in the cycle, plenty of improvement room for Boston.

So the HR levels are combinations of what I think my HR max is, and previous experience. I don't think my HR levels for training should change that much over 12-24 months.

Goal Race: probably Shamrock Marathon (3/17)

Goal Time: Sub 2:30

Next Race: 1/1/13 - 5k

M: AM: 10.5/PM: 5.5

Tu: 13 total w/ 6x1600+4x400: 5:28, 5:23, 5:20, 5:19, 5:20; 75, 73, 75, 73

W: AM: 6/PM: 10

Th: AM: 10/PM: 6

Fri: AM: 13 total w/4x 2 mi (2:00 jog) 11:37, 11:33, 11:32, 11:43/PM: 4.5

Sa: 20 @ 7:02/mi

Su: 11

Weekly Total: 109

2012 Total (Including today): 4550 - near yearly mileage pr by 15 miles

Tuesday's workout was great (was on the track); Friday's workout was terrible (was on rolling roads). My legs were pretty beat up on Friday from doing a lot of running on rolling country roads the past week, but I was still hoping for sub 11:30s on the last two. My legs were pretty spent by the end of the workout.

2013 Goals:

- Sub 2:30:00 Marathon

- over 5000 miles on the year

- PR in at least 2 other race distances (hopefully, I'll be halfway to this goal after tomorrow)

- Run at least 10 races

Another - Maybe you aren't there yet, but your week looks more typical of where you can be.

kr - Sounds like a very smart plan.

CTA - If the marathon is the main goal, just keep that in mind as you approach a 5k with an iffy hammie.

Steveinalaska - Ironic that you are the one claiming to be wimpy about snow.

Cyhawk - Good early Boston prep week.

Pablo - Good luck with the quad.

Aaryno - VF ... Valley Forge. What were your rests during that HR max test?

Brum - Great 2012! Good luck with the 2013 goals.

alf - I have to believe after 21 years your next road race is in some ways going to feel almost like your first.

Oh please - I have a 5 mile loop (6 from my house). That I have probably run a thousand times over all the years that I've been running. I passed through a boring phase and now it is just comfortable. I do run lots of other places, but it seems I doo that loop 3-4 times a week minimum.

Des - It seems redundant to keep thinking "wow" after almost every one of your training weeks.

Happy New Years everyone. Be safe tonight.

27 miles for me this week. Holidays and a sinus illness held me back a touch

A quick recap of 2012 from my shoes . . .

- managed to stay upright and healthy all year. Ran at least once a week every week.

- achieved masters PRs in the 5K, 3000, Mile and 1500. Granted, the track times were masters 1sts so any time would've been a PR, but they were honest

- reignited a passion for a sport I had fotgotten about for many, many years

- lost some weight, gained an edge and got a little tougher

- tasted the pain of racing again and felt alive

----------------------------------------------------------

Props to the regulars here who post often and early every week. KR, Brum, CTA, VF, Another, Muebuele, Numbersguy and all the others I'm missing. Thanks for all the kind words.

Happy New Year all!

Goal: sub 2:20

Mississippi Blues Marathon

Monday-

Tuesday- 6 miles

Wednesday 10 miles (3 x 1mile +4x400 @4:58avg,69avg)

Thursday- 6 miles

Friday- 14 miles

Saturday-14 miles

Sunday- 12 miles (3 x 2miles @10:14,10:08,10:02)

62 miles

Ready for the Blues.