Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 2/1

Goal: No idea...

Next Race: " "

Goal for Race: " "

M - 2.91m AM. PM: 1m WU. Decided to go on a bit of an adventure. We ran over a frozen stream/swamp for a while. A few people fell in... Then the brush got so thick that we couldn't see more than 30 feet in any direction. We got lost, big time. After wandering through the swamp, getting scraped constantly by thorns and crap, and falling in waist deep we finally saw a house. Nearly cried. As we got to the edge, one kid fell in and went up to his chest. We were all on the verge of freezing so we sprinted back to the school and thawed. Very stupid, but it was memorable. Could have been a lot worse... ~90min

T - Blizzard!!! I had to cut through the woods to get to some empty parking lots. Ran through 2ft+ of snow for a 1/4 mile, which, needless to say, was exhausting. About halfway through my legs started to freeze and I got scared haha. Took me almost 40min to run 3.33m

W - 7miles easy. Almost kicked a dog in the face.

T - 2m WU. 2m "race" in 12:40. It was on a crappy track and the other team's fastest kid ran ~13... so yea, nice and easy. 1.2m CD.

F - AM: 4.07m easy. PM: 7.1m. First 4.5 on roads which were in horrible condition. Then we went inside the school to run. Last mile was barefoot and we sprinted the straights, good stuff.

S - 6.52 moderate. Windy as hell.

S - 3.02m easy.

Total: ~41.78m | 200 miles for the month, which is a new mileage pr by a significant margin. Only took half a day off this month.

We're getting a big snow storm today, and I just found out that our league meet has been cancelled and won't be rescheduled. This was my last chance to qualify for states, and now it's cancelled. So my season is over, boom, done. I missed out on something I've been working for for 3 years by .12 seconds. Now I don't have a chance to run at states and pr, and end my senior indoor season the way I wanted to. I feel like I have unfinished business at the Reggie but that was my last opportunity to run there.

I feel robbed.

Now I only have to wait 2 months until my next track race, unless I can find an open meet. (might run at USATFNE open champs? but that isn't until 2/22)

woops, make that 44.8 for the week.

Nice weeks everybody, btw.

molasses, i'm not sure if a "practice marathon" this summer is a good idea. you can gauge your fitness in many ways...10k, half, 10-miler, or a workout. no reason to run a marathon if you dont care about it.

i'd suggest trying to get sub-1:30 for a half marathon before you go for the marathon again. that will mean you're close to 3:10 shape.

honest thief, what are your goals? PRs? those workouts seem in line with what i do, but you never know what that means (depending on recovery, etc)

Goal: Mileage + sprint speed, SoM approach (no hard/race-specific workouts), 2 mile racing series

M: 7 miles with 25' fartlek (1' on / 1' off) - tired, slow

Tu: 7 miles easy

W: 8 miles with 8 x 60" fast uphill, first "lactic" workout of year

Th: 7 miles easy, felt good

F: 8 miles easy

Sa: 9 miles total - 3 miles easy (12pm), 6 miles with 6 x flying 150m + 4 x 50m scramble start/acceleration from ground (4:30pm)

Su: 5 miles easy

Total: 51 miles

Highest mileage of 2015 by far, but not nearly as high as it will get. Definitely starting to recover from things more quickly, but no one workout has been too taxing.

2 mile race on the track next week. I think the second heat is seeded for 10:40-11:xx, winner of heat 2 last year ran 10:41 which would be perfect for me. First lap comfortable, then chase the leaders. Anything under 11:00 would be good. Will comment later as there are a lot of good weeks

Goal: Mileage + sprint speed, SoM approach (no hard/race-specific workouts), 2 mile racing series

M: 7 miles with 25' fartlek (1' on / 1' off) - tired, slow

Tu: 7 miles easy

W: 8 miles with 8 x 60" fast uphill, first "lactic" workout of year

Th: 7 miles easy, felt good

F: 8 miles easy

Sa: 9 miles total - 3 miles easy (12pm), 6 miles with 6 x flying 150m + 4 x 50m scramble start/acceleration from ground (4:30pm)

Su: 5 miles easy

Total: 51 miles

Highest mileage of 2015 by far, but not nearly as high as it will get. Definitely starting to recover from things more quickly, but no one workout has been too taxing.

2 mile race on the track next week. I think the second heat is seeded for 10:40-11:xx, winner of heat 2 last year ran 10:41 which would be perfect for me. First lap comfortable, then chase the leaders. Anything under 11:00 would be good. Will comment later as there are a lot of good weeks

Hi,

I got hurt shortly after my first ever posted running week a few days before Christmas. A musscular hardening of my left calve put me on the sideline for 5 and a half weeks.

Now I am back into it but took it very easy

Goal: 5k sub 16 in the fall

Current PR: 10k 34:36 (right before I got hurt), 5k 16:22 (2011)

M - off

T - 8.5k (5:00/k)

W - am 8.5k, pm 8.5k (5:10/k)

T - 6.5k (5:00/k) + 20' core

F - 11k (4:50/k)

S - off

S - off

T - 43k

Pretty happy to be running again, absolutely painfree!!

Goal Race: Bristol 10k

Daniels 5k-10k Plan (3rd Edition)

Weeks 6, 7, 8 and 9 of 26

Sorry for the length of this post; been a few weeks since I posed, so this is four weeks in one go...

Week 6

Mon - 8 miles - inc. steady 6 with club + warm/cool (7:34)

Tue - 8 miles - easy + strides (7:47)

Wed - 6 miles - easy (8:07)

Thu - 9 miles - easy + strides (7:51)

Fri - 10 miles - AM: 4 easy (8:08), PM: 6 easy (8:11)

Sat - 14 miles - easy (8:06)

Sun - off (flying to Thailand Saturday evening and Sunday day)

Total: 55 miles

All a bit of a rush this week, trying to fit in last minute shopping and packing before Thailand; but the running went pretty well. Managed to hit my mileage target and get the long run in on the Saturday morning, before getting the coach to the airport after lunch.

Week 7

Mon - 8 miles - easy, treadmill (7:59)

Tue - 6 miles - easy, treadmill (7:54)

Wed - 6 miles - easy, treadmill (7:51)

Thu - 6 miles - easy, treadmill (7:39)

Fri - 8 miles - easy, treadmill (8:12)

Sat - 13 miles - easy, treadmill (8:28)

Sun - 8 miles - easy, treadmill (8:08)

Total: 55 miles

All of this week was on the treadmill more out of necessity rather than choice; the temperature outside was 31-33 every day, but more of a concern was the simple lack of anywhere reasonably safe to run, as the traffic was a complete nightmare.

I'd never ran on a treadmill previously, so 55 miles in one week may have been overdoing it slightly, and it took a bit of getting used to. The treadmill was in kilometers, so I kept having to recalculate everything in miles. The air conditioning in the gym was pretty useless, so most runs were done in 20 degree plus temperatures anyway - but it was the humidity that was an absolute killer; I finished every session literally soaked through with sweat!

Pleased with the week overall; it was important for me to hit the mileage goal this week, as the following week was always going to be busy (we were in Thailand for a family wedding in the 2nd week).

Week 8

Mon - 4 miles - easy, treadmill (7:56)

Tue - off

Wed - 6 miles - easy, treadmill (7:51)

Thu - off

Fri - 12 miles - AM: 8 easy, treadmill (8:05), PM: 4 easy, treadmill (7:56),

Sat - off (flying back to UK, Saturday night and Sunday morning)

Sun - 4 miles - easy (7:47)

Total: 26 miles

As mentioned above, the 2nd week of the holiday was always going to be more difficult from a running point of view. There were more relatives around that week, so more places to go and people to see, as well as more late nights out drinking; so running needed to take a bit of a backseat.

Quite happy to be able to get some mileage in, spread throughout the week. Was hoping to get a long run done when back in the UK on the Sunday, but just didn't feel up to it after 25 hours of traveling.

One odd thing was that the 7:47 pace on Sunday's run in the UK felt very easy after all the treadmill running in the weeks before; 7:47 is normally right at the top of my easy pace bracket (at least according to Daniels) so it shouldn't have been *difficult*, but on this day it felt like little more effort than a walk. It looks like training in the heat/humidity on the treadmill did me some good!

Week 9 (Phase 2)

Mon - 6 miles - easy + strides (7:42)

Tue - 9 miles - reps: 4x (200m + 200jg) + 6x (400m + 400jg) + 4x (200m + 200jg) + warm/cool; (R-pace = 5:40, 200m ave 42sec, 400m ave 85sec)

Wed - 4.5 miles - easy (8:12)

Thu - off

Fri - 6.5 miles - easy (8:12)

Sat - 14 miles - easy (7:48)

Sun - 6 miles - threshold: 4x (1T + 1min jg) + warm/cool (T-pace = 6:38)

Total: 46 miles

This last week was the first week of phase 2 of the plan; so some workouts were introduced. Tuesdays reps session was the first time I had run at that fast a pace (other than strides) for a good few months, and in hindsight, I think I may have overdone it slightly. Hit the target paces ok, although it didn't feel as easy as I'd expected (possibly still a little bit tired or jet lagged?). Finished the cool down a mile short with slight pain in the back of my right leg, in the lower calf/achilles area.

Kept it fairly easy on the Wednesday, but my leg began to hurt around the 4 mile mark, so cut it short again. Took Thursday off, and ran with some (only slight) discomfort on Friday. Made an effort to stretch a lot after each run this week (this is something I've always done with no problems), as I felt I'd neglected stretching a bit while in Thailand. Also got going on some tip-toe exercises which are supposed to work the achillies.

Felt a bit better on the Saturday so went out for a run, which was supposed to be anything from 6 miles to 14 miles... ended up running the full 14, with a fairly moderate ache (not what you would call *pain*) for the second half.

Added a decent amount of foam rolling over the weekend too, which seems to have helped the leg (I wonder if a tight calf muscle may have been the route cause?). I also changed to a new pair of trainers - these were the same as my last pair, but it occurred to be that I'd probably put over 1000miles on the last pair now, so it was probably time for a change.

Again felt better on the Sunday, so I decided to do the cruise intervals session as per the plan, but after dropping the R-pace 200m elements (since these may have been what brought on the injury in the first place). The 1 mile run's felt very easy, and the pace of 6:38 was certainly comfortable; very pleased with this to be honest, as I hadn't done any threshold running for over 2 months - 2 months ago, 6:44 (target pace for VDOT 51) felt right at my "comfortably hard" limit, but now 6:38 felt more like "comfortable" - so overall, I'm putting that subjective difference down to an increase in fitness!

Looking forward to my first race of the year on the 22nd, to see if I can put up some times to back up what feels like an improvement!

Hoping to increase to 60 miles this week if everything goes well, and as long as my leg pain doesn't return (ran 6 miles yesterday with no pain); but I will probably be cutting the repetitions session down a little bit just to be on the safe side (the plan prescribes 6x (200m, 200jg, 200m, 200jg, 400m, 400jg), but I will probably just run 4x instead).

Hope everyone had good weeks.

Kendo

finally got time for comments!

distance fan - keep working on that calf and you'll be fine :) still, you managed a good week!

xenonscreams - thats awesome! despite all the running issues, life seems to be heading in the right direction :)

slartzio - good mileage :)

pikachu - still managed to pack in some good quality despite the 'low mileage week' for you haha :P

forcerunner - wicked 3K! :) just think if you'd have tapered for it, you could've ran much quicker than that!

thelogistican - awesome week! looks like a bit of competition for pikachu, back into it, runnersfix etc :P

runnersfix - great to hear you're back out! look forward to your half-marathon training :)

oedipus rexing - nice week. that tuesday session is great despite not feeling 100% :)

hereford - nice start to marathon training :)

jsrun - really good quality sessions this week :)

back into it - sharp tempo! good week despite the weather :)

tortoise - nice MP, tempo workout tuesday! and great volume on sunday too :)

working harder - glad you got those injury worries out of the way :) nice long run progression!

molasses - best of luck for your running future :) the 'racing in 50 states' idea sounds great!

honestthief - very good week :)

nop200 - certainly sounds a memorable tuesday evening... haha

hardloper - nice quality and good mileage :)

hantph96 - good to hear you're back running pain-free :)

kendo - sounds like a fun few weeks (taking the trip + wedding in Thailand into account) :)

Logistician - Nice volume! Very solid long run.

RunnersFix - Now that you know what worked for you in the last training cycle you'll crush this next one. I'm hoping for 68:00 or under. It isn't a fast course, but I'm expecting some quicker guys to show up this year.

Oedipus - Nice interval session on Tuesday! Killer job for not feeling great as well. The 3k was indeed indoors. Every time I do an indoor race I'm reminded why I like the roads so much better, too many laps!

KrikeK - Consistent running!

Herford - Nice job on the tempo and MP run!

JSrun - Solid cutdown on the tempo. ANd nice job on the 400m hills. That's one of my favorite sessions to do during the summer.

BackIntoIt - Nice cutdown on the tempo. Still solid volume with the weather.

Reed - Good luck with the steeple!

Pewow - Sorry to hear about the calf, but nice fartlek!

Tortoise - Nice volume on the LR. It's aggravating with all the stops, particularly on a long run. You can be running for 2+ hours but actually be on your feet for close to 3 hours!

Pikachu - Smart with the longer rests for now. Efficiency at a pace is the first block, then worry about manipulating the other factors.

WorkingHarder - Good to see that you finished the week out strong.

Molasses - Welcome welcome. Hope to see some good training!

HonestThief - Nice Tuesday session. Was it on a track? If so that's a lot of laps!

Nop200 - Congrats on the mileage PR. Sorry to hear about the cutoff woes, but it'll serve as good motivation for the future!

HardLoper - I don't know if I responded about the scramble sprints last time, but I love the concept.

Hantph96 - Welcome back. Good to hear that running is pain free!

Kendo - Welcome back as well. Good to see that the VDOT paces are improving.

Matthias - I probably could have, but I like maintaining throughout the year rather than taper up for little races like that.

Mathias- Quite weeks aren't always bad. You got the training in and that's what is important. Having issues with your garmin on Wednesday must've been annoying, I know it would annoy me. But if you closed in that 5:5x like you said then it must have been decent. Keep it up.

Distance Fan- Sorry to hear about your ankle. At least you are being smart about it. Running on the treadmill definitely has less impact than the roads. Maybe once you are feeling confident about running outside again you can stay on soft trails and slowly transition to the roads. Overall though you were still able to get the training in. Hopefully by next week you are back to 100 percent.

Xenonscreams- Hope you are back to normal by next week. Sucks that its happens. On the positive side at least its happening during a time where you have so much going on in life. But congrats on all of that....being an aunt, interview, and your promotion. You should be very mentally strong once you start back up.

Slartzio- Looks like you are being smart about training. I'm sure the wight will come off. By slowly increasing the mileage like you are its only a matter of time. You will be back to yourself in no time. You are going to surprise yourself once you are completely back to normal. Good luck and keep it up.

Pikachu- Down weeks aren't always bad. You will already be in good shape starting your 12 week cycle. I'm really looking forward to your training. Solid tempo on Sunday though. Not too many people can claim 5:05 pace for a tempo. Also, your fartlek on Friday was solid as well. Getting down to 4:32 pace means you already have the speed so goal pace will feel very easy during these next 12 weeks. I'm already predicting 2:14 for you lol.

Forcerunner- Once again, very solid race. Can't believe you are improving so much. I can really see you getting down to 14:30 for 5k this season. I like how you are mixing it up with a half marathon this weekend. My advice is since you have been training more for the shorter distances that half marathon pace is going to feel super easy at the start. Just be smart and I'm sure you will do great. Sub 68 is very possible. Good luck.

Thelogistician- Very solid 20 miler on Sunday. Your up-tempo at 5:35 is a great indicator that your strength is there. What makes it even more impressive is that you did it in the middle of your highest week ever. Once you drop your mileage after next week you are going to be ready to roll! Really looking forward to it.

Oedipus Rexing- Sorry to hear that you were sick this week. Stuff like that happens but at least you got your training in. Still though, your workouts look good. I'm sure after next weeks hard week you'll be ready to race.

KrikeK- Nice looking week. It is kind of hard for me to judge your training by kilometers but I think I got it. Having a heart rate around 150 bpm is a perfect range for easy runs. Hopefully most of your days were around that range. Good week overall though.

Hereford- Getting ready for Boston I see. Looking forward to your cycle. Good looking week overall though. I wouldn't worry much about Saturday's run. I'm sure Boston will have good weather...hopefully lol. Also, its always nice to enjoy some wine. I prefer a nice cold beer but wine is nice on occasions. It's never a bad idea to enjoy yourself if you are smart about it. I think it helps mentally by taking your mind off of running for a bit.

JSrun- It sucks about the weather being all over the place. It happens here in Florida as well. Maybe not as cold but still with the ups and downs of the temperature. You still had a good week. I think you were being smart about keeping it comfortable. No need to push it and possibly hurt yourself. Solid tempo on Tuesday though. I like how you negative the whole thing pretty much. Keep it up.

Back into it- Sorry to hear about the weather. Seems like most here are dealing with crappy weather. It should be a nice recovery week to get you ready for these next two weeks. I like your tempo on Saturday. Nice negative split. Goal pace should feel easy once the race approaches. Really looking forward to what you can run in your race. Good luck.

Reed- Hills are always good. It builds so much strength. Sorry to hear about your knee but you did run your highest mileage for the month. Once you are recovered you are going to be feeling great. As for your steeple on Friday (today) I wouldn't worry much about practicing steeple workouts. Once the gun goes off you'll be good to go. That's how it was from me at least when I ran a few of them in college. Good luck.

Pewow- Solid looking week. I wouldn't worry about not being able to race that 3k. At least you know what you did wrong so you can be prepared in the future. Maybe this week will be like a short taper on your body and you'll crush the mile and 3k in your last indoor meet. But overall at least you are healthy. Once outdoor rolls around you'll be crushing it again.

Tortoise- Solid week, especially with having to deal with such crappy weather. You seem to be very smart with your training. Easy days easy. But solid 20 miler on Sunday. Sucks that you had to stop for cross lights and icy paths though. Hopefully the weather gets better so you can be back to proper training. I think you'll be good for Boston.

Working harder- Sorry to hear about your IT band. I had to deal with a lot in college. Surgery was required. But you were smart about it and now you seem to be back to normal. Wish i would've been smart like you lol. Solid week though, especially your progression run on Sunday. That run would've been super hard for me. Glad you were smart about it and kept it conservative. No need to re-injure the knee again. I'm sure you'll stay healthy for Boston.

Molasses- Welcome! It doesn't matter how fast you are. Everyone is welcome here. Its great for motivation. I'm sure that's why most are here, at least for me. It will be nice having others to compare to with training to hit the Boston qualifier. Also, having others to give you advice will help you pace yourself correctly so it won't be a disaster this time. Looking forward to your training.

HonestThief- Solid week of training! Your mile repeats look great. What are some of your PR's? Also, solid speed session on Thursday. Got down to a solid pace, i think. I would need to know what type of PR's you have in order to judge but still it looks great.

Nop200- Sucks to hear about the weather. Must've of been a fun adventure with all of that ice. Sorry to hear about your meet being cancelled, especially since it was your last chance to qualify for state. Really try to stay positive. These next two months should really motivate you to kill it in your next race. Just be smart with training and good things will come.

Hardloper- Solid week! Running your highest mileage week must feel great. Its great to hear you are recovering more quickly. That's what happens with higher mileage. Just be smart and don't push it to fast. Looking forward to your 2 mile race. By looking at your training I think sub 11 is very doable. Good luck.

Hantph96- Sorry to hear about getting injured on your first post here. Glad that you are back now. Solid week. With smart training I think your goal of sub 16 is doable. Just be smart with it all, especially with your calf.

Forcerunner - yeah, I have still time to get the intensity high / rests lower. But really: I feel like it's not smart to make every workout "hard". Sometimes faster running with plenty of rest is good to develop the stride/efficency (and I keep a steday jog in the rests btw, so no 10+ mile shuffling or standing). When you do too many miles and neglect the fast stuff completely you lose this quality.

RunnersFix - haha, I like your trust in me :) In terms of short distance speed I'm there. In terms of generell conditioning I feel I'm ready to roll, too. I have no doubts I could run in the range of my PR right now. So it's just a matter of getting in a couple of good specific workouts. I just try to keep it fun and be smart... See how that goes :)