Runner's Forum: The Official: Training Summary Start Up Thread

kind of a messed up day. I was originally planning to do a run (say 10-12 miles) at subthreshold pace (~goal marathon pace) and I started to do that. So I ran the first four miles at 5:35 pace and was feeling great, and I mean great. It felt as though I weren't even running fast. Then I had to stop and use the bathroom because my stomach demanded it. So I started back up and decided to tempo the 2nd four miles and that went okay, but my body was really tight since I had to stop for that time to use the bathroom.

I think if I were to run a marathon and my stomach didn't suck, I'd do pretty well. Unfortunately, my stomach sucks so I gotta plan for shorter stuff until I can get that under control. 

I was fairly pleased with how things went. 

congrats fricster..always feels great to set a new  distance pr,.

kdogg  hope youre feeling better

junkie , welcome back,. missed your posts,.

20 miler today and no pain in the hamstring,. felt great, finished it with a 1/2 mile 12% hill,.gotta start putting a nasty hill at the end of my long runs,. steamtown marathon has a brutal hill at mile 25.2,. and everyone who has run it says to train for it.

 

18 mile long run today. Felt pretty good.

The stomach problem I have is something I've always had, I'm pretty sure it has to do with the amount of caffeine I consume daily. (I drink a lot of pop) At this point thats not something I'm willing to give up, so until then I will deal with it. 

Man you guys are putting in some killer long runs, keep up the good work there. 

6 Mile Tempo Run for me today.

KDogg - why are you drinking the pop?  Is it the Carbs?????

 

   I don't know, Kdogg.

  Pop buggers up my stomach even when I'm not running. Spill Coke on fabric or something and watch how it eats it away.

   Maybe I misunderstand and you've already tried this, but what if you skipped the pop for a couple of weeks?

 

 

9 mile long run for me today, very nice but seemed a lot longer than it was. Quite hard work - was glad I took some powerade with me and wished I had some gu at about 3/4 the way in. Took about 1:20 so about 9:10 mile I think, good easy pace for me. Going to have a relatively easy week in prep for the 14k race next weekend

This last week has been a bad week for training due to illness…..

Tuesday: 5 easy kms. Recovery run

Wednesday: 10km medium paceThursday: Day off – shocking cold (first missed 8km training run)Saturday. 10km at 5min/km great run. But a bit wooze afterwards.Sunday: Sick as a dog (missed a 19km long run arghhhhh) I am in Florence for work the next few days - will have to find some good places where the italians run..... This week is my max km week for the training program before the taper… A shame to have missed my 19km slow on Sunday – the first long run I have missed….:( Just when I should be peaking….but I just have to kiss it goodbye. I have to squeeze in 8km run on Tuesday, 16km run on Wednesday – hopefully feeling better – 20km at 5min/km on sat, and 32ker on Sunday…. Fingers crossed. I have come this far..... 

10 Miles for me this morning....at 6:00 AM, it was 80 degrees with 92% humidity!  Yikes!!!!!!  The 10 miles felt like 20.  Soon, the cooler weather cometh!

gfinkelde - I knew there was someone missing!  Man I hope things turn out okay.  Missing the start at this stage would be a bastard!

SimmoT - Bad luck with the cold.  As most of us know, training hard is a two-edged sword.

Monday morning was a 35 min easy run.  Today was a Hill session.  Back to the Police Academy hill with 6 * 90s repeats sandwiched in between a 20 min warmup and 20 min warm down. Gotta get the legs strong.

Well, a few hill workouts would have helped me out on Saturday's 5K, but it was basically a test for me. My last 5K was on July 4 on a very flat course and the weather was unusually cool with an ever increasing drizzle. It was perfect weather! Shot my PR down to 22:50. Well, Saturday was warmer, and the course was a little bit hilly. After a 1.2 mile warmup, I ended up finishing in 23:44. On the plus side, there weren't nearly as many participants, so I got 2nd in my age group (as opposed to 3rd on July 4). But I started out way to fast, finishing the 1st mile in 6:56, and slowing down to 7:52 in the 2nd mile. Oh well, it was only my 5th race ever, so I'll learn. My next "big" 5K is September 27, so we'll see how this month of training goes.

Ran 4 miles easy yesterday. Went well ... stayed on pace finishing in 35:22. This week is some kind of transition week: 4 miles easy each run day. I'll probably turn Saturday's run into a long run of at least 8. Due to last week's 5K, I didn't make 20 miles last week, but I'm still on track with my schedule. Starting on my 16th consecutive week of running, so I'm proud of that!

congrats D-jammer68,.16 consecutive weeks is an excellent accomplishment

great to hear from ya again gfinklede,.i had a bad calf 4 weeks ago,. and a  screeming ham the last 2 weeks. so i feel your pain.i took 3 days off and 2 semi-easy weeks to heal myself back up,.luckily i think it was successful.

 i hav noticed a  increase in the injuries people are posting in the last 4 weeks,. and (on a side note) we hav heard nothing from rememberley either,.It seems to me that we all are in the final stages of our marathon training, and now that everyone is logging such high mileage , there seems to be a much higher frequency of injuries occurring,.i wonder if this is the "norm",.this will  be my first marathon so i hav never trained at this intensity,. i do know that i hav found myself becoming a little lazy on my pre-run, and  post run stretching,. and hav had to remind myself to take more time for warm up and cool down.

20 mile last sun,. 5 mile easy jog yesterday and 6.5 mile hard hills  today,.since this will be last 3 week cycle leading into taper i will be trying to log 65-70 mile weeks going into taper,. speed and hills will be the goal,.

Today I did a fast run of 5.2 miles in 39 minutes (7:37 per mile), took a short break...walking 1.5 miles, and finished with a pace 2.3 miles (8:30 per mile)

 Going to take the next two days pretty easy with the 10k race coming up on Saturday. I believe my route to be a little more hilly than the race route, so I'm looking to run around 45 minutes...maybe even better with the heat of competition.

did probably the worst run ive had all season today.  8.5 miles of pure torture.  Finished in 1hr.  First 4 miles were ok, calves were killing me though almost had to stop a few times, mainly because i was at 13:09 at the 2 mile mark, so i was hurting a tired.  Then miles 5-8 i had to go to the bathroom bad which slowed me down alot, and made me feel like throwing also.  Last 1/2mile i picked it up, because i had to go.  Did the last half mile in like 3:10 then made it to the bathroom.  Tomorrow my team is going to garret mountain to run one of the cross country courses and do hill workouts.  Should be fun and painful.

chiggy - that sounds like a great environment for a team camp.  Damn shame you weren't feeling 100% to fully enjoy it.

KDogg - Mr Lydiard would probably  point you towards some leg speed work about now...  And I think you've hit the nail on the head with the no.1 reason for the prevalance of injury here.  Too much, too soon.  I know that's why I got hit earlier on; and I know it's the main reason I  have suffered in the past.  I let my heart rule my head and build up too quick too often.  You'd think I'd know better by now!  (So far so good this time.)

Today's run was just over 7km in a little under 40 mins.  Easy run day.

Good morning everyone.  I'm with you D-Jammer - I'm just trying to keep my runs fun and for the most part, injury free.

Update - I didn't get my long run in this past Sunday morning - my ankle was bugging me a bit.  I did walk 5 miles with my wife however.  Monday was my day off, and I spent time on my weight machine yesterday morning.

Today I ran 6 miles in 47:13, and it felt pretty good.  My times weren't real consistent from start to end, but the first half was strong with miles of 7:39, 7:45, and 7:43.  The last half was a bit slower with miles of 7:51, 8:05, and 8:10.  The run as a whole felt really good!

 Have a great day everyone!

5 mile fast Tempo run for me today.  It was my first enjoyable run of the week, due to the heat wave here in Florida.  Today was nice.  Temp. was 5 degrees lower and the humidy was 20% less than yesterday.  Felt great!

Junkie: All the best to you on your race Saturday!

KDogg: I agree with you on the injury front.  The only injury I have had (thank God) in over 20 years of running was an IT Band problem, and that was from running in the wrong shoes, in the early days of my running.

I just finished reading "Daniels' Running Formula" by Jack Daniels, Ph.d.  It is a great read, for those who haven't read it (though it's a little technical in areas).  Runner's World calls him "America's Best Running Coach."

"The five S's of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit."  Ken Doherty

Happy Running!!!

 

  cooler weather (73 F), moderate winds today. 

  4 mile run through flat suburban parkland...28:30.  feelin' good.

 

 

Very Funny Bonzi!

Hi All,

No running yesterday - but an hour of boxing training with my boxing pro! sore shoulders today. It is so much fun hitting those pads, its a whole body workout, so much to concentrate on, and so much to remember in terms of technique that the time goes really quickly, I slept well last night thats for sure.

12kms for me tonight after work.

D-Jammer - life begins at 40! I should know...now I am 41.;)

 

20 mins easy warm up and cool down with 3 lots of 5 mins at tempo with 1 min easy.  Feeling good.

Hi all - there is something wrong - i seem to be getting slower. Ran 12kms home with a slightly lighter backpack on tonight, and was doing 6:12min average splits. A grannie would have passed me...

Very sad about that - but pleased to get in the miles, I am sure just being on my feet for a long time will help long term, but i do need to get a wiggle on - I hardly raised a sweat tonight.

Good morning everyone... so I'm in my easy week before the race. Has been easier than I hoped. Monday was a rest day, Tuesday I had my kickboxing session and was supposed to run but I barely slept on Monday night and felt awful all day (just exhausted and 'bleeeeuuuurgh') so I decided not to run on Tuesday. I thought I would get up and go before work on Wednesday (at 4am). However I didn't sleep well on Tuesday either - when I found myself awake at 2.30am I decided trying to get up at 4am to go running may not be productive!

FINALLY made it today - such a beautiful morning, fall has truly struck (my favourite season) it was sunny but crisp and chilly. Just amazingly beautiful, the best sort of day. Hit the trails which was really nice. 6miles (3mile easy, 4x AI interval, 2 mile easy).

I do wish I was better at maths as I had somehow calculated i needed to finish in 45 mins to average a 9min/mile pace.... d'oh... so while trying to make sure I took it easy I actually ended up pushing myself to an 8.30pace average!!!

Fricster and Junkie99 - it's a real pain, I too have to really work at slowing down and taking it easy on those long slow runs. I can't help but push myself. I'm now trying to look at it like I am learning self control. I think I will really have to pace myself at this run at the weekend (I'm trying to use the race to practice pacing for the 1/2 marathon)!

LexB:  you really need to slow down on those long runs.  The longer you are on your feet, the better.  Endurance is what it is all about.  Save your speed for your Tempo and Interval runs; and your races.

Fricster; Yeah, like some granny is going to pass you, when you are doing 6:12 splits.  Give me a break.

Chucky: No thanks. Cold is one thing.  Crazy is another.

10 Easy miles for me today, after the speed session yesterday.  Cooler weather here.  Yes!!!!

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day.  It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
          - Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner

Happy Running!!

Last run before my 10k on Saturday. 3.1 miles at a very slow pace, 9 min per mile.

LexB:I must have missed it...how far is your race this weekend?

Hey there runners.  Had another nice easy run this morning.  Program calls for 30-40 minutes easy 4 days a week but I cut that down to 3 days and take Sunday off.  (Hill/800 repeats, tempo and long run being the other 3 days.)  Anyway, felt really good on my easy run this morning and averaged 5:02/km for my 6km which is far and away my best easy run performance since restarting my quest to get back to marathon condition.  I know it's real improvement and not just me pushing harder on an easy run as I am very disciplined when it comes to using my Heart Rate monitor.

Yay!

LexB - Good luck for this weekend.  When you're out training, perceived effort can be almost as good as Heart Rate monitoring for controlling your pace. However, you need to know what sort of effort level you should be aiming at for a given workout type.  Typically these would be something like the following:  (If there are some more knowledgeable "coaches" out there, please correct these numbers if they're wrong.)  Note that 0% is based on walking speed, while 100% would be flat out sprinting.

Steady state running - 50% effort
Tempo running - 70 to 80%
Intervals / Repeats - 85 to 95%
Long run - 50 to 60%

There are different schools of thought on the effort level for the long run.  Some maintain that it's purely time on your feet which is important, others insist that you should be running slightly faster than your normal steady state running.

My number one source of training methodology, the legendary Arthur Lydiard, upon whose wisdom almost all modern training methods are based, contended that while it's very easy to train too hard, it's very difficult to train too slow.  He based his training on big milages to build condition, but these miles were all run at or close to your best aerobic effort.  (He is often incorrectly attributed with being a champion of "Long Slow Distance" training.  He NEVER agreed with that principle!)  If you run slower than your best aerobic effort, you will still get improvement, but it will not be as much as if you ran at the correct pace.  However, if you run too fast, you start to edge into anaerobic running, and you cannot run as long.  So...  for your long runs, its better to run them slightly slower than optimum pace than slightly faster.

I hope you're still awake at this stage and I hope I haven't muddied the waters.  I recommend finding some running physiology reading to understand why you do each particular type of training.

5k easy run today. Felt like crap, but thats what I get for taking some time off. I also recently realized how attached I am to my watch when I go running. I lost it for a couple weeks and had a hard time controlling my pace without it.