Try Hard Go Far wrote:
Just read through this entire thread and wow awesome job man! This shows what consistent dedication and hard work can lead to!
Thank you! I want people to see that with some hard work you can blow your expectations out of the water.
I think it's particularly instructive how you handled some struggles in your training and less than expected results during cross.
I think you maintained a fairly positive attitude in the face of those results, though internally you might not have been as positive judging by your occasional disappearances.
But you always bounced back mentally prior to getting better results and updated us here with your progress, mindset and plans.
It was pretty cool to follow along.
True real life drama.
Cheers
Reboot runner wrote:
I think it's particularly instructive how you handled some struggles in your training and less than expected results during cross.
I think you maintained a fairly positive attitude in the face of those results, though internally you might not have been as positive judging by your occasional disappearances.
But you always bounced back mentally prior to getting better results and updated us here with your progress, mindset and plans.
It was pretty cool to follow along.
True real life drama.
Cheers
Thank you! During the fall and some of the winter I had some issues with depression and I didn't even want to get out and run. That, I think, is the main reason for my disappearances. But I would do my best to make myself get out there and at least do a run, which I think is what helped me in the end the most. No one should doubt the power of consistency.
Did you not qualify for NCAA DIII Nationals? It seems your 800 time is fast enough
DougC wrote:
Did you not qualify for NCAA DIII Nationals? It seems your 800 time is fast enough
Nope, I am 49th. Would have needed to break 1:51 this year to qualify. DIII is stacked in the 800 and up this year.
Last year I would have needed 1:51.7 or so to qualify. That would have been a fantastic end to my season but. no I did not qualify.
ThatAverageRunner wrote:
DougC wrote:Did you not qualify for NCAA DIII Nationals? It seems your 800 time is fast enough
Nope, I am 49th. Would have needed to break 1:51 this year to qualify. DIII is stacked in the 800 and up this year.
Last year I would have needed 1:51.7 or so to qualify. That would have been a fantastic end to my season but. no I did not qualify.
Great job, regardless! I just read the thread and am very impressed with your work and accomplishments.
Idk if I should start a new thread or just continue this one. My plan right now is to continue this one just because the thread title is more recognizable.
Week ending in 5/28:
Sunday: 6.1 miles easy (7:22)
Monday: Afternoon 5.4 miles easy (7:07)
Evening 3.2 miles easy (7:25)
Tuesday: AM 2 miles easy (7:35)
PM 5.4 miles easy (7:24)
Wednesday: AM 2.2 miles easy (7:30)
PM 7.1 miles easy (7:36) + Strides
Thursday: AM 2 miles easy (7:45)
PM 5 miles with 6X400m on 400m off @ "comfortably hard". 6:10 pace for pickups.
Friday: AM 2.1 miles easy (7:20)
PM 8.7 miles easy with progression at the end. first 6 miles (7:45). last 3 (6:40, 6:00, 5:40)
Saturday: 2.1 mile shakeout + Strides
ThatAverageRunner wrote:
Idk if I should start a new thread or just continue this one. My plan right now is to continue this one just because the thread title is more recognizable.
Week ending in 5/28:
Sunday: 6.1 miles easy (7:22)
Monday: Afternoon 5.4 miles easy (7:07)
Evening 3.2 miles easy (7:25)
Tuesday: AM 2 miles easy (7:35)
PM 5.4 miles easy (7:24)
Wednesday: AM 2.2 miles easy (7:30)
PM 7.1 miles easy (7:36) + Strides
Thursday: AM 2 miles easy (7:45)
PM 5 miles with 6X400m on 400m off @ "comfortably hard". 6:10 pace for pickups.
Friday: AM 2.1 miles easy (7:20)
PM 8.7 miles easy with progression at the end. first 6 miles (7:45). last 3 (6:40, 6:00, 5:40)
Saturday: 2.1 mile shakeout + Strides
51 miles on the week. A little high but I doubled 5 days and I feel really good. Kept all runs super easy. Its been super hot but I've been handling it much better than I have any other summer. I'm excited to ramp up the training.
PR's:
400m: 49.9r
500m: 1:06.4
800m: 1:52.7
1500m: 4:08
Mile: 4:31
3000m: 9:20
5000m: 16:19
Short term goals: PR in summer 5ks. Kill a 15k in mid July and hill a half marathon in august. Maintain top speed.
Week ending in 6/4:
Sunday: 5.3 miles (7:37) + Strides
Monday: AM Memorial Day 5k race in 16:50 (5:26)
PM 4 miles easy(7:15)
Tuesday: AM 3.9 miles easy (7:15)
PM Light tempo 5 miles (6:19)
Wednesday: AM 5.8 miles (7:18) hot and dehydrated
PM 2.8 miles with my gf on trails (8:40) + Strides
Thursday: Long run 11 miles (6:57)
Friday: AM 2.5 miles easy (7:20) + 5x9sec hill sprints
PM 5.4 miles (6:45) with last 3 miles @ 6:15 pace
Saturday: AM 2 mile xc race in 10:40.
PM 5 miles easy (7:47)
Week total: 60.5 miles
The miles are starting to catch up to my legs in a bad way. Tired and achey, but this is expected. I ran comfortably hard in that 5k. Didn't really feel good. I ran that two mile race just to win free stuff because its a super noncompetitive race. I ran 10:50 on that course last year but I tried harder last year and I was on prednisone at this time last year for bronchitis.
I'm going to go up for one more week then take an easy week at like 40 miles or so.
The tiredness/achyness is definitely just from the dehydration and lack of refueling. I'm also a sprinter-who-likes-distance with similar PRs to you, and I will tell you that when I'm properly hydrated and fueled, I never feel "tired" so much as just sore in my muscles, which is completely different.
Track your liquids/gatorade very closely. You should be drinking a full glass before bed, a full glass when you wake up, and depending on when your run is and how much you sweat at night, a half glass in the middle of the night. Every run should be followed with a glass of gatorade and a glass of water within 45 minutes, and then regular water sipping throughout the day.
Running while dehydrated, even partially, does more harm than good and can dig you in a deep hole. I've been there.
ya..... wrote:
The tiredness/achyness is definitely just from the dehydration and lack of refueling. I'm also a sprinter-who-likes-distance with similar PRs to you, and I will tell you that when I'm properly hydrated and fueled, I never feel "tired" so much as just sore in my muscles, which is completely different.
Track your liquids/gatorade very closely. You should be drinking a full glass before bed, a full glass when you wake up, and depending on when your run is and how much you sweat at night, a half glass in the middle of the night. Every run should be followed with a glass of gatorade and a glass of water within 45 minutes, and then regular water sipping throughout the day.
Running while dehydrated, even partially, does more harm than good and can dig you in a deep hole. I've been there.
This is something I am very inconsistent in. Some weeks I'll hydrate excellently and others terribly. Although I do not think that all of my aches and stuff is from dehydration, I am going to try to be better about keeping my body hydrated.
ThatAverageRunner wrote:
This is something I am very inconsistent in. Some weeks I'll hydrate excellently and others terribly. Although I do not think that all of my aches and stuff is from dehydration, I am going to try to be better about keeping my body hydrated.
I had this problem in January and had some complications because of it.
Now I fill a 2L (half gallon) bottle with water every morning and make sure I empty it before going to sleep.
This way I track properly the water intake.
very impressive the way you finished your season. congratulations on that 1:52.72 pr! Looking at your training, it seems like you picked the right event, because your speed workouts were all far, far better than your long repeats and tempos and longer runs. On the former, you are running around 12, 24, 25, 38-41, and 54-57 on 100s, 200s, 300s, and 400s frequently, whereas you are often running mile repeats around 5:20 and tempos around 5:40 to 5:55. That is a speed-based runner. If you were able to get your mile repeats and tempos down to something more consistent with a 1:52 800m runner, you would run a very fast mile, which I still think you should go for (in the summer, you can find meets in New Jersey and New York City), and certainly should be able to cruise a half marathon faster than 5:40 pace (1:14 or better). Getting somewhat more quality at the upper distances might also help you break 1:50.
jjjjj wrote:
very impressive the way you finished your season. congratulations on that 1:52.72 pr! Looking at your training, it seems like you picked the right event, because your speed workouts were all far, far better than your long repeats and tempos and longer runs. On the former, you are running around 12, 24, 25, 38-41, and 54-57 on 100s, 200s, 300s, and 400s frequently, whereas you are often running mile repeats around 5:20 and tempos around 5:40 to 5:55. That is a speed-based runner. If you were able to get your mile repeats and tempos down to something more consistent with a 1:52 800m runner, you would run a very fast mile, which I still think you should go for (in the summer, you can find meets in New Jersey and New York City), and certainly should be able to cruise a half marathon faster than 5:40 pace (1:14 or better). Getting somewhat more quality at the upper distances might also help you break 1:50.
Thank you! I haven't posted the last couple weeks because I've been lazy about it, but I will later.
My plan is to build up a good base and get more aerobic quality like you mentioned while keeping in touch with my top speed with hard strides and hill sprints. I may target a fall half (or other long race) just to see what I can do, then take a break after it and build up for indoor. I would like to just have fun during indoor, running open 400's, 500's, 800's, 1ks and or miles. May be a 200 or 3k here and there. Then the quest for sub 1:50 begins for outdoor season.
I'm going to keep posting my journey on here because everything is in one place and it shows my training and improvement/struggles, even though the thread title is a little inaccurate.
PR's:
400m: 49.9r
500m: 1:06.4
800m: 1:52.7
1500m: 4:08
Mile: 4:31
3000m: 9:20
5000m: 16:19 (road)
Short term goals: PR in summer 5ks. Kill a 15k in mid July and kill a half marathon in the fall. Maintain top speed.
Week ending in 6/11:
SUNDAY: 6.1 miles with gf (8:20) + Strides
MONDAY: AM 3.2 miles easy (7:17)
PM 4 mile tempo (5:37). Splits of 5:46, 5:44, 5:31, 5:21
+ 4X100m sprints with 3ish min rest. Slight rolling start.
(11.9, 11.9, 11.9, 12.1)
TUESDAY: AM 7 miles easy (7:28)
PM 6.1 miles easy (7:22)
WEDNESDAY: 6.5 miles easy (7:23) + Strides
THURSDAY: AM 4X10s hill sprints
PM 8 mile steady-tempo (6:06). Slightly hilly loop
FRIDAY: OFF. Worked 13 hours. Tired. First full day off in weeks
SATURDAY: AM 5 miles with 2X3min and 2X2min @ 5:40 pace with equal rest. continuous.
PM 3 miles with gf (7:55)
Week total: 54.4 miles. Would have ran more but I was fighting off shin problems this week. Diagnosed it as posterior shin splints, and as of today, 6/19, its mostly better.
PR's:
400m: 49.9r
500m: 1:06.4
800m: 1:52.7
1500m: 4:08
Mile: 4:31
3000m: 9:20
5000m: 16:19 (road)
Short term goals: PR in summer 5ks. Kill a 15k in mid July and kill a half marathon in the fall. Maintain top speed.
Week ending in 6/18:
Sunday: 6X8s hill sprints. Shin hurt pretty bad
Monday: 8.7 miles easy (7:28)
Tuesday: 8.4 miles easy on the treadmill (7:08) + Lifting
Wednesday: 9 miles easy (6:59)
Thursday: AM 6 miles light progression (7:20, 6:45, 6:30, 6:20, 6:11, 6:00) on the treadmill
PM 5 miles easy (7:18)
Friday: 7X100m hill sprints. Decently steep. 14s-15s for each rep
Staturday: AM 3.2 miles easy with gf (8:30)
PM 7 mile tempo (5:53)
Week total: 53 miles
Only doubled a few times and only ran a couple of miles some of the days because my shin hurt really bad at the beggining of the week. I was really happy with my tempo Saturday night. My shin hurts the first quarter mile of the run then doesn't hurt the rest of the time. And this (sunday) is the first morning i've woken up without any shin pain, so I'm happy. At about this time last year I ran a 7 mile tempo in about 6:09 pace at about the same effort so I'm happy that I'm a lot farther along already even with the minor shin setback.
Man this is a really interesting thread to follow because we are really similar runners.
My PR's:
400m: 49.9r (same)
800m: 1:58.02
1500m: 4:10
Mile: 4:32
5000m: 16:30 (cross golf course)
My 800 is a lot weaker than yours :(. You're really inspiring me to try and come back and get an 800 pr
Running Twin wrote:
Man this is a really interesting thread to follow because we are really similar runners.
My PR's:
400m: 49.9r (same)
800m: 1:58.02
1500m: 4:10
Mile: 4:32
5000m: 16:30 (cross golf course)
My 800 is a lot weaker than yours :(. You're really inspiring me to try and come back and get an 800 pr
Hey with those 400 and 1500m PRs you should be able to shatter that 800 time. Just know you have it in you, and keep training because sooner or later it'll come out (trust me lol)
How do you usually run your races? Like splits, feel, etc?
PR's:
400m: 49.9r
500m: 1:06.4
800m: 1:52.7
1500m: 4:08
Mile: 4:31
3000m: 9:20
5000m: 16:10 (road)
I'm just gonna summarize training because I've been really busy/too lazy to post on here. My shin issue I had in June has completely went away, but it has recently been followed with what I think is Achilles tendinitis. I've recently started to rehab it with eccentric calf raises and some other methods. I have stopped all sprint work as this seems to aggravate it, but I have still been running.
***On June 29th I ran a PR in the 5k with 16:10. Last year on the same course I ran 17:17 so I'm really happy with that improvement.
***On July 10th I ran a PR in the 15k with a 52:40 (5:39 pace).
I was ecstatic with this. I could not touch a run at this pace for half the distance last summer. It was nice I had some people to run with, so that helped. I'd say I could maybe go a little faster but I was honestly content enough with how the race was going that I didn't bother to go over the red line at all. Regardless, I am happy.
I've just been doing easy runs with some progression and tempo stuff. Nothing crazy.
The only structured workout i've done is some of the Drew Hunter CV pace stuff. something like 6x1k @ 3:28 with 200m jog rest in 55 seconds. I'm gonna stick with doing this and try to get better and better at this workout as it is not intense but It is tough for me. I've done it twice so far. Will try to do it every 2 or so weeks.
I've started to get more consistent with lifting after a couple months off from it. I'm hoping the lifting and calf strengthening will help my achilles because I would really like to be doing some sprint work without fear of over irritating it.
I've been averaging 50-60 miles a week in mostly singles. Currently forcing myself to take a week in the 30's to recover, then once my achilles starts to improve I'll build up higher. I've been working 40-50 hours a week (which is new to me) and I've been finding difficulty waking up extra early to double.
Hey thanks for the quick update, you at least have one person left rooting for you. About how I race I was usually a kicker. Ran 62 last lap for 15 pr and 59 last lap in a 4:33 1600 race. For 800 I'm usually about even splits or slightly positive. I'm actually really out of shape right like 2:15 800 shape but I'm only 19 so I still think I have some prs left in me