Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 5/11

@Stone Good idea on doubles, are you familiar with the "summer of Malmo"?

Week 12/13 Goal:1:21/1:22 Half

M 5 (8:25)

T 7 (7:36)

W 7 (8:02)

T 11 2 x 4m @ HM Pace/3:00 Jog (6:14, 6:15, 6:12, 6:14 / 6:17, 6:17 -Unplanned rest, side stitch- 6:13, 6:01)

F 6 (8:20)

S 6 (8:03)

S 8 (7:47)

Tot 50

Thursday workout went very well, I think my fitness is much better than 3/4 months ago, this was definitely my easiest tempo for the cycle. The first 4 miles were so easy I wish it was race day (except for a very sudden side stitch that forced a 2 min break during the second long interval).

Now I feel still a bit fatigued but I have more than enough time to recover for race day (Saturday).

Plan is:

1) to go around 1:22:30 pace (6:18) and if I feel good try to recover those 30 sec to go under 1:22 during the last 3 miles

2) Have fun, even if I bomb the race I know I'm much closer to my 1:19 HM "Ultimate" goal

Hope everyone had a great week!

Week 16 of Pfitzinger’s 18-week / 85-MPW max plan

Goal race: Edinburgh Marathon

Goals: A - sub-3:00, B - 3:02, C - 3:07

YTD: 1250 miles

Monday: Rest.

Tuesday: VO2max - 9M w/ 5x600m intervals (~200m recovery in 1:30). Splits of 2:04, 2:08, 2:08, 2:12, 2:10. Continued my bad habit of going out too fast for the first interval and paying for it later in the set. Not a great workout - inconsistent and slower than a similar one a couple weeks back. Need to do a better job of checking pace multiple times in a given lap.

Wednesday: Medium-long - 15M @ 8:06. This run felt amazing, almost like I was in a trance for the last five miles or so. I don’t know why these longish Wednesday runs have felt so good throughout the entire training cycle, but they’re always such a joy.

Thursday: Recovery - 7M @ 8:15 w/ 6x100m strides.

Friday: Recovery - 6M @ 8:34.

Saturday: Progression run - 3M warm-up, 4x2400m + 1x1600m (1:30 recovery), 0.5M cool-down. Splits of 11:55, 11:03, 10:15, 9:30 & 5:57. Was planning to run this like a Hadd 2400m test, but my heartrate monitor started acting up partway through the workout so I had to run the last few reps on feel. Tough workout, couldn’t quite maintain the sub-6 pace for the last rep and came up 800m short.

Sunday: Long run - 17M @ 8:06. Comfortable run, nothing particularly noteworthy other than the fact that 17 miles barely registers as a long run for me any more.

64M total. Notionally the first week of the taper, although the weekly mileage was still comparable to previous weeks. Ran a couple of less-than-stellar interval sets, but not so far off from where I ought to be to make me anxious. Still feeling great about the upcoming race.

Hey y'all.

Goal race - SF 10 miler (5/24/14) - A - sub 60

B - sub 60:30

C - sub 62

Mon - 6 AM - 7:20

- 4 PM - 7:22

Tues- 5 AM - 7:22

Weds- 12 - 7:16

Thurs- 8 - 7:22

Fri - 6 - 7:20

Sat - 6 AM w/ 4 mile 10 mile race tempo* -6:23 for all 6 miles

-10 PM** - 8:48 avg

Sun - 10 - 7:23

* 4 mile tempo @10 mile pace. tired, but pushed out 6, 5:56, 6:05, 6:01. Huge hills, really not used to that. Felt hard, but reassuring considering the SF 10 miler course is pancake flat.

** 10 slow with my mother, who is training for her first half marathon in july.

Overall a good week. Total of 67 miles. I will run 50 miles next week, with a 5 mile tempo midweek. After that I will taper towards the 24th. I will make a decision about attempted race pace based on the 5 mile tempo.

Goal: Recover

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Off

Friday: Core

Saturday: 5 easy, strength

Sunday: 7 easy

Found out I'm iron deficient again. Ferritin dropped from 51 ng/ml in December to 13 ng/ml this week. I'm partially confused by how it dropped that much, but also very, very excited to get it up, because when it dips this low and I get it up I feel like I'm running in someone else's body. It's like floating. It's amazing. I can't wait. I'm supplementing and also gorging on liver because liver is delicious.

It really explains a lot though. In context, the crappy 87:30 I ran last week super dehydrated AND iron deficient means something totally different. What it means to me is that when I am healthy and well-hydrated, I should have no trouble running the times I thought I was going to run this past season.

It also explains the fact that in the two weeks, I've accidentally fallen asleep mid-day, lost the keys to my BMW, and forgotten about a friend's wedding party I was supposed to go to on Friday. I have basically been a zombie. I just somehow willed myself into thinking I was OK and good to race so that I wouldn't psych myself out ;)

I have a minor surgery on Friday so my return to running will be slower than usual. Then I will do a short track season.

A return to the wild world of running! Physio therapy is the most amazing thing.

Monday: Off from running, 60 mins elliptical and 30 mins cycling. Donated blood today – pulse of 47, which was lower than I expected.

Tuesday: 10k easy in the morning. Some ankle discomfort.

Wednesday: 10k easy over lunch at work. More ankle discomfort. And then glorious, glorious physiotherapy after work. Got ultrasounded, electrified, and diagnosed with a sprained ligament in my ankle. She gave me some exercises and stretches to do, and encouraged me to continue with diclofenac and ice. Said I could come back for a second treatment, if I needed it.

Thursday: 9k easy. Went slow, as per the physio’s instructions. This will be a good pace for recovery runs in the future, I feel. Around 4:30/km.

Friday: 10k easy, slightly faster.

Saturday: 16k with no pain in 1:06. This felt truly awesome and exciting, despite my sore legs today. I’ve been surprised to find that my legs have lost strength far quicker than my circulatory system during this period of cross-training.

Did the last 3k at 3:37 per km (about 5:50 per mile), which is slightly faster than marathon goal pace. Felt like I was working hard to manage that, but it was a ton of fun.

Sunday: Off. My ankle is moving in the right direction, but still not 100 per cent, so I’m playing it conservative for now. I’m not due to start my Pfitz plan until June 8 anyway, so I have a bit of time left to baby the injury.

Total: 55k (34 miles). A most encouraging week! Going to aim for around 70k this week and see how it feels. Will probably also schedule another physio appointment, just to be on the safe side.

Yes, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in our lives. It will be interesting to see how many had super early long runs today to get done earlier for family time.

Goal: 2:4x

Race: Bob Potts

Mon - 5am 1pm. Easy am. PM was on a stupid small indoor track.

Tues- 5. Epic fail. Supposed to be 4x1.5 @ 10k pace. By the end of rep 1 I wasn't even running at goal MP (9:28 when I was aiming for 9:08/:10). Scrapped it and went home.

Wed - off. Busy, but off largely as a frustrated overreaction to tues.

Thurs - 13. 7:15 - included 10@ MP - 6:34 avg. finally ran one of these on a fairly flat out and back. Slightly conservative start, but very even overall.

Fri - 7:27. Easy

Sat - 10. 7:43 overall. First 4 closer to 7's. Last 4 7:50ish with company.

Sun - 12.1. 6:53 average. After an easy 7:25 to open I picked it up a bit and went through mile 2 in 6:39. Felt easy, but backed way off because I meant to take it easy the first half of the run. Turned at 6 at exactly 7's. Knew I wanted to pick it up a bit so came back 6:52/6:50/6:37/6:26. Finished with 7:05/6:55 to "cool down". Was definitely working on today's run, but not straining at all.

52.1 total.

Very mixed week. The first half I was wondering if I should even attempt the marathon. By Thursday/today I was feeling pretty pleased. I think Tuesday was an after affect of last Sundays fairly hard 17 and mistakenly mowing the entire yard Tuesday morning. I just didn't have a drop of energy in my legs. I probably should have gutted out more of the workout, but I just didn't feel like I was going to get anything useful out of the day.

Now that I'm having some better runs, the fact that the marathon weekend saga gets worse is even more annoying. Last week I talked about the Saturday Long Island BBQ. This weeks added stress was the realization that the marathon (which is about a 1:30-1:40 drive away) has a 6AM start! Still not sure how I'm coping with that.

Hope everyone else's weeks were good!

Oh no, a tagging error! Egad.

Sorry for my lack of commenting last week. I was on vacation in Mexico so didn't spend too much time in front of PC. I did try to post some comments from the iPad at the pool one day and of course when I got them all typed in the internet crashed and I lost them all. Definitely wasn't typing again. I'll post some comments when we get back from dinner tonight.

Goal: Run some 5ks/10ks over the next few weeks

Weekly: 87.7

YTD: 1,761.3

Mon: 10 E AM @ 7:15, 4 E on treadmill @ 6:56 - standard core routine 2 sets

Tues: 6 recovery AM @ 7:25, 6 recovery AM @ 7:25, 10 mile warmup-3 mile (17 minute tempo) (5:40 down to 5:25) 13 minute cool down on treadmill - 10 minute planks (2 plank and 2 side planks 2 min ea), glute bridges & foam rolling

Weds: 12 E AM @ 7:18, 3 E PM on treadmill @ 7:30 - Standard Core Routine (2 sets) plus stretching at gym

Thurs: 8 E @ 7:28. Legs felt very heavy and didn’t feel like running. -

Fri: 10 E @ 7:22, 4 E PM descending with final mile at 5:35. 6:55 avg - standard core routine 2 sets with stretching

Sat: 4 recovery AM after redeye flight @ 8:19, 4 E PM with few striders @ 7:10

Sun: 12 E with CAR AM (fast finish with 3.5 miles @ 6:05)- 7:02 avg pace, 4.02 E PM @ 7:31 - 10 minute planks (2 plank and 2 side planks 2 min ea), glute bridges & foam rolling

It was pretty hot and humid in Mexico and now is hot and humid on the east coast. I guess we can officially start complaining about the heat now that we cant complain about the cold:)

Overall not a bad week, will start to add in some strength training this week and keep the mileage between 70-80 I guess. Not really sure where I want to be in terms of mileage but want to stay at a level where I can jump to 100+ come late June again without issues. I think np1112 asked for the routine last week but the "standard core routine" I am following is this one:

http://strengthrunning.com/2012/01/the-standard-core-routine-video-demonstration

I am curious as to what others do for strength training, form drills and plyo? It seems there is so much out there for dynamic stretching, form drills, plyo, etc when at the end of the day I feel like mileage and running is the best thing I can be doing to improve my times.

Hope everyone's enjoying their Mother's Day.

the week that was:

M: 7.5 with a 2.9 mile tempo (16:07, 5:34/mi)

T: 8 easy

W: 6 steady

Th: 4 easy

F: 4 easy

Sa: 5.5 - with a 5k race

Su: rest

Total: 34.5 miles

Race: I wasn't feeling too great going in because of a few nights of bad sleep, but still figured I could shoot for a PR if not sub-15. First 1600 was OK, 4:54, then I worked up to another pack. Unfortunately they were feeling the heat too, since they dropped a 77 as soon as I caught up. Damn. Went through 3200 in 9:54, then started to overheat and kind of quit the last 800. Final time was 15:41. Slowpoke Rodriguez I think you came by me at 2 miles, but I lost track. Did you manage to hang on?

Now I'm taking a couple of weeks off, then doing a (easy) marathon in July.

Goal: Sub 11 two mile by end of season

Next race: 5/13 (2mile), 5/18 (State relay meet, I'll probably end up doing an 800)

Goal for race: Dual meet on 5/13, the team we're facing has a really weak distance squad, so I'll probably just go for the win and not worry about time too much. A PR would be nice though, as I only have two more chances to break 11.

M - 1m WU. 3.5 miles easy. Strides

T - 1m WU. 2 mile race in 11:38 I felt really crappy this day. My back and left lower shin were sore from the steeplechase, so I just didn't have it. Went through 1.5 in about 9min and starting thinking about DNFing b/c I felt so crappy, but I picked it up and closed in a sub 2:40 last 800.

W - 1m WU. 2.5 easy. Strides

T - 1m WU. 2 mile race in 11:24. I felt better than Tuesday, but was feeling the race in my legs, so I had no kick. I just sort of cruised this.

F - 1m WU. Strides. 3.2 easy. Strides.

Sat - 1m WU. 2 mile race in 11:25. CD Pretty much the same as Thursday. My legs felt even heavier this day and my 2nd 800 was in 3min - yikes. Fairly happy with this considering how I had to race 3 times in 5 days. Normally I like at least 4 days in between. Also, I have shaved my head, because it's been getting too damn hot!

Sun - After nearly 2 weeks of most of my mileage coming from racing I felt like I really needed to get in a good long run before 5/20 which is my last race. Conveniently a race that is part of the USATFNE mountain racing circuit was today, and I need to run 6 out of 7 to bypass the MT. Washington lottery next year. I obviously took this easy as I need to focus on my track season first. 10 miles total. About 2200+ feet of elevation gain. With over 900 in the last 1.3miles. First 8.7 at 8:23 pace easy, it was.. um... interesting to run with other types (in terms of ability) of runners. Some of them were crazy...such a difference from faster runners. Then I probably did the last 1.3 too hard, but oh well it was fun. Last 1.3 at 10:30 pace, which may seem slow, but it's up a 13%+ slope. The sun bothered be a little bit when I got home, but that may be due to being sick. Other than that I feel absolutely fine, hopefully I'm not feeling it tomorrow!

I'm starting to get nervous about not being able to break 11 in a little over a week, but hopefully I can do it. Every race that I've run so far has been a solo effort, often times with wind in my face. 5/20 is my league's meet so I will have people in front and behind me to push me. Seems attainable...

Sorry I didn't get around to posting last week. I was at a bachelor party from Thursday-Monday and by the time I got back and got caught back up with everything it was pretty late in the week. I'll try to comment for the past 2 weeks later but it looks like we had some really solid racing in addition to the usual strong training around here.

Goal Race: Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon (6/21) - Weeks 1&2 of 8

Week 1: 104 miles

Monday: 15 (10 in the morning with 5 @ tempo (5:24.93/mi average), 5 easy PM)

Tuesday: 16 (11 easy AM, 5 easy PM)

Wednesday: 16 (10 easy AM, 6 easy PM)

Thursday: 12 (8 easy AM, 4 easy PM)

Friday: 17 (10 moderate AM, 7 easy PM)

Saturday: 16 (10 easy AM, 6 easy PM)

Sunday: 12 (9 moderate AM, 3 easy PM)

Week 2: 96 miles

Monday: 0 (Travel/tired/no time, just decided to take day off)

Tuesday: 16 (8 easy AM, 8mi PM with aborted workout, got in 1.5mi@5:12/mi (0.5 jog) 1.0mi@5:19.8 (0.25 jog), 1x400@74 and then my legs were too tired so I bailed)

Wednesday: 16 (10 easy AM, 6 easy PM)

Thursday: 15 (9 easy AM, 6 easy PM)

Friday: 14 (4 easy AM, 10mi PM with a 1500/800 double at the local college twilight meet. Ran 4:23/2:17 with about 45-50 minutes in between, went out in the fastest 400 I have run in about 2 years in the 1500 and just hung on, and legs were just dead in the 800)

Saturday: 16 (11mi AM with 10K race in 33:53 (5:28/mi average, or 5:25/mi for 6.27 on my garmin), this came out to about HM pace after altitude/long course adjustment, but frankly while the first 4-4.5 miles felt controlled, the last 5-10 minutes felt a little harder than that after the past few days, 5 easy PM)

Sunday: 19 (15mi AM, first 12 with Swift23r and some local guys, good times. Then 4 easy shakeout in the PM)

Goals:

sub 16 5k

sub 4:40 mile

I forgot to post last week. The only highlight workout was 4x 400 w/400 rest in 61,65,64,65.

Mon- 3 easy 2x200 at 35 w/200 rest

Tue- 1 wu, mile race in 4:50, .5 cd

Wed- 9 at 6:33

Thur- Fri- 5 at 6:52 w/ 2x200 in 25

Sat- 1.5 wu, 3x mile w/400 rest in 5:27, 5:34, 5:31, 1.5 cd

Sun- 6 at 6:44

Total: 38.25

My race did not go as expected. My legs just didn't have that pop that they had when I did the 3:26 1200 and the conditions were far from ideal. I led for majority of the race. Splits were 66, 73, 76, 75. I know the splits were horrendous, which is something I need to work on. It was fun to race again, as I haven't raced since fall (one year since track). I feel like it was just a bad race and I'll perform better another time. I still think that I am in 4:40-35 shape as long as I run smart and have pop in my legs.

The long run was a major surprise. I wanted to do something longer (7 miles), but I felt really good and decided to make it 9. I did not realize how fast the pace was until the run was done (only have a few markers throughout the run). I feel like my long runs/tempos are always very solid, which leads me to believe that I need to work on more intense intervals around the 200-1600 distance.

The mile repeats were done on the cross country course (which is why the repeats are around my tempo paces which are on pavement). I felt strong and controlled on all the repeats, but lost focus during the second interval.

Overall this was a decent week in terms of mileage and workouts. I am going to time trial on our xc course in roughly 3 weeks, so I am just going to keep the mileage around 35-40 and take it easy 2 days before. After school gets out I'm taking 7-9 days off before I get into summer base training. I hope to keep my mileage consistently around 40 mpw with some weeks as high as 45-50.

Goal: 1:18 at AFC Half on 8/17

Firstly, let me say it's refreshing to see a constructive thread like this one on LRC. This place is becoming a wasteland of sarcasm and trolling. But a few good threads and genuine posters remain.

Off the editorializing and on to the training... Work got in the way a bit again this week. The volume was low but I got in a couple of tempo miles mixed in with some easier paces and did some cross-training, which I haven't done for months. So that felt good.

Mon: 7.76 mi @ 8:00

Tue: 5.04 mi @ 7:03

Wed: 6.10 mi @ 8:17

Thu: 6.60 mi @ 6:55

Fri: 5:06 mi @ 8:08

Sat: 7:74 mi @ 7:00

Sun: 7.67 mi @ 7:56

Total: ~46 miles

Need to get back up to 70-75 mpw next week.

Kieran - good luck with your upcoming race.

Bonham - welcome back and keep training smartly.

Cmm - for strength I'm just doing a bit of plyo and traditional stuff like squats, push ups, etc.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there.

Post now, comment tomorrow

Mon: 7 + 4.25 (11.25)

Tues: 4.25A + 12(6x800+4x400) (16.25) + core and strength

Wed: 8 + 6.25 (14.25)

Thurs: 6.25 + 6.25 (12.5)

Fri: 4.25 + 13(ladder) (17.25) + strength

Sat: 30 spin + core (0)

Sun: 4.5 + 5 (9.5)

Total: 81

Tues: 6x800 with 2:30 jog in 2:30.6, 2:32.6, 2:29.3, 2:30.1, 2:29.7, 2:28.6. Plus 4x400 with 1:40-1:45 jog in 74.6, 74.1, 72.9, 73.2.

Fri: ladder of 800-1200-mile-mile-1200-800 with 4 min jog, 5 between miles. 2:28.6, 3:44.2, 5:08.5, 502.6, 3:43, 2:25.8

Right Achilles and heel were pretty sore Saturday when I tried to run. Decided to take it easy and play it safe. Today's runs felt fine so I will try to run long tomorrow.

M 6 easy w/hurdle drills

T 8.5 w/ 7x(2min on, 1min off) easy

W 5 easy

Th 7.5 easy w/hurdle drills

F 5.3 easy, 6:20s. randomly felt great

Sa 6.2 on trails with one 100-sec hill sprint. hurdles after

Su 10 easy

total 48.6, 7:01/mi

as you can see i've started hurdle drills. gonna be a steepler next year, and possibly this june 1st. theres a track meet for PA USATF that hosts a steeple, though last year they didnt even have a mens steeple. so i wont exactly be running in a pack. i'll probably hold off on registration until the last minute

Last two weeks

Mon 28th - 6

Tu 29th - 2.5 warmup 4x 1000 4:01, 4:03, 4:06, 4:05, 2.5 miles home

Weds 30th - off

Th 1st - 3

Fri 2nd - off

Sat 3rd - 7

Sun 4th - off

Total - 23

Mon 5th - 6

Tu 6th - off

Wed 7th - 2.0 warmup then 10x400 all between 1:28 - 1:33, 200 meter jog in between, 400m jog between rep 6 & 7. 1 m warm down. Wanted to do all 12 reps but started to tighten up quite a bit so called it a night.

Th 8th - off

Fri 9th - off

Sat 10th - 7.5

Sun 11th - off

Total - 20

Sick all week, hoping for a better next week. Was traveling for work this week- so thank you to the Evanston track club for letting me jump in for the speed work. They had about 60 people out in 4 solid pace groups. Some nice folks.

Have a great week everyone.

Mon - 5 recovery @ 8:30 pace (treadmill)

Tue - 8 easy @ 7:50 pace

Wed - Strength

Thu - 1.5 w-up, 4.5 tempo @ 6:31 pace, 2 c-d

Fri - 5 recovery - 8:15 pace (treadmill)

Sat - 5 easy - 7:15 pace (treadmill)

Sun - 14 long run @ 7:45 pace

Total: 45 miles.

Definitely getting faster. I was surprised to be ticking off 7:15 miles with my heart rate at 145 bpm. And surprised to be able to hit some 7:30's on my long run at around the same heart rate. Tempo felt easy, light. Heart rate was 169bpm, but effort-wise, felt more like low 160's.

I'll try for 50 this week. Never done 50 miles before. We'll see how it goes. So far I'm adapting well. I figure if I add 5-10 miles per month, with one cutback week every month ish, I can sustain this until the fall.

stone: it is nice going watch less a few days a week. Let us know how your doubling experiment goes. I know there are plenty of times I dont want to get that 2nd run in

slartzio: Good luck at the half this weekend? stick to your pre race plan and you will nail it!

kierran: Looking good as always. those interval sets might be off bc of your recently started taper. your body is now adjusting for the less volume. I know I always get to feeling like crap about 2 weeks out.

lake: that is awesome you got to run with your mom! I have only done that once when mine was finishing up a 10k. Got to run the last mile with her! That tempo run on the hills will sure help your strength for during the race if you get a bad spot. Know that you can hold the pace when it gets tough

xenon: hopefully you get back to normal after all these crazy shenanigans happening to you haha.

bonham: welcome back to running. PT sounds awesome and rough! haha. I wish i had one of their ultrasound machines for home use. Well...maybe just one of the PTs haha

VF: ouch that is an early start! Maybe convince the wife to let you miss the BBQ and get a hotel that night? Flowers, chocolate, dinner, etc. etc. haha!

cmm: Great week. are you going to do any 5/10k specific stuff for the next few weeks? That core routine doesnt look bad at all. I will have to add a few of those to the one I am doing now and build off that.

I agree with more miles is the absolute best thing you can do. I have a pre workout/race set of plyos/drills that I try to do in between my warm up. butt kicks, high knees, toe touches, arm circles, honestly coldnt tell you the names of them. competitor.com has a decent article on some, I will try and find it later.

ghola: tough 5k. "easy" marathon! awesome! haha

garbage: no excuses for not posting. now you owe us all a 150 mile week! haha nice past few weeks. looks like HMP is getting faster and faster already.

kbxc: very nice 4x4 workout. now you just need to reverse the 1 and 4 splits and youre set ;) haha

Hereford: Agree so much on this thread. For a while I thought it was going to die off. Some of the long time guys (way before me) have come and gone. Wish some would come back (even to pop in). Solid base week. next week all mileage too, or some quality being thrown in?

reed: oooo steeple! always one of my favorite events to watch. Hope that goes well for you. Can you briefly explain or link to what kind of hurdle drills you do?

bajada: hope you get to feeling better. looks like you were sick when you tried to do that workout. youll be ready to go next week after some rest. wow 60 people for a group workout! I am happy to run with 1 other person here...

pianoman: week looks great. good luck with the 50 miles this week. add the miles throughout the week and youll be just fine.

Don't suppose anybody is running the Colfax marathon this weekend by any chance? If so, I'll be shoot for 2:50-2:52 and would love some company.