What did you do / change in your training before your biggest breakthrough?

Nasty_Nadz wrote:

went from a 27:58 8km to 26:06 8km in one year. i know that's nothing spectacular, but i'm living the dream and that's all that matters.

I like your perspective. The dream can be lived in any situation and at any age. Have a great cc seaon and keep living the dream.

stopped waking up to an alarm clock.

letsbang wrote:

Lowered mileage to avoid injury, ran 5-6mi tempos/sub LT runs everyday on grass. Made it through the summer without injury. Ran a 2.5min pr in my first 8k race that season.

Serious question: Where do you find this much grass? How do you put together a 6-mile run that's on grass only?

Long run

You Are What You Is wrote:

letsbang wrote:

Lowered mileage to avoid injury, ran 5-6mi tempos/sub LT runs everyday on grass. Made it through the summer without injury. Ran a 2.5min pr in my first 8k race that season.

Serious question: Where do you find this much grass? How do you put together a 6-mile run that's on grass only?

in my experience it involves loops around a soccer complex or something similar.

before my biggest breakthrough in the 1500m i spent the winter training like a 5k runner only touching mile specific workouts in march (competed through mid-may). also every morning i wasn't traveling for a meet i ran the same loop around the golf course. in january it took me 42-43 min and in may took me 38-39 min, same effort level.

before my big half marathon breakthrough i just ran longer and harder than i thought i was capable of. workouts of 10-12 miles of half marathon specific pace work. was getting up to 90 miles a week in singles.

Increased volume and decreased pace and run doubles.

Basically in college sucked , and was doing intervals all the time, now I just run a lot volume and I have gone from 1:14:00 Half marathon to 1:07. Still I dont have as much speed and can only run 14:50 in 5km .This past summer did lot 140 mile weeks and felt very good. The key was volume and just running a lot. Cant be afraid of mileage.

Few things I would change is keep speed and strides just a bit but every week.

I did too many 10/10 doubles which arent as good as 14/6.

Hoping to run under 2:20 under right conditions in the marathon. The key is staying healthy and just loving what you do !!

Recovery and Easy days pace 8:00 per mile.

Stamina days 10 to 14 miles 5:20 to 5:30

Tempo days 5-7 miles 5:08

Long fast runs twice a month 24 miles at 5:40

Basically thats all

Great idea for a thread

For me it was switching from being a big heel striker to completely going midfoot.

I used to do too much. I did core every day, drills, hurdle walkovers, push ups, lifting 2x a week, and swimming 2x a week. I then just started running higher mileage, doing hurdle drills, and sleeping more. Works every time

Most of my sudden improvements in performance are preceded by eating a lot of liver.

I can't locate the studies that convinced me why liver improves performance, but they said that the extra hepatic enzymes reduced levels of ammonia in the blood. Ammonia is produced by anaerobically-working muscles and crosses into the brain where it causes a sensation of fatigue.

Doubles. Added about 20min most mornings. Made an amazing difference.

aslan wrote:

Think about your most successful season(s)-- PRS, wins, or breakthroughs. What did you do in training or in your lifestyle (eating, sleeping, etc.) that you think precipitated your success?

To answer this question, I have to go way back to 1981, just after my first and only cross country season while running for the University of Utah. After beginning my freshman season as the number one runner on my team, I was injured AGAIN. In fact, my last three competitive high school seasons all ended or were sabotaged by injury. In the spring of 1981, just before I left on a Mormon Church mission, I finally figured out what had been missing, and this led to a 4:10 mile the day before I left for the mission in Fresno, California. What I finally figured out may sound foolish to all of you now, but it's the solid truth. Here's an excerpt from my book, Running: A Long Distance Love Affair, which is FREE on Amazon right now. This excerpt is long, but please indulge me. First a quote from Lord Sebastian Coe, and then "A Personal Revelation."

“I've always felt that long, slow distance produces long, slow runners.”

– Sebastian Coe of Great Britain, former world record holder in the 800 meters, 1,000 meters, 1,500 meters, and the mile

A Personal Revelation

When I first began running, one prevalent theory was that you had to put in at least a few months of long, slow running, commonly referred to as “LSD,” to build a solid “base” between competitive seasons. While building your “base,” you gradually increased your mileage without speed training or racing until the beginning of the competitive season. At least that was my understanding of “LSD” theory. It was also my understanding that once you began speed work and racing, you had to focus your training progression on one or two absolute “peak” races, because your “peak” performance window was very narrow. To continue any kind of speed work beyond your “peak” was futile because your body needed to come back down for another long base-building period of “LSD.” To continue speed work beyond your “peak” was to court physical and mental burnout and injury. My high school coaches subscribed to this theory, and I had read just enough to think that “LSD” training was the best way to go, not just for the marathon, but for middle distances, as well.

One of my high school teammates took “LSD” theory to the extreme. Over three summer months, Jess went from a few miles a week to over 80 miles per week, all of it long, slow distance. Before cross country season even began, a stress fracture ended it for him. Meanwhile, I also did “LSD” training during the off season, but never more than 40 miles per week. Looking back, not only was I lacking any quality running during the off season, but I wasn't even getting much quantity. My high school “LSD” was more like “SSD” (short, slow distance).

In northern Utah, where I grew up in the 1970s, there was no indoor track season to speak of, so I lost all of my speed during the long, cold Utah winters when the roads—and the high school track—were so often covered in ice and snow. The high school track season was very short, too, since winter always ran into March. I remember running a track meet in mid-April when it was snowing. During the winters of my youth, before the advent of water-proof, yet breathable, “moisture-wicking” fabrics, I typically bundled up in bulky, heavy layers of cotton and wool. This may sound like an old man half complaining, half bragging, “Back in my day, we used to walk five miles to school every day, in the snow, against the wind, and uphill both ways.” But the winters in the high-altitude Rocky Mountains really can be long and miserable. Of course, I could have done speed work when the roads were clear, but the real problem was that during my two years as a high school runner, I was stuck on my ignorant interpretation of “LSD” theory. As a result, I began each of my high-school track seasons in “LSD” condition. Not once did I run a speed workout, time trial, or road race during those long winter months. It was all “LSD.” And with the exception of hill training, my summers were no different. Not once during high school did I enter even a single 5K road race in the summer. Knowing what I do now, at the very least I should have been doing regular “tempo” runs (also known as “lactate threshold” runs) during the off-season, but I knew nothing about that, and the term “tempo run” hadn't even been invented yet. I simply didn't know any better and, unfortunately, I had no guidance from anyone who did.

One thing was always true about me as a runner, and perhaps you can empathize with me: I've always been “Joe Average” without speed work. I don't know if the same was true of my strongest high school rivals, but it was for me. Once my teammates and I began track season, our daily workouts consisted of almost nothing but interval sessions on the track. We jumped right into 440-yard repeats at the beginning, and then quickly worked our way down to 220s and 110s, run increasingly fast with shorter rest periods as we approached the end of our brief track season. Almost every workout included speed work on the track, and during track season I averaged just 18-25 miles per week. It was all ultra-high quality with very little quantity. I ran every speed workout foolishly, too, pushing myself as hard as I could, regardless of the goal pace, often leaving my best race in practice. As a result, for most of the track season my legs were terribly and chronically sore. I was often so sore during the season that if I merely touched the skin on my thighs, calves or hamstrings, it hurt! I was always more sore than anyone else on the team, and my soreness always lasted longer. On the other hand, my body responded to speed work better than anyone else on the team. I began track season really laboring to run 75-second 440-yard repeats with plenty of rest between each. Yet, several weeks later I'd be running the same workout of 440 repeats at 60-63 seconds with less rest. So despite my chronic soreness, this dramatic jump in improvement always encouraged me to run as hard as I could in every workout. I thrived on speed, and I quickly learned that if I could just maintain contact with the front runners in any race, my “kick” would usually win. The slower the race, the more easily I won.

The problem with my training methods, which I didn't realize at the time, was that jumping from pure “LSD” to such intense and frequent speed work, combined with some bio-mechanical issues, caused so many running injuries that repeatedly damaged or destroyed my competitive seasons.

Regrettably, not until I graduated from high school and completed one disastrous college season did I figure things out. Today it is common knowledge that “LSD” alone is insufficient for competitive middle distance runners between running seasons. Absolutely no good high school runner does what I did. I was naïve for not figuring that out much sooner. But once I did, it was like a personal revelation. And the results were miraculous for me. Did this revelation result in my bright future as an Olympian? No—I had talent, but I was never that gifted. However, I did learn what many running coaches and experts know and advocate today for milers and other competitive middle distance runners: if you want to be more successful and have fewer injuries, you simply must keep some elements of high quality running in your training schedule year-round.

Nasal strips……and liver, yeah, lots of liver

What has worked for me:

Run at least once every day, twice when possible. (It's basically always possible.) A "run" must be at least 30 minutes, but preferably is an hour or so. I don't really do anything at or past two hours, and won't, unless the marathon bug bites. I start easy/slow, and work the pace up until steady is easy. Let it rip at the end if I'm feeling good.

As much as anything, this is likely because I'm simply doing what I enjoy, so adherence isn't a problem.

Liver. Lots of liver. And Vicks vapor rub.

on a personal note (somewhere among 1500m-10k):

- more quality runs / increase of specific pace running, therefore: less volume (personal limit now: 45 miles)

- abolishment of those drippy long runs, establishment of one weekly fast distance run of 8-10 miles in the hills instead

- plyos, coordination

- the focus on workout days: hit the pace, take a longer rest if needed, but hit the pace

- one rest day/week, listen to the body

- ensure sleep quality and a good diet

- don´t ape elites

More mileage

Doubles

Cruise intervals (5xmile@thresh w/1min rest)

Tempos (20 to 40 mins @ thresh)

50m sprints (4x50m twice a week)

10 sec hill sprints (6x10s once a week)

Strides almost every day

Easier running (7 min pace or slower)

aslan wrote:

Think about your most successful season(s)-- PRS, wins, or breakthroughs. What did you do in training or in your lifestyle (eating, sleeping, etc.) that you think precipitated your success?

in sr yr of hs, added a legit long run (12 - 16 miles) every sunday.

1600m PR went from 4:35 to 4:18 in about 8 mos.

My sleep was used to be plagued with anxiety and periodic bouts of insomnia until I started taking vitamins regularly. Now I get 8+ hours of consistent, restful sleep a night, which allows me to recover better and thus do more mileage and perform longer workouts than before. My pr has gone from 15:24 down to 14:44, although I was probably in 14:30 shape when I ran the 14:44 (beat an 8:51 steeplechaser by 6 seconds all thanks to a 58 second last lap)

I also think a heavier focus on aerobic development was a big part of my improvement as well. Not just more mileage, but longer runs (12-13 mile runs several times a week, 15-16 miles if I'm feeling especially strong and don't have a workout the next day) and longer workouts (5-6 miles of interval work at a time, periodic long tempos of 8-10 miles).