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Tune up races/time trials (Read 432 times)

Mr Inertia


Suspect Zero

    I'm finalizing my training schedule for an 18 week buildup to my second marathon. My schedule is heavily influenced by Pfitz and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Daniels. Pfitz calls for tune up races pretty regularly, and I think they're a great idea. However, I am having a hard time fitting them into my schedule. I can't really run much on Sunday other than maybe squeezing in a short recovery run. Saturday races longer than 5k can be hard to find. I'm considering two primary options 1. When it's time for a race, hit the track for a 10k time trial on Friday and run my normal long run on Saturday. 2. Keeping the week pretty much as is and incorporating some tempo work into my long run. Both Pfitz and Daniels suggest some pretty amazing workouts of 12-18 miles that have significant chunks of tempo mileage contained within them. I'm open to any other suggestions. What are your thoughts?
      There is no substitute for racing but if that's not an option, I'd go with option 2; incorporate some tempo runs into your long runs. I'd do this anyway. I haven't had much luck with time trials--I can never run as hard as I would in a race and it winds up not being as good a workout as I could get by doing a long, hard run with tempo.

      Runners run

        There is really no subsitute for a race, but time trials can be good if you have at least one other person of comparable speed to do it with you. Even though you aren't really racing each other (but sometimes they turn into one) you can almost always push each other to go faster than you would solo. Another idea would be to warmup 4-5 miles befoe a 5k race, then do another 4-5 immediately after. When you do the cooldown jog the first mile or so and then work into your normal easy pace or ever a little faster. This can be tough after a hard race, but if you can do it it will make you stronger. I'm assuming that 5k races are easier for you to find. I've done this quite a few times over the years with decent results. And then there's the #2 option mentioned that makes plenty sense for marathon training.
        Age 60 plus best times: 5k 19:00, 10k 38:35, 10m 1:05:30, HM 1:24:09, 30k 2:04:33
          If you can fit in a 1/2 marathon and a 10k before the marathon it helps. You might want to space out the recovery time between the 10k race and the long run. I've run a sub 31 several times and then would do a 18-20 miler two days later. Running a race and do a long run the next is pretty hard to do and can catch up to later on in the week. If you race a 10k on the track it's a pretty hard effort and you will need some recovery time. I liked the 10k as a tune up for a marathon. I usaully ran a hard one about 4 weeks out from the marathon. I also to try a 5k about 2 weeks before. It worked pretty well. Cheers