It took me 4 years to take my HM time from 1:30 to 1:16, 6:52 pace to 5:48 pace. The biggest impact I saw was when I upped overall milage rather than did more intense training.
It took me 4 years to take my HM time from 1:30 to 1:16, 6:52 pace to 5:48 pace. The biggest impact I saw was when I upped overall milage rather than did more intense training.
She also did more than 35 MPW. And trained ****ing hard as I found out to my cost when I had the (mis)fortune of training with her!!Originally Posted by noel
The Runners World article hi-lights the difference between when I was training for 1500 (3.57 best) and did shorter reps, and when I stepped up to 5K (14.24 best) and rarely did less than 400m reps.
So much conflicting advice, although in truth it;s probably different paths to the same goal. I can't do monster miles because of work and time and family and all that and so getting the most out of what i know seems a paltry 35 MPW is where i'm at. I am not expecting to be Paula-esque nor be at the front in a fell race so advice based on what they do will just serve to make the likes of me feel even more hopeless. That said, it is interesting through.
This week my plan is:
Today (in a mo, in fact): 5m easy, with 6*1 mins at 3k pace towards the end
Tues: Bridestone fell race if i can make it, if not then 7m (2 easy, 3 5k pace, 2 easy)
Weds: 7 easy
Thurs: Club fartlek session (about 5M)
Fri: Tattenhall Tough Team race - 8M inc 4 off road, hilly (been in the diary for eons)
Sat: Easy 7M
Sun: Rest
Looks good to me. If you don't make the race, may be best to do 3 at 10k pace. Doing 3 miles at full pace might be a bit too much. The only thing I would try to do is make your Saturday run longer if you can. About 1/2 marathon (less if hilly) but still at an easy pace.
Yes, I guess she was on about 100 MPW. When was that, and what was the training session?
I'd strongly recommend an organised track session with a running club. I joined my local road running club specifically for the speed work they do on a track - mainly 6 x 800, 5 x 1000, 4 x 1200, or Pyramid sessions.
I'd tried doing sprint sessions on my own on the road, but doing it alongside other runners made it much quicker, competitive and hence trained harder.
Brilliant sessions.
Totally agree with Richard B. Moving at 5.30/mile pace is very quick. When I could do this, and sustain it over a 10K road race I was training with a group of club middle distance runners (mostly young lads) and it typically involved 3 sets of 4 x 400m with 200m jog recovery. Lap of jog recovery between sets. Emphasis was on hitting exact times for each 400m (around the 65 seconds mark) with a blast of whatever you had left on the last lap . We also did fartlek, Indian file, pyramid sessions. Mileage was not high but intensity was.
On an easy week. What was the story along the lines of her trainer telling her if she was injured and it hurt 8 out of 10 on the pain scale she must stop but the problem being her 7 was most folks' 9?
Poacher turned game-keeper
Looks like i can make Bridestone, which should be a great workout. Will try and extend Sat's run, but time is an issue. Thanks for the feedback
I'm with Al.. Just run faster. Also more runs in the 90mins to 2 HR range, that's where the bulk of your aerobic gains come in.
im running like shit at the moment, every day is ~90F and humid, so real feel is 95-100F.. 35 C.. just brutal, just not putting any quality in.
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