Some comments before the next batch of student work starts rolling in...
Stone: You were moving on those hills! A staple for you, I know. Thanks for the thumbs-up on the OR thread – interesting to see that we were thinking along similar lines there, and encouraging for me as I work on developing my own approach and understanding. (As it happens, I was thinking of the traditional Kenyan week, too.)
TDR: Looking strong as you get the long runs stretched out.
slo: Really getting after it with that week. Are you still feeling the marathon in your legs at this point? You’re going to be flying once they come around fully.
JCPP: Nice balance for a recovery week.
RRR: Very good to hear that the calf is starting to come around. You were smart to give it the rest, and smart not to push it on the bike too much, too. Also think your analysis of the diet/weight dynamic seems very sound.
Sub 6: Enjoyed your description of your Saturday effort. A Rashomon run.
Allen: Sorry to hear about the knee trouble. I know this has been kind of a chronic, keeping-it-at-bay deal for you. Do you have a sense of what the underlying issues are? Given the nature of the physical work you do, I would tend to think that it’s not a strength issue per se (though I am not anybody’s idea of an expert on these matters).
KidB: Congratulations on the HM PR – and am I right in remembering that there was a 5k PR in there, too? Crazy stuff. And another very impressive week of training for you. I think your idea about dropping the tempo on the weeks when you have the more demanding long runs is very wise.
Pappy: Nice work. Are you still doing the runs intermittent-style? I seem to remember you were breaking them up into something like 200s. I’ve found that approach very useful when I’ve had to come back from certain kinds of injuries: helps to keep the form clean.
jotquill: Guess you survived the week! If I followed the other thread, you’re backing off this week/through the holidays, then looking to build up again, possibly more gradually?
RunnersFix: Sounds like a racing calendar to be fired up about. I would be curious to hear about your plan for training to run the downhills, and also what other people may have to say on the subject. That’s historically been a not-so-terrifically-strong spot for me, and something that I am trying to get better at, in part because one of my goal races for the spring is pretty challenging in that regard. As a first step, I have been trying to do what I would describe as steady hill repeats: a couple hundred yards on a pretty steep trail, trying to put a little spring in my step going up, but not really running hard, then just sort of jogging back down, repeat for about twenty minutes. My sense is that the jog down has actually been a useful way of gently building up tolerance for eccentric stress, and that seems to be translating into somewhat more ability to handle downhills on the roads. But of course, I am training at a distinctly less demanding level than you are.
Jeremy: When I was in Madison, I coached with a guy who had been a DII All-American in cross-country and (if I remember correctly) the 1500. He said that he never ran more than 40-something miles a week on a sustained basis; whenever he tried, he broke down or just ended up too flat to perform well. Maybe the same deal for you?
OR: Congratulations on the 5k win, and especially on beating the guy who got you last time. When they say that revenge is a dish best served cold, I don’t know that they’re necessarily talking about 30s and rain, but it works. I think you’re going to get a lot out of doing the race series, personally.
AJ: Congratulations on the mile PR! The lungs are burning because you were en fuego.
GT: Hope you feel better soon. Curious to hear more about your strategy for Operation Reverse Shuffle, since I am working on the same thing. For me, I think, the underlying issue is that I need to develop more running-specific strength. My plan is to work on that by running a lot of hills.
darkwave: Congratulations again on an excellent race at CIM. Found your post describing your approach to be very insightful.
DB: Good to hear the shin was just a passing thing. Interested to see how the tinman training unfolds.
jewbacca: Good to see you bouncing back. You’ll be ready when race time comes, I’m guessing.
Bruin: I’ll be curious to see what others say, but if you’re thinking about incorporating some CV stuff, I’d say go for it. Maybe alternate one week doing the kind of work you’ve been doing and the next week something more in the CV range, go through a few weeks like that, and evaluate where you want to go from there.
Additional note for Sub 6: In response to your comment about hills… Just for reference, the “sledding hill” I’ve been running pretty regularly is something like 200 yards long, and when I’ve occasionally checked my watch, it generally takes me something like 1:15 to run up. So while I am not actually running that hard (I try to keep it “steady but springy”), I am REALLY not moving fast. That being said, I’ve been feeling a good deal more pop in my stride since I started doing the hills (which probably just goes to show how alarmingly underpowered I was beforehand).