mr b's latest comeback

[Travs]

You can replace HR zones with a 2 mile/3km flat time trial... this will give you a base pace which corresponds fairly accurately with your max useable HR.

Then work out percentages from there. Its a decent guide but not infallible... for instance, the pace i run my rep sessions, i should be posting up better times at 5km and 10km... but its not quite as simple as that... is the answer that i'm pushing my rep sessions too hard...? or am i not pushing hard enough to reach my potential in flat races? Or am i missing something else like not enough "tempo" sessions? Or am i simply doing too much? Or does my constant fellracing schedule impinge on my flat performance? Who knows.....

Where i think pace/HR as a guide is very useful is for learning what your easy pace should be for the "80" of your training. ie 60-70% of max HR/3km pace.... for example my recent 3km race time suggests my easy running should be at 8:00-9:30/mile.... this is the tough part, because to run steadily even at the quicker end of that pace can feel incredibly slow at times.

[mr brightside]

On reflection i'm surprised at how complicated they make it sound. It was quite staggering to listen to everyone bartering over which framework is best when using HR and percentages thereof.

One thing he did say was that your training program should be race targeted and rotate on a 4 week system. So build for 3wks then have a down week, aiming to peak for the race. So that's training to race, whereas i tend to race to train! My 'training schedule' is a bit of a mixed bag rotating on a 2wk basis with no down week, which i'm not bothering with at the moment due to persistent racing.

It's all such hard work, but i think i don't need a watch and i don't really need to worry about zones or percentages; but i will try and draw up a 4wk rotating pattern. With my lungs clogged with phlegm and my times down by 5-8% i don't think anyone could get any more performance out of me currently, not even steve cram.

[Mike T]

Years ago when living down south I went to a talk on training by a level 4 coach. It was memorable for two reasons:

1/ He had just been sacked as the coach of a now world class middle distance runner - the circumstances around this were fascinating, and involved the undermining of his authority and advice by some household names in athletics

2/ He felt there were lots of ridiculously complicated training programs out there - in his opinion, in middle distance, you could do a lot worse than just running your target distance at race pace from time to time. Of course you had to to decide how often this should be done and how long any taper should be. An interesting contrast to some of those expensive and exquisitely detailed books out there.

[mr brightside]

Ingleborough race today, 7m/2000', too hot for a good time. People at the gala kept telling me that I'd done well to complete the race, I didn't understand what they were on about, completion was almost a certainty for everyone running. The non racing public always seem to think we do these things to see if we can finish the course.

[mr brightside]

25m on the bike this aft, took on cow and calf which left me dripping with sweat. It was good to get a bit of blood pumping as I felt sore after Ingleborough yesterday, and it was a very slow day on the tour de france. Had a mechanical which turned out to be a loose rear wheel.

[mr brightside]

Just two rides into work this week, trying to build back in after the right knee issues. Yesterday was very hot and quite windy, it felt like the marathon des sables going up kirkstall road out of leeds.

[mr brightside]

Awful parkrun yesterday, 21.15 or something. I've been wondering if it's time to take my lungs to the doctor.

[mr brightside]

50m on the bike today up to the craven arms and back. Horrified to be told they didn't have enough kitchen staff to do walk-ins, so i had to go without my onion rings. 3 pints of Lamb Pale and some crisps, i was feeling a bit tipsy when i left so called into St Peter's Church hall in Addingham for tea and cake on the way back. I got heavily rained on for the last hour, and the wind turned on me too so i had a headwind going both ways.

[mr brightside]

Training.jpg

I've drawn this up as a 4wk training pattern with a down week. The red sessions are the hard ones, so it's mostly easy work, but the AM hill runs will be more of a workout. Obviously this will be interfered with by any racing.

The program is a lot easier than my last one i used to do, and features far less prolonged agony and suffering. To wit i'm skeptical about how all this easy running can make you faster, but people say a solid aerobic base is a very good thing.

Hills don't feature a lot because north Leeds is not hilly, and i don't do well in hilly races. The target categories are BS and BM.

Any comments?

[Travs]

Well we all have our own preferences when it comes to training, our own histories, and in theory know how to get a tune out of our own bodies... so i really don't like commenting on the training program of others... particularly when i can't always be consistent myself!!

But... if i was designing it for myself, i'd say there wasn't enough easy running, which in turn makes the ratio of hard:easy running way too high...

Of course, if you feel that all the cycling gives you the necessary aerobic base, and helps you avoid injury, then brilliant... i know that for myself, i made my most significant jump in performance from 2017 to 2018, when i stopped cross-training and replaced it all with easy runs, therefore vastly increasing my weekly mileage...

But if that is going to lead to injury for you then it is irrelevant.