I had thoughts of getting up for an easy morning run this morning. However, the Twins game went extra innings last night and I ended up staying up till 10 to watch them lose by 1 run again. I wish I had gone to sleep earlier because it was 60 degrees out this morning. So it would have been perfect for a run. Oh well, as my friend Eric says, “Live and don’t learn.”
While I haven’t mentioned him in my blog, those of you that read the comments will probably recognize “Double.” He’s in town on business for a few days, so I invited him to run with my team tonight. The workout consisted of a 10 minute warm-up to a hill, 20 minutes of hill repeats, 10 minutes back to the track, followed by 2 x 1 mile “at pace” with a 3 minute rest. Since a bunch of us are doing a 10 mile race this weekend, our coach suggesting trying to hold our 10-mile race pace.
It was toasty-warm out, probably 85 and sunny. At least it didn’t seem as humid as last week. I never felt comfortable on the hills. I just tried to maintain my form and never pushed the pace. Meanwhile, Jenna, Daniel and Double looked awesome.
It shouldn’t be surprising that someone (Jenna) on the cusp of qualifying for the Oly Trials is a lot more focused than your average weekend warrior, but for some reason I noticed her intensity more today than normal. Jenna ran her “mile” repeats in 5:29 and 5:31 while I was able to muster 6:22 and 6:26. If I was truly “at pace” that means I’d be able to run a 64 this weekend, which seems reasonable. However, I doubt Jenna will be running a 55. And then there’s Daniel, who recently race a 10k in 37:42 (6:04 pace). He was leading the hill repeats, then was able to run 5:36 and 5:25.
These differences in training methods – even though we have the same coach – make me wonder “Who’s wrong?” I mean am I slacking off too much? Are they training too hard? Is there a right and wrong answer? I should probably just worry about myself; however it’s human nature to compare yourself to those around you.
Speaking of “those around you,” the racing team from Run ‘n Fun (a local retail store) was doing 400s on the track while we were there. Granted these guys are fast (15-flat 5k), but I thought it was really strange that one of the guys had the Olympic Rings tattooed on his shoulder. To me, you should only be “allowed” to do that if you’ve actually competed in the Olympics.
Believe in the "science" of training, but think just about any type of hard work (hills, tempo, intervals) done enough will get you where you want.
ReplyDeleteI still put a lot of stock in running a volume of miles around your goal marathon pace. I also like the idea of coming back after one of these workouts the very next day and putting up a solid 18-20 miles at 30-40 seconds over marathon pace every 2-3 weeks.
The speed/hard/hills the other day is a sub pace effort designed to help your eventual cruising speed. The rest of the weekly runs are easy. If I can, I try and get one of those in the 12-14 mile range.
People have a concept of what they should be capable of. Spend 8-9 weeks pulling the load and one should know exactly what they are capable of. Like Beck siad, "you won't race well," and he's right. It's not feasible you will be rested on the above model and you don't have time to waste weeks.
People I respect say 10% of your weekly miles should be at or under race pace. I practice 15-20% and it has worked for me. Of course I'm only doing 60-70 a week and not 80-100.
The more I look into how I train I also see that the hard Tuesday workout is generally followed by a medium long run. This pattern forces you to run tired and is not easy. The older I get the more I see I don't want to run hard two days in a row, twice a week............but it works.
Are your medium-long runs done at MP?
ReplyDelete"I don't want to run hard two days in a row, twice a week."
Do you do this every week or mix it up?
I'm really beginning to like the idea of focusing on 60-70 mpw for the next 12 weeks leading up to Whistle Stop.
Right now I can't do any workout at MP.
ReplyDeleteHere's the final program:
Mon = 10 steady
Tue = 5-6 AM, track PM
Wed = 10 easy
Thu = 8 easy
Fri = OFF
Sat = Race or 8-10 around MP
Sun = 18-20, good effort a couple times
Usually its:
M= 4-5 easy
T= PM track work
W= 12-14 AM what I can handle
T= 5k-8k tempo, sub marathon pace
F= OFF
S= Long, sometimes race
S= 1.5-2 hours easy on trails.
Occasionally back down the Wed or Sun run.
Honestly, I'm looking forward to going back to the freewheel method.