What are some of your favorite workouts?  Could be for marathon training, fitness check-points, or whatever trips your trigger.

So I'm at the 12 week mark from my goal marathon and I feel lost with the running.  I feel like I'm running just to run.  That may not all be bad as it's feeling good and I'm enjoying it.  However, with the weeks quickly winding down, I'm kinda freaking out about the whole training bit for the marathon.  12 weeks is still a lot of time but I really don't know what I should be doing going forward.  There's this whole periodization thing, there's intervals, tempos, fartleks, progression runs, long runs....yada yada yada.  It's a lot of stuff to piece together and that just has me stuck.

I know the usual weeks should have a long run and at least one if not two quality workouts with all others easy.  Mileage has been decent so far this year and the most important thing is that I've stayed relatively healthy.  Short of a freak hamstring issue during a 10-mile race in May, I've been able to keep the achilles tamed.  That has me more gun shy than anything when considering rolling in quality workouts.

So with quality workouts being on Tu - interval/tempo, Th - tempo/fartlek, and Sa (or Su) - long, I'm trying to figure out what to fit in on the Tu/Th quality days.  I'd like to do two other quality days but if I don't feel like I'm recovered, I'm not going to push it and risk flaring anything up.  My #1 goal is to finally make it to the starting line healthy.  OK, there may be a time goal that's really driving me more than anything but I am really trying to play it safe and make it to the line in decent shape.  Any suggestions or advice is welcome!

Thanks Spaniel!  I don't think you left anything for anyone else. 

I've always like progression runs and one of my favorites for getting ready for a 5k is to do a 30 minute run followed by 16x200m w/200m jog recovery.  Key is to keep moving on the 200's.

-"No Backing Down"; start off comfortable and set goal to speed up X sec/mile.  Any time you are over on a mile MUST be made up on the next mile, but if you go too fast that does not count towards the next one and you must still go Xsec faster than the prior mile.  So if you start out at 7:00 with goal of 10sec...You run 6:58 so the next mile you must do 6:48 and you do...but then you run 6:50 for Mile 3 which was supposed to be 6:38, for Mile 4 you must still run 6:28.  You run 6:25 so Mile 5 must be 6:15.  Continue as long as you can until you miss two in a row or miss one and know you can't get back on schedule due to effort.

I like this one and have done a softer version of it.  But it's hard for a non-flatlander to do on the road ... or you can do it, but I don't think you get the full benefit of pace-feel once you start running for a clock time on varied terrain v. gradually-increasing effort level regardless of terrain.  Still, I like it.

About the only one I can add is from Grete Waitz (if I can remember it right): about 7-10 days out, she used to run 1/2 to 2/3 race distance at a pace somewhere between target race-pace and a little slower.  Nice diagnostic to either build confidence or adjust the race goal.  I've only done it 2-3 times, but it's given me confidence and led to PRs every time.

Thanks spaniel and Mike. Any week-of-5k workouts?  Tuesday is usually my interval day.  I've got a 5k on Saturday.  

 

I am still sore from Saturdays run (I think the heat/humidity made the effort a little more than the scoreboard shows). 

4X800 at 3000m race pace or a bit faster, relatively long recoveries.  If I were running them 2:15-2:20 I'd take 2:30-3:00 recovery, increase rest proportionally with repeat duration.  Or 6X400 same idea.  Good speed test but not enough repeats to do damage.

Several of my favorites overlap with some of Spaniel's.  Here are some workouts that come to mind.

On the track:

5-7 x 1000 m at 5k-8k pace with 2ish minutes rest is my go-to workout

3 x 2000 m is often a good choice when preparing for a track 10k

One track workout that I remember doing in high school and have tried a couple times since then and have somewhat mixed feelings about is repeat 400s in lane 6.  Start from the proper starting line (the open-400 m staggered start), finish at the finish line, walk the ~40 m back to the staggered start, and go again.  I think we'd do 12 of these at a pace that was probably about 5k pace for me back then.  My problem with this workout is that it's hard to say what it's value is in terms of training specificity.  I think because of the short rest and relatively slow speed for the short intervals, it mainly serves as a strength workout.

On the roads, I'm also a big fan of the 5-7 mile progression run, dropping the pace by 10s each mile.  Unfortunately, around this neck of the woods, it's hard for me to find a route that doesn't include a few hundred feet of climbing, which can really mess up pacing.

Various hill workouts come to mind.  A favorite was run on a dirt road.  It was a ~800 m long hill that started out steep and got more gradual near the top.  Each interval consisted of 800 m up, then we'd turn around and come down 400 m, then walk/jog back to the bottom.  That last 400 m was good for both mental training, turnover, and form to teach you how to get moving after cresting a hill.

I'm really a long plodder so my favorite workout is a marathon workout, Tinman's Big Workout.  For some reason it suits my running style and seems to make me fairly strong without tearing me down too badly.  I'll be starting these in the Fall once I push my long run to about 18  easy miles.

5mile warmup jog to the local track then 6X1600 at current half marathon race pace with 200m jog recovery, finish off with 5 smooth 200's (or 5 hill charges) and then cooldown the 5 miles back home.  I've been running marathons since '96 and have set actual PR's in my late 40's once I started doing these workouts.  

Thanks. Did it. Wasn't sure what my 3k pace was. For a baseline, I used my 5k PR (last December, 19:52) and my most recent 5k (20:27). 

I would trust the calculators to extrapolate a 5K to a 3K...good enough for gov't work...

How did it go?  How did it FEEL?

I felt fairly taxed, but not out of control.  I was eager for each interval's end, but not holding on for dear life.  If the recoveries had been shorter, I would not have completed the workout.  I felt like I finished the last one in as much control as the first one.  At a few points, I had to consciously remind my self to breathe deeply and stay relaxed.

 

When all is well, I can do 8 x 400 in 3 minutes each, with 90s rests. 

Then all is well.

Except your last line, given your average pace in your log of 8:40ish/mile across all workouts, I somehow think you can do repeat quarters faster than 12:00 pace.....