Running Around 10-30-06

A great race coming up this week ... Millhouse 15k. A relatively fast course and a homemade waffle breakfast afterward. Next week Buddy's 5k with a Bar-b-q lunch following. So to get ready to race, we'll try a mini progression-type workout. The idea is to move to successively faster paces in the set.

I won't be at the track since I'll be doing Trick-or-Treat with my son. I may join the group for pizza afterward, though.

Now for the workouts ... Week #17 in the training cycle and 4 weeks to Autumnfest.

1. Sets of : 1200m @T pace w/45 seconds rest, 2x800m @I pace w/400m jog rest, 2 x 200m @R w/200m jog rest. Volume guidelines bases on miles per week:
45+: do 2 sets
35-45: do 2 sets, but drop one 800 on the second set
0-30 miles per week: do 1 set and add 2 more 200s.

2. Striders TWO times this week. 4-6 x 100m

3. Optional second workout: Race -or-20-22 minutes continuous run @T pace.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html

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Fall marathoners ... less than 1 week until race day (for NYC Marathon; others see notes that follow)

1. 2x1200 @MP + 2x1200 @T. Take 1-2 minutes rest.

2. Striders TWO times this week following an easy run. 4-6x100.

3. 2 miles of continuous T pace during any of your runs this week (no later than Thursday).

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html
Get your MP here ... http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Marathoners for races other than NYC adjust your schedule accordingly. See the previous posts at http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/ for the corresponding workouts:

Chickamauga: Do the marathon workout from 10-9-06
Huntsville: Do the marathon workout from 9-18-06

Running Around 10-22-06

This week we start the final phase of our fall training cycle. We will work on sharpening and taper from now until Thanksgiving. It's a good idea to do a race or two between now and the peak race to get sharp mentally and physically. There are some good races between now and then: Millhouse 15k and Buddy's 5k are usually fun and well-attended.

Be sure to congratulate Alan Horton the next time you see him at the track. He ran the Chicago Marathon in 2:21:58 today to qualify for the Olympic Trials!

Now for the workouts ... Week #16 in the training cycle and 5 weeks to Autumnfest.

1. 3-6 x 1600m @T pace with 1 minute rest + 2-4 x 200m @R w/200m jog rest.

2. Striders TWO times this week. 4-6 x 100m

3. Optional second workout: Race -or-4-8x 800m @I pace with equal time jog for rest.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html

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Fall marathoners ... 1 week until race day (for Marine Corps Marathon; others see notes that follow)

1. 2x1200 @MP + 2x1200 @T. Take 1-2 minutes rest.

2. Striders TWO times this week following an easy run. 4-6x100.

3. 2 miles of continuous T pace during any of your runs this week (no later than Thursday).

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html
Get your MP here ... http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Marathoners for races other than Marine Corps Marathon adjust your schedule accordingly. See the previous posts at http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/ for the corresponding workouts:

NYC: Do the marathon workout from 10-9-06
Chickamauga: Do the marathon workout from 10-2-06
Huntsville: Do the marathon workout from 9-11-06

Running Around 10-15-06

This is our final week of phase 3. We'll finish with our staple I-pace workout. I won't be at the track this week, so I'll see you next week.

Now for the workouts ... Week #15 in the training cycle and 6 weeks to Autumnfest

1. Sets of I pace intervals: 3-6 x 1200m @I pace with equal TIME jog for rest. The rest will probably work out to be about 400m.
Volume: The I-paced running should be about 8% of your weekly mileage
Adjustments: If you cannot run 1200m at your pace in less than 5 minutes, run 1000m repeats instead.

2. Striders TWO times this week. 4-6 x 100m

3. Optional second workout: 20 minutes continuous run @T pace -or- 1 hour progression run: 30 minutes easy + 30 minutes @MP.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html

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Fall marathoners ... 1 week until race day (for Chicago; others see notes that follow)

1a. 2x1200 @MP + 2x1200 @T. Take 1-2 minutes rest.

2. Striders TWO times this week following an easy run. 4-6x100.

3. 2 miles of continuous T pace during any of your runs this week (no later than Thursday).

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html
Get your MP here ... http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Marathoners for races other than Chicago adjust your schedule accordingly. See the previous posts at http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/ for the corresponding workouts:

Marine Corps: Do the marathon workout from 10-9-06
NYC: Do the marathon workout from 10-2-06
Chickamauga: Your final 20+ miler -or- 3x3200 @T with 2 minutes rest + 8-10 miles easy.
Huntsville: Do the marathon workout from 9-4-06

Running Around 10-9-06

I'm going to challenge you all a little this week with the workout. We're going to go a little over distance for the I pace stuff. We'll do two different distances (see chart below). For rest on the longer intervals, it should be equal time or 5 minutes (whichever is less). For rest on the shorter intervals, it should be equal time or 3 minutes (whichever is less).

Now for the workouts ... Week #14 in the training cycle and 7 weeks to Autumnfest

1. Sets of I pace intervals:
50 miles per week: 3x 1600m + 2x 800m
45 miles per week: 2x 1600m + 3x 800m
40 miles per week: 3x 1200m + 2x 800m
35 miles per week: 2x 1200m + 3x 800m
30 miles per week: 2x 1200m + 2x 800m
25 miles per week: 2x 1200m + 1x 800m
20 miles per week: 2x 1200m + 1x 600m

2. Striders TWO times this week. 4-6 x 100m

3. Optional second workout: 2-3 x 3200 @T pace with 2 minute rest.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html

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Fall marathoners ... 2 weeks until race day (for Chicago; others see notes that follow)

1a. 4x 2400m @T with 2 min rest

2. Striders TWO times this week following an easy run. 4-6x100.

3. Long run should be 10 miles or less.

4. 2 miles of continuous T pace during any of your runs this week.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html
Get your MP here ... http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Marathoners for races other than Chicago adjust your schedule accordingly. See the previous posts at http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/ for the corresponding workouts:

Marine Corps: Do the marathon workout from 10-2-06
NYC: Your final 20+ miler -or- 3x3200 @T with 2 minutes rest + 8-10 miles easy.
Chickamauga: Do the marathon workout from 9-25-06
Huntsville: Do the marathon workout from 8-28-06

Workout advice

Good advice from Weldon Johnson (co-founder of Letsrun.com) regarding workouts:

"For almost every workout, you should be finishing faster than you start, and you should be trying to find a relaxed rhythm not trying to necessarily run the set of intervals as fast as possible on that day. If you're going too hard early, you won't accomplish this. Running fast is a learned activity, and you don't learn how to do it by running too hard all the time, struggling in all your workouts. Most college runners, let me change that, most runners don't appreciate this fact. Instead of trying to relax and stay just under their threshold, they try and muscle through their intervals, struggling to complete the workout. Much of the effect is lost."

For the complete article, see ... http://www.letsrun.com/2006/collegesuck.php

Running Around 10-2-06

October, in my opinion, is the best month for running in East TN . Cool, dry weather and falling leaves is hard to beat.

We'll go back to doing 1200s (or 1000s) this week. It's one of our bread & butter workouts for phase 3 since it makes it easy to hit the optimal duration for I-pace running (4-5 minutes). This is the 3rd I workout, so hopefully you're starting to adjust to the faster pace.

Now for the workouts ... Week #13 in the training cycle and 8 weeks to Autumnfest

1. 3-6 x 1200m @I pace with equal TIME jog for rest. The rest will probably work out to be about 400m.
Volume: The I-paced running should be about 8% of your weekly mileage
Adjustments: If you cannot run 1200m at your pace in less than 5 minutes, run 1000m repeats instead.

2. Striders TWO times this week. 4-6 x 100m

3. Optional second workout: 3-5 x 2000 @T pace with 1 minute rest.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html

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Fall marathoners ... 3 weeks until race day (for Chicago; others see notes that follow)

This should be your last hard effort until the race. You should be cutting mileage as part of your taper.

1a. 12-13 miles @MP. Be sure to do a proper warm-up and cooldown.
1b. You could also do a race longer than 10k.

2. Striders TWO times this week following an easy run. 4-6x100.

3. 2 miles of continuous T pace during any of your runs this week.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html
Get your MP here ... http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Marathoners for races other than Chicago adjust your schedule accordingly. See the previous posts at http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/ for the corresponding workouts:

Marine Corps: Your final 20+ miler -or- 3x3200 @T with 2 minutes rest + 8-10 miles easy.
NYC: Do the marathon workout from 9-25-06
Chickamauga: Do the marathon workout from 9-18-06
Huntsville: Do the marathon workout from 8-21-06