Road Racing and Training thread - Week ending 5/25

Goal Race: Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - 6/21

Goal: TBD. (tentatively - 67:00)

Week 4 of 8: 110 miles

Monday (14) - 7.5 easy AM, 6.5 easy PM.

Tuesday (20) - 12 AM with 3 mile tempo, 8 easy PM.

*Morning workout was supposed to be 6 mile tempo, I hit a bad patch mentally halfway and just bailed. I was a little mad about this, and decided that I may just need some people around me to push me during my harder efforts so before I knew it I was sitting in front of my computer signing up for the Bolder Boulder 10K.

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

Thursday (17) - 6 easy AM, 11 miles PM with a track workout.

Track workout - Mile (5:29), Mile (5:26), 4x800 in 2:34, 2:32, 2:34, 2:28. Wanted to run about goal race pace (5:25-5:30) for BB for the miles and then about 5K effort. This workout felt pretty smooth the whole way, and made me optimistic about my chances on race day.

Friday (18) - 12 easy AM, 6 easy PM.

Saturday (15) - 11 easy AM, 4 easy PM.

Sunday (10) - 6 easy AM, 4 easy PM.

__________________

Day 1 of week 5 (today 5/26) - Bolder Boulder 10K.

Ran my best race at altitude yet. I ran a hard but controlled 33:53 10K race 2 weeks ago at about the same elevation and was expecting to run about 5:20-5:23s. (33:10-33:30). I went out in a controlled effort and came through the mile in 5:15, and then proceeded to run the next 3 uphill miles in 5:18, 5:22, 5:17, then rolled the last 2 miles in 5:09, 5:14 for a 32:45 finish (5:17/mi average), which is actually only 13 seconds slower than my sea level PR. (not counting 10K splits from longer races). In addition to the knowledge that a lot of people have said this course is about 90-120s slower than a sea level track race, I also beat a lot of runners that I thought were at least 2-3 tiers above me (like 66-67 HM / 2:20 types) so I was really pleased. This also convinced me that I really need to get down to sea level to race a few 5K/10Ks over the summer to update my PRs in the shorter distances.

Lakerunner: Nice race! I think you managed your expectations wisely, and could've been burnt early and died a slow death had you not done that.

CMM268: You are racking up some solid mileage. Whatever you're preparing for, you're going to be very fit for it.

Slartzio: I envy your discipline to do a 1 mile run haha. I'd have a hard time not turning that into 3-4..

Forcerunner: excellent race! Is this the first time you broke 15? Impressive stuff.

Np1112: Nice ladder work-out. Very consistent pacing.

Nop200: Good call ending it now.. Don't want to burn yourself out like I just did. Just starting to feel normal now!

Bonham: Solid week man! Hit me up if you ever venture to Saskatchewan..

The Stone Cutter: You know you're doing well if you have to force yourself to end a decent length run short.

AGH TIME FOR BED GOOD LUCK TO THE REST OF YOU ALL!

np1112-My core routine isnt extravagent, I struggle to do 10-15 minutes per day:) I signed up for a 10k and two 5 mile races in June/July and will use those as my tempos during those weeks. I wouldnt mind getting up to the 8-10 mile range at some point though.

Piano_Man87-Nice week, glad to hear that static stretching appears to have shored up your hip issue. I am in similiar boat with a trip back from Germany in 2 weeks the day before a 10k.

xenonscreams-Not being able to run when you as dedicated as you are is very tough mentally. Glad to see you pull out of the funk and stick with the cross training, it will pay off when you are back to running.

Bonham-here are two examples of a workout--(M=marathon and T=Tempo) 2 mi E + 6 mi M + 1mi T + 5mi M+ 1mi T+1mi M +2miE AND 6 mi E + 2 x (6 mi M + 1 mi T) + 2 mi E

GarbageDisposal-First congrats on the 10k, you continue to dominate 2014! Quite an impressive streak of awesome races. My 10 minute "static" plank routine is 2 each min: traditional plank, side planks, traditional plank, bridge/glute

haven't been posting much as my season ended about 5 weeks ago.

averaged 65-70 through about april, which was just 255 miles.

last 4 weeks were 40-50 mpw, just chilling, no workouts/doubles/runs over 12 miles.

ran a 5k road race in 18:33 last week, but i should mention that i was wearing a hand-made cardboard batmobile and corresponding batman costume.

then ran a real 5k and sucked it up, running 16:43. the heat cost me maybe 20 seconds but still...16:20s would be pretty slow for me. tied my road-5k PR.

gonna get back to 60+ mpw this week then build 5 mpw/w.

my runs have been faster at least, about 6:55 avg. until i start workouts in mid-june, i'll just do easy progression runs, doing the back half of my 8-10 milers around 6 minute pace

Forcerunner wrote:

Stone Cutter - Thanks! Nice atlernate miles workout on Wednesday, and Saturday's fartlek looks good! Any plan on increasing time for the 'ons' in the future? I'm going to be a senior in college this year but I have forgone my remaining eligibility. I like the roads a lot better anyway, plus I've seen lots of improvement coaching myself the past year and a half.

I agree that you have done a fantastic job coaching yourself over the past year or so that I have seen you post. You are very disciplined, always getting in an appropriate volume with sufficient recovery between your sessions. You also appear to be a great racer, which always helps. Training well and racing well are two very different skills - you are one of the lucky ones who excel at both.

As far as increasing the time of my "ons" in the future - I pretty much subscribe to the same training philosophy whether I am "in-season" or "out-of-season." I begin with both:

a) very brief, faster stuff (:30-:40 reps around mile to 5k effort) and

b) longer, moderate stuff (marathon pace to moderate effort).

Gradually, the brief, faster stuff lengthens while slightly slowing (say, 1:00-1:30 reps at 5k to 10k effort), while the longer, moderate stuff shortens while getting faster (say, 5:00 "on" / 3:00 "off" at threshold to half marathon pace effort). By the end of my buildup, I will have converged both ends of the spectrum to the pace I want to continually practice (marathon pace for the upcoming cycle) so that I am ready for my weekly marathon pace tempo runs.

While "in season" for my secondary weekly workout, I begin with 5k pace intervals that lengthen each week (12x400, 8x600, 6x800, 5x1000, etc.) for the first half of the marathon cycle. The second half of the cycle I do longer and longer half-marathon pace intervals (6x1mi, 4x1.5mi, 3x2mi, 2x3mi, etc) so that the closer I get to the marathon, the more comfortable I am at running for longer periods of time at or around marathon pace.

When I am in 5K-15K training, I do the same thing but just alter the paces to reflect specific training.

Hopefully all that wasn't too confusing. It's much easier to envision my general philosophy than explain it sometimes, haha. Aren't you glad you asked? :)