Serious PR Attempt Training Plan (Read 954 times)

This is what my training schedule looks like until my goal (Beach to Beacon, sub-35) race.  I'll let you all know how it's working out for me, what's effective, etc.  

Until 4/5:    My goal here is to run at least 8 hours per week

M- 45 minute Jog

T-  30 min. Jog.....60 min. Aerobic Run

W- 90 min. Hilly Course

T-  30 min. Jog.....60 min. Aerobic Run

F-  60 min. Tempo    (15 w/u...30 min. Tempo Pace...15 c/d)

S- 60 min. Hilly Course

S- Alternating - S- Alternating - 90 min @ Steady State; 120 min or more @ SS + 15 seconds

Notes:  Aerobic run can be anywhere from easy pace (7:20s) to steady state (6:30s).  I will run a 5K on 3/27 but it will not be an all-out effort.

4/5 - 5/2:

M- Leg Speed 30 min. w/u+ c/d (100m fast leg exercises followed by 300m recovery) X whatever I feel like) or 5 mile jog

T-  75 min. Hill Circuit

W- 90 min.  Aerobic Run

T - 75 min.  Aerobic Run w/ Strides

F-  75 min.  Hill Circuit

S-  60 min. Easy Run

S- Alternating - S- Alternating - 90 min @ Steady State; 120 min or more @ SS + 15 seconds

Notes:  First I had to lower the number of circuits from 12 to 9.  Then I switched Thursday's and Friday's workouts to give me more recovery time between the hills.  Then on 4/24, I experienced some hill-related knee pain that made my easy Sat. morning run pretty rough.  I've decided to try one more week of hills and then that's it, no matter how I feel.   

5/3 - 5/9:  Easy week transition to AT Part I - TBD

5/10-6/13:

M- Sprint Training - High Knees, Long Strides, Running Tall.  Combination - 100m/100m Jog...  

HK/J/HK/J/LS/J/LS/J/RT/JRT/J   Then 2400m of 100m strides with 300m Jog

T-  30 min. Jog.....Reps  (6) 800 fast/(6) 800 jog - 800m @ Goal 10K Pace (2:48)/800m Jog

W- 30 min. Jog.....45 min. Easy Fartlek

T-  30 min. Jog.....Reps  (6) 800 fast/(6) 800 jog - 800m @ Goal 10K Pace (2:48)/800m Jog

F-  30 min. Jog.....60 min.  Aerobic Run

S-  Reps  (6) 800 fast/(6) 800 jog - 800m @ Goal 10K Pace (2:48)/800m Jog

S-  75-90 min.  Easy aerobic running

Notes:  5K on 6/6 (first sub 17 attempt) and 6/20

6/14 - 6/20:  Easy week transition to AT Part II - TBD

6/21 - 7/25:

M- 50/50 or 100/100...sprint/jog         2000-4000m 

T-  Mile, 3K, 2 mile, or 5K Time Trial

W- 90 min.  Easy aerobic run

T-  30 min. Jog.....Pace Judgement run (2X500m or 3X300m @ goal 10K pace)

F-  Reps 800/800

S-  60 min.  Aerobic Run

S-  90 min. Easy aerobic run or Race

Notes:  10K on 7/4, 5K on 7/9, 7/25

7/26 - 8/7:

M- 50m wind sprints however many I feel like

T-  Mile, 3K, 2 mile, or 5K Time Trial

W- 3X200m fast with w/u and c/d 

T-  45 min. Jog

F-  30 min. Jog

S-  60 min. Aerobic Run or Race

S-  75 min. Aerobic Run 

Notes:  Goal Race on 8/7!  Beach to Beacon <35

Nobby,

Thanks for your insights.  I really appreciate your comments!  I made the corrections in bold.  It's been really hard for me to keep from doing intervals and stuff because I love them!  But I really feel the fitness that the miles I've put in have given me.  I ran a 5K a couple weeks ago and I missed a PR by 4 seconds.  Now keep in mind that I wasn't trying to PR, I was just trying to run a good hard effort at around 95% max. of total 5K effort.  I felt tired later on, but not that kind of "sick-tired" that I usually feel when I give it my all, so I know that I had more left in the tank.  I even let someone pass me at the end!  That's a very big deal for me considering my competitive nature.  I have complete faith in this training program.  Remember how I said that I didn't think I would be able to handle over 60 miles this year?  I can't believe that I am regularly hitting mid 60s or so (one 50 week, but I started a new job...) without feeling worn down or getting injured.  I feel great and the miles are definitely making me an animal.  I've even fallen in love with hills!  Now if I could just fix that diet of mine...

Diamond,

 

Looks good mate. I am no expert but will be interested to see you progress becasue I have just started a similar plan - ramping up the kilometres from about 60/week (~ 35mpw) to 85-90km/week for the past few weeks. I am about a month behind you in new cycle, so I am hoping to see good things from you to motivate me to keep going with the higher mileage.  Good luck with the goals and I hope that you really smash them over the coming months. Don't know what the experts think but I tend to run times (e.g. 2 minute + 30 second JR + 1 minute + 30 second JR + 2 minutes and repeat or 4 x 4 minutes etc) not distances for my intervals - what are your thoughts?

For me, the interval workouts serves the purpose of creating a buffer against lactic acid buildup while shorter distances at higher speeds are more for running economy.   As far as intervals go, I won't start doing those type of workouts until toward the end of May.  What you have listed for interval-type workouts are okay - either longish reps with long recovery or shorter ones with shorter recovery.  What I might do is decrease the rest interval over time or increase the speed.  Eventually you will be faster and more fit so you will have modify according to your new-found abilities!  

Most of the interval workouts I have scheduled will involve 800m at 5 mile pace followed by 800m easy running X 6. This allows me to run at an anaerobic pace (I'll probably start out @ 2:45 for the fast 800m) but it is a pace that is close to my lactate threshold so I slowly accumulate lactic acid for 800m ease off for 800m (about 3:45) and then repeat 5 more times.  This is a speed workout, but it's purpose isn't for me to run faster - that's what the sprints during the sharpening phase are for.  This interval workout creates a buffer against fatigue more effectively because 1) you are constantly moving for almost 6 miles while 2) alternating between running at an anaerobic pace that doesn't wear you out as fast and a pace that doesn't quite allow for complete recovery.  BTW, this workout lends itself very well to a treadmill.

I'll try to put out a thorough report every time I race so others including yourself can see what has worked for me and you guys can also learn from my mistakes.

Overall I think it looks like a good and very structured plan.   But since you're aiming for a 10K PR apparently....

IMHO I think your interval workouts are too slow and use too much recovery.  Your voiced purpose (building lactate tolerance) is on the money, but you rely heavily on goal 10K pace.  Your plan includes VERY little work faster than 10K pace evidently, aside from some sprints.

Come race day you want 10K pace to feel relatively easy.  When I broke 31 the first couple miles I was chomping at the bit to go faster than the 5:05ish pace we went out.  To get there, and to tolerate the lactate buildup and what you will encounter over the last 2-3K, you're going to need to run a different type of interval than what you describe.  You like 800s, I was doing 8X800 with 90sec recover in 2:20-2:22 to get there.

The benefit of the way you have them written is that you can do them often (up to 3X per week in that schedule, which I think is over-emphasis on them though I know you like intervals.  Our volume has been VERY similar this year and I ran a bit faster than your goal (34:45) about a month ago.  I was able to do 8X800 in about 2:40-2:41 at that time with 2min jogging recovery.  Your recovery is nearly double that, and you're doing them slower.  I do a very slow jog of 200m and am about ready to go again.  I'm probably now in low-34 shape and am about ready to cut the recoveries down to 90sec.  So this is closer to 5K pace with shorter recoveries.  You'll be building lactate during the workout much better as you're not giving it such a long time to clear.  You can't do this 3X per week but IMHO you'll get better benefit for the 10K.  

Just from looking at your log you should be able to handle this no problem.  Best of luck.

MTA:  Rather than doing 800s every time I like to do them every 3-4 weeks so that I could compare the avg to the last time I did them and see progress.  In between, I did 6-8X1000, 4-5X1600, 16X400.  I keep the recovery ratio very close to what I described for 800s (2min for 1000s, 3min for 1600s, 1min for 400s).  This way you get a variety of paces.

 Thanks for your input, Spaniel.  I'll probably tinker around with the workouts, including cutting out a hard Saturday workout to replace it with an easy 1-1.5 hour run with a running group I just found.  One thing, though.  I will be doing six 5Ks between now and the Beach to Beacon, so I will be getting a little sub-10K pace stimulus from this!  I'll modify the training plan on this post when I change anything...

 

Sounds good.  That's a lot of 5Ks, but not in a bad way.

Now get to it, or I'm going to catch your mileage total