I had three favorite workouts this year.
1. 10 mile steady run, starting out about MP+30 and finishing at MP-15, averaging somewhere close to MP. When those runs go well, I feel strong as an ox.
2. 8 x 800 @ 5k pace w/90s rest. I did this with a guy who I thought of as faster than me, but kept dropping him at the end. Completing 4 miles of work at (or a little under) 5k pace, with not much rest is good for the confidence.
3. Hill charges. Once or twice a week, in the middle of my easy run. I tried to do 6 x 10-12 seconds (I count 15 strikes of my right leg) all out, up the steepest road hill I could find, walk back down. These made me feel strong, kept me flexible, and helped me work on my power.
The Logic of Long Distance
Wrong way around I think. If you enjoy your running the results will take care of themselves.
Wrong way around I think.
If you enjoy your running the results will take care of themselves.
Perhaps it's a mix. Training should be enjoyable but the goal will give you the extra push out the door you need when you're cold/tired and would otherwise take the day off.
The process is the goal.
Men heap together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call Destiny.
I had three favorite workouts this year. 1. 10 mile steady run, starting out about MP+30 and finishing at MP-15, averaging somewhere close to MP. When those runs go well, I feel strong as an ox. 2. 8 x 800 @ 5k pace w/90s rest. I did this with a guy who I thought of as faster than me, but kept dropping him at the end. Completing 4 miles of work at (or a little under) 5k pace, with not much rest is good for the confidence. 3. Hill charges. Once or twice a week, in the middle of my easy run. I tried to do 6 x 10-12 seconds (I count 15 strikes of my right leg) all out, up the steepest road hill I could find, walk back down. These made me feel strong, kept me flexible, and helped me work on my power.
Thanks.
Prince of Fatness
I've bought into the running on time thing myself. I don't do it 100%, but more than I used to. It really helps me manage things. I also tend to stick to the intended effort level better when running on time.
As for logging, I like to keep a record. That helps me gauge how I've progressed over time. But that's all I really use it for.
Semi-retired.
I'll add one more "favorite" that I kind of got away from later in the year, probably to my detriment.
4. 3-5 mile tempo runs around HM pace. Those were a staple early in the year when I ran my HM PR.
I stopped for several months.
This part of the story made me sad, I'm glad things seem to be building toward a happy ending.
E.J.Greater Lowell Road RunnersCry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.
ironically my back hamstring issue feels BETTER since Monkey. Apparently the cure is to run really really stupid long with hills.
When I was down south for a week just recently I ran a lot of hills (it couldn't be helped where I was staying). Funny thing was that the nagging hamstring pain that I had been experiencing since my marathon in September was nearly gone by the end of the week.
I got away from hills because of my shin splints about a year ago. It's time to get hills back in the lineup.
Not in Chicago
How fast I run my easy days is probably the thing that I care about the least.
This is probably the correct way to think about it, and maybe I need to clarify. The goal is to get in good enough shape so that the whole curve moves up, and that the same effort I used on an easy run 6 months ago will result in a faster pace 6 months from now. We'll never be EPs, but they are in good enough shape that 7:30s is easy. I won't get there, but want to move in that direction. So it's more of a result than a specific action.
You suck. You should just quit. Jackass. Welcome back.
Purdey, you are a far better runner than I, but I think there's a limit to how true this is, at least for me. Most days I do not enjoy running. Many days I hate it. Some days I enjoy it. But I enjoy being a runner (such as I am), and I enjoy the results.
Maybe the answer is to find a way to run that is more enjoyable, but I think for me the answer is in enjoying the result. And to enjoy the result I have to run. All I was saying is that I think I need to have more focus in my training, doing more workouts, running more hard runs and running those hard runs harder.
Good stuff, Jeff - thanks.
I'll add one more "favorite" that I kind of got away from later in the year, probably to my detriment. 4. 3-5 mile tempo runs around HM pace. Those were a staple early in the year when I ran my HM PR.
Peeps were telling me that 5 x 1 mile at HM pace is too much (even with 2-min recoveries); cause I'm a noob or just not the kind of workout one does every week?
A Saucy Wench
One solution to the log conundrum might be the Garmin. I have considered just uploading the data once a week. But then I would forget the shoes and everything else so I changed my mind.
I always make my hill repeats too long I think. There is a section that is what I consider the right steepness and I tend to run from the water plate to the mailbox but I think that is like 1 min all out (it isnt THE steepest, THE steepest even at my best shape I can barely run up, makes PWP look pancake).
If you could run all your runs on terrain like PWP would you? Or would you intentionally go to the flats sometime.
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
Back
That would NOT be an easy workout for me. I'm not saying I couldn't do it...or shouldn't do it every now and then. But that would be a tough workout for me. I haven't really done many workouts in 2009...that is something I plan on changing next year. One of my training rules has always been that doing any repeat or interval work for over 5 min, you start dropping way off on the gains for your time spent. So I would personally leave out the mile repeats if you aren't in the group of people that should be doing them under 5 min pace. For myself, I'll try to stick to things that are about 1200m or less. I think I get the same physiological benifit from doing 5 x 1200 @ HM pace, and less risk for injury than if I did 5 x mile at HM pace.
Thunder smash!
Thats the one that I was doing fairly consistantly when things were going well. That and hill repeaters that were too long. And the 800's but I was taking longer rest. But then it takes me longer to do an 800 than it does you. How does that affect the rest?
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