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Striving for A+ workouts or a solid B-? (Read 880 times)


finally Sub-3!!!

    I'm going with "too damn hard". 

     ahhh.  that makes much more sense.  and is useful information.  

    If I am not trashed I just don't feel like I had a good workout.  I guess its my perspective that needs adjusted.  

     

    "Never train so hard today that you can't train again tomorrow?"  

    I think of it on a daily basis, but I am just now thinking on a monthly scale.

    DoppleBock


      If I have one workout a month where I get done and I know I am "Stick a fork in you done" - I do not worry.  I just try to assess what I could have done to have made it a liilte less - 

       

      When I start having 1 of these a week - I start to get a little worried.  

       

      When I have more than 1 a week for more than a week - I am screwed.

       

      Your right - Thinking in terms of a month is better than a day or a week.

       

      I find if I catch myself soon enough - I can avoid burn out with a couple of good, but light speed sessions for the week, 

       

       ahhh.  that makes much more sense.  and is useful information.  

      If I am not trashed I just don't feel like I had a good workout.  I guess its my perspective that needs adjusted.  

       

      "Never train so hard today that you can't train again tomorrow?"  

      I think of it on a daily basis, but I am just now thinking on a monthly scale.

      Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

       

       

      DoppleBock


        I like to do 5x5 minutes @ 5k pace with 5 minute recoveries.  The difference between too hard and just right is only 6-9 seconds per mile.

         

        I do find if I have just completed the 4th interval and know that I can do a 5th, but it will take a heroic effort, if I stop at 4, its pretty close to just right also.  It is usually that 5th one when the 1st 4 are too fast that puts me down.

        Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

         

         

          I don't think anyone was saying to run all easy miles.  What I interpreted was that the people that posted don't force the workouts to a certain pace.  They keep them at a certain effort level.  And I imagine the reason for that rather than doing then balls out is so that they can run again tomorrow, and run another workout the next time, and the next time, etc. wthout having to take steps back because they can't recover. 

           

          Bingo. If you aim for a pace in training, most likely you will hit that pace even if you have to fool yourself into running way too hard, almost race effort.  If you go based off of effort it's a lot less likely you'll run the work out too hard, or to easy for that matter.  5k (or threshold, or MP) effort is always the same, even if the exact pace may fluctuate a lot depending on how recovered you are from your last workout or the accumulation of mileage, how much sleep you got, how stressful a work day you had, how humid it is, etc.

          Runners run

          dennrunner


            I'm going with "too damn hard". 

             

            yes.


            Why is it sideways?

              I fall guilty to putting too much stock into the paces I run in workouts all the time. I had one great tempo run this summer that I got super-excited about as an indication that my fitness had taken a big leap. Then, about three weeks later, I had a tempo run that convinced me that I was going nowhere (in large part because I put too much stock in that prior workout.)

               

              In between those two runs, I did steady work, enjoyed running with my friends, had some good runs and some bad runs. Turns out that those runs meant much more than the extra-good workout or the extra-bad workout.

               

              Your training will fall on a bell-curve, most of it being pretty much normal, with the occasional exception when everything comes together or falls apart. The best (and worst) workouts indicate possible outcomes for your goal race. The ones that come and go and strike you as normal indicate what is most likely.

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