Thur- 8miles- 64min
Fri- 14 total- 2w.u. 3xmile at 6:35 45min at 8:00, 2xmile at 6:35 w/ 1min recov
Its all about the PACE! Lots of consulting with my old teammates, Jack Daniels great book J. D.'s Running Formula, and looking more seriously at my past running logs. I am a chronic over runner in workouts.....meaning if I am in 4:28 mile shape rather than doing repeat 400's at 67, I ran them at 63 and would fade to 68's by the end of the workout. If I had 16:20- 5k speed I'd run a 3xmile workout at 5:01, 5:02, and fade to 5:14 on the last one. This over working lead too me needing more recover time than I should have, and often more than I got. Thus I never progressed during the course of many of my competitive seasons in high school and college. I was always too beat up from the workouts to race well, and many seasons when it came time to peak I was in worse shape than when I started the season. There is something to be said about trying to hard. Or more correctly not training SMART enough.
So this year I begin speed work for the first time in 5 years and what do I do? I'm trying to run repeat mile workouts 15-20 seconds per mile faster than I should and instead of getting stronger from them I got beat up. Well no more. I have to accept the shape that I am currently in and embrace the fact that nothing but smart running and time is going to improve it. Running my guts out in a workout is not going to give me the result I want. Smarter running means better recovery, which allows more workouts and better performance. It seems so simple now looking back on it.
Using one of these fine calculators: Runbayou or runworks You can see what physiological shape you are in and also what PACE you should be running Intervals, Thresholds, Marathon pace runs and easy/long runst.
I am currently at a VDOT of 52-53. Hopefully I can improve on this (one level every 4-6 weeks) and be in shape by September to run a PR in the marathon.
Until then I am following some sound Jack Daniels (The PHD coach) principles and trying to train smarter. Today's run was one of those. A marathon designed tempo run using my current threshold pace of 6:35/mile. I ran on the treadmill as a way of keeping me in tune to the correct pace until I can learn it. Goodness knows my internal pacer would have had me running TOO HARD and needing 3 days off to recover.
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2 comments:
Greg,
I love this workout. Of course I didn't end up doing during this training segment, but its been a staple in the past. I empathize with your plight regarding running workouts at the correct pace. No bonus points for going faster. But pace isn't everything either. Pay attention to how you feel. Somedays you just have "it" and somedays you don't. The important thing is distinguishing between the two. Keep truckin'.
Exactly Patrick. And despite knowing this intellectually I never have been able to really listen. Push harder, run faster...that has got to make you better, was the way I have operated previously. I think now I finally GET it. Take care and go easy during your taper.
Greg
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