I haven't seen a lot of talk about Pfitz's new "Faster Road Racing" book, so I thought I'd post my thoughts here.  I have a sample size of exactly 1, but that's enough, right?

OK, so probably the reason that most people weren't too excited was that a lot of you don't follow a formal plan for anything shorter than a marathon.  For me, it was perfect because I didn't want to race a marathon this fall, but I did want to push myself in training.  And this plan kicked my ass.  I don't know if this is just my faulty memory, but I think it was harder than Hanson's advanced.

What really got me was all the quality work,  on top of the mileage.  It starts at 46 MPW, peaks at 63 MPW, and has a ton of quality.  Every week, you have a LR, a MLR, strides, and a quality workout.  The Q starts with tempo intervals, works up to a 40 min tempo run (and not at those cushy Hansons tempo paces either!), then moves to speed intervals.  The speedwork peaks with 6 x 1200 at about 5K pace (or a bit faster, but there was no way in hell I could do that any faster!).  Three of the LRs have a FF of up to 3 miles at tempo pace (which I hit on the nose exactly once, yikes).  Then it sort of winds down with the two trademark tuneup races at 4 weeks and 2 weeks out (alternating with your peak mileage weeks).

So, if you want to kick yourself in the butt, this plan is the one.

How did it go for me?  It was probably a bit too much for my base.  Pfitz says that this plan is appropriate for people running at least 40 MPW.  I had that, but only just barely.  But, that was my average for the whole year going in, so I figured that would help.  It was tough to add those miles and the quality all at once.  I really felt myself getting stronger through the tempo and track sessions.  There was no way in hell I could have completed some of those workouts going in, and then I found myself nailing them later on.

I learned that the Monday RD is sacred.  The only times I missed a run before last week, it was because I'd moved a run onto my Monday RD because I knew I had a busy day coming up later in the week.  Both times that happened, I ended up bailing on my MLR later that week because I hadn't had a RD in forever and just couldn't deal.  So this week, even though I'm busy Thursday and Friday, I took that Monday RD because I know I need it.

I messed with the tune-up race schedule and probably got out of the rhythm of the plan as a result.  My work schedule has been hell recently, and I knew the plan was pushing me, so considering my schedule and the available races in the area, I decided to do only one tune-up race (10K) instead of two.  But, that put my tune-up race on the last day of peak mileage week, which I also couldn't move because of my work schedule.  It was also the playoffs, so I added a couple of miles to peak at 65 instead of 63.

Because of that, and probably also because of my crazy work schedule, I had nothing for my 10K, and no other tune-up race for retribution.  Then the following week, coming off a bad race and the mental feeling of "just get to Sunday" on the big mileage week, I just didn't feel like running at all.  I did get it back together last week.  There's a 2-week taper for the HM, if "taper" means ending up at exactly the mileage you started with at the start of the plan.  The good news it, that does feel like I'm taking it easy now!

I have no idea what Sunday's race will bring.  I play far too many head games with myself while racing these days, so I don't want to judge my plan based on that.  But I did want to put my reflections out there in case anybody else was interested in what the new Pfitz plans were up to.

I have the book but never tried them.  Good luck!

I am intrigued. I'm still not 100% sure what I'm doing next spring. Is it suitable for marathons as well? How different is it from the original Pfitz marathon plans?

63 mpw for a HM?! No thanks.

63 mpw for a HM?! No thanks.

That sounds about right.

 

I am wondering why one of his marathon plans peaked at 55 mpw and his HM plan peaks at 63? Is there more than one version of the HM plan? I don't have the book.  I had great success with the 18/55 plan and would try one of his HM plans, but not if it's 63 mpw.

I think the 18/55 marathon plan is his lowest mileage plan, though I think he also throws a sop to those running less than 40 mpw. Take a look at his 18/85 plan for something comparable to his HM plan. He does have multiple plans for the HM in his older book. Most of his plans in the older book are also easily modifiable. As long as you hit the quality workouts, the other days are pretty much up to what the individual wants or can do.

I have his older book, Road Racing for the Serious Runner. Is this an updated and renamed version of that?

Yup!

The speedwork peaks with 6 x 1200 at about 5K pace (or a bit faster, but there was no way in hell I could do that any faster!). 

This seems odd to me. I don't think I could run 6 x 1200 at my 5K pace, even when training for a 5K!!! Unless the 5K pace he's talking about is not really 5K pace???

Nonetheless, his book interests me. I'll probably buy it and read it.