Things will come to those who wait...

pconn062

RunningKing wrote: »

Nice to see these plans, gives other options to us!!

Cheers RK, it's very much just a blue print at the moment, will probably tweak it a bit as I go along.

dna_leri

pconn062 wrote: »

Thought I would post this here, it's the plan I am going to use for the next few months. It's starts this week, nice and slowly, and the 1500m work starts more specifically after the first week in May. It mainly contains one long intervals sessions a week and one race pace specific session a week. I've included an occasional tempo run as well and a few races. The race pace sessions build in volume towards July. The only thing I have left out is hill workouts although I could include one or two in place of one of the long rep sessions? It is not set in stone so if anyone has any comments on it or suggestions then please fire away, all advice/comments welcome!

Looks like a well-thought out plan. You might want to include some other paces closer to race time, faster and slower than race pace e.g. 800m/3000m. 1500m races often have surges or faster sections so you want to be able to handle them. Ecoli posted a spreadsheet here last year I think with some good workouts which I cut and pasted. I can't find the original now but I can send you the good bits if needed. One example was 5x400, 5x300, 5x200 (3k, 1500, 800 paces) 1:4 min between. Or you could adapt your session of 2x (800-400-200-100) @ race pace to do the 200 @ 800m pace and the 100m a bit faster.

You may find it hard to run a good 10K and 1500m later in the season, (I guess that's why the 10K is a maybe) you might get better benefit from dropping down to do a 800m. As for hills, I would think around now is a good time to throw these in as you suggested, but not in a race week.

They are all small ideas, but this plan should set you up well to post some good PBs.

ecoli

I agree with dna_leri here the training looks solid. The only thing I will say is given its 1500m-5k emphasis might not be a bad idea to do some turn over work on the easy days (high end 100m strides) after one or two days a week.

Alternatively could add in Canova style hill sprints of 6-8 sec length at max speed for fast twitch fibre recruitment.

I think this is also the link that dna_leri is referring to

http://img.runningwarehouse.com/pdf/middle_distance_guide.pdf

Which i found to be a good reference point or another one which I have found useful;

http://runstrong.me/images/Training%20CliffsNotes.pdf

dna_leri

ecoli wrote: »

I agree with dna_leri here the training looks solid. The only thing I will say is given its 1500m-5k emphasis might not be a bad idea to do some turn over work on the easy days (high end 100m strides) after one or two days a week.

Alternatively could add in Canova style hill sprints of 6-8 sec length at max speed for fast twitch fibre recruitment.

I think this is also the link that dna_leri is referring to

http://img.runningwarehouse.com/pdf/middle_distance_guide.pdf

Which i found to be a good reference point or another one which I have found useful;

http://runstrong.me/images/Training%20CliffsNotes.pdf

Ecoli - that's all good stuff but the one I was thinking of was a spreadsheet with a tab for "800-1500" training (and another one for "3K-10K"). I think it was in a thread about the Big10 goals but I can't find it now.

Edit: found this, hopefully it is the same as the original version.

ecoli

dna_leri wrote: »

Ecoli - that's all good stuff but the one I was thinking of was a spreadsheet with a tab for "800-1500" training (and another one for "3K-10K"). I think it was in a thread about the Big10 goals but I can't find it now.

Edit: found this, hopefully it is the same as the original version.

Whoops completely forgot I did up that training plan

(So many training plans saved if I could do half the training I prescribe to people I would have already booked my ticket to Rio )

pconn062

Thanks a lot for the input guys, really appreciate it. Will tweak the plan to add in some alternating pace sessions towards the end, might take a few sessions as well from that Big 10 plan, looks great. Agree as well about the turn over work, had intended on doing some 100-150m sprints/accelerations at the end of sessions. I also have at least two 800's penciled in, one at the Louth champs and one at the Graded meets in August. It's hard to put a plan together, so it's great to get some advice from more experienced guys.

pconn062

Monday: 3.5 miles easy

Just time for a few handy miles in the morning, had a very busy day so getting anything in was a bonus.

Tuesday: 5.5 mile easy

Another easy run in the morning before work, no watch for either of these.

Wednesday and Thursday: Off/Travelling

Today: Session 4x1 mile with 3 mins rest
Splits: 5.49, 5.50, 5.48, 5.54

Not a great week up until today, few handy runs at the start of the week before heading away. Was to busy eating and drinking and longing over gear (not that kind of gear ) for two days to do any running. Then had a big session planned for tonight. I do not enjoy mile repeats but really wanted to get it done. I usually have company when I'm doing sessions like this but was on my own tonight and I think that affected the splits, especially the last one. Not that happy with the times to be honest, but with the time off it's just where I am right now. Onwards and upwards from here though, can't wait to start 1500m specific sessions in a few weeks.

pconn062

Saturday: 5.5 miles easy

Sunday: 8 miles easy

More easy running, more gale force winds and generally miserable conditions. For some bizarre reason I decided to try and run the 400m at the Louth T+F pre champs yesterday in the rain and wind. It was a bit of a disaster, ran a good 200m then pulled out a 300m, will give another one a bash in a few weeks when I start my track training. Went home and did my proper run in the rain then.
Then this morning the wind was just unbelievable, the worst so far this year I think and that's saying something! Enjoyed the run and despite the splits being all over the place (I finally gave in and bought a new Garmin) I averaged a decent pace around 7.30 on both of these days and it felt very easy. Day off tomorrow and then I have a session planned for Wednesday and then a race on Saturday in Dundalk. Feeling a little bit fitter than last week, mileage is still quite low but I'm building slowly and trying to have patience.

ThePiedPiper

Wind was an absolute torture yesterday. I ended up doing a point-point 15 mile run directly into the wind for most of it. Some craic! Looked at the watch at one stage and the pace was 10:00 min/miles!! Calves are hanging off me after it!

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Wind was an absolute torture yesterday. I ended up doing a point-point 15 mile run directly into the wind for most of it. Some craic! Looked at the watch at one stage and the pace was 10:00 min/miles!! Calves are hanging off me after it!

It was crazy man, it felt a little pointless at times actually, more like resistance training. Are you racing this weekend, PK 5k?

ThePiedPiper

Hadn't considered racing this weekend PConn. A lot of work to be done for school, and outdoors at the house, so totally flat out. I'm probably slipping out of decent shape, so not much to be gained from running a 5k race to be honest.

How're your injuries coming along, do you feel like you're back to yourself yet?

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

Hadn't considered racing this weekend PConn. A lot of work to be done for school, and outdoors at the house, so totally flat out. I'm probably slipping out of decent shape, so not much to be gained from running a 5k race to be honest.

How're your injuries coming along, do you feel like you're back to yourself yet?

Sure you could just do it for the craic you competitive bastard! Knee is fine, no problems with it for the last few weeks but I'm still being cautious and building up slowly, in no real shape to be racing but will give it a bash anyway!

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 5.5 miles easy

Wednesday: 4x800m @ 5k pace with 90 secs recovery
Splits: 2.53, 2.51, 2.53, 2.49

Tuesday's run was tough, the wind was so strong and I was exhausted from it after four miles, luckily it was on my back for the last mile and a half so I flew home. Then headed into the track tonight to do this session, nothing too hard and just something to keep the legs ticking over until the weekend. It kind of goes without saying at this stage but the wind was horrendous, with severe gusts that would catch you off guard and send you flying. The splits are actually fairly respectable given the conditions although the effort was a bit higher than it should have been. Legs felt good though, hopefully it will settle down a bit by tomorrow as it's shaking the walls here at the minute, will do a run at some stage.

pconn062

Thursday: 5.5 miles steady

Really enjoyed this run, the wind was mad but I just said feck it and ran hard, started lashing at then end which only added to the enjoyment!

Friday: Off

Didn't really feel like I needed a day off but I'm still being cautious and sticking to my 3 days on, one day off approach for now anyway.

Saturday

Headed down to the Patsy Kelly 5k this evening, was really looking forward to it all day. During my warm up I realised I was in trouble. I'll spare you the details but sometimes during hard sessions and before races I get some "digestive issues". I usually take an Immodium before a race but I forgot today and during the warm up I knew it was going to cause me problems. Was not going to start at all but I was there and I said I would chance it. Got into my running fairly quickly and I felt great apart from stomach. Coming up to a mile and I knew I was in trouble, I was only thinking about my stomach and not concentrating on my running and dropped off the group I was running with. After I passed the first mile I pulled over and jogged back to the start. I was a bit frustrated mainly because, I can't put into words how great I felt running wise, I went through the mile in 5.36 and it felt like I was jogging. But anyway, not going to dwell on it.

I know this log seems to be a bit car crash at the minute, between bad races and injuries but I'm actually pretty optimistic about the future. I'm really looking forward to my new training plan and today was purely bad luck as I forgot to take the immodium. Great event though and looking forward to running the whole thing next year. Will do a long run tomorrow.

RunningKing

Jaysus, that's $hite...........sorry,wanted to be the 1st to say that.

pconn062

RunningKing wrote: »

Jaysus, that's $hite...........sorry,wanted to be the 1st to say that.

Ba dum tish! Ha, very good. Hard luck today, we've all had one of those days, dying on our arse halfway through a 10k, it's a lonely place!

ThePiedPiper

What time you doing your long run today PConn? Gonna settle in to watch the marathon, then hoping to go out for a few miles in the afternoon..

Crap luck yesterday...... you see what I did there.

pconn062

RunForestRun wrote: »

What time you doing your long run today PConn? Gonna settle in to watch the marathon, then hoping to go out for a few miles in the afternoon..

Crap luck yesterday...... you see what I did there.

Ha, you're some bollox! Sorry only seeing this now, I only did 9 miles anyway, still building it up slowly, not long enough for you! Going to do 10 next Sunday so we can get together for that maybe.

pconn062

Today: 9 miles easy

Long run today on what felt like the warmest day of the year so far. I had a long sleeved top and gloves on and had to call back by the house to strip down to a t-shirt, which made a nice change. Nice run, I seem to be getting back into some sort of shape and cruising along at 7.30 pace is feeling much easier. Still a low mileage week but the real work starts next week, I intend to max out at about 50 mile a week so I have plenty of time to build up slowly.

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 6 mile easy

Don't know what was wrong me on this day but this run felt hard, I think maybe the increase in temperature was affecting me and I was working a bit too hard for the pace I was running. We all have days like that I suppose.

Today: Session 6x1 mile @ 10k pace off 2 mins recovery
Splits: 6.12, 6.04, 6.07, 6.04, 6.02, 5.51

So I am running a 10k on the May bank holiday weekend so wanted to get at least one good 10k session done. I wouldn't have signed up to this race only it is organised by one of our local clubs and it is also doubling as the Louth 10k road champs. The plan was to keep the pace around 6.10-6.15 but this seemed to go out the window after the first one. I was running with a friend of mine and he ran slightly in front so I just ran at his pace. Overall this went very well, I felt very comfortable at this pace which was surprising, the last time I did this session I was about 10 secs a mile slower per rep. Gave a bit of a push on the last one to get under the 6 minute mark. This was done on the track in pretty good conditions so I don't think it is a completely accurate account of my 10k pace especially in this race, it is a tough hilly course. But if I could keep the pace around the 6.10 mark I would be very happy. Will do a easy run at some stage tomorrow.

pconn062

After the good session on Wednesday night my knee flared up quite badly and I was worried that it was back. But when I woke up yesterday morning it felt much better and felt better throughout the day so I did a short tester run. Only did 1.5 miles but the knee was grand with no pain, and it was fine all day today so I went ahead with my planned session, 10x400m with 90 secs recovery. Spilts were:

74, 77, 74, 76, 76, 75, 76, 76, 77, 75

So that gives me an average of 75.6 which is around about my current mile pace so I'm happy with that effort. There was quite a strong wind down the back straight which made it tough in the later reps. Tried out my new Nike victory spikes for the last rep and they felt good, apart from the fecking tag that I forgot to take out and murdered me the whole way round. It seems the lighter the shoe, the more expensive it is! There is nothing in these spikes, they are as light as air and they still cost me 90 quid!! I need a cheaper hobby.

pconn062

Saturday: 10 miles @ 7.30 pace

Knew I was heading out on Saturday night so in a rare moment of clever thinking I decided to get my long run out of the way on Saturday instead. Was quite warm but I fell into a good rhythm from the start and was ticking along nicely until the last two miles or so where the hard session of 400's from the night before started to catch up on me. The legs got very heavy and I was glad to get done.

Sunday: 5.5 miles easy

Then today, hangover in tow I got out for 5.5 miles. Took it very easy and was the perfect way to sweat out the previous nights excesses. Overall a pretty good week, despite the scare with the knee midweek. Got two good sessions done and got the mileage up a bit, just have to try and repeat this for the next few weeks and might get into some semblance of shape for my first Graded meet on the 15th.

madon

pconn062 wrote: »

Today: Session 6x1 mile @ 10k pace off 2 mins recovery
Splits: 6.12, 6.04, 6.07, 6.04, 6.02, 5.51

Okay so thats how you do them properly!

pconn062

madon wrote: »

Okay so thats how you do them properly!

Ha, don't worry about it, it's all relative. A friend of mine was doing doing the same session at the same time as us and ran about a minute a mile faster than we did for each rep!!

pconn062

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 6 miles steady

Decided to run this a bit faster than my usual easy pace, I've noticed some runners do a lot of steady running in place of easy running so I'm going to add one steady day a week. Pace was probably a bit too slow to be called steady, around 7 minute miles but that should improve over the weeks.

Wednesday

Bit of a disaster of a session tonight. Plan was 4 mile tempo but my stomach was in a jock all day and I knew it was going to cause problems. Instead I did

2 mile tempo, 2 mins jog, 1 mile tempo, 90 secs jog, .5 mile tempo.

The breaks weren't planned but unfortunately necessary, not a complete disaster but probably not that beneficial and would have liked to get the full 4 mile done. Pace was a bit off as well, barely keeping it under 6.20 pace. Finished off with two good 150's in about 23 secs then just to give the legs a turn off speed. Racing at the weekend so have an short, easy session of 200's planned for Friday.

belcarra

Hey P, I wouldn't right off the session as much as you did.
When training at Tempo it's about the accumulation of distance @ tempo speed rather than pushing the effort/pace.
From bits I've read this can come in intervals or as a single run but they are both pretty similar in terms of benefit to you.
OK so you missed out on 0.5 mile but that's no biggie - just push the distance by an extra half mile next time!

pconn062

belcarra wrote: »

Hey P, I wouldn't right off the session as much as you did.
When training at Tempo it's about the accumulation of distance @ tempo speed rather than pushing the effort/pace.
From bits I've read this can come in intervals or as a single run but they are both pretty similar in terms of benefit to you.
OK so you missed out on 0.5 mile but that's no biggie - just push the distance by an extra half mile next time!

Thanks belcarra, that's great info to know. You know what us runners are like though, we get a figure in our head that we want to achieve and anything else is a failure! Stubborn is the word!

Oregano_State

pconn062 wrote: »

Thanks belcarra, that's great info to know. You know what us runners are like though, we get a figure in our head that we want to achieve and anything else is a failure! Stubborn is the word!

so true!

pconn062

Thurs: 6 miles @ 7.30 pace roughly

Friday: Easy session 6x200m

Splits: 30, 31, 32, 32, 31, 29

Nice run on Thursday, after a slow first mile I was ticking away nicely at 7.20 pace, be grand!

Then today I went to the track after work and did a very light session just to keep the legs ticking over before the race on Sunday. Wanted to make it somewhat specific to my track training so did a few reps at what was supposed to be my 800m pace. I felt good during these but there is no way I am a sub 2.10 runner at the minute but found it hard to keep the pace down as I was only doing a few reps. Took about 90 secs recovery jogging between these. The conditions were awful, a howling gale and the rain was biblical, I was like a drowned rat at the end and cut my cool down short after half a mile as I was freezing. Nothing like Irish summer weather. :rolleyes:

Not looking forward to this race on Sunday, it's a pretty awful route with lots of hills so there will a lot of work to be done to get around in a decent time. Only for it's doubling as the Louth road race champs and I want to support the local club I'd be giving it a miss. Will do a short jog tomorrow.

pconn062

Saturday: 3.5 miles very easy

Sunday: Boyne 10k

Out for the Boyne 10k today and the Louth 10k road champs. Between injury and illness we only just managed to scrape a mens team together. Was quite warm and I was unsure about the course, heard rumours of a tough hill around the 7k mark.
Off we went and I managed to hold back as people streamed by me, I knew it was going to be a tough race and didn't want to blow it at the start. Despite the 1,600 strong field I found myself on my own after 1k but was soon joined by a large group of DDAC runners and I settled into the group. Kept the pace steady over the undulations in the first half, was quite windy at times and I tried to shelter in the group although the guys weren't too keen on letting me sit behind them as I was the competition! Got to 5k and someone called out 19 mins dead, about where I wanted to be.

The work was starting now though and after 6k a few guys fell away and I was barely hanging on. Round the corner at 7k and we are facing the hill, Jesus. Just to state, I am terrible at running up hills and the pace dropped here and I was immediately dropped by the group. Rounded a corner and I thought that was it but it kept going and I was suffering. This hill went on for over a kilometer and I recorded an embarrassing 7.09 mile split here. I wasn't being passed though as it seemed everyone was hurting. After the 8k mark we finally reached the summit of the hill and there was a long downhill. I tried to stride out here and got the pace back down but the quads were fried from the hills. Onto the river bank and 1k to go I tried to push on but there was no one in front or behind so I trundled on until I got a shout from the coach which gave me a kick of the arse and I crossed the line in a very average 39.38

Not too disappointed with the result given the toughness of the course but I was annoyed that I got dropped by the entire group on the hill, I really suck at running uphills and need to look at that. Also a bit disappointed that a friend of mine who would be around the same level finished a full minute ahead of me, not sure what happened there. I suppose the truth is I'm not really training for 10k's at the minute and my mileage is pretty low so I shouldn't really be expecting more. The hill cost me at least a minute, there is a local 10k near me at the end of June so I will give that a lash and I think I can run 37:XX. Unfortunately we came only got fourth team in the champs, North East Runners cleared up with first and second team, for a bunch of aul lads they know how to run!!

RunningKing

Hills and wind........who needs 'em!