Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 6/22

Garbage Disposal/Bonham: I have never used Pfitz, how about you? Came across the book and researched the plans and they seem to fit well with my current ability. Liked how he explained the workouts and plan structure.

As far as downhills go, I'm going to mix them in heavy with the long runs and light with the speed/tempo work. Also plan on strength training the legs a bit for a couple months.

TheGarbageDisposal - Congratulations on your race and pr! Thank you for such a detailed recap, its very motivating and encouraging!

The Stone Cutter - I had a similar issue this week with my right soleus/calf. I recommend doing some "abc" movements with both feet and towel/rope stretches, it really took care of my problem. Good luck!

Week 3 of 8

Goal Race: San Francisco Half

Goal: Sub-72

Monday - 9 miles, 4 mile tempo in 22:10 (5:33, 30, 33, 32)

Tuesday - AM 4 miles PM 8 miles

Wednesday - 6 miles recovery

Thursday - 10 miles, 2x(4x800m) 90 sec rest b/rep, 3 min b/set

(2:29, 32, 28, 30) (2:31, 31, 31, 30)

Friday- 10 miles moderate

Saturday - 7 miles easy

Sunday - day off

Total - 54 miles

Mondays tempo was a little rough as I ran it on the track and my right calf/soleus started cramping about 2.5 miles in. The next two days I was a little concerned so I just ran nice and slow to loosen it up. Thursday I felt much better and had no pain at all.

Planning on doing 6xmile tomorrow on the road and something like 2x3 mile or 3x2 mile on friday and hit 65-70 miles, any suggestions welcome!

as it's now officially summer break, i can now run as i like. but it turns out i'm still a lazy POS when i have few obligations.

M 6, 9 easy runs

T 9 moderate in hilly trails

W 7

Th 7

F 8

Sa 5 easy, 6 climbing a mountain

Su 12 with 5 mile up a mountain gaining 1100ft (4% avg grade)

total 69.1, 7:08/mi avg.

good week with some good hills in there. i'm making an effort to get in lots of hilly runs as substitutes for doing workouts. sometimes i just do them steady, and sometimes i run a bit harder, but never that hard at all.

next week should be 70-75, hopefully with a 13-14 mile long run and a race on thursday that i may or may not put some effort into. havent done a workout since May 6th...yikes

Goal: Amsterdam Marathon sub 3:10

Week: 53.5

YTD: 966

Mon: 8 @ 8:58 (hilly)

Tues: Rest (driving back from Wales)

Weds: 9 @ 8:24

Thurs: 11 @ 8:23

Fri: 5 @ 8:41 plus core

Sat: 5.5 with 5k in 21:00

Sun: 15 @ 9:32

Back in the game! So, it's the start of my next marathon cycle so I'm back posting. Had a really tough week to start last week. I've been ill for the 2 weeks previous so only ran 17 and 15 miles respectively and as you can see by my 5k time and the horror of my Sunday run I'm still not fully recovered.

Sunday's run was really awful, probably my worst ever. Had to stop at 12 miles and have a sit down and buy some sugar. Started off at 8 min miling and ended up at 10:30, bad, bad times.

If I eventually get myself started, I'm hoping to go sub 3:10 this time round after my failure at 3:15 last time. I have a B goal of 3:15 and a C goal of just a PR (3:21) as fallbacks though. I'm going to up the mileage this time and am following the 18/70 pfitzinger plan.

I've had fun racing some shorter stuff in the interim, racing the mile 3 times (best 5:33) and having a go at my first 400 (a rather disappointing 65.6, although I did have the excuse of having fallen and fractured my thumb a couple of hours earlier in the hurdles)

Read more:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5869958#ixzz35RdyXc8X

Goal Race: X-C (Nov 2014)

M: 6m easy

T: am: 4m easy pm: 4m easy

W: 0

T: 5m easy

F: 5m easy

S: 5m easy

S: 5m easy

T= 34 miles

Slowly building...ran six more miles this week than last.

TheGarbageDisposal: Congrats on the PR, absolutely cracking time. It would be the 41st fastest time by a Brit all year. Also as always, love the report!

jwil: We have exactly the same goals and PR's, are following the same training plan and are going to be racing a couple of weeks apart, will be very interested to follow your training.

Netwerk Errer: Nice little race report, is that a PB?

Goal: sub 17 5k

Side goal: sub 28 8k in November

M: AM: 3mi easy PM: 6mi easy

T: PM: 3mi easy PM: 6mi Fartlek (1mi warmup and cd)

W: PM: 3mi easy

Th: PM: off

F: AM: 5mi easy PM: 4mi easy

Sa: AM: 10K race (1.5mi warmup) PM: 3mi recovery run

Su: AM: 8.5mi w/wife

Weekly total: 49 miles

YTD: 996 miles

Saturday's race went alright, I finished in 37:41. I was only off last years time at the same race by a few seconds. I felt so good on both runs on friday that I knew I wasn't going to do as well as I wanted to on saturday. My splits were 5:45, 5:59, 6:12, 6:05, 6:16, 6:15, and 1:06. I finish 3rd overall, but well behind the first place finisher @ 33:30.

Q: I've only started adding an AM run for the last 5 weeks. My morning runs are terrible. Typically, my easy runs are between 7:15 and 7:45 pace. In the morning, they can be as high as 8:00 to 9:15. Is this normal? I was hoping to do some speed sessions in the morning instead of the afternoon, but if my pace is that far off, speed work is not worth it.

Week 4 of 6 in marathon cycle

Goal race: Mad Marathon 7/6

Goal time: 2:49 or better

M: 9 steady (60')

T: 8 easy (60')

W: 9.5 with approx. 4 mile tempo in 22:30

Th: 8 easy (60')

F: rest

Sa: 14 progressive long run (90') averaging marathon pace

Su: 7.5 recovery (60')

Total: 56 miles

Was going to go longer on Saturday, but I was already holding people up for the beach so I just ran it hard.

Just wanted to pop in with a quick update, as I've been absent from the forums for the last several weeks. As you might have gathered from my other thread on the topic, my Edinburgh marathon didn’t go as planned:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5813814

. In hindsight, trying to run toward the top of my goal range in the face of a strong headwind was a grievous error, and I should have backed off much earlier in the race. I was disappointed obviously but not discouraged, as sometimes the only way to discover your limit is to crash head-first into it.

The silver lining was that, due to the way the marathon played out, I didn’t end up exhausted by the effort. I felt reasonably fresh within a couple days of the race, and I didn’t have any aches or stiffness during my runs the following week. After assessing my physical condition, I decided to make another run at a BQ time this past weekend.

My strategy was to run the bare minimum needed to qualify (3:10 minus a couple of minutes buffer) and to not deviate no matter how things went. The result was my best marathon to date (3:07:40) and incredibly, my easiest one as well. I was blown away by how good I felt throughout the entire run. The difference between this race and Edinburgh was like night and day - there was no 'wall', no point at which I was worried about whether or not I would finish. It was a huge relief to see that my months of heavy (for me) training were not in vain, and that I probably could have squeezed another minute or two out if I'd picked up the pace over the last 10k.

So yeah, my sincere thanks to everyone who provided advice and support over the last training cycle. The biggest nugget of wisdom I can offer in return is to never let one bad performance get you down; dust yourself off, figure out what you did wrong, fix it, and get back into the game.

Nice race GarbageDisposal. Keep it up.

page 1 comments

Southporter-Nice week--by now I think most in this thread are getting acclimated to the heat and humidity of the summer. The next 2 months will be brutal for most of us.

The Stone Cutter-Nice week, especially that cutdown run. I call them progressions but its a tremendous confidence boost to be finishing the runs strong like you did today.

jwill-welcome to the thread. If you have knee pain when running downhill I would error on the side of caution and only do a minimal amount of downhill running before race day. Maybe add some downhill to the beginning or end of your runs a few times per week?

Lakerunner-Nice week--it definitely sounds like your plan will have some challenging workouts if you are doing 2 13s and a 24. I'm guessing the other days must be low if you are peaking at 70?

pewow-Nice week with the progression.

xenonscreams-Great to see you posting solid weeks with good news! Sounds like it came together for you last week, good luck this week in your 5k!

Bonham-Awesome week and long run yesterday. Marathon mindset defintiely requires patience:)

KBXC-Nice week of base!

Netwerk errer-That 5 mile race sounds like a brutal course, especially the torture of seeing the finishing line straight up a hill. Solid week of running.

Bonham- I will probably race a few more times this summer and would like to dip under 17 in the 5k, which I've done basically in some track workouts so it's just a matter of it coming together in a 5k..

TheGarbageDisposal- Awesome race recap. Re: the mileage the week before have to stick with what works for you and you had good experience with it previously so no reason not to do it again. I'd argue you had a fantastic result with it again (PR is a PR afterall:)). Sounds like you have a lot of lessons learned as well. When does your next training cycle start? The two 5 milers I referred to are up in NJ as we will vacation there over the 4th. I should be in town for the Crystal City 5k and will be great to catch up.

nop200-nice week and smart to take Tuesday off. I've come very close to hitting a deer several times on my run and they definitely scare the crap out of you up close!

souper-Nice week--looks like you, jwill and bonham can all compare notes as you are all in the Pfitz plan around the same week:)

No, it's not. I don't race many 5 milers. When I do, I usually pick a nice hilly course or mountain run. I feel it gives me some perspective when I race a course with some small hills in it. PB is 31.15 but I have split faster in a 10k.

Sorry to hear about about your fracture. That sounds like a decathlete's race program. What Marathon plan did you use for your 3.21?

Hello all,

Well an interesting week last week to say the least. Not as high mileage last week as I backed off in preparation for yesterdays craziness of racing. More on that in a minute.

Sunday 6/15 15 miles, my guess low 7's. Felt off after the 10k the day before, and a race 7 days prior to that.

Monday 6/16 12 miles, no time

Tuesday 6/17 13 miles 80:10. Not bad, still a bit tired in the legs. This route has a ton of climbing, so I was happy with the pace.

Wednesday 6/18 12 miles 76:00, just ran a bit easier then normal.

Thursday 6/19 9 miles, no time. Around low 7's.

Friday 6/20 6.2 miles 37 high.

Saturday 6/21 4.1 miles 24:55 just a short run in Glenwood Springs. Hot out.

Sunday 6/22 Strawberry Shortcut 10k and 5k.

Well what can I say other then wow that was not a fun double. The 10k course starts out with a short downhill into an uphill, then rolls mainly up from about 1k to 7k, then sort of flat with a few little hills here and there for the rest of the run. We only ran a mile and a half for the warm up. Race went pretty well, 32:02 for the win. I lost 4 or so seconds when I ran off the course accidently. No cool down as the 5k was only 45 minutes after the 10k. I had an idea that the 5 was going to just hurt, so I just focused on running as hard as I could. There was one guy that did not run the 10k, but did win the 5k last year that I know wanted to take the win. I went out harder in the 5k then the 10, and just held on and took the win in 16:13. He was 16:30. I had a goal of running in the 31's for the 10, and the 15's for the 5, but I did not know the course and did not really know that both courses were mainly uphill.

71.5 miles for last week. Overall a good week and I was glad that I backed off prior to the races.

I used the pittzinger 24/55 schedule for my 3:21 but was aiming for 3:15 and died over the last 10k.

Fracture was embarrassing, massively wiped out on the first hurdle right where all the spectators were. Probably should have practiced first!

Once and future: what race you doing? The course I'm doing is fast but hilly, am hoping it'll buy me a few extra minutes. Stay in touch with training progress.

I'm doing Amsterdam in the Netherlands, I'm from England so just a short flight for me. It's very flat from what I can gather, but as it's the Netherlands in October it can be weather affected. Fingers crossed for a decent day.

hey everyone,

just getting back into the groove. here's what I remember.

sun June 15- 4x4 @82, barefoot soccer fields.

m- bike 8

t- 4x4 total 514. , forget splits. barefoot on soccer fields full standing recovery

w- bike 26 mi

th- bike 12 mi

fri- frisbee for 2 hrs (speed workout) and 16 mi bike

s-2x8. 253, 243 full recovery standing rest ( 2 mins?) barefoot on soccer fields

sun-rest

m- 2x1200 @ 6:09 pace, 800 @ 257. over light rolling hills. walked .25 to recover. legs felt slow

goals? make 5:00 pace feel comfortable and build up from there.. might race a half this fall.

twilight 5k in April (Athens ga) that I'll hopefully run fast in and qualify for the $1000 mile.

hey everyone,

just getting back into the groove. here's what I remember.

sun June 15- 4x4 @82, barefoot soccer fields.

m- bike 8

t- 4x4 total 514. , forget splits. barefoot on soccer fields full standing recovery

w- bike 26 mi

th- bike 12 mi

fri- frisbee for 2 hrs (speed workout) and 16 mi bike

s-2x8. 253, 243 full recovery standing rest ( 2 mins?) barefoot on soccer fields

sun-rest

m- 2x1200 @ 6:09 pace, 800 @ 257. over light rolling hills. walked .25 to recover. legs felt slow

goals? make 5:00 pace feel comfortable and build up from there.

lose 30 lbs (slowly and safely :)). might race a half this fall.

twilight 5k in April (Athens ga) that I'll hopefully run fast in and qualify for the $1000 mile.

glad to see everyone is doing so well. I've been reading the thread but won't be posting much until I get to my peak fitness again (and then beyond).

Souper- Nice week. The midweek MLR for Pfitz was one of the tougher things for me to adapt to too when I was using his schedules. I still retained some of that in my personal training and try to get in a 1-2 12-14 mile midweek runs during my marathon cycles as I believe they really get you used to running long on tired legs.

Nop200- Sounds kind of fun, if you have the right people to hang out with that is. Good to know that it's not actually a running even though, as some people have been trying to talk me into those before.

Jwil- I have used it for a few cycles before with modifications. Personally I think there's too many VO2max workouts in there, but I am a big fan of his MLRs and I retain a bit of it in my training as well as I try to run 12-14 miles a couple of times a week during my marathon phases.

Emlda- Thanks, and solid week yourself as well. That's definitely smart of you to back off a bit after the calf cramp on Monday and came back strong with that 800s session. I think the workouts you got on tap this week is pretty solid as well. Do these sessions feel fairly controlled? I imagine it would be for a 15:00 5K guy, but I also think it's important to feel relaxed at your goal pace (5:30s) for your first one.

Side question: is SF HM the one where you can elect to run the 2nd half of the marathon course? I have heard that it can be pretty fast, but you might have to dodge slow marathoners too.

Reed- I was just reading an article on periodization the other day, and I think that fits your case pretty well. Sometimes a few weeks of easy runs and solid mileage will set you up for the next training cycle than hammering too much. (I feel a little bit like I am talking to myself here too)

Once and future- Thanks and good to see you posting again, hope you enjoyed your downtime a little and am ready to roll. I think you were fitter than your last marathon showed and with another cycle of smart training you should hit your goal.

Tadpole- Consistent progress is key. Nice job building up patiently.

SPS- Solid 10K. I find the same thing when I run in the morning as well, at least I start out quite a bit slower than my normal pace and ease in. Do you keep mile splits to see if the pace comes down though? Because I do notice that I am more or less running my normal easy run pace after 4-6 miles, so sometimes I'll just do a longer warmup before my morning workouts.

Ghola- Solid long progression on Saturday. Averaging GMPs for that long when you presumably started at easy pace is a very good sign.

Kierran- Congrats on the BQ man! Glad it all came together for you on race day.

CMM268- I scheduled a week of easy running, although I might feel good enough to do a light workout later in the week. Then it'll be a 12 week cycle for the Air Force marathon, although the first 4-5 weeks will be pretty heavy on VO2max work as I really want to nail this 5K.

Swift23r- Nice double again this weekend, and thanks for taking it easy on me this morning, haha.

Renewed marathoner- Good to see you again. Looks like you have been doing decent training to stay in shape. Should be fun to follow you through another cycle once you start posting regularly again.

Runnersfix- Thanks man! Hope your prep for RnR Philly is going well. I am toying with incorporating your 5xMile cutdowns into my next cycle as well.