Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 8/17

@ Bonham: A half marathon of sub 1:30 will likely change my marathon goal from 3:10 to 3:05. Pfitzinger says I should be at about 1:31:30 for a half to run a full at 3:10.

Hi everybody :)

Goal: sub 2h40 Marathon on 9/28 or 11/30

Miles this week: 93

Monday: 8.5 miles easy

Tuesday: 10 miles including 10x1000mts Rec:1min, average on the km intervals 3:24 (5:29min/mile)

Wednesday: 14.5 miles easy

Thursday: 14 miles, 6:07min/mile average, like this: 1km easy-10km at 3:41min/km ( 5:57min/mile)+1km easy+1,5km at 3:28min/km (5:33min/mile)+1km easy+5km at 3:41min/km(5:57min/mile)+1km easy+1,5km at 3:24min/km(5:28min/mile)

Friday: 9.5 miles easy

Saturday: 14.5 miles easy

Sunday: 22miles at 6:43 min/mile average, consistent pace, by the sea, not hills at all, but some dribbling in the sea promenade, just water and salts, no gels, food or breakfast before. Last miles quite empty, I kept the pace but heart rate increasing considerably, I was expecting it, I am not that good running without carbs/glycogen, at last is not so important for me in the race because I am good eating while racing, no problem eating 7 or 8 gels in a marathon, but I want also to teach the body to burn as much fat as possible. From now on I will have gels in the remaining 20 milers, and I will look more for marathon pace than for running on empty state.

I have been on Holidays, by the sea, the whole week, weather has been ok, not as hot and humid as usual, so training and paces have been easier than expected here. While on holidays I can't double, so I just did singles everyday, but final mileage has been high, I am not time constrained early in the mornings. Happy with the week, specially with Tuesday and Thursday workouts, quite energized at the beginning of the week but yesterday and today I felt little tired, also Resting Heart Rate is at minimums already 34-35ppm , Just 6 weeks to my 1st goal, let's see if I keep the sensations at this level a little bit more.

my brain hurts and I can't work on fellowship applications any longer so comments

The Stone Cutter: Nice work on the treadmill workout. Though I feel like if I'm stick on the treadmill I'd rather it be a workout than an easy run.

jwil: 7 at half pace is a tough workout regardless of conditions!

ksrunner21: Very nice progression run.

GNR1: What's your current half PR? Looks like a solid plan regardless.

Distance Fan: I'd agree that's a fast long tempo for your goals (or at least it'd suggest MUCH better fitness than 3:30 if done honestly). I honestly don't find treadmill running at 0% any easier than outdoor running, although I've heard some people disagree.

cmm268: Thanks! That marathon workout sounds like a ton of fun.

KBXC: I hope you mean 8000 ft!

Matthias: Thanks! Welcome back and congrats on the PRs. Hope your ankle is treating you well.

Bonham: Thanks! It felt very good. This year has been very hard for me but PRs make everything worth it.

Bonham wrote:

Distance Fan: Sweet moves on Saturday! Why do you have a question mark in your week count?

I was doing my week from memory and I can't remember which week it is for sure, hence the question mark. I actually have my weeks numbered on my plan in a countdown going from 17 weeks to go (week 1) to 0 weeks to go (Week 18). That's the one detail I don't get hung up on, I just try to run the plan if I feel good.

So far so good, but I did skip strides today, because I was pretty wiped and I'm still not 100% sure how to run them right anyway. The couple of times I've done them I'll speed up to "pretty fast" (not a full sprint, but probably close to mile pace) for about 20 seconds, then slow down until I'm ready to do it again, and do about 6 fast bits of them.

Goal: CIM 12/7 @ sub-2:50

Hello, all. Some nice weeks again.

xenon - great PR! Congrats!

cmm - dude, you're just killing it!

Bonham - strong week!

78 miles this week. That's my highest since early April. All of it was easy except for:

Wed - 11.4 mi including 8 400s @ 75-80 sec and 4 mi @ 6-6:20

Sat - 18.8 mi, including 4 mi @ 6:20-6:45

Also did 4 days with 10-15 min of core/strength and one session of strides, drills.

Saturday's run was tough. Midday sun, 80 degrees, humid and hilly. I felt a little flat going into it but still tried to push hard. Just wasn't feeling it. Cut my MP miles short and slogged the remainder of the run. Ended with a 7:45 avg pace.

Cut down week coming up. I have 4 vacation days in Austin, where I will probably gain 5 lbs solely in brisket, enchiladas and beer.

Matthias-I figured you were lurking! Great to see the PRs, your progress and your positive outlook. Looking forward to seeing you post again and seeing your progress in the 10k. Great job on that 1 mile interval workout

Bonham- I followed you on Strava last week--I assumed you knew who I was but yes I live on the East Coast of the US. Awesome peak week for sure--your 24 miler today is awesome with very consistent pacing throughout. You should feel very confident after a run like that for your goals...good luck next weekend in the half will be a good opportunity to evaluate your marathon goals.

Blackfly-93 miles on singles is an outstanding week! Like Bonham, awesome job on the long run today.

Hereford-Thanks man. Same to you-great week and enjoy the cutdown week and your vacation. Austin is a great place and impossible to not have fun!

way to go xenon!

M-8/11 1@6. 20 mi biking

T- 1.25@ 607 14 biking

W- 9 bike .75 @ 6:12

Th 0 hamstring

F- 0 hamstring

Sat 14 bike 2@ 609 felt really good

Sun-8 bike 2@ 613. 100% humidity and slippery (big storm ran on grass)

hamstring hurt a bit (recurring injury, I think a form imbalance that I can't seem to fix). felt ok today though so I think if I stay aware of it it won't become a real injury.

Hi all,

I hope you guys don't mind a new face posting here. Quick background: I'm a college sophomore, been running seriously for 4 years now. PRs of 5:03, 10:56, and 17:27. I was pretty undertrained in high school, and I'm still improving noticeably from year to year. I run on the club team at my college, and I'm just finishing up my base for XC. Anyway, here's my training:

Goal: 29:30 8k

Next race: road 5k on 8/30

M: 8/3 double

T: 2.5 warmup; 5 mile tempo in 32:24; 2.5 cooldown

W: 7/3 double

R: 9 easy

F: 6/4 double. Ran a 1 block hard/1 block easy fartlek for the 6 mile run

Sa: 12 long run

Su: off, moved into dorm

Total: 61

Really pleased with this week. Felt good on all my runs, and the tempo and fartlek both went really well. Felling really strong aerobically!

Stone: treadmill workouts can be rough. Easy to go too fast and also bag if

Things don't go well.

Pewow: rough week. Canceling a 5k, forgetting echoes, and the. Having to buy a new pair. Hope next week goes better. Or the new shoes give you many PRs haha

Jwil: if I were you and just ran that 23 miler I would be lowering my goal for st George's.

Xenon: congrats on the big PR. You have been way overdue!

Gnr1: what us your goal race for October?

Distance fan: are you from the Indy area?

Netwerk: it is very tough to run a good/fast tune up doing a marathon cycle. They are still great workouts and rust busters.

Cmm: yet another great 100+ mile week. With work and travel, I don't know know you fit it all it! You are doing colombus ohio full correct?

Matthias: glad you see you back (I've been gone too). Solid week of getting back into quality. I like it. Besides the flat tire :(

Bonham: congrats on the "miles" for this cycle and good luck at the half next week. How do you carry the gummy bears while running? Have you tried other "performance specific " products?

Blackfly: are all of your long runs about that pace? And 7-8 gels during a marathon?! Are you taking one every 20 minutes?

Hereford: enjoy the Texas trip and cutback on miles. Just don't bring back all 5lbs. Maybe just 3-4 haha

Renewed: is running that fast supposed to help the hamstring? I always thought with a hamstring injury you were basically limited to easy running, no hills, speed, and even cycling.

Johnny: welcome.

Had a really good week training for my ultra. So I figured I would pop back in for a few.

Monday: 10.25 + 6.25 + 7.5 (24)

Tuesday: 18(12BP) + 8.25 (26.25)

Wednesday: 12.5 + 20 min spin + 13 (25.5)

Thursday: 9 + 7.5 + 8 (24.5)

Friday: 19(12BP) + 6.25. (25.25)

Saturday: 30 + 3.5 (33.5)

Sunday: 8 + 8 (16)

Total: 175

The strength is definitely there. Just working on dialing in pace for the next 3 weeks. Mileage will be cut back a lot FYI lol.

Also, if anyone is interested. I am doing a charity fundraiser for my goal race. You can get more info through the link.

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/nickpurdy/thefall50

Monday - 4

Tuesday - 5 am. 8 pm w/ 7 x 300 w/ 2 min rest (45,45,45,45,45,44,44)

Wednesday - 10 am. 9 pm

Thursday - 8 am. 4 pm.

Friday - 12 w/ 8 mile tempo (5:19 avg) am. 4 pm

Saturday - 8

Sunday - 14 am. 4 pm.

90 total

@NP112: Is that–is that a triple I spy? Also, you doubled on a day when you ran 30 miles? I'm not sure to describe this as impressive or depraved.

The gummy bears are what's available on the course at my goal race (Portland). I have a truculent stomach and I've been trying to train it to get along with what it will eat on race day.

@cmm268: Ahhh, all is made clear! The penny should have dropped for me when I read your log, but I was still pretty fresh from the long run and my wits were not about me. (Some would say they never are, but I digress.)

I think injury was a strong word. It hurts a little bit and I'm being cautious.

But I didn't know that about cycling. It hurt a but after a few rides this week! I'll keep that in mind and cut back on the bike. I just use it for commuting actually so the rides aren't too hard, but I can find some shorter routes.

You're probably right about slow running, I guess I've kind of gotten bored with slogging so I've been mixing it up with more tempos and intervals but I think you're right and it has aggravated my Hamstring a bit. I'll Definitely keep your a advice in mind this week, thanks!

Oh and 175 miles, damn :)

Weekly: 53.75

YTD: 1282.75

Mon: Weights and core

Tues: 9 under 81% Max HR @ 8:41 with 8 x 100m strides

Weds: AM Weights and core PM 5 Recovery under 76% @ 9:43

Thurs: 13 under 85% @ 8:35

Fri: 4 Recovery under 76% @ 9:42

Sat: 5.75 with 5k in 20:19

Sun: 17 under 85% @ 8:06 on treadmill @ 0% incline

Really good week overall, felt good for virtually every run this week. Particularly over the weekend. The 5k time was my best in 11 weeks (and I do one most weeks) and all of the paces are faster than last week. The best thing was how I felt after the 5k though, I felt really good and did my cooldown at 8ish pace whereas if I'm feeling bad it's closer to 9:30. Need to just make sure I don't get carried away and keep being sensible though.

The longrun on the treadmill was odd, I kept my heartrate between 81-85% of max the whole way but it just felt much easier than it would have done on the roads. Is this common? Should I have thrown some inclines in there? I was staying in a hotel hence the treadmill run, it's not going to be a common occurrence, so I'm more just interested.

NP112,

I'm from TN (northeast corner). I picked Indy because it seemed well suited to a first time marathoner:

Big, but not too big

Plenty of pace group options (they have one for every 5 minute increment over my realistic range)

Hotels galore near start/finish

Relatively flat

Usually good weather (that's beyond our, but we do our best!)

Within a reasonable day drive (less than 8 hrs)

Late enough in the year for when I could start training (Columbus was just a little too early)

It was also extremely affordable, if you registered new years day ($40).

Goal Race - 2x Half Marathons (September/October)

Goal Time - A: Sub 1:30 (B: Sub 1:33)

Other Goals (2014 or early 2015) - Sub 20min 5k, Sub 40min 10k

Mon - 5 miles - easy (8:28)

Tue - 6 miles - repetitions, 8x (400m + 400jg) + warm/cool (reps 86, 84, 85, 84, 87, 86, 87, 81)

Wed - 4 miles - easy (8:19)

Thu - 8 miles - 4x (200m + 200jg (reps: 44 sec)) + threshold pace mile repeats (6:49) w/ 1 min recoveries + 4x (200m + 200jg (reps: 41 sec)) + warm/cool

Fri - 4 miles - easy (8:15)

Sat - 4 mile - easy (8:05)

Sun - 12 miles - easy + 6x strides (8:28)

Total = 43 miles

Pleased with how the week went. Rep pace is beginning to feel pretty comfortable which is encouraging, and I found that I didn't fade on the 400's very much at all. It's a bit difficult to compare reps accurately though, as I don't have access to a track, so the reps are run on a local cycle path which is unfortunately isn't flat; so some end up being at least partly up or down hill.

The threshold pace part of the week was probably the highlight; each mile felt very very easy after the 1 min recoveries.

I'm moving in to stage 3 of the plan now, which means interval/hard workouts starting this week. Mileage also increased to 50, which will be a new high. Phase 2 was slightly reduced to four weeks due to time issues, but I will be getting the full six weeks that the plan calls for at phase 3.

I think I've definitely improved over the last four weeks in phase 2; getting a lot more comfortable running reps quickly, and threshold pace is feeling much easier. I'm going to run a mile time-trial tomorrow as a bit of a test, as I think it might be time to move up another VDOT level. Going to run it over the same course as before, and it will be interesting to see what difference (if any) one month of focused training has made, hopefully with minimal disruption to the rest of the week's workouts.

Hope everyone had good weeks!

Hi NP1112 , Congratulations for your "The Fall 50" fundraising, it is very nice from you.

Regarding your questions: I don't do the Long Runs at this pace usually, now I am 6 weeks to my goal so it was hard. At the beginning of the marathon training I go shorter and slower, I keep increasing lenght until I hit 19-20 miles comfortably, usually the pace is around 7:40-7:15 min/mile. Then I use 3 types of Long run, 1st one I increase the lenght ( this one ) 2nd type I go faster keeping it around 19 miles lenght 3rd type I include segments at marathon pace, for instance 4x3miles at 6min/mile within a 18 mile long run, or I just finish the long run at marathon pace. Now these last weeks I will focus in include marathon pace segments in the Long run.

I have been eating all these gels in my last 4 marathons, after a long story of cramps and leg muscle problems in the last kms of the marathon, and also because I am quite bad running just on fat, or preserving my glycogen, so this seems to work for me, Here in Europe we have water station in Marathons at least every 5 kms so is easy, just eat one gel every 5kms in the water station.

xenonscreams, CONGRATULATIONS on your PB, very good race!