The Middle Distance Thread

pconn062

I see the start-list for the IMC meet at Greystones this weekend has been released, few names I recognise from here on it:

http://www.irishmilersclub.com/news/post.php?s=2014-05-07-imc-start-lists--greystones&fb_action_ids=10203730684536763&fb_action_types=og.likes

Fair play lads, you're braver than I am! That is some serious pace those guys are going out at, 62 second pace for the B 1500m race! :eek:

Whatever about the Graded Meets the standard at these IMC meets is a little out of my league, for this year anyway!

Timmaay

pconn062 wrote: »

Fair play lads, you're braver than I am! That is some serious pace those guys are going out at, 62 second pace for the B 1500m race! :eek:

Its 64!!! Ya gave me a heart attack there till I checked it ha! Although 2.08 through 800 would be fun, I'll be aiming instead for about 2.11. Always a good spread through the field however and someone to drag you along, I got a pb last year at it, alot due to having Fionnuala Britton breading down my neck 1st 3laps ha!

That looks like a fantastic mens A race, can't wait for it now!

KielyUnusual

I've had to pull out unfortunately as I'm not in Dublin (or Wicklow:)) this weekend. There looked to be a few about the 4.15 mark last year, which would have been my aim. Perhaps 4.20 might have been a bit more realistic. Will have to wait until later in the year now . Best of luck Timmaay!

pconn062

Timmaay wrote: »

Its 64!!! Ya gave me a heart attack there till I checked it ha! Although 2.08 through 800 would be fun, I'll be aiming instead for about 2.11. Always a good spread through the field however and someone to drag you along, I got a pb last year at it, alot due to having Fionnuala Britton breading down my neck 1st 3laps ha!

That looks like a fantastic mens A race, can't wait for it now!

Sorry my bad, read the wrong one! Still 2.11 through 800m is tasty moving! That A race does look stacked alright, would love to see it but a bit too much of a spin if I'm not running!

pconn062

Anyone running Graded meets in Tallaght this Wednesday? I see there is a 1500m on, sickened I can't make it myself.

ecoli

pconn062 wrote: »

Anyone running Graded meets in Tallaght this Wednesday? I see there is a 1500m on, sickened I can't make it myself.

Down for the 10k however given I only ran once this week as a precaution with a niggle and the steeple on Sunday I am starting to consider doing the 1500

Chivito550

Yep, plan is to run a 200. Any of you endurance bunnies fancy doing a half lapper?

pconn062

ecoli wrote: »

Down for the 10k however given I only ran once this week as a precaution with a niggle and the steeple on Sunday I am starting to consider doing the 1500

Didn't know you were carrying a niggle, nothing serious I hope?

pconn062

Chivito550 wrote: »

Yep, plan is to run a 200. Any of you endurance bunnies fancy doing a half lapper?

I think we are all crocked enough as it is, who knows what we would be like after a 200m race! :pac:

ecoli

pconn062 wrote: »

Didn't know you were carrying a niggle, nothing serious I hope?

Seems to have cleared up now thankfully but I suppose its what I get for doing 3k,10k,10 mile and a Marathon in the space of three weeks :rolleyes:

ecoli

Chivito550 wrote: »

Yep, plan is to run a 200. Any of you endurance bunnies fancy doing a half lapper?

Just give me a 24 and a half lap warm up first

BeepBeep67

1 mile on track in Greystones this Thursday evening, weather looks favourable.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1423756091220818

pconn062

Good article on how to run the 1500m here:

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/featured/run-1500m-2819/#.U3H8VHpMNuc.facebook

ecoli

Probably a bit late as the season has already begun but came across this article that raises alot of good points about transitioning into the speed work required for track and getting your body ready

This has struck a cord with me as this sort of work is something which I have brought into my training and found made a huge improvement

Stuff like proprioception, muscle fibre recruitment and neural pathway training have made the transition to faster paces easier than I would normally be able to do early season

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-to-build-a-better-running-engine

I think we focus on the Holy trinity - Running, stretching and weights without taking into account the other elements which can help hugely

Sacksian

Training has been a bit all over the place (literally and figuratively) since the 3k in Santry two weeks ago. Will be sitting out tonight's Graded in Tallaght. Tried to do my first 800m pace stuff last weekend but was probably overreaching with the paces (must have been closer to 600 pace) so still have DOMS.

Ran a half-marathon overseas the weekend before last (to tick off one of the 10 round numbers!), which was my longest run since November but maybe mile training is the secret ingredient for the HM?

So, really need to get back on track (literally and figuratively) before the Leinster Masters and my first 800 (+ 1500) of the season. Was hoping to do the mile in Irishtown in a couple of weeks. While the timing of that isn't great a few days before the Leinsters, it might be as well just to start getting the races in at this stage anyway (could always do the 400m instead!).

Good luck to anyone doing the 1500 tonight!

pconn062

Another bump, how are we all getting on? Graded meet on last night, anyone run? Leinsters this weekend, I'm sure we have a few heading down.

I missed the Graded last night unfortunately, have a bit of a niggle so didn't want to risk it. Nothing too serious I don't think, got a full session done last night with no problems so should be fine for the weekend, down for the 1500m.

Chivito550

pconn062 wrote: »

Another bump, how are we all getting on? Graded meet on last night, anyone run? Leinsters this weekend, I'm sure we have a few heading down.

I missed the Graded last night unfortunately, have a bit of a niggle so didn't want to risk it. Nothing too serious I don't think, got a full session done last night with no problems so should be fine for the weekend, down for the 1500m.

I'm knocking Leinsters on the head. Time last night in the 400 was not good and am not fit enough, so nothing to be gained from making the trek to Tullamore. What I need is hard training for the next couple of weeks.

I know 400 is not middle distance, but there's no Sprinters Thread, and even if there was, there'd only be 3 of us posting on it, so I'll tag along here.

Sacksian

Yeah, down for the 800m and, depending on how I feel afterwards, may or may not throw my hand at the 1500m. First 8 of the year, so not expecting anything special but it'll be good to get a benchmark.

Sacksian

Timetable for Sunday is up on the Athletics Leinster site now.

Sacksian

Two enjoyable races for me today - pb by almost a second in the 800m and a competitive 1500m on tired legs (not fast but my 1500 pb is soft so it could still be a pb!). It's definitely a quick track so I may be waiting a while to better the 800 time but I'd love to shave another couple seconds off before the summer's out.

Thomas Hayes in the 5k was very impressive, running it solo from the front and lapping almost all of the combined u23, senior and masters field.

pconn062

Sacksian wrote: »

Two enjoyable races for me today - pb by almost a second in the 800m and a competitive 1500m on tired legs (not fast but my 1500 pb is soft so it could still be a pb!). It's definitely a quick track so I may be waiting a while to better the 800 time but I'd love to shave another couple seconds off before the summer's out.

Thomas Hayes in the 5k was very impressive, running it solo from the front and lapping almost all of the combined u23, senior and masters field.

Nice to meet you yesterday and well done on your two races, that 1500m race was great to watch!

Very enjoyable day all round, although the Leinsters is not always the most competitive of days it is one of the most enjoyable for me. Got a new PB myself in the 1500m, 4.27 so happy out. And for once I wasn't actually left hanging off the back of the field and got a bit of race out of it too which was fun. Possibly have another 1500m lined up for Thursday but will have to see how the legs feel and what the weather is like.

pconn062

800m work hurts. That is without doubt the hardest session I've ever done tonight, better be worth it! 1500m at the Graded next week in downtown Tallaght, anyone thinking of heading down?

Chivito550

pconn062 wrote: »

800m work hurts. That is without doubt the hardest session I've ever done tonight, better be worth it! 1500m at the Graded next week in downtown Tallaght, anyone thinking of heading down?

Should be doing a 200m that night. A part of me was thinking I'd jump in the 1500m for the craic, but on second thoughts I might leave such tomfoolery for the decathlon in August.

pconn062

Anyone aware of any 1500m races coming up in the Leinster area in the next few weeks. I can't run Le Cheile this Friday as I'm away, any other options? I know there is a IMC meet on the 11th of July but no details released yet. I'm looking to get one more race in before out county championships on the 17th of July.

pconn062

Over a month since the last post here so thought I would give it a bump. How did everyone's season go? (or is it still ongoing?) I'm finished and I'm going to take a few easy weeks before starting on the winter work. Have been reading Joe Rubio's middle distance guide and trying to implement some of his ideas into my winter plan.

pa4

pconn062 wrote: »

Over a month since the last post here so thought I would give it a bump. How did everyone's season go? (or is it still ongoing?) I'm finished and I'm going to take a few easy weeks before starting on the winter work. Have been reading Joe Rubio's middle distance guide and trying to implement some of his ideas into my winter plan.

Back running since last Tuesday after a bit of an injury lay off. Just doing easy running with strides at the moment and lots of glute activation exercises that I got from my PT. I'll probably be doing a session this week, not sure what yet but nothing too intense. I only ended up missing a total of 5 days in a row so not too bad, don't feel I lost much and I'm feeling strong on the strides so should be back to full fitness very shortly.

I usually take a break around August but since I've been injured I'll take that as a break and just train up for XC. I'm going on holidays to Croatia and Hungary for a week at the very end of August anyway so I doubt I'll run there! Might try and get in one or two road races around the mid-end of August to see where I'm at. XC is still a long ways away so I don;t want to go too long without racing.

EMPM

Hi folks,

Im looking at giving the track a go, probably aim for indoor races in Jan, Feb next year.

Only starting to focus on training for middle distance now. In relation to spikes, i have xc spikes, would these do for now and would it be worth or make any difference getting some track spikes, any advice welcome.

Thanks
EMPM

pconn062

EMPM wrote: »

Hi folks,

Im looking at giving the track a go, probably aim for indoor races in Jan, Feb next year.

Only starting to focus on training for middle distance now. In relation to spikes, i have xc spikes, would these do for now and would it be worth or make any difference getting some track spikes, any advice welcome.

Thanks
EMPM

Cross spikes would probably be fine to start you off, you just might need to put 5mm spikes in if you don't have them already as that's the longest allowed on a track (and maybe knock the muck off them!).

pconn062

So I thought I'd give this thread a bit of a bump. Some of us now are probably cursing cross country and thinking longingly about indoors and the return of track. I seen a little talk on dna_leri's log about base building and thought it would be useful to maybe move it over here.

So this is the first year where I am thinking about base building with outdoor track specifically in mind. I am currently trying to get into good 5k shape and hope to start base building towards the end of December. So, how do you do yours?
I have been reading Joe Rubio's 1500m guide and he advocates a good stint of cross country training up to December with real base building starting in January. Like dna_leri mentioned I think Joe advocates more that just miles and miles of easy running and instead that most easy runs should be finished at about 75% of current 5k pace. He also keeps in touch with all the systems with a weekly speed maintenance day, a 1500m pace day and a slower that 1500m session. This phase is preceded by a period where easy running is advocated to establish peak mileage levels. I was curious to get peoples opinions on this. January seems very early to me to be touching on 1500m on a weekly basis (even if it is only pretty light work such a 4x2x300m). I am interested in seeing how you think someone should approach base building for outdoor track season, for someone who is not going to focus on indoors (minus 1 race maybe for fun!)

Chivito550

pconn062 wrote: »

So I thought I'd give this thread a bit of a bump. Some of us now are probably cursing cross country and thinking longingly about indoors and the return of track. I seen a little talk on dna_leri's log about base building and thought it would be useful to maybe move it over here.

So this is the first year where I am thinking about base building with outdoor track specifically in mind. I am currently trying to get into good 5k shape and hope to start base building towards the end of December. So, how do you do yours?
I have been reading Joe Rubio's 1500m guide and he advocates a good stint of cross country training up to December with real base building starting in January. Like dna_leri mentioned I think Joe advocates more that just miles and miles of easy running and instead that most easy runs should be finished at about 75% of current 5k pace. He also keeps in touch with all the systems with a weekly speed maintenance day, a 1500m pace day and a slower that 1500m session. This phase is preceded by a period where easy running is advocated to establish peak mileage levels. I was curious to get peoples opinions on this. January seems very early to me to be touching on 1500m on a weekly basis (even if it is only pretty light work such a 4x2x300m). I am interested in seeing how you think someone should approach base building for outdoor track season, for someone who is not going to focus on indoors (minus 1 race maybe for fun!)

Makes sense. Important to keep in touch with the more anaerobic side of training once a week during winter, so your body doesn't forget how to run fast. That's what I've been told and that's why we do one fast session a week at the moment.

I'm going to classify 400m as middle distance for the purposes of this thread.

Winter training for me consists of 2 days in the gym, and 3 days sessions. At the moment, 1 is on hills, 1 on grass for endurance work, and then 1 track session with 150s or shorter stuff. The track work isn't flat out, but more focused on technique. Then on top of that a long run. I was doing 2 long runs a week before I upped my sessions from 2 to 3, but now I'll be back down to one (though I'm doing none at the moment as my hip was feeling sore from it, so told to leave it out for a bit).

No cross country for me. :D