rururunner

posted: 8/13/2008 at 10:15 PM

I have a 15k race on Saturday night (my first 15) and I am really worried about it due to lack of running this week. Last week I peaked at 31 miles for the week and felt not too bad. I had planned on 3 light runs at least this week but due to circumstances beyond my control, I only have Thursday night to go out. I know I'm supposed to taper a bit, but this is ridiculous!!!! What should I do? On Thursday, should I run long, hard, short, easy????? I was thinking that I might go for an easy 3 miles on Saturday morning in addition to Thursday to get rid of the pre-race jitters. Do you think I'll lose much in this last week?

Suffering Benefiting from mature onset exercise addiction and low aerobic endorphin release threshold. Hoping there is no cure.

runnerclay

Consistently Slow

posted: 8/13/2008 at 10:51 PM
modified: 8/13/2008 at 10:53 PM

You need to taper to be at your best. DO NOT,DO NOT run long or hard before the race. An easy 3 on Friday should keep you loose. Tapering does work. "TAKE MY ADVICE, I'M CERTAINLY NOT USING IT."

Run until the trail runs out.

SCHEDULE 2016--

The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

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MrFinn

Prince of Fatness

posted: 8/14/2008 at 7:39 AM

I'd run Thursday easy and maybe throw some strides in at the end. I'd also do the easy 3 Saturday morning. While that is more of a taper than I would like, it's only a few days off. And like you said, it was out of your control. There's no sense worrying over what you can't control, so just go out and enjoy your race Saturday. Good luck, and please let us know how it turned out.

Not at it at all.

MichiganFlyer

posted: 8/14/2008 at 9:31 AM
modified: 8/14/2008 at 9:34 AM

It looks to me like you can handle long runs as you do 3 or 4 a week. I think you should do 6 miles or so on Thursday nice and easy. Then Saturday morning get out an run an easy mile or two. I don't lose much from a short mileage week. I met a guy who has been running 6 miles a week at my last race that ran a 19:05 five-k. He was running 50 miles/week earlier in the year when he ran 5ks around 18:20 and the mileage base has stayed with him it appears. As long as you get a good middle distance run in Thursday you should be okay. Just keep it relaxed and easy. And a very good idea to get out Saturday morning and jog for 15-20 minutes. Be confident in your training...trust me one short week will not hurt your time very much..now if you don't run for 10 days in a row I would start to worry. This might help your confidence (and confidence is key to race success). I ran 40 mpw for about 12 weeks and ran a 5k in 19:36. I shut it down to 28 mpw for 6 weeks and ran a 5k in 19:50.

rururunner

posted: 8/17/2008 at 2:43 PM

Well, I did okay! Well, not as fast as I would have liked, but I felt fine through the whole run. I ended up going for an 8-miler on Thursday night, very slow and ran 20 minutes on Friday evening, slow again. I think that I was a little under-trained for this race. It would have been better to do more runs longer than 15k in order to feel comfortable in a 15k. Thanks for everyone's advice!

Suffering Benefiting from mature onset exercise addiction and low aerobic endorphin release threshold. Hoping there is no cure.

redleaf

posted: 8/17/2008 at 9:31 PM

Quote from rururunner on 8/17/2008 at 2:43 PM:

Well, I did okay! Well, not as fast as I would have liked, but I felt fine through the whole run. I ended up going for an 8-miler on Thursday night, very slow and ran 20 minutes on Friday evening, slow again. I think that I was a little under-trained for this race. It would have been better to do more runs longer than 15k in order to feel comfortable in a 15k. Thanks for everyone's advice!

yippie! Congrats on your run and on learning something for next time!

First or last...it's the same finish line

HF #4362

Dave23

posted: 8/18/2008 at 12:46 PM

Great effort on Sat, Ruth. Nice to meet you. Sorry we missed you afterwards at the beer garden. Hopefully, we'll bump into you at a few more races around town.

runnerclay

Consistently Slow

posted: 8/18/2008 at 5:33 PM

DECIDE NOT TO POST WHAT I HAD WRITTEN. LETS PLAY NICE. Smile

Run until the trail runs out.

SCHEDULE 2016--

The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

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Will I be okay? Need advice. (Read 676 times)

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