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Speed work + easy miles (Read 173 times)

Gustav1


Fear is a Liar

    How many easy miles can you add to a speed session?  instead of a mile warm up and mile cool down can you do 2,3, or 4? Does it matter the type of session - intervals, tempo, hills?

     

    I do 2-3 on interval days and 1-2 on tempo days. Could/should I do more? Any thoughts on beefing up the weekly mileage this way?

    I'm so vegetarian I don't even eat animal crackers!

      Any thoughts on beefing up the weekly mileage this way?

       

      It depends to a certain extent what you're training for. But in marathon training, for example, that's what I generally do. Since I don't run doubles and I like to keep my easy days short and easy, I tend to load most of my mileage into my workout days, whether they be intervals, tempos, hills or long/med-long runs.

      Runners run

      Gustav1


      Fear is a Liar

        I am training for 5k's.

        I'm so vegetarian I don't even eat animal crackers!


        Running Chick

          if you are thinking about training for a 5k, and are curious about adding 2,3, or 4 miles, then you have more than trained for a 5k.  if it is 2,3 or 4 intervals, then take your time adding those on.....  speed work is hard and a bit jarring (i have found), but it is so helpful in increasing speed and distance....


          Future running partner.

            There isn't any real general limit to how much mileage you can tack on to a speed session. Its kind of an individual thing based on what your mileage has been prior to doing the speed work and how well you handle it. It also kind of depends on the type of speed work or how intense it is. In my experience its been better to tack on the extra mileage before starting the speed work. When I try to do the mileage afterwards I'm usually so spent that the extra miles become more of a slog and I don't feel like I get much benefit from them. If I do them before, I feel like the speed work starts better, also in theory the aerobic component of doing the speed work I think gets developed better after having already put in some aerobic mileage.

             

            During a time in my life when I was running my highest mileage of around 50 - 70 mpw, my main workouts would be 10 miles. I generally follow a self prescribed rule of not doing more than 10km of speed work at a time or I feel like I am loosing more than I'm gaining from the workout. But in order to get in the scheduled 10 miles for the day I would start with about a 3 mile warmup at a steady easy pace. Then do as much as about 6miles of the speed work, and finish with a mile cooldown. One of my favorite late base or early season sessions was to do 3 miles then 24 x 200/200 with the fast 200's at 5k pace or a little faster with the slow 200's at easy but not slow/recovery pace, then finish with a mile cooldown. This allowed me to get in a lot of specific 5k pace running that still felt aerobic. On the other hand toward the end of the season my 5k specific work would be more like 5x1000/200 at 5k goal pace and this workout was just way too intense to do much more mileage other than warmup and cooldown.


            Feeling the growl again

              It all depends on your personal conditioning.  Nobody can give you a solid answer.  The better shape you are in, the more miles you can add on without making the overall fatigue of the workout too high.

              "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

               

              I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

               

                It all depends on your personal conditioning.  Nobody can give you a solid answer.  The better shape you are in, the more miles you can add on without making the overall fatigue of the workout too high.

                 

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