How long will it take to become mediocre: a training log

your times suggest that you have very little aerobic capacity and have no mileage, but you say you were doing 30mpw "last season," which I find confusing. I would have thought a boy capable of breaking 60 for 400m would run between 2:10 - 2:15 for 800m off 30mpw. your longer race times are also poor considering your top end. 59.5 is not super fast but it is a good place to start and based on that your ambition to run 2:12 (outdoors) should be realised with consistent training. your longer race goals are a little tight though, I think you should aim for 4:55 for 1500m but breaking 11:00 for 3200m is within reach for you.

your training looks reasonable, but I would move the bodyweight exercises from Sun to Wed. leave your rest day as a rest day. keep your rest days easy and make the hard days hard.

Mon pm. do the sprints before the easy miles. then finish with the core work.

Tue pm. careful not to go too fast here. 6:30 pace is fast enough to finish with. so you want 7:15, 7:00, 6:45, 6:30

Wed pm. you don't need a tt every week. I would run a fartlek session here. run a mile to warm up then spend 10 - 15 minutes just playing around at different speeds up to your best 3km race pace and down to a slow jog recovery. time nothing, make it up as you go along and treat it like play to be enjoyed. doing this over a cross country course or on hilly ground is really effective. run a couple of miles easy to cool down.

either the Mon or the Sat sprints could be done on a hill. 6 - 8 x 90m uphill striders with walk back recoveries. these will bring that 400m time tumbling down.

to make significant progress you will need to run more miles, and to be doing longer than 6 miles at a time but this is fine for where you are right now.

humility is a fine attribute, but success at athletics requires you to be confident of your own abilities. do not sell yourself short. good luck.

Cheers.

Week of 12/17-12/23

Sun: Rest day

Mon: 3 miles easy in the morning (7:30 pace), finals in the afternoon.

Tue: AM: 1.5 miles warm/cool, 4 mile tempo (7:20, 7:10, 6:40, 6:15)

PM: 2 mile warmup, 5x80m strides+weights

Wed: Rest due to pulled muscle while playing football (dumb, I know)

Thu: 6 miles moderate pace (7:21 average)

Fri: 3 miles warm/cool, 8x400 w/ 1 min between reps and 5 min between sets. (78, 77, 77, 76, 77, 76, 75, 73)

Sat: 9 mile long run at easy pace (7:45)

Nice, easy rest week of about 30 miles. Next week I have planned to hit 40 miles, but a family trip may interfere with that.

CottonShirt: 30 miles was the MAX we hit last season, I should have clarified that from the start. We probably averaged about 20-25 mpw.

The time trial on wednesday was just something that kind of happened to test our current fitness. Usually our team's week goes as follows:

Sun: easy run or rest day

Mon: 2 easy runs

Tue: weights and a tempo

Wed: Easy morning run with yoga in the afternoon

Thu: weights and a Fartlek/interval session

Fri: 2 easy runs

Sat: Long run (sometimes I do a speed session & weights in the mornings as well)

Thanks for the reesponse!

Week of 12/24-12/30

Sun: 1 mile warm/cool, 8x200 (35, 35, 34, 34, 35, 34, 33, 33)

Mon: 7 miles easy (7:36)

Tue: 2 miles warm/cool, 4 mile tempo (7:30, 7:15, 6:45, 6:20)

Wed: 6 miles moderate (7:12) + 5x80m strides.

Thu: Rest (sick)

Fri: 2.9 mile warm/cool, 6x .35 mile (about 560 meters) at 5:45 pace.

Sat: 4 miles easy (7:30)

Total: 30.25 miles

Disappointed in my mileage this week, the family trip was more hectic than I had expected so my mileage during that time frame sucked. Temps were bad and there was nowhere to run indoors so I just had to suck it up and do my workout in 12 degrees!

I am thinking of starting a vlog on youtube. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Gracias

That week is something to build off. A vlog would be a pretty bad idea because this isn't really that fascinating.

Alrighty time for week 4 of my training log, my space key is jammed so this may be a tough read at times

Week of 12/31-1/6

Sun: 6 miles easy (7:21)

Mon: Rest

Tue: AM: 8 miles easy (8:10)

PM: Weights, 600m warmup+ 5x200m w/ 400m recovery (33,34,33,32,32)

Wed: 4 miles easy (7:38)

Thu: 4.125 miles moderate (7:12) + 6x100m strides

Fri: 2 miles warm/cool, 4x800 (2:40, 2:40, 2:43, 2:50)

Sat: 9 miles long (7:45)+ weights (PM)

Total: 37.5 Miles

This was a somewhat decent week, but I probably could have structured it better.

My splits for the workout on Friday were garbage and I desperately need to get them down into the 2:30 range if I want to have a shot at breaking 5 in 3 weeks.

We will begin doing more weight sessions starting next week.

looks like a high amount of intensity for this time of the year, but not enough milage. try to average at least 45 even if that means one less workout. later in the season, do more intensity.

epicTCK wrote:

looks like a high amount of intensity for this time of the year, but not enough mileage. try to average at least 45 even if that means one less workout. later in the season, do more intensity.

Does two workouts per week seem like a good number for now?

I was intending to do a tempo, interval, and a speed session each week, but the speed session could be replaced with a moderate paced run for more mileage.

I don't know If I should focus on the 800-1600 or the 1600-3200 for the upcoming season, as on one hand, I enjoy the 800 significantly more, but on the other hand running the 3200 would get me into more meets. Either way, I want to focus on the 1600.

my god, Jim! wrote:

Holy crap, do your times just drop off a cliff as soon as you are faced with more than a lap. Your 5k is actually pathetic.

I fail to see where this helps me whatsoever

Two workouts a week is probably to much. Why not switch one of them to a long run. Others on here have stated before that you are probably not as aerobically fit as you should be. Take their advice and work your aerobic system.

Pappy wrote:

Two workouts a week is probably too much. Why not switch one of them to a long run. Others on here have stated before that you are probably not as aerobically fit as you should be. Take their advice and work your aerobic system.

So you're saying I need two long runs in a week?

I did a nine miler this week and next week I had a ten mile run planned, along with a few fairly long recovery days.

where would you suggest I fit it in?

Alrighty here we go with another week of training:

Week of 1/7-1/13

Sun: 7 miles moderate (7:18) +4x50m strides

Mon: 1 mile warm/cool, Aerobic pace fartlek 4x(3min off, 3min on, 2off, 2on, 1off, 1on) ~6.5 miles for the fartlek

Tue: AM: Weights

PM: 4x2k (8:59, 8:43, 8:40, 7:44) (big negative split because we were feeling good.)+ 4x75m sprints, .75 mile cool.

Wed: 5 miles easy (8:00) + 6x100m strides

Thu: AM: Weights

PM: rest

Fri: 5 miles easy (7:42)

Sat: AM: 11 miles long (7:50) + 1x100m hard (13.3)

PM: weights

Total: 42

That was a good week with decently high mileage. The workouts Monday and Tuesday were not difficult, and as our coach described them "aerobic efforts".

The 100m TT was mostly just to test my top end speed and was honestly concerning at best.

A random note is that this is the highest mileage not supplemented by biking/elliptical I have ever done.

This week is looking better. As others said, two workouts a week might be a bit much this time of year. So if you want to keep them, doing what you did this week and keeping the effort controlled but still quick on those days is good. Train don't strain, and all that.

I might consider dropping the moderately hard runs you're doing. I'm actually a huge fan of those, but not when you're also running 2 workouts a week in the middle of the winter. If you want some variety it's ok to change your weeks up. You could have a week with 2 workouts and then the next week do fartlek, moderately hard 7-8 miler, and a long, steady, easy run of 90+ minutes.

Moving forward, keep the workouts feeling smooth and easy. These are workouts to build off of in the future, don't kill it. Work to extend the miles in your other runs but keep those days extra easy (cruising at 8 minute pace or even a few seconds slower is no problem, especially if you're going an extra mile or two.

Just my two cents.

You are clearly already mediocre. GFY.

Week of 1/14-1/20

Sun: 5 miles easy (7:28)

Mon: Am: 6 miles easy (7:21)

Pm: 4 miles moderate (7:15)+ 5x80m strides

Tue: 1.5 mile warm/cool, 4x200 fast but relaxed, 100m walk back rest (32,31,31,30)

Wed: 2.125 mile warm/cool, 6x1 mile tempo effort (7:20, 7:10, 7:05, 6:55, 6:30, 5:58)+ 4x150m acelerations

Thu: AM: weights

PM: 6 miles easy (7:30), yoga

Fri&Sat: Rest due to runners' knee (kinda sucks), It isn't bad yet but I do not want to risk it worsening by my meet next friday.

Total: 31.75

So, the runners' knee is an inconvenience, I will most likely return to running on tuesday and just be more careful about running on non-paved surfaces from here on out.

I am slated to run the 3200 and the 1600 this friday on this track

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8630973

I may be scratched from an event to preserve my knee though.

Any advice for my knee? I am already icing and taking ibuprofen, as well as doing hip-strengthening exercises.

Advice for the knee: slow down. Look at your easy paces, moderate paces, and the first few miles of your "tempo" workout on Wednesday. There is basically no separation. Given your PRs, and more importantly your current fitness, low to mid 7 minute miles are not easy on your body. I understand they might feel easy in the moment. You are used to running much faster paces at times, so you can cruise around at that pace no problem. But the little parts (your ligaments, tendons, joints, supporting musculature) are all finding those paces not so easy. Slow way down.

Second thing, do some hip mobility and strengthening exercises. Leg swings, lunges, single leg hip bridges, side planks, etc. There are a ton of great programs out there that don't take long. Adding strength and slowing down should have your runner's knee disappear in a short amount of time (assuming it just came up recently and is not too debilitating, which is how you make it sound).

Okay, that sounds like a good Idea. I hadn't thought that my easy runs could have been the culprit, but what you said makes complete sense.

What pace do you recommend I do for my easy days? 7:45, 8:00, 8:15?

I don't know if they are the sole culprit, but they do seem to be keeping you from fully recovering. You might also want to spend one week where you skip your major workout, but you'll have to call that one on your own.

I'd say you should be at least going in the 8's for pace. But right now, too slow won't be your issue. There is another thread that came up the other day and most commenters agreed about 2 minutes slower than 5k pace is right for easy days. That'd put you in the mid to high 8's. Start there.

Again, it will feel ridiculously slow. That's OK. It doesn't mean you aren't reaping benefits. You're strengthening your body, slowly, and methodically. I'm going to give you this as a personal example, not because I think you should do it. It was actually marginally stupid. But a while back I had a knee injury and I stopped my workouts and made my easy runs even easier (slowed them down an additional 30 to 45 seconds per mile). I found I felt really good. I kept that up for a couple of weeks and just ended up adding more miles per week. It became nothing to add 2 or 3 miles to each run. It felt right, even. Now, doing it coming off of injury is risky. But I had slowed down enough that I think my body was OK with it.

So just slow way down. Be patient. When you feel good, hit the workouts hard. But the next day, cruise easy. Super easy. If you feel really, really good, add a mile or two to that day.

Week of 1/21-1/27

Sun: Rest

Mon: 1 mile warm/cool 32x100m strides

Tue: 1.5 mile warm/cool, 4x100m strides, 6x400m progression on XC course (81,82,81,78,77,73)

Wed: Rest/yoga

Thu: AM weights

PM 4 miles easy (7:57)+ 4x150m cutdowns

Fri: Race Day

4 mile warm/cool+ 4x100m strides

1 mile race in 5:17.2 (I ran horrible splits) (1:10, 2:30, 3:52, 5:17) or (70,82,82,85)

Sat: Long run- 11 miles (7:45)

Total: 26.75

Very low mileage week due to my knee, but it feels fine now so next week may be in the high 30's/low 40's again.

The race was maddening on a crappy wooden, 160m track. I took out way too fast and was feeling it before the half-mile mark.

I finished 10th which gives an idea of how weak the field was.

All in all I feel good about my odds of breaking 5 at our first outdoor meet which is just over a month away, and a potential re-try at that same track in two weeks.

Week of 1/28-2/3

Sun: 4 miles easy (7:49) + 5x80m strides

Mon: .5 mile warm+ core, 4 miles easy (7:54), 4x150m progressions

Tue: 1.5 mile warm/cool + 4x100m strides,

7x1k on XC course (3:45, 3:41, 3:37, 3:33, 3:41, 3:45, 3:45)

Wed: Rest + Yoga

Thu: 2 mile warm/cool+ 4x100m strides, 12x400m (84, 82, 80, 82, 79, 78, 76, 79, 78, 77, 76, 73)

Fri: 2.125 mile warm/cool + 6x100m strides, 800m TT in (2:18) Splits were (32, 33, 38, 35)

Sat: 24 mile bike (~8 mile run equivalent)

Total: 31.475

This week was pretty intense, to say the least. The 7x1k workout was tough, and admittedly I overestimated myself and died on those last few.

The 12x400 was on a track and the wind that day was crazy out here in good ol' Oklahoma. It was a fun workout and I felt like I could have done 2-3 more afterwards.

Our 800m time trial was done to select spots for our varsity 4x800 in an upcoming meet (I wasn't close to making it), But I set a PR in the process. This upcoming friday I want to run ~2:16 with more even splits (65-73 is not exactly optimal).

I didn't do a long run this week due to my knee hurting at around 7 miles on my long run last weekend and just biked for about an hour and a quarter instead.

Next week I will do a 'real' long run and significantly less intensity, as well as begin to re-incorporate doubles into my routine which are usually 3-4 miles in the mornings of monday and friday.