Forums >Racing>ideas/thoughts on training plan
background: 58 135-138 avg low to mid 30 mpw. 100+ mpm for 58 straight months.
LR on Sunday avg 10-12 miles. shorter LR usually run 30-40 seconds faster than others & usually alternate 3 different type runs each week. Wed am track sessions doing various w/o's. run 5-6 days/wk with rest of week mostly easy with a bit of hill work or short quick striders thrown in here & there.. Wed/Sunday runs pretty much set, everything else revolves around these 2 days & work schedule.
I have about 6 weeks of good solid training before next race. Only 1 5k scheduled (6/1) but looking for something 2nd or 3rd week in May. Considering Vancouver USA on 6/15 as next "goal" race.
My plan is to get back up to around 40/wk. LR would be similar but will stretch every other week to 13.5 miles (on course with 2 out/backs with rolling hills & 3 "real"hills). Since not planning a FM anytime soon 13.5 will probably be longest. Will be easy to add a few miles here & there during week to get up to 40/week. I also will be trying to add slightly more hillwork (but not excessive) by adding a few hill repeats at end of runs or a more structured hill day (Friday would fit best depending on work).
love to hear thoughts on my planned training. Of most interest would be advice on the Wednesday morning track session with total w/o mileage of 4-5 miles. WU/CD miles would be added for total 6-8 miles on that day.
that sums everything up so come on guys/gals throw some stuff at me!
#artbydmcbride
"Considering Vancouver USA on 6/15 as next "goal" race" how long is that race? a 5k marathon or one a them 13 mile marathons?
Runners run
3 "marathon" choices. 5, 13.1, or the 26.2 marathon. I'll be running one of them 13.1 marathons.
theres also a big brewfest that weekend ! I like a good brew every so often but I'm not a big drinker. However, I recently began brewing so have a greater interest. now (brewed a batch of Porter this past Friday). Vancouver is about 3.5 hours south of where I live so looks like a fun short roadtrip.
See if you can build up to 45 miles a week. Get those long runs to 16 miles or better
Depends a lot on your goals, what you want to get out of it, and maybe limitations (are you injury prone? and if so, why and what can you do to prevent injuries).
Agree that increasing miles will help. 40 mpw is about the minimum to really give a half marathon a good effort, and 50 mpw is even better. This time around building to an average of 40 but with some high weeks and lower weeks, like 48 and then cut back to 32 or something, not just 40, 40, 40. 13 to 15 mile long runs should suffice, especially if you're under 45 or 50 a week total.
Weekly tempo runs ranging from 1 hour pace (for up to 20 minutes) to something like half marathon to marathon pace (for 20 to 40 minutes for starters) are your key workouts.
I think this sounds pretty good. I agree running more probably gives you the most bang for your buck. Though I would probably do it by introducing a new short easy run (or two) during the week , increasing those miles and then boosting the long run one or two of the weeks as you get closer to the race (to 15 miles maybe?). Also, yeah, tempos and long intervals are great HM workouts if you handle them, but if you're increasing mileage, be careful with also adding speed. That's a pretty good way to get hurt.
I agree on getting the LR up to 15-16 but I'm a bit leery of going up past 13 miles or so because of some issues in the past (calf/PF issues). On the other hand I've learned some lessons & abit wiser now (like to think I am anyway). Alternating my Sunday LR's have helped both mentally & physcially . I will work on upping the distance every other week. The alternating week will keep in the 10-12 range with out/backs (negative splits), some tempo work, or trails (with hills) . With my base s/b able to get up in the low 40's range pretty easily & safely w/o too much added stress.
As far as added "speedwork" I have been doing the Wed track work for several months so adding more easy mileage will not be an issue. My Wed am track work has not been anything crazy. Appreciate the responses so far & still looking for different ideas for the Wed. track w/o. What's the best bang for the buck?
Recovering this week from a hard (for me) hilly 10k on Sunday. Tomorrow will still meet my track partner down at the track but will just do a few easy laps & back up the hill to house. s/b close to fully recovered by Sunday.
Depends a lot on your goals, what you want to get out of it, and maybe limitations (are you injury prone? and if so, why and what can you do to prevent injuries). Agree that increasing miles will help. 40 mpw is about the minimum to really give a half marathon a good effort, and 50 mpw is even better. This time around building to an average of 40 but with some high weeks and lower weeks, like 48 and then cut back to 32 or something, not just 40, 40, 40. 13 to 15 mile long runs should suffice, especially if you're under 45 or 50 a week total. Weekly tempo runs ranging from 1 hour pace (for up to 20 minutes) to something like half marathon to marathon pace (for 20 to 40 minutes for starters) are your key workouts.
good stuff here. I have some specific goals in mind but really just trying to continue to improve. Way back in the deep dark recesses of my mind I'm thinking of being more of a threat in the 60+ AG & celebrating my 60th by running a marathon. Ran one way back in the early 80's (Avenue of the Giants). I do get an extra 10-15 minutes for Boston BQ!. Anything I do now is for short term improvement (next few months) & continuing to lay down a base for fall 2015 marathon.
really good stuff here too!
bump would like to hear some ideas on Wed am track sessions based on the information from original post. come on I know that someone is dying to share their ideas !!
Personally, I wouldn't do this Skydog.....the formula for a long run is 25 to 30% of your mileage on long run day.. So if you average 45 MPW (which you are not) your long run would top out at 13.5 miles. If you're going to max your weekly mileage at 45 (and often get less) you should top your long runs at 10 to 12 miles and get a couple of intermediate long runs of something like 7 or 8 miles (with a little bit of intensity - few miles of tempo or some 400M repeats during a run - something like that)... and fill the rest of the days with short and easy runs..
Don't overemphasize one run and give less attention to the others.....
Least, that's my opinion (for what little it's worth)...
Champions are made when no one is watching
Since you asked, If I was 6 weeks out from a goal race, as suggested by 'comfortably hard' I'd do longer intervals something like 4-6 X mile, 3 X 2 miles, 2 X 3 miles etc at 10K-15k pace (in theory only, in practice running faster than HM pace is a struggle for me). Not sure if you'd want to those on a track though.
that is sort of training ideas looking for for Wed workout. Agree would be mentally hard to do those on a track but it would also build some mental stamina too. have done up to 4x 1600 at close or under 10k pace & up to 5+ miles on track. having a partner who is just abit faster than me also helps. She was doing close to those wo's on the track when she was training for FM & got a BQ.
Phidippides: that is actually more in line with my normal conservative way of thinking & training & my goal for past year has been to get up to to low 40's weekly on more consistent basis & top out at 13-14 (on rolling, hilly course) every other week. But you know me, always tinkering, mixing things up & striving to find that right balance that would keep me moving forward & more importantly injury free. Feel like I'm right at a point of another breakthrough of sorts. thanks for the insight
That %30 'rule' is bunk.
Whatever you can stretch your LRs to without getting injured, it's worthwhile to do it.
Speedwork is all well and good but I've gotten far more bang out of solid progression runs of 8-10 miles away from the long run, I'd to them on Thursday with LR on Sunday.
Race week, run a tempo on Tuesday and the rest of the week easy. Strides on Friday, rest Saturday. I prefer to take the day off before and add a bit more warmup on race day.