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Race during training: Taper advice (Read 113 times)


Not dead. Yet.

    I'm training up for a few races, but my schedule is built around a half marathon on November 10.  I also have an 18k trail race a month before that I would like to do well in.  It's been hard trying to mix hilly trail runs with flat long road runs so I hit the specificity needed for each race.  Training has been going well, but I've been pretty sore and tired by the time I get to the weekend and I still have a ways to go before I peak in miles.

     

    I'd like to do a small taper so I can feel good and strong for the trail race, but I don't want the time off to hinder me too much in my half.  I've already decided to skip one of longer easy runs two days out from the trail race, but I wonder if that is enough.  Do you think I should skip my intervals that week as well?  Is that enough to leave me feeling somewhat fresh on that Sunday?  I'm planning on doing a 13 mile long road run the Saturday before the trail race.  I feel like I really need to hit that workout to stay on track.

     

    Thanks for your advice.

    How can we know our limits if we don't test them?

    AmoresPerros


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      I usually skip speedwork on Thursday if I care about it affecting a weekend race. But if it is not a main goal race, I am likely to do the Tuesday speedwork.

       

      But I suspect this stuff is pretty individualistic.

      It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.

      LedLincoln


      not bad for mile 25

        Personally, I doubt if skipping speedwork one week is going to have any effect on your marathon.

        DaBurger


          I wouldn't worry about cutting a quality day or 2 the week of your trail race if you want to be fresh, especially since that race will be a very high quality workout anyway.

           

          Last week I was in a pretty similar spot, I'm training for a flat half Oct 20, and had a hilly road 10 miler this past Saturday, so rather than run hard workouts Tuesday, Friday with a long run on Sunday, I ran a relatively easy workout on Wednesday, and the race on Saturday was my long day for the week.

           

          I'm also of the opinion that running easy/long runs on hilly routes is better for your strength and racing regardless of your race profile, (unless the long hilly runs leave you really sore on your workout days), so long as you have a few flat workouts that are more turnover focused.  Considering your race spacing, you could have one flat workout a week between your trail race and your half and be plenty ready to go.

          Know thyself.

           

            Small tweaks make a big difference. I would not skip a workout just because of a non-goal race. I generally just reduce the volume and/or intensity of a workout the week of a race, and then make the last 2-3 days very easy.

             

            So if I had 5 x 1000m planned for that Thursday I might do them at 10 seconds slower for each rep, for example. Or if I had 3 x 2 miles planned, I might do 4 x 1 mile at the same pace. Little changes like that should make a big difference in how quickly you recover if your training is going well.

            Runners run


            Not dead. Yet.

              I'm also of the opinion that running easy/long runs on hilly routes is better for your strength and racing regardless of your race profile, (unless the long hilly runs leave you really sore on your workout days), so long as you have a few flat workouts that are more turnover focused.  Considering your race spacing, you could have one flat workout a week between your trail race and your half and be plenty ready to go.

               

              I want to believe the same thing, but haven't been convinced of it yet.  I did a 13 mile long slow run when I had only been doing hilly trail runs in the weeks previous to it.  I fell apart trying to keep a decent pace on the road for the whole distance and had to even walk a few parts.  I was following your thinking that it should be easy compared to what I had been running, but just broke down instead.

               

              Maybe it was just a bad day, or I was overworked or something, but it got me to thinking that running all those miles up hills at a much slower pace than I want to keep on the road might be detrimental.  So now I'm tying to work more flat long runs in as well.  Kind of alternating a bit, but focusing more on one type as that race approaches.

              How can we know our limits if we don't test them?


              Not dead. Yet.

                Small tweaks make a big difference. I would not skip a workout just because of a non-goal race. I generally just reduce the volume and/or intensity of a workout the week of a race, and then make the last 2-3 days very easy.

                 

                So if I had 5 x 1000m planned for that Thursday I might do them at 10 seconds slower for each rep, for example. Or if I had 3 x 2 miles planned, I might do 4 x 1 mile at the same pace. Little changes like that should make a big difference in how quickly you recover if your training is going well.

                 

                I had not thought of just reducing the intensity.  Not sure I will have the discipline to keep the intervals as slow as they need to be though.

                How can we know our limits if we don't test them?


                running metalhead

                  I fell apart trying to keep a decent pace on the road for the whole distance and had to even walk a few parts

                   

                  Sure it was the training and not the fact of not running on the road for some time?

                  I have had days after longer periods running trails that I was unable to do more than 10 miles on the road. Since then I try to do some mileage on roads or mixed terrain when I'm close to a road race.  The fact that this change stresses your feet and legs is (at least in my case) perfectly visible when I visit the loo after running and my urine is red (well reddish-brown) from footstrike hemolysis

                  - Egmond ( 14 januari )            :  1:41:40 (21K)
                  - Vondelparkloop ( 20 januari ) :  0:58.1 (10K but did 13.44!!!)
                  - Twiskemolenloop ( 4 maart )  :   1:35:19 (3th M45!)

                  - Ekiden Zwolle (10K)   ( 25 maart )
                  - Rotterdam Marathon ( 8 april )
                  - Leiden Marathon Halve ( 27 mei )
                  - Marathon Amersfoort ( 10 juni)

                  DaBurger


                     I want to believe the same thing, but haven't been convinced of it yet.  I did a 13 mile long slow run when I had only been doing hilly trail runs in the weeks previous to it.  I fell apart trying to keep a decent pace on the road for the whole distance and had to even walk a few parts.  I was following your thinking that it should be easy compared to what I had been running, but just broke down instead.

                     

                    Disclosure, most of my running is on hilly roads, and the soft surface running I do is usually in a flat park or athletic fields (probably the average is 5 days roads, 2 days park),

                     

                    How did you fall apart? was it a tired thing? joint pain? just working too hard? boredom?

                    Know thyself.

                     


                    Not dead. Yet.

                      How did you fall apart? was it a tired thing? joint pain? just working too hard? boredom?

                       

                      It was a tired thing.  I wasn't trying to keep a hard pace, but after 6 or 7 miles I just felt exhausted.  So bad I had to walk some small rolling hills, where I was running up steep hills on the trails a week before.

                       

                      It might just have been cumulative damage from my training that week.  I had put in some hard workouts and was building my mileage up.

                      How can we know our limits if we don't test them?