Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 7/20

I don't typically post on these threads, but my week went pretty well, so I thought I'd share.

Goal: Sub 17 5k XC (PR of 17:39 from last year)

Monday: 1 mile warmup+9 mile long run in 1:04:44 (7:11/mile)+10x100m strides+1 mile barefoot cooldown. Very humid for the long run, which slowed me down a bit.

Tuesday: 1 mile warmup+4 mile tempo in 24:55 (6:13.x/mile)+2 mile cooldown+8x0.1 mile cooldown, personal training in the PM. Absolutely awful tempo run, it was really hot and humid and my legs felt just downright sluggish. Blew up the last two miles in the heat.

Wednesday: 6 miles easy pace, no watch+6x110m strides

Thursday: 1 mile warmup+5 mile tempo in 30:36 (6:07/mile)+2 mile cooldown, gym in PM. Legs felt great, weather was good and I ran well. Pushed hard, but did not go near all out. Split: 6:09 (avoiding construction), 6:01, 6:12 (construction again, and people), 6:07, 6:08. Was overall a good workout,

Friday:7 mile easy without watch, 8x100m strides uphill

Saturday:Wanted to do a longer progression run, ended up going to a running group that meets at trails near me and the coach there gave me a fartlek workout. 2 miles quick to trails+2x3 minutes hill loop hard+3x2 minutes hill loop hard w/ equal recovery+strides+1 mile cooldown. Did not take it too hard as I wasn't looking for a workout, but got to run with a local elite (2:15 marathon, 13:40 5k) which was cool.

Sunday:40 mile bike ride AM+8 miles easy PM

MPW: 52.8 (not including warmups)

I was wondering what people thought I could be in shape for now, midway through summer training. Any advice is appreciated.

Goal Race: San Francisco half

Goal Time: sub-72

Week 7 of 8

Monday - 6 miles easy

Tuesday - 12 miles

Wednesday - 9 miles

Thursday - 7 miles

Friday - 9.5 miles

Saturday - 9.5 miles

Sunday - 10 miles, 4 x 800m, 90 sec rest b/reps. 3 min rest then 2 mile at hf goal pace.

(2:23, 2:22, 2:26. 2:25) (10:32.13, 5:21 first mile)

Total - 63 miles

Terrible weather all week.. Tuesdays 8 mile tempo ended being a slight disappointment. I had to call it quits at 4 miles (22:10), took 3 minute rest then attempted doing another 4 miles but again called it quits at 2.5 miles (13:16).. the wind was just unbearable. For the remainder of the week I have just been running at a steady 5:45-6:10 pace.

The track session felt solid.. The 2 mile felt effortless after the 800s, which makes me feel good for next sunday.

TheGarbageDisposal - Solid track session.. I feel like that type of workout has double benefits, speed and endurance.

Bonham - Congrats on the 100 mile week!

mcbuckets - Solid week! Any idea which hf you're running? are you following a specific training plan?

Bonham: This is getting a bit weird-we're on the same plan, the same week, and developed blisters on the same day which seemed to cause problems. You had a great week nonetheless.

Goal: sub 3:10 Oct 4th at St. George Marathon. Pfitzinger 18 week 55-70 plan.

This week was a bit of a roller coaster:

Monday: 10 miles with 5 at half marathon pace. Run went great, hit all times no problem.

Tuesday: 15 med long run. During this plan, I have struggled the most with the MLR workout following a tempo the day before. This run was hard, but it has gotten easier every week. Sprung a nasty blister on my pinkie toe during this run.

Wednesday: P90X core synergistics

Thursday: 11 Mile run AM, painful as shit due to the blister. Stride was altered a bit and caused significant calf/achilles/foot tighness. 2 miles PM trail jog with kids, wasn't a good idea and made ailments worse.

Friday: 5 miles, went to the local HS track to do some aerobic work and strides while trying to not make the problems worse. Felt great to run on the track and later on the grass (actually got the idea from someone on last week's training thread)

Saturday: Plan called for 21 miles. I set out not knowing how this one would go and ready to pull out if needed. Chose a flat course other than the typical hills I have been doing. Had pretty serious tightness the first 5 miles, but everything felt great after. Ended up being a great run and I did all 21 at just better than 10% slower than marathon pace. Also felt good to work on pacing and I really feel legs getting stronger.

Sunday: Rest. Feel surprisingly good today.

Total: 64. New weekly mileage high. Feel like I owe the running gods one for escaping this week without missing a workout.

Hey everyone - looks like some good weeks! I missed posting last, so here are the past two weeks:

Goal: sub 2:45 at TCM on 10/5

Week ending 7/13:

M: 5.6 easy

T: 10 (6:55)

W: 14.1 (6:49, felt great)

Th: 6.2 easy

F: 12 (6:57)

S: 6.2 easy AM; 3.5 easy PM

S: 17.6 (6:46, felt great)

Total: 75.1 (71.6 in singles). This was a great week. Able to get my mileage back up after a couple of unplanned down weeks. The ankle pain and calf pain that had been bothering me were both negligible.

Week ending 7/20:

M: 6.2 easy

T: 10 with 5 mile tempo (5:45 avg)

W: 14.4 (6:55)

Th: 7.1 easy

F: 3.5 easy AM; 10.8 PM

S: 6 easy AM; 2.7 easy PM (feeling tired, so decided to cut the run a bit short)

S: 19.6 (7:07)

Total: 80.2 (74 in singles). Mixed feeling about this week. The weather was great until today - polar vortex rolled on through and temps were in the 60s and 70s with low humidity through Thursday. Unfortunately, the heat and humidity returned with a vengeance today, making the long run very tough. Tempo was fantastic and the mid-week medium long run was also great. I probably took it a bit too hard on that run though, causing me to be pretty tired by week's end. Today's long run was pretty bad - I was tired to begin with and the weather killed me. Felt okay through 13, but slogged home the last 7 miles.

Goal Race: Amsterdam Marathon (10/19) (Time TBC)

Weekly: 12

YTD: 1098.75

Mon: Rest

Tues: Rest

Weds: Rest

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Rest

Sat: 4 with 5k in 20:55 (HR - 184 96%)

Sun: 8 @ 10:14 (HR - 146 76%)

Very easy week as you can see, took the full 7 days off and started up again on Saturday. I've decided to start using my heart rate monitor to try and keep my efforts at the level they should be. Not sure if anyone has had much experience of this, but I've checked the internet and can't really find any stories of success or even any detailed logs so I'm going to keep a record of my HR and paces so I can see how they hopefully improve over time. My HR maxed out at 191 twice in the 5k so that's what I'm using as my max.

Doctors appointment tomorrow night so should hopefully know if I'm anaemic or not in a week or so.

The Stone Cutter: Sounds like great news on the injury and motivation front, looking forward to seeing what comes next!

TheGarbageDisposal: Sounds sensible, hope it works out. Nice workout on Wednesday! 24! I think the most I've done is 10!

pewow: I reckon the 30 push-ups would put you in a pretty high percentile for runners, we were talking about this the other day and one guy had struggled to do 2!

Netwerk Errer: Excellent racing! Sounds like you could go even faster on a flat all road course as well. Bodes well.

Southporter: what's the thinking behind the various paces for the tempo run? Slow fast slow?

zebes: Nice week, be interesting to see if the change in stride pattern helps with your hamstring.

KBXC: Sounds like you're pretty fit at the minute, loads of good runs this week.

cmm268: congrats on the PR, gutted to be so close to your goal time though!

Slartzio: Nice week, I'd definitely advocate a down week every 4-5 weeks though, it'll keep you fresh and mean you can train harder on the up weeks.

xenonscreams: Had to google ITG, loving that. Is that something you do regularly? Congrats on the weekly high.

mcbuckets: Welcome and really nice week to start with. When's the half?

Bonham: Well done on the mileage benchmark and on turning your week around after an iffy start.

Forcerunner: Nice week! Definitely doesn't look like a down week though! :)

HS_Runner_xc: Welcome to the thread. It's tough to tell just based on 2 tempos but I'd guess somewhere around 17:30-17:45 just from those. Need more data though really.

emlda: Nice track workout, good luck for next week!

jwil: Great week and that long run sounds like you're definitely in shape to hit your goal and you've still got more than 2 months to go! If you stay healthy I can't see you not getting your target.

souper: 2 solid weeks there and good to hear the niggles are settling down.

Goal: 5k 17/8k 28:45

Race: ? /. Rothman

Mon- 6. 8:06 easy

Tues- 6.1. 8:40 with store group run

Wed- 9.5. Included 3x1 mi. of on/off 100's. Avgs 19./31.

Thurs- 3am/4.25pm. Both around 8

Fri- 8. Included 10x40 sec. hill sprints.

Sat- 7.25. 8:04. Easy

Sun- 14. 7:29 avg. progressive effort

58.2 total.

I think I have to call it a good week, even if there wasn't anything really significant during it. I'm getting a little more comfortable with keeping my pace/effort much more moderate - not to say it feels natural yet. I think I'm planning to keep my mileage around where it is but gradually up the level of intensity sprinkled throughout the week. It did occur to me that I spent 30-40 minutes more time running than I would have to cover the same mileage in the past. Let the experiment continue.

Goal: sub 17 5k

Goal: sub 28 8k

M: AM 3 mi easy. PM 7 mi easy

T: AM 3 mi easy. PM 7 mi total 10x30s hills. I should have done 45-60s but I was unsure how I would feel. At 30s I felt great, but it didn't feel much like a workout.

W: PM 3 mi easy

T: PM 7 mi total 6x1200 Cruise intervals (4:34, :26, :27, :26, :29, :28). I was feeling good the first 4 and the last two were tougher.

F: AM 3 mi easy PM 7 mi easy

S: AM 4 mi easy PM 6 mi easy

S: PM 12 mi easy. I felt pretty drained so started out slow. After the first couple miles my splits gradually came down from 8:00 to 7:17 then the last 3 miles were around 7:23. I was beat. I brought water, but nothing to eat. Next time I'll bring a gu even if I don't think I'll need it.

Weekly Total: 62.5 mi

YTD: 1216 mi

This was a good week for me for a few reasons. It is my first week over 60 mi since March. It is also the longest streak (31 days) I've had since 2011. Lastly, I'm healthy...no injuries (well a couple little niggles but nothing major) and I'm not sick.

@Stone Cutter. Glad you are doing better. I used Hanson's for my first marathon and had success with it (2:53). I also used it at Boston and i did not fair as well(3:28). The hanson's plans look easy, and for the most part they are. But because they look easy, your going to want to tweak it, or worse, overreach (i was targeting a 2:45 for Boston, when I should have just been going for 2:55). If you keep the tweaks down to a minimum, and you keep honest with yourself and your ability, it is a good plan. I defiantly think you have a sub 2:50 in you.

@Netwerk Errer nice race! You left it all out and then a little extra at the end (literally). Was it a PR too?

@cmm268 wow, 3 seconds off your goal time is impressive. Your middle miles were very consistent. I've always found my third mile to be my slowest in the 8k (usually 10-15s slower). Have you been doing a lot of pace work, or did it just happen that way?

@slartzio I'm looking at a cut back week too after hitting 60 miles. I would do it even if you are not feeling completely spent and then the following week you can come back at it. It would be as easy as taking 1 or 2 of those 8 milers and making them 4 milers.

@xenonscreams I never congratulated you for last week, well done!

@mcbuckets welcome!

@Bonham so you do keep track of the miles and not just the km. I always try and convert your kms in my head which isn't bad but then I try and convert your paces and just give up. Well done on 100mi.

@hs_runner_xc welcome. The best way to find out where your at is to go run a 5k if possible. Your week looks like your trying to fit too much in there (2 tempos, hills, long run, fartlek). You need more easy days. Try and limit yourself to 2-3 workouts a week (1 tempo, 1 speed or hills, and a long run). You are going to burn yourself out before XC season even starts.

@emlda smart backing off on the tempo. Sound like you are feeling pretty confident at this point. Good luck at you race!

@souper have you had your injury diagnosed? It sounds like it might be your soleus. My cousin, who is a PT, told me to do this stretch (gently) when I had similar pain, maybe it can offer you some relief as well.

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/images/soleus.gif

with the knee bent will stretch your soleus, with your knee straight it will stretch your gastrocnemius.

@once and future I think VF Runner is doing HRM training. He might be able to offer some advice. Good luck with the doctor's.

@vf_runner looks like we are on the same page. Similar mileage/hills. Keep it up.

Goal race: BAA Half Marathon

Week 2 of 14

M: 5.5 easy

T: 8 - 2 mile warmup, 4.35 mile tempo (25:14, 5:48/mile), 2 mile cooldown

W: 8 recovery

Th: 6 easy + 4 x 10 second stride

F: 7.5 - 2 mile warmup, 5x1000 w/200 jog (3:29,3:24,3:21,3:23), 2 mile cool down

Sa: Rest

Su: 15 mile long run, around 7'/mi

Total: 50 miles

Tuesday's workout was absolutely brutal, humidity-wise, with a dew point over 70 at 7:00 in the morning. Considering I split 4 miles faster than that in a marathon 3 weeks ago, I'm going to blame the humidity.

Rare day off of work today, so I actually have time for some more comments:

cmm268 - great week as usual. I actually LOVE to race at night, though I haven't done it in a really long time and probably would be thrown off with eating, how to distract myself all day, etc. There's something very primal about racing under the lights. And though it's nowhere near indicative of your real talent, a PR is a PR.

Slartzio - solid week all-around. I am a big fan of race-specific training, so I like your idea of starting at 10x800m and then maybe extending the length of the interval distance from one week to the next (10x800, 8x1k, 6x1mi, 4x1.5mi, 3x2mi, etc.).

xenonscreams - big week for you, just keep an eye on those peroneals. If you have access to an ART specialist and/or massage therapist, you might want to seek treatment. Peroneal tendonitis is what shelved me for 3 out of 4 weeks in March.

mcbuckets - welcome aboard, that's a solid goal you've got there. You have a handful of posters on this board who are right in your same ballpark.

Bonham - way to take down that second medium-long run - you're an animal. :)

Forcerunner - that's your second very impressive week in a row. I like how you are still touching on all of the different running systems in your HM cycle. I imagine you will get more race-specific training in the closer you get to Columbus?

HS_Runner_xc - welcome aboard. Everybody responds to training differently, but I would need to be in 17:00 5K shape to complete the week you just did. What kind of mile time can you run? If you can run a mile in 4:45 or faster, I see no problem with you breaking 17 for XC this fall.

emlda - tough break with the weather on Tuesday. Sometimes its best to forgo the watch on days like that and just run for a certain time or distance at tempo "effort." Great rebound on Friday. I think you have really set yourself up nicely for SF - best of luck!

jwil - very impressive week, and way to hang tough on Sunday, both mentally and physically. That will serve you well come marathon day. Congrats on the mileage high.

souper - despite the weather on Sunday, you still put together two impressive weeks there. The better news is the ankle and calf pain are both gone. You are still on track for sub-2:45.

Once and Future - sometimes pushing the reset button is all you need. Good luck with the doctor's visit.

VF Runner - a consistent week with 7 days of running is ALWAYS a good week. I am glad you diving into the experiment - I for one think you will be very pleased with the outcome.

sps - another poster with a very consistent week. Thanks for the input on the Hansons Plan. I have used it twice before with great success, and I know what you mean about having temptations to tweak the plan (both for good and bad). I never adjust the volume or pace of the SOS sessions, I just add some easy/recovery mileage where I see fit. Let's hope the third time around treats me as nicely as the first two. :)

Ghola - I never have a problem blaming the humidity for anything. :) You still got quite a bit of training in there for only your second week off of the marathon.

Nice weeks, everyone!

cmm - solid PR.

buckets - welcome to the thread.

Goal: CIM 12/7 sub-2:50

Week 1 of 'training'. Still no formal plan, just aimed at 70 miles with a hint of speed. Ended up at 62. Missed one day due to a very early work meeting. With my schedule, if I don't run early in the morning then it's not gonna happen.

Mon - 8@7:45

Tue - zero

Wed - 10@7:45

Thu - 10@8:00

Fri - 10@7:00 (threw in 5-6 pickups at 6min pace)

Sat - 16@8:30

Sun - 8@8:15

Will try again to get to 70 this week. Maybe a little more structured interval work. We'll see.

Have a great week, all.

Stone cutter - that is a very healthy outlook to have about an off week. It will serve you well and help you reach that goal.

Garbage disposal - I'm not sure I agree that your race shows that you are on the edge. Longest 400 workout ever - race 3 days later - doesn't seem like the path to an A+ race effort. You've climbed so much this however, that a couple of slightly easier weeks to consolidate your gains makes sense.

Netwerk errer - excellent race getting under 40. Almost too bad it wasn't actually 950 feet. That would have made for one hell of a race story.

Cmm268 - nice race. You are so right about how hard it is to have the day go right before a night race. If nothing else, you have all day to stress about the race.

Xenon - surprisingly uneventful week for you. That was probably a nice thing.

Bonham - with the percentage that high heat slows you down, I think your runs/paces are fine for Pfitz. It's also always been my experience that workouts start hard in the cycle and then just slowly come easier.

HS_runner_xc - A 39 second improvement should come fairly easy with a year of development in HS (not to say it isn't going to take a lot of effort). It seems like you might be trying just a little too hard right now and you may go into the season flatter that you should.

jwil - Another nice solid Pfitz week.

Once & future - As I'm starting to learn, the problem with using HR is that everyone is so different. You have to figure out where you are and what different efforts mean to your training at the moment. It's hard to look up things online and then apply them to how you should use HR.

sps - keep up the good work. As far as the friendly wager, I don't even know for sure when I'll race, so you are definitely going to have the first crack at winning. Either way, best of luck!

Stone Cutter - Glad to hear that your knee is back under control, and just in time for the marathon block too.

TheGarbageDisposal - Don't worry about the race. Practically everyone would be flat during a 113 mile week.

Netwerk Error - Congrats on sub 40. Always a pleasant surprise to find a course less difficult than you anticipated.

Southporter - Solid week. Good luck with your 10k next week.

zebes - Getting your cadence up/ shortening your stride can have huge benefits. I had achilles tendonitis issues 4 years ago and they went away when I increased my cadence.

KBXC - Again a fantastic week. Tempo, hill sprints, fartlek, long run. You are doing exactly what you need to be doing for cross country.

cmm268 - Can't complain about a PR. Interesting though, that your 8k pace is similar to your goal marathon pace.

Slartzio - Threshhold work around 6 min pace sounds like a good idea. You have 9 weeks left so you could alternate threshold work increasing in distance (800s, 1200, 1 mile, 1.5 mile, 2 mile) with a tempo at 6 min pace (3 mile, 4 mile, 5 mile, etc)

xenonscreams - Big week, especially after such a hard race last week. One suggestion might be to hold back on the hill sprints until you start your next training block. I think they are very beneficial but I would also be concerned with adding a new aspect to training so close to goal races.

mcbuckets - Welcome and killer long run.

Bonham - Your training has been going great. Looks like you are on track for a very good marathon.

Forcerunner - Good week, always a challenge to hold yourself back when feeling good.

HS_runner_xc - I would cut back on the intensity some. 1 hard run and 1 medium run per week is probably enough. Other than that your training looks great.

emlda - Tough luck with the tempo. TheGarbageDisposal probably has some tips for you. I believe that he struggled with some longer tempos during his last half training.

jwil - Congrats on the mileage high and still getting in all of your workouts.

souper - That 20 miler had to have been tough with the heat in MN this week. Keep it up.

Once and Future - Sorry, I don't have any experience with heart rate monitors. I used to race nordic skiing and a lot of the guys who were faster/ took it more seriously than me used heart rate monitors and determined their zones from lactate testing.

VF Runner - Solid week. I hope your experiment pays off for you.

sps - Nice job with your cruise intervals and then toughing it out on the long run.

Ghola - You seem to have bounced back quickly from your marathon, even if your workouts aren't reflecting your fitness.

Hereford - Nice week. Very consistent.

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement!

here are some comments

Slartzio-I like your approach of having found a comfortable mileage that you can maintain and building in the quality workouts now.

xenonscreams-congrats on a new mileage high and great to see the Sunday run go so well for you!

mcbuckets-welcome to the thread, you are definitely in the upper echelon with a 1:09 target of the weekly thread:) Looking forward to seeing you post.

Netwerk Errer-12 weeks out--marathon is Oct 19th

Bonham-Looks solid for 100mile week! I am very similiar to your diesel engine analogy which is why I have been trying to focus on speed and turnover.

Forcerunner-The mileage was definitely high for a down week but hopefully the way you broke it into 14 runs will save the legs:) Nice week, especially that Saturday run.

HS_Runner_xc-Will you add some shorter intervals instead of two weekly tempos? I would slow some of the running down a bit.

emlda- Awesome job on the track workout. The hay is definitely in the barn at this point, get some rest this week and good luck this weekend!

jwill-That long run is awesome...averaging i10% above marathon pace is a good spot to be in at this point for sure

souper-I think the weather is taking a toll on all of us lately but you put in a solid two weeks regardless!

Once and Future-I should pay more attention to my HR but really only use it on my recovery days, especially in the summer where heat and humidity impact my HR to make sure I am staying low.

VF Runner-Great news to see the progress and another solid week mileage wise!

Ghola-Great week, I wouldnt worry at all about the times with dew points above 60--it's way too hard to work for long periods of time.

Hereford-Nice week!

Cheers for the comments guys, my paces are awful using the monitor. General aerobic pace has gone from 8 to 9:35 and recovery from 8:30 to 10:15. I guess it's worth sticking with and just making sure I'm doing some faster running each week.

Sweet weeks, everyone. I thought I'd have time to write my usual essay, but this week has been a bit challenging for me, so I'm left with this. I've read everything and I find you all super inspiring!