Just watching the playoffs yesterday and managed 10 miles over the course of an hour. Im not sure where this came from, but got to 5.. then 6 and it didnt feel difficult. By the time I was at 8, it was hard. Yet, way too close to 10 to stop.

I think that's a "skill" a LOT of people implement ... and not just in their running.

 

And you don't have to seek out Peter Coe!  I work with Thunder, and it's an informal style (although still very important to me, and he knows it).    He log-stalks, but it's not like he feeds me weekly schedukes and we chat after every hard wortkout.  Much more like I get a month at a time (after communicating about the upcoming month, races, goals, etc.), then I don't hear from him unless I ping him or I do something wonderful.

 

But I know he's watching.  :-)

Yep, it's a "skill" I implement and hope to stop using soon.

I'm going to leave Peter Coe alone for the moment :-) I'm not sure I'd even ask someone with a "real" coaching qualification for fear of laughter.  Purdey, once upon a time when I was coming back from a cankle injury in 2010 used to give me little schedules etc and that worked well for me (he got me running more days a week and it was also the only time that I've done hill reps).   I think knowing that someone is watching and knowing also that you have someone you can talk to about how things are going does make a difference.  Hopefully the hurtlocker can provide some of those eyes.

To make sure I don't get my whisky and penguins confiscated I did 1 min hard with 2 mins recovery today.  Only 6 times and without timing it, but it's the first attempt since back in the summer and I wanted to just see how things feel.  However it's done and it's more that I did something that was vaguely planned that is important right now I think.  I'll worry about pace etc another time but do need to think about a sensible plan of attack in terms of what to do as my "stuff".

This perhaps comes from never running in school or in a situation where I think a coach is a normal thing.  I guess I see a lot of people here (here being at home in the UK) with personal trainers and those people are of all abilities.  The only people I know with a running coach are rather good at running (a girl I work with who is a sub-3 marathoner and has represented Wales in XC, and one guy who is a very good sprinter and another who is a steeplechaser turned runner who is currently leading most local running leagues and placing high in various HMs).

 

It seems to be you need the guidance of what do on the key workout days.  Granted most of the week is filled with recovery and easy running but it's the structure of how it's all pieced together that can be daunting for anyone that has never had that pieced together for them.  You know, it could be as simple as having a conversation with the girl that you work with about what that structure looks likes.

 

Log-stalking people is a great way to come up with new workout ideas....

Just popped out a very controlled 3.6 mile tempo a few ticks slower than 5k PR pace...no excuses for not lighting up the road this year.

Jesshhh.. this with last weeks workout.. you're killing it right now.

Just popped out a very controlled 3.6 mile tempo a few ticks slower than 5k PR pace...no excuses for not lighting up the road this year.

Log-stalking people is a great way to come up with new workout ideas....

Absolutely. It's a great resource. I would be more surprised if people here didn't log-stalk regularly.

Now "log stalk" is starting to sound funny. Log stalk log stalk log stalk.....

Thanks mbehr.  You're right it's the key workout days that are the issue, I just tend to run in a pattern of miles and with some change in pace between runs but that's really between steady (varying from one-paced to a progression of some type) and easy days.  No true recovery days and no true workout days.  There is structure, but it's not as productive as it could be.  Yep, I'll ask questions, or ask to be kicked.  I'm slightly nervous of how my stupid pelvis and leg will cope with me pushing them more with a change in running intensity, but I do at least have a year or so of relatively consistent mileage in me now (well, I will do until I spend 2 weeks skiving/skiing at the end of the month).

Log stalk, log stalk, log stalk, log stalk.  Yeah, it's weird sounding now, but it makes sense.  I just need to avoid log envy and also log embarrassment if I don't do what I want or run as much as I want.

Stinkin' thinkin' is a reminder, a bit of a kick if you're trying to avoid running etc because if I get too much into that mentality I'll have a friggin' goose egg for a year.  To be fair most of that gap was because I screwed my ankle over and was in a cast for a while and then couldn't really walk properly for a while longer, so it's just showing what a screw up those few months were..  I really don't want to be back there.

Anyway I think I'm getting old because the first few miles (or at least the first 2) of my runs at the moment are really shitty.  You feel like you're trying as per normal and then realise nah, you're just trying hard for something you shouldn't be.  Today was one of those days.  Makes you feel really grateful you crawled out of bed (although thank feck it improved as the run went on).

Also, sounding good mbehr and Gville!