As a time crunched recreational hobbyjogger, why not train as a middle distance runner for 5k, 10k, hm?

It is an excellent suggestion, because not only could they train better for shorter distance, given their time constraints, but they could actually be in better aerobic and anaerobic condition, with better effects on their health, by replacing a lot of their slow miles with 200-1M repeats and tempos.

google this wrote:

Yeah, and they could do that because they took there easy days easy, which allowed them to recover.

Where did they take their easy days? Over there???

Why not? Because the 'thon gets all the glory, even around the LRC. I've always been slow, never ran on any school team or that stuff because I could get chicks, unlike the guys on the XC and track teams. Eventually, I did get into running and tinkered with the marathon a bit.

I did get significantly faster at the 'thon until I focused more on 10k and 1/2 'thons. Got my 10k just under 37 mins, 1/2 'thon under 1:21 and full 'thon at 2:59 at the age of 42. Plus, I do like to race and test myself as I fustily resist the passage of time and that leads me to doing more 5k/10/HM races instead of 'thons. Makes me wonder if I was capable of D3 glory like most of the other morans around here.

Unless you're Wardian, the 'thon becomes a big event that can be jacked up by any number of issues including travel and weather. If it's a local 10k and the weather sucks, I'll just tee up another one next week.

I’m in the Masters AG too;) But man, with your 10K and half times, you should have ‘easily’ run close to 2:50 in a marathon;)

tryrunner wrote:

I think you're right. I'm late forties and have been training like this for years, won't do anything longer than a 5K. I will say though that even the middle distance approach has to be modified. What I mean is less speed work/intensity to prevent injury - in a sense similar to a beginner HS runner. So in practice:

-Aerobic runs (60 mins or so)

- Tempo pace (I like the georgetown quarter type of stuff - short repeats, short rest)

- Speedwork, judiciously applied - short hill sprints, max effort - fast strides year-round

- Race pace, judiciously applied - a few weeks before race

- Strength and mobility - lots of it - including weights and ROM stuff -I used to think it was a gimmick, the older I get, the more value I see.

What's the Georgetown quarter workout? I googled (including by restricting to LRC) but couldn't find.

Kumite wrote:

why shouldn't one train like a mid distance runner, and do the 5k/10k/hm specific work for the last let's say 2 months?

My guess is how much quality you can do will be limited by a low level of base endurance. You might only be able to do let's say a 20min tempo instead of a 30min tempo. Or, if you do the 30 min tempo, it might be too taxing, leading to increased recovery needs, which means you either do less for the rest of the week, or you don't get the full recovery and therefore benefit of the first workout. In either case, less stimulus, less adaptation, less fitness, slower times. But then again, time crunched training will always be suboptimal training.

Droopy wrote:

....

Unless you're Wardian, the 'thon becomes a big event that can be jacked up by any number of issues including travel and weather. If it's a local 10k and the weather sucks, I'll just tee up another one next week.

Word! My triathlon friend trained all year for Whistler, day comes around and it's like 95 degrees and he doesn't do well in heat. That's a lot of risk. And plus with marathons there's all the logistics nonsense --- I can't imagine getting up at like 5 AM for an 8 or 9 AM marathon.

wow21 wrote:

Droopy wrote:

....

Unless you're Wardian, the 'thon becomes a big event that can be jacked up by any number of issues including travel and weather. If it's a local 10k and the weather sucks, I'll just tee up another one next week.

Word! My triathlon friend trained all year for Whistler, day comes around and it's like 95 degrees and he doesn't do well in heat. That's a lot of risk. And plus with marathons there's all the logistics nonsense --- I can't imagine getting up at like 5 AM for an 8 or 9 AM marathon.

"Wardian?" What's that?

See explanations and ideas here:

https://www.peakrunperformance.com/articles/manage-tempo-run-with-critical-velocity-intervals

https://blog.strava.com/georgetown-400s-10019/

Essentially, 400s at (or slightly faster than) 10K-tempo pace with short recoveries (article says 30 secs, I sometimes do about 20). It's just one way to break up tempo intervals.

say wut? wrote:

[quote]wow21 wrote:

[quote]Droopy wro

"Wardian?" What's that?

Referring to Michael Wardian a DC local who seems to knock out a marathon every week like it’s nothing.

What is your specific question? It's hard to make out among hat incomprehensible ramble.

Actually to save some time the answer is going to be no.

duh2 wrote:

hunterco88 wrote:

Most weekend warriors spend the majority of their time doing just aerobic running. Run for an hour, shower, done.

Don't good runners up to elites also spend most of their time running easy/aerobically? Spending "the majority" of days running easy/aerobic for an hour seems pretty much standard training practice. Workouts are on top obviously.

1 hour/day @easy pace =

Hobby jogger/weekend warrior @10:00/mile = 42mpw

Rec runner @8:00 = 52mpw

Good runner @6:30 = 65mpw

Elite @5:30 = 76mpw

This is a very good point. I don’t think most comprehend that a jogger running 50 miles per week is equivalent to a pro running 90. This is why mileage is not a good way to measure volume.

google this wrote:

Yung Nasty wrote:

Google how fast Noureddine Morceli and Taofik Makhloufi do their interval workouts. ???

Yeah, and they could do that because they took there easy days easy, which allowed them to recover.

Letsrunners:

Hammer there easy runs and run slow AF races and workouts

Elite runners:

Take their easy runs easy and take there hard days fast AF.

This isn't true at all.

Dont disagree with the original poster but I wish I could follow that myself being a 34 year old hobbyjogger with an injury history.

I like my sleep so I dont like to be one of those fools who race every weekend in their local scene. I'm content at this stage setting PRs for myself not in overinflated priced out races for a ribbon and a too ripe banana.

Putting all of your eggs into one basket though for a single race is a risky endeavor and leaves many heartbroken and injured like so many do when they sign up for a half or full.

Best strategy is to keep yourself in pretty good shape for the 5/10ks and sign up for a half or full on the fly for most hobbyjoggers.