800m/1500m training log thread

Monday 9/9/13 am 3.5 in 24:40 pm 5.2 in 38:14

Tuesday 9/10/13 am 2.5 in 17 min then some strides barefoot. legs not right. pm 5 in 31:40...legs bit better. +core

Wednesday 9/11/13 pm 6.5 pretty hard (last 2.1 in 10:10)

Thursday 9/12/13 6.5 pm .8 5 min, 1.92 9:30 (hard surges+breaks). then ~1mile easy/moderate. then 2miles in 7:57 (1min hard surges+breaks...8x400m intervals, basically) 1mi cooldown. really hard. legs were ok-not good not bad. did stretching/hip stuff after and bounces

Friday 9/13/13 pm 4 total (1.22 in 7min, then 2x675m in 1:46, 1:50, 1mile in ~5min w/ some sprinting 3.1 in 15:36). legs a bit better.

Saturday 9/14/13 am 7 in 47min pm 90min football, frisbee, 6.5 in 47:30

Sunday 9/15/13 am 4.5 in 32min. tired! pm 4.3 in 31:30. felt pretty tired, legs pretty tight. core/stretching after seemed to help. gotta get hips FORWARD!

58

Monday 9/16/13 pm 4.5 in 29:15...legs still bit tired/achy/tight...bit suprised that it was 6:30/mile pace. pm 4.2 in 28min. bit better

Tueday 9/17/13 pm 4mi ~6min pace+ GYM! (17.5kg X 25 BSS, some lunges, some squats...first gym session in a while, felt good!)

Wednesday 9/18/13 am 3mi 19:24...felt OK! legs bit sore pm 7 total 2 to gym quite fast, 4mi treadmill, 1 back. legs bit sore/achy but OK

Thursday 9/19/13 am 1mi to gym, 5x10 100lb leg extensions, some lunges, squats, deadlifts...legs/glutes sore from TUE! 5k on treadmill in 20min. 1mi home pm .5 up, 3x1.1 mi in 5:33, 5:13, 4:59 .5 down. legs...OK. took a while to warm up.

Friday 9/20/13 am 1mi to gym, 1hr at 13k/hr for first 20min, 13.5k/hr for last 40min. legs OK. glutes sore, quads bit sore. pm ~4mi not too hard. legs bit tight/sore.

Saturday 9/21/13 am 1 to gym, some core, 5k on treadmill 20min (13--15-->20km/hr, felt comfortable) legs OK. 1mi back.

Sunday 9/22/13 am 1 to gym, 5.2mi in 35min (13km/hr, 13.5, 14, last ~1.5K at 20km/hr) 1 back. bit of str stuff but nothing too tough pm....TYPHOON, didn't run

62.5

Finally found a gym near me, it's pretty great. Haven't done a solid gym session in a while and for me that is important Sore as h*ll for the first few days after, but the good kind. Also am trying out running on treadmills, I always hated them before but I am actually enjoying it. Can check my form in the mirrors right in front of me...jeez I am getting skinny! They only seem to go up to 20km/hr but that is enough for most training.

Only trouble is...no air conditioning or fans to speak of in the place so I end up sweating my rear end off. Down to 154-155lbs. 20lbs lighter than this time last year. Getting crazy amounts of veins in my legs, stride feels stronger, I feel lighter, this running thing is getting easier. Gonna shoot for 70miles this week.

-Rio Amigo

Monday 9/23/13 14 total am 1 to gym, some weights, ~7mi @ 6:50mi pace (14km/hr), 1 back quite fast

pm 1up 4x685m hills (2:20, 2:15, 2:10, 2:05) 1 down. legs OK not a super hard effort. wet roads.

Tuesday 9/24/13 10.5 total am 1mi to gym, 5k @ 14km/hr, 4k @ 20km/hr, 1mi back

pm 3mi 19:30, legs OK.

Wednesday 9/25/13 9.5 total am 2.5 moderate

pm 1 to gym fast, some lunges, squats, stretching. 4x10x120lbs leg extensions into 8k on treadmill (14km/hr, 6th and 8th at 19.5km/hr, comfortable!) 1 back also fast.

Thursday 9/26/13 7 total am 1 to gym, 8k (some hilly), 1 back. tired, sweaty.

Friday 9/27/13 12 total am tired...1 to gym fast, 5k easy, some weights 1 back

pm 1 to gym fast, 7.5k treadmill (1mi, 5k in 15min 1k down) 1 back. some core.

Saturday 9/28/13 14 total am slept 11hrs. 1 to gym, 13.5k in 1hr, some weights (arms, Oly lifts with 30kg), 1 back...tired!!!

pm 1up, 1 hill in 2:20, 6x50m short hills, 1 down....called it early.

Sunday 9/29/13 5 total pm 1 to gym 5k in 20 (last ~800m at 19.5km/hr), 1 back. easy day. no weights. achy at start, better by end.

72 total

Great week of training, highest in a long, long time. 19.5-20km/hr on the treadmill is becoming fairly comfortable. The 15min 5k on Friday felt really good...I was only a 18-19min 5k guy on the JV squad in high school so it's nice to see that hard work pays off in this sport!

Gonna probably rest/recover a bit this week then crank it up the week after again. Definitely slightly worn down and tired. But legs and hips are holding together, and I'm feeling the fitness improving.

-Rio

Monday 9/30/13 9.5 total am 1 to gym, 7k treadmill, 1 back. pm 3x3x(100jog, 100 stride, 100 jog, 100 stride). then drills. legs bit better.

Tuesday 10/1/13 8 total am 2.5 gym closed, didn't sleep well (feverish, sweaty, mosquitos) pm hard tempo (1mi 5:20 2mi 9:50 4.1 19:07)

Wednesday 10/2/13 7.5 total am 3.5 @~7min miles...legs bleh pm 1 to gym, 2 on treadmill, some weights. 1 back. legs meh.

Thursday 10/3/13 didn't sleep much at all, mosquitos again. pm 3 quite fast, legs felt decent

Friday 10/4/13 9 total am 1 to gym, 13.5mpw, climbing the mountain lasted up to 19%/19min...tough. 1 mile cooldown, then 1 back. pm 2mi easy, then 6x100m strides.

Saturday 10/5/13 11.5 total am 3 moderate gym closed. pm 1 to gym 20min warmup @ 13.5...climbing the mountain, up to 20%/20min.

Sunday 10/6/13 6.5 total am 1.25 to gym, 2.25 treadmill, some weights (BSS, lunges, core/bridges, legs bit tight) 1 back. pm 2 easy, core/stretching after

55

Chuggin along. Gonna get after it a bit mileage wise this next week if everything feels good.

Keep going brotha

Bumping because of the jackass naysayers. Whether or not you're a good runner, I like reading about other peoples' training/progression/insight. Anyone who bitches about it should learn not to click.

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words. I'm no world beater, running is just something that I enjoy and want to get better at.

Monday 10/7/13 15 total

am 1.25 to gym, 13.5k treadmill, 1 back.

pm 4.5 in 31:40

Tuesday 10/8/13 9.6 total

am 1.25 to gym, 7k treadmill, 1 back

pm .5up, some drills, 8x200m w/ 200m walk rec (~2:30) in (29, 28.5, 28, ?, ?, 30, 27.5, 28) .5 down barefoot

Wednesday 10/9/13 pm easy 5, felt tired and bleh

Thursday 10/10/13 11.5 total

am easy 6, bit better

pm 4 hills, short rec. (2:15, 2:10, 2:05, 2:00), 4 strides on track after. legs felt decent.

Friday 10/11/13 10.5 total

am 4.5 easy, some weights

pm ~6 total, most of it hard. first 1 in 5:05, 2.2 in 10:32 then last 2.5-3 miles with hard surges (didn't time but was fast) legs were OK-bit tired.

Saturday 10/12/13 5.5 total

am tired...3 easy, weights (deep squats w/ 30kg, halfsquats with 50kg, goodmornings with 14kg, hamstring/glute/quads/back might be sore)

pm .5 up, 2x(4x100m sprint, 100m jog), .5 down. legs a BIT shaky but fine

Sunday 10/13/13 9 total

am didn't sleep well, 6.4k treadmill, no weights

pm 2.6 just a few easy laps, legs were OK. nothing fast Hams/back sore-but the good kind.

66

Solid week. A few thoughts:

1. I wanted more miles-set out with 75-80 in mind. 66 isn't what I wanted...but looking at my training log it's my 3rd highest week on the year (which also makes it 3rd highest week in much longer than that, as well.) I'll take it, especially considering there was some quality (hill workout, hard tempo and a race pace/speed workout with a couple gym sessions as well). Heck, Coe did 60-70 mpw in the base phase, right?

I think I'll just let the mileage come and not worry too much about it, and focus more on getting my rearend outta bed in the morning for doubles as many days of the week as I can, while trying for decent quality workouts as well.

2. 29, 28.5, 28, ?, ?, 30, 27.5, 28 Felt like...800m pace, I guess? Maybe 1k? Hard to tell exactly-I'm not exactly race sharp at the moment. Not too strenuous w/ the long recoveries-they are more like strides and not a real workout.

Good to get on the track at least-just below 30s is probably what is expected for first set of 200s in a while-I think I'll start doing a session like this every week.

3. My diet has been a bit weaksauce lately! Am a quite lean 156lbs, but I could still lose a couple pounds of fat, I think. If I could get down to low 150s I think I'll start destroying the longer distance stuff, considering my tempos are getting down to ~5min pace and below. TRYING to cut out the sweets, bread, baked goods and fatty streetfood! It's hard!

Where I live (China) it's really hard to find sources of protein that are not either a) covered in salt and/or packaged b) extremely fatty/oily/fried c) soy. I've settled on a diet of mostly oatmeal (carbs/fiber/protein), skim milk (carbs/protein/calcium), chicken legs (protein), carrots (fiber), tuna in spring water (protein), bananas (potassium/carbs) and eggs (protein/carbs)-whenever I can get them. Oh, and coffee (caffeine).

Cya in a week, happy training everyone!

Monday 10/14/13 am 2 easy

Tuesday 10/15/13

am 10 easy

pm 1 wu, 8x200m w/ 2-2:30 rec. in (?, 29.5, 29.5, 29, 28, 28, 27.5, 27) 1 cd

Wednesday 10/16/13

am 4 easy+ gym (good mornings with 14kg, squats with 30kg/50kg, some overhead swings with 10/20 kg)

pm 4.5 in 30min, legs were OK.

Thursday 10/17/13

am 10.5 (40' treadmill, climbing the mtn up to 16%, tough). slept ~11hrs

pm 3 easy, some streching, pushups.

Friday 10/18/13

am didn't sleep well, 1.25 to gym, upper body stuff, 1.25 back.

pm hard run (1.06 in 6:42, 1.53 in 8:56, 2.75 in 14:04!) (last 1.2 mi surges every min). legs were...not perfect but OK.

Saturday 10/19/13 pm easy 8 miles

Sunday 10/20/13 am 5 and weights

pm 3 in 20:30 and some core.

60.5

TrainingForRio wrote:

Monday 10/21/13 12 total am 7.5 easy pm 4.5 (100m skipping every 400m)

Tuesday 10/22/13 12 total am 7.5 easy pm 4.5 easy

Wednesday 10/23/13 9 total am 5.5 easy some weights 3.5 (2 easy, 2x2x(100skipping 100 jog, 100high knees, 100 jog)

Thursday 10/24/13 13 total am 5 easy, some weights/core pm 7x 685m hills (2:20, 2:20, 2:10, 2:15, 2:10, 2:10, 2:05) short rec. felt OK.

Friday 10/25/13 11.5 total am 4.5 moderate. some weights (no treadmill). pm hard tempo 1.2 8min 1.63 10:30 5.9 31:52. legs were OK.

Saturday 10/26/13 10 total am 5 easy/moderate. tired at start (first mile 7:30+). plus leg swings/core/leg lifts. slept 11hrs... pm 2 wu, 1mi 100 high knees 100 jog 100 skip 100 jog, 1.5 cd (1 barefoot)

Sunday 10/27/13 pm 2 easy...didn't sleep well (at all, really)

69.5

Would have loved to hit a nice big (for me) 75 or 80 but just wasn't in the cards. Had insomnia Sat night till about 3am, then I just decided to get some work done and went to a coffee shop for the morning for some studying. Considered taking the day off totally but ran a few laps just for obsessions sake.

The hill workout was definitely one of my better ones-more reps than usual and shorter recoveries than usual too, but times were good.

The tempo was weird...just sort of rolled into it, it wasn't really a hard effort, and I was really surprised that the last ~4.3 miles were in 21min and change.

Monday 10/28/13 am 3 to gym (last ~1.4 in ~6.5 min!, felt good!), core exercises focusing on glute firing. 2 back slowish pm 6 hills (2:30, 2:25, 2:10, 2:10, 2:05, 1:55 [last with bikers]). focused on hips. tired at start.

Tuesday 10/29/13 am overslept (11-12 hrs, really tired) pm to gym, bit of core/weights. hip flexors fairly sore/tight. 6 total @ 7min/mile.

Wednesday 10/30/13 am 4.5 total (first 1.9 in 10:30 after first k in 4:10ish). some core. pm 4 hills short rec 2:15, 2:15, 2:00, 2:15

Thursday 10/31/13 am first 3mi ~21min 4.65 total 29:11 then core stuff in gym, felt decent. pm 8 short hills (~15s each), 4 100m sprints/strides on track. focused on form.

Friday 11/1/13 am 4.5 and gym stuff (back, calves, some abs). legs OK. pm 3 easy

Saturday 11/2/13 pm 10 hills (2:30x6, 2:00, 2:00, 2:02, 1:57). Didn't sleep well (2-3hrs), felt shit at start. Brutally hard.

Sunday 11/3/13 5.5 and squats. Legs were OK (bit tight/achy from yesterday)

61

Monday 11/4/13 am 4 and a bit of core…tired…legs bit tired. Not sleeping well lately. pm 5.2 in 29:55 raining quite hard

Tuesday 11/5/13 4.5 felt OK. 1 mi 6:30 1.68 9:30, 2.5 in 13:24 pm 2 hills, 2:15 and 2:05 hills…legs pretty shot. Tired. glute/core stuff after-quads/hips tightened.

Wednesday 11/6/13 pm 11.5 total 55min treadmill 23min roads. SH a bit pm 4 easy legs bit tired. Chafing, feet hurt a bit.

Thursday 11/7/13 am 4 total mostly easy, hard on the way back from gym pm 1 up, 16x100m sprints with 100m jog/walk

Friday 11/8/13 am 4.5 total (1.6 in 7:36)

Saturday 11/9/13 am 3+ gym (upper body mostly) pm 5:55, 5:30, 5:08 for 3x1.1 reps

Sunday 11/10/13 am 4.5 in 32min, and some planks pm 3 hills 2:15, 2:05, 2:05

62

I'll put up my 1994-95 training log since I just came across it.

Mon 8/29/94: 40 min easy - lifted

Tues 8/30: am- 5 easy; pm- 38 min med, drills

Wed 8/31: 40 min easy - lifted

Thurs 9/1: am- 5 mi tempo; pm 45 min steady

Fri 9/2: no run

Sat 9/3: 4 mi XC race. won in 21:58 - 4 mi warm down

Sun 9/4: 10 mile run

55 mi week

Mon 9/5: 46 min run

Tues 9/6: am- 5 mi; pm 2 loops of lake-58 min. 2 min easy, 3 mi 17:16, 1.5 mi e, 3 mi 16:50, 10 min e

Wed 9/7: 46 min run - lift

Thurs 9/8: am 5 mi tempo; pm- 52 min run

Fri 9/9: no run

Sat 9/10: ran hilly trail w/ 6X400 hill mixed in (9 mi tot)

Sun 9/11: 10 mile run

60 mi week

Mon 9/12: 7 mi easy, drills, lifted

Tues 9/13: am- 5 mi easy; pm 10 mi-60 min, 2 mi pickups at 10:38, 10:45, 10:34

Wed 9/14: 7 mi easy, lifted

Thur 9/15: am- 5 mi tempo; pm- 60 min run

Fri 9/16: no run

Sat 9/17: 7 mi run

Sun 9/18: 10K race- 4th 32:47 (5:14,5:24,5:20,5:24,5:07,5:03,75) easy effort

60 mi week

Mon 9/19: 7 mi easy, drills, hurdles, lifted

Tues 9/20: am 5 mi; pm- Lake-9 mi, 1 easy, 1 hard, etc. 5:12, 5:02, 5:07, 5:00

Wed 9/21: 7 easy, lifted, drills, hurdles

Thur 9/22: am- 4 mi tempo; pm- Track 8:400 R75s- 68,68,67,59,70,65,66,58

Fri 9/23: no run

Sat 9/24: 8.2K XC race- 27:50, tired, not good

Sun 9/25: 10 mile run

63 mi week

TrainingForRio wrote:

Considered taking the day off totally but ran a few laps just for obsessions sake.

Been there, done that, my advice is take an off day every 4th week at least. Your legs seems to be most of the time either tired or just ok/not perfect, it indicates that your muscles are possibly in somekind of catabolic state all the time, because you don´t give enough rest to your legs. I would also vary the days more, like press harder for 2-3days, then an easy day or two (low mileage and intensity), continuing this until feeling tired enough, then an rest day, followed by an easy week or so. Repeat. Just my thoughts, good luck!

You're probably right. I'm self coached, and have been for the past 7 years or so. It's a bit difficult to rein myself in, sometimes.

Good stuff! I've read through the "Sub 1:50 800m training" thread a few times and am trying to base my training off of that. It's tough doing the moderate/long tempos all alone-and even harder to do the long track work of 800/1k/mile repeats with short recovery.

Monday 11/11/13 am 5 easy/steady, plus a bit of core pm 6.3 very slow 7:56 pace

Tuesday 11/12/13 am 5.5 total, (1.12 6min, then 2.05 10:05...2.95 13:33... so last 1.83 in 7:33-in 1 minute bursts with ~1min rest, basically an interval session...legs better!) Plus abduction/adduction/glutes machine at gym. pm 7.3 7:59min/mile slow jogging.

Wednesday 11/13/13 am first part fast (1.4 in 7min, then jogging. tired. Hip stuff at gym. pm 7.3 easy 7:48 pace maybe bit better. and 3miles of walking

Thursday 11/14/13 am 4.5 total felt lighter. Did leg machine and 3x15x15lb squat with overhead dumbell presses. pm 4 mi walking and 7.3 easy 7:50 pace

Friday 11/15/13 am 5 easy 7:24 pace, 2x20 plank rotations (tough). pm 7 miles walking in the afternoon then 6.2 mi at 7:40 pace. covered 18+ today total

Saturday 11/16/13 pm 4 hills (2:25, 2:10, 2:15, 1:59), hard sprints on the way back pm tempo .93 4:50 1.3 7:00 2.05 10:40 3.6 18:25 4.1 20:45

Sunday 11/17/13 am 3 easy and a bit of weights pm 3.5 in 22 min and bit of core

77

Most miles in a week in about 5 years. Legs feel OK. This week probably going to do about 50-55 to recover. Focus more on form/quality and getting some pop back in the legs.

And diet. 10+ miles a day of running with gym work and walking on top of that makes me want to eat everything in sight which is not always healthy...

Monday 11/18/13 am 3 easy to gym, 3x15x20kg BSS pm 2 miles, some drills and pylos and vertical jumps (~18inches). bounces.

Tuesday 11/19/13 am 1.5 to gym (10min), 2x20 plank rotations (still tough), 1.5 back (7:40, felt great!) pm bounces, burpees, vertical jumps (~22 inches). 6 miles in 32:45 last 2.8 in 14:20 (dark, twists and turns, felt good though!) 7 total

Wednesday 11/20/13 pm 5.5 in 38 min, legs bit tight. calves, lower abs sore. pm 8 very short hill sprints

Thursday 11/21/13 am 1.45 to gym (10min), legs OK. 2x10x20kg, 4x10x40kg, 4x5x60kg, 2x25x20kg (fast) deadlifts, leg presses. pm 4 easy 28 min

Friday 11/22/13 am 5.5 easy 38 min and change. pm core then 8 miles 56 min (some on grass/trails, probably bad idea at night) legs OK.

Saturday 11/23/13 am 3 mi very tight. 3x10x20kg jumping BSS. 1 legged presses (40kg or so) pm 1 hill in 2:10 then (.95 4:25, 1.8 8:14) legs...OK. kinda tired, walked 6+ miles today

Sunday 11/24/13 pm 2 easy. didn't sleep well...

53

Monday 11/25/13 am 5 in 31 legs pretty crap, SH a bit. Hams tight. Leg presses at gym. Burpees pm 5.5 in 30 few laps round the lake pretty hard. Last 1.4 in 7min or so.

Tuesday 11/26/13 am ~6 in 41' in the park. Fell at start, knees bit bloody pm 5.5 40' on grass (24 laps)

Wednesday 11/27/13 pm 40' on grass, some parts fast. Raining

Thursday 11/28/13 am 3 in 19 to gym, felt decent! 5x10x40kg squats, some deadlifts, 6x6 max quads pm 7.5 in 47 on grass, some parts fast, felt OK

Friday 11/29/13 am 4 in 27 felt OK, legs bit tired at start but firing well. Slept 11hrs. pm 40' on grass

Saturday 11/30/13 am 3 to gym, upper body. pm 8 in 55min on grass, ate a lotta turkey

Sunday 11/31/13 am 4 in 27' on grass pm 45' on grass some parts hard

71

Legs been feeling better past few days, I think grass for recovery runs helps a lot-not only less pounding but it keeps the muscles in the hips and legs more...engaged/aware? I'm not sure how to describe the feeling.

Ripped the last 1/2 mile of morning run in 2:05 today. I feel a breakthrough on the way.

Tuesday 10/1/13 8 total am 2.5 gym closed, didn't sleep well (feverish, sweaty, mosquitos) pm hard tempo (1mi 5:20 2mi 9:50 4.1 19:07)

That might be the most impressive run that I noticed - closing a tempo run with a 13:47 5k, after a poor night's sleep?! If that is the case (and accurate course), maybe scrap the plans for shorter distances - or if you are better at shorter stuff, you could drop some seriously quick times!

You run a lot less mileage than I am used to, and do a lot more gym work than me - much more intensity, obviously. It is an interesting read, nonetheless.

runthecountry wrote:

Tuesday 10/1/13 8 total am 2.5 gym closed, didn't sleep well (feverish, sweaty, mosquitos) pm hard tempo (1mi 5:20 2mi 9:50 4.1 19:07)

That might be the most impressive run that I noticed - closing a tempo run with a 13:47 5k, after a poor night's sleep?! If that is the case (and accurate course), maybe scrap the plans for shorter distances - or if you are better at shorter stuff, you could drop some seriously quick times!

You run a lot less mileage than I am used to, and do a lot more gym work than me - much more intensity, obviously. It is an interesting read, nonetheless.

Remeasuring that run, it's 4.07 miles-but there was actually a ~.5 mile untimed easy section after the 2nd mile. I remember that run...my legs felt really good for some reason despite a poor nights sleep. Here's a link to the map if interested:

Hopefully that works.

A few notes on my training that might clear things up, though:

1. I live in a very crowded city in China. When I mark a split, it's often because I was forced to stop at an intersection for some amount of time-maybe 30 seconds, maybe 2 minutes depending on traffic. So many runs are "deceptively" fast...I run very hard during my tempos because I might be forced to stop at some points. (Letsrun training gurus will probably devour that, but oh well...). A lot of them are basically interval workouts rather than true *tempo* runs as most people are familiar with the word. I refer to them as tempos because the recoveries are very short and for me intervals refer to fast stuff on the track.

2. So that tempo could more accurately be shown as

1mi 5:20 (short rest)

1mi 4:30 (.5 mile in ~3:30)

2.07mi 9:18 in 4-5 "chunks" with 30-60s rest (I don't recall exactly)

So it WAS 4.07 mi covered in 19:07...just not continuously!

3. How fast I run is quite dependent on how well my legs are feeling/firing moreso than anything else. They were firing well, that day.

I'm definitely in sub 14 5k shape, but yea, I've always thought of myself as an 800/1500 guy, anything longer is just for training purposes. I rarely run anything longer than 8 miles. Finding races in China isn't exactly easy, either...the running culture is nonexistent.

Considering the HK half marathon-think it's in January sometime. A bit far for me but I think Snell ran a full one in his base training, so a half should be cake, right?

-Rio

Monday 12/2/13 am 4 to gym (last 1/2 mile in ~2:05) pm 46' on grass, some parts fastish

Tuesday 12/3/13 am 4 in 26:40, 5x10x17.5kg squats with overhead dumbell press pm 60' on grass, slow first 20-30min

Wednesday 12/4/13 pm 12 short hill sprints (~100m each) 3 total.

Thursday 12/5/13 am .82 5:40, 1.45 8:40 2.3 12:15 and hamstrings/core (last .85 @ 4:13 pace!) hard run pm 3.5 on grass. legs kinda crap

Friday 12/6/13 am 3 pretty easy, to gym (butt/hip stuff) pm ~10 total 59' grass 9' bf track.

Saturday 12/7/13 am slept 12 hrs. climbing the mountain treadmill workout up to 21%, really tough effort. pm 40' grass last 10' or so hard

Sunday 12/8/13 am 2xclimbing the mountain (17%, 16%) quads bit tired. pm 22min on grass, damn tired

71

Good week overall.

"Climbing the mountain"=start at 13.5km/hr (7min miles) and at the end of every minute raise the treadmill up 1% grade.

Considering there are no steep hills nearby me I'll probably be using the treadmill. The treadmills at my gym only go up to 22% so I am pretty close to maxing them out for this workout. If I can get in good enough shape to do 0,1,2%-->22% and hold 22% for a few minutes, I think that would show great fitness. But right now I can only get to ~20% before stepping off. I'm not sure if the treadmills "1%" is actually 1% (as the label is in Chinese), but it certainly FEELS steep...20% feels like running up the side of a cliff. It's exhausting in a way that running on the flat just can never replicate.

I'm interested if anyone else does anything similar on treadmills, care to share?

Monday 12/9/13 am 3 mi to gym (felt...OK!), glute/hamstring stuff pm 6 in 39' on grass, couple hard laps, legs bit tired/tight

Tueday 12/10/13 slept 11hrs am 2 to gym hard climbing the mountain 12.9km/hr to 21%. 3x5x20kg overhead dumbell squat press. 1 back fast (felt really good!). 6 total. pm 40min grass

Wednesday 12/11/13 am 2 to gym hard treadmill 13.5km/hr 9min @10%, 5min @12%, 3min @14%. bit tired. pm 29min grass

Thursday 12/12/13 am 2 to gym hard treadmill 13.5km/hr 3x(3min@10%, 2min@12%, 1min@14%) Overall OK. Some light weights. pm 20min of diagonals

Friday 12/13/13 am 2 to gym moderate treadmill 13.5km/hr 3min @8% 1min @20% 3min @8% 1min @20% 3min @8% 1min @20% 3min @8%. 4x15x30kg deep squats pm 23min most on grass (last 3/4mi barefoot)

Saturday 12/14/13 pm 1.5 to gym fast 13.5km/hr 10x(2min@2%, 2min@4%, 2min@6%, 2min@8%, 2min@10%) 1 back quite fast.

Sunday 12/15/13 pm 3mi 23min. raining hard.

76

So on Saturday morning I woke up quite tired. Kinda blew the morning away didn't really do anything. Considered taking the day off as my legs were a bit tired from all the treadmill stuff. Decided to run to the gym and do a bit at least. Got that "butterfly in the stomach" feeling that proceeds a race as I was lacing up my shoes, weirdly enough (uh oh).

Anyway, yesterdays workout em=nded up being the hardest I've had in a long time. I figured I'd do sets of 2minutes of 2/4/6/8/10% grade and see how I felt. After the first set (10min) I thought I'd probably get to 3-4 sets. Breathing was a bit heavy during the 8 and 10%, quads a bit achy, etc. Around 30 minutes began to felt a little better. The 2 minutes at 10% started to go by both slower and faster at the same time. By the 4th set I was drenched in sweat.

Strangely, around 70 minutes my stride began to feel really smooth and it became completely effortless. A really weird feeling...my face got all tingly and I didn't need to concentrate on holding the pace at all. Then around 85-90 minutes it hurt again, the sweat in my shoes was weighing me down, my soaked clothing was chafing me like woah and the last 10 minutes just was trying to hold it together. Then I ran back at what felt like a quick pace but was probably a 5:30 mile, at best.

So total was about 16.5 in about 115 minutes...but also about 4400 feet of elevation gained...the 100 minutes on the treadmill was sub 6min/mile effort at least on average so ~19 miles total if you look at it like that.

Just an easy 3 today. Legs felt OK, bit heavy but better than I thought they would be. Good to get the blood flowing at least, I figure.

Monday 12/16/13 am 5 total (some lunges, lunge-jumps, single leg bounces) pm .5 up, 12x100m hard sprints. moderate rain. legs fine.

Tuesday 12/17/13 am still raining. 4 total fairly easy (legs TIRED!). 3x15 plank rotations, some upper body pm 25min drills on toes around track (~3miles)

Wednesday 12/18/13 pm 12min wu, 5x300m w/ 3min recovery (39.5, 41.9, 42.5, 42.3, 42) cold, windy, in shorts and sweatshirt. 10min cd.

Thursday 12/19/13 am to gym, bit of weights nothing crazy. arches achy. slept poorly. pm 46' grass, easy and relaxed.

Friday 12/20/13 am 3 in 17 to gym, 3x15 core rotations pm 41' grass (a few laps hard), 10x100m strides

Saturday 12/21/13 am 4x(2min@2%, 2min@4%, 2min@6%, 2min@8%, 2min@10%) legs not quite there. squats 2x10x(50,55,65kg) 2x5x(70kg) 1x3x(75kg) pm 20' easy grass

Sunday 12/22/13 pm 20 min fartlek on grass, pylos, 8x100m strides. legs better, took morning off

55

Sort of recovering from the very long+hard run last Saturday.

The Wednesday workout was just to get that lactic feeling a bit. Sort of mixed feelings about the times (avg 41.6) as it was 1500 total in 3:28...the world record is 3:26.00!!

But then I sort of thought about it a bit and realized...it's December...it was cold and windy...I was wearing a sweatshirt, I was alone, not exactly in peak shape, haven't been doing intervals much. 39.5 plus a few 42s is actually a decent sign.

And yea, I know...I suck at squats.