2014 sub 26 8k

ya im trying to go for sub 26 8k as well.

my training was going well until last few weeks. got some tight muscles...

highest i ran was 60 and then i started racing. ran a 2 mile at 5:14 pace. then ran a hilly 5 miler which i wasnt happy with the time. but then its hills. Thursday I ran a 4.5 mile race. Course was mostly flat and i got 25:05 or 5:34 pace. that race, i ran 3/4 solo and it was tough

While I was racing mileage at most is 55 but I got a tight calf problem that i missed today and yesterday. Had to get a deep massage to cure it. Ill be running the next day at the course of first race of xc season.

note that i was on d1 team. lost my spot due to competitive reason but given the opportunity to regain it. hopefully in a week i can run 5:26 pace but idk because course is grass and dirt, flat with rolling hills. grass can slow people down.

Training has been going well. 9 weeks into my training for xc after my

2 1/2 break. Mileage has gone as followed:

W1: 28.5

W2: 37

W3: 50

W4: 53

W5: 51.5

W6: 60

W7: 61

W8: 61

W9: 62.5

Key workouts (along with some fartleks/easy progressions that aren't posted):

Controlled 4 mile tempo in 22:24 (week 6) (5:36pace) (cool 65 degrees)

Controlled 4.5 mile tempo in 25:11 (week 7) (5:36 pace) (85 degrees and humid)

6x1600 on the track w/200m jog in 55-60 seconds in 5:35, 5:35, 5:35, 5:35, 5:23, a 5 minute break then a fairly hard but controlled 5:09 (week 8)

7x1000: 3:18, 3:16, 3:14, 3:12, 3:10, 3:08, 3:05 on the track with 75 seconds jogging recovery (week 8)

1600, 1200, 800, 1600 @ 4:59, 3:42, 2:28, 5:15 on a flat gravel road with recovery equal to the time it took to do the rep (5:00, 3:45, 2:30). Feel this was my worst workout of the year so far, should have been able to close the last one in 5:00 flat or faster (week 9)

8x1000: 3:11 average on wet grass (rained the two days before), pretty flat but somewhat rough. 80 seconds standing recovery between reps. Last few reps were tougher.

Long run has been 14 miles for the last 3-4 weeks. Might move my mileage up to 65 but haven't decided yet. Don't think I'll move my long run up at all for a while. Goal for this year is sub 25:30.

I'll post about where I transferred to when it becomes more official.

nice nice congrats on the transfer!

too go little detail i did a 14 mile run the week i ran the 5 mile race. been taking it lightly since.

i ran up tempo run couple weeks ago. i ran 6:22, 6:11, 6:04, 6:11, 6:22. then the week later i ran a tempo run by myself. went from 7:00, 6:45, 6:22, 5:40.

Any word on what the Michigan State course looks like for NIRCA nationals? Definitely worthy of garnering a different training plan if it's flat. I know the past 2 years I scrapped a handful of interval workouts in favor of strength workouts just because I knew the pain of the Hershey course.

Sub 26 will come from just being strong.. a few things I liked to mix in the season i went under were little four mile progressive runs in the second half of a long run. So around 60-70 min in would drop down and work from ~545 to ~525. Another workout I liked is do 1 mile at a pace that would be defined at going out hard, 2 min rest, 3 mi tempo, rest, then 1K very hard to close out.

Usually would step on the track and do 10x400 once every other week just to keep in tap with the speed.

I ran a 5k in 16:05 last weekend. Guess I'm happy with it, but it felt harder than I would've liked. Still 5:11 pace in mid August, I'll take it.

Ideally I want to go 25:20ish on a flat course. I'm feeling like it's an ambitious goal, 5:06 pace for 5 miles just sounds tough to me seeing as how I wasn't completely comfortable coming through 3 miles at 5:11 pace. Oh well, it's a long season. Hopefully I can make it happen in October.

My best workouts have been a 7 mile tempo at 5:42 avg pace on a flat paved path. I think I need to throw in some sub 5:40 pace tempo work but I struggle dipping under that pace. I also ran a fartlek of 8x 2:00 on 2:00 off. Ran the on parts at 5:10 pace but the off was like 8:00 slow jog.

My diet is also horrible. I think I'm ruining the progress I could be making by eating pizza and ice cream every other day. Gotta stop that.

I'm going for a 15 miler tonight. Will try to average 6:25 pace similar to what I did last week: a 14 miler with the first half at 6:45-6:55 pace, then the second half I went sub 6:15 for about 5 miles straight and brought it home in a 6:40 since I was tired. That's solid right?

What do you guys think it'll take for 25:20, am I lining up to do it well? I have my season opener in the beginning of September so I'll see where I'm at then.

Oh my mileage has been fairly high for me, 65 in singles and about 10-14 miles in doubles for the last several weeks. (Except 1-2 weeks where I missed a few days during each of them cus of sickness and vacation)

So I've been at 80 and still feel fine thankfully. But basically my double days are just slow 4 milers at 7:15 pace. And my non hard effort days are usually just 8-9 milers at 7:10 pace. So I think I could have been making more progress if I had just gone for more 10-11 milers at 6:40 pace earlier on in the summer but too late for that. Now I try to just take the 8-9 milers easier since I am trying to schedule two tempo type workouts a week.

I'm starting organized practice tomorrow though. Schedule shouldn't change much but I'll probably ramp up the off day intensity with my team. And I'm sure the workouts will be a little harder, hopefully still tempos similar to what I've been doing. I need to get more comfortable with tempo-ing

Mods, can you kill this thread? Let Reed do this on Facebook.

I also did a 8 x 1 min on and 1 min off fartlek. I also done gym 2x a week. Built a stronger core, bulk up a little, and became more explosive.

My calf has gotten better today. Hopefully I can run 70 min tomorrow

Correction, ended up running 65.5 miles this past week, went 3 miles farther than I planned to go yesterday.

Today: 8x800s with a brisk 400m jog recovery after each one for a total of 6 miles. Did the 800s @ roughly 2:30 pace and the recoveries just a little over 7:00 pace for a total time of 34:23 for 6 miles. Workout was on a fairly loose gravel path. Feel pretty good about how it went.

sorry to that dude who hates me, but i don't spam facebook with my training. nobody gives a hoot, but here people actually care. this is what running sites are for, if you dont like it, dont click on the thread.

my week

M 8 easy

T 11.6 w/ 5x1mi, 5:09 avg. on road/dirt

W 9 easy

Th 10 easy

F 4.5, 10.5 w/ 6x150m accels

Sa 5.5, 7

Su 14 LR

total 80.1, 7:05/mi avg

first time over 80 mpw since last september

mile repeats went well. 5:11,5:09,5:12,5:09,5:03 under control. ran on half dirt/half road

as for easy pace, it's almost always close to 7:05/mi. usually start at 7:15s and run the last couple miles around 6:50. i see no need to run faster although i easily could

to whoever ran NIRCA Nats in 2012/2013, what was your time on that 8k course? i ran it 2 years ago. i was in about 27:30 shape for a flat course but ran 28:50s in hershey. wondering what a 26flat guy wouldve run there

Why are pizza and ice cream bad?

so, i may do a race next saturday, unnatached at a dual meet at UC Santa Barbara. google earth pics show its a loop around a lagoon, very flat.

it would be interesting to see how 5:14s feel this early in the season. my mile repeats indicated that i'm in as good of shape as i ever have been, so why not go for sub 26 now?

ya i agree with reed. nothing wrong with this.

anyways today i ran close to 70 min. my watch im using isnt really accurate. said i ran 8.8 miles. i used to run with a garmin watch and i remember the course i ran was 9.1.

assuming the course is 9.1 i ran 7:28 pace by myself. the watch i have says slower but still between 7 min range.

i felt pain in both legs but manageable to run through. i have no choice especially time trial is coming soon. but then ill get my chiroproctor to cure it.

my chances of regaining my spot are solid. there are reasons to doubt me. but im confused on whos trying out. right now i know me and my good friend r trying out. i hear rumors of people that could beat me quit which increases my chances but thats not what i worry atm

do u go to cal poly reed?

pizza and ice cream are bad because im eating way too much of either or both almost everyday lol! no moderation in my diet, i need to re-focus.

reed, i feel like my training is fairly similar to yours. i also am going ~7:05 avg on my easier days now. still trying to hit workouts well. how long did you rest on those mile repeats? i might go for that workout with a teammate later this week. haven't done any repeats/intervals in months.

today did a 9 mile tempo and happy with it. on a flat, fast path and opened up around 6:00 and got down to 5:40s. closed the last half in 5:25 pace. i still have trouble/am nervous of trying to go ~5:30 pace on a tempo. didnt wanna go for it in the middle of this one and fizz out and die. still a good effort. 5:45 avg for 9 miles that has to be a good sign.

opening up with a race in 2 weeks actually. i think 5:10 pace would be awesome for 8k but might be a little ambitious, not sure. went 5:10 for 5k already but the extra 2 miles is a little daunting. i think ill go for that as my goal time anyways though, the college competition around me should increase adrenaline haha.

Question on your 9mi. "tempo", when you say closed the last half in 5:25 pc. do you mean 4.5 mi. or last 1/2 mi.? Would it be better to try and close first 8k of the season in 5:10 rather than run the risk of blowing up after 1st mi., just a thought.

haha missed a word there sorry. just the last half mile in 5:25 pace. like i did mention in the post, I have trouble attempting to go under ~5:35 pace when tempo-ing.

yeah i go to cal poly

letsdoit, if you're having pain you should be very careful

solo, you need somebody to run those tempos with, even a biker. it helps a lot.

last year i did all tempos between 5:40-5:30 but i think i needed to do them harder or at least close harder. we did a 4 mile tempo and split 11:30/10:40. that was tough, definitely only possible with friends to "race"

on the 5x1mi workout i had 3min recovery. i always do 3min rec for mile repeats, lets me compare workouts easily. i dont go all out in that workout, its not too tough until the end.

in an hour i'm doing 7x(3min hard, 2min easy-moderate). should end up being over 6 miles at around 5:45/mi avg

ok so today i did a shit load when it comes to exercise.

-ran 50 min.

-lifted and did core

- after class biked 20 min on the stationary

- ran for 24 minutes

total mileage: 9.02 miles

pain has become better especially after my gym work because i used the leg press. I plan to keep using the leg press and bike in the says before time trial.

I know i have to be careful but since time trial is close, I have no choice bur run. Again, Ill get my chiropractor to fix my leg. my chiropractor has beem fixing my injuries since last semester and i usually see him day before race.