"5By5" <[email hidden]> wrote
Quoted message said:i need to get serious. i've been running 9 miles a day for years now and
that's just a punk way of training.
Dullsville for me. It's much more fun to mix it up.
Quoted message said:i'm thinking of following pftizinger's 12 week advanced program at around
50 miles per week.
Hey, you've got a solid base of 60+ mpw (assuming you run daily), why step
down?
Just change the mix.
Quoted message said:i need to get ready for ole pfitz's plan though...does anyone have any
interesting speed workouts they might like to share? i hate running around
the high school track as those high school kids can't keep their eyes off
me and it really creeps me out.
Well, let me core dump (for the umpteenth time) my speedwork philosophy:
As far as interesting goes, I dunno. It's a mental challenge just to do
speedwork at all. Not all out, not leg burning, not agony, but as fast and
smooth as you can short of that point, and at even effort throughout
whatever distance you're doing. Forget about looking at the watch during
your workout, but record times at the finish to check your progress. And
all reps should be at the same level of effort. It's never boring, that's
for sure.
My advice is to keep the total minutes of speed to 15-16 minutes of hard
running at your base of 60mpw. I used to do either 10x440, 5x880 or
3x1mile. Short and sweet, and that got me into the 2:30's. (Back in the day
I could do 3x1 in under 15:30 to satisfy my dictum)
Run 2 miles easy to warm up, and 2 miles easy to cool down. So your hard
speed day is really 4 miles of easy stuff, 2.5 - 3 miles of hard speed, and
2-3 miles of in-between jogging.
Longer workouts (say, 20+ minutes of actual speed), are too much unless
you've got the base to support it -- like 100+ mpw. A rule of thumb for me
is 10% speed. So at 60 mpw, you can do 6 or so miles of speed/week, but not
in a single workout.
Between reps, keep it simple and jog the same distance as the rep. Forget
about the short recovery stuff, I never noticed any difference at my
sub-elite level, and I've tried it every which way. (Donovan and I have
jousted over this before)
The goal (and you need to find the balance) is to be ready for another hard
day two days after your speed workout. In my case, that means that the day
after the speed day is smooth and easy (no racing, but it is permitted to
pick it up a bit when an attractive girl approacheth).
Quoted message said:can i do a hill day and a speed day in the same week?
If you keep the actual "speed" part brief enough, my bet is that you can.
Typically, I do 3 hard or harder days/week: Tu, Th, Sa. Saturday is the
long run (easy to moderate pace, don't push it, feel like you can run
another few miles at the end of it).
Tu and Th can be speed, hills, LT (80% max hr), or whatever you want. The
trick is to make whatever you do on those days be hard enough to get
stronger, but not so hard that you aren't raring to go 48 hours later.
Sounds easy, but if you're competitive, finding the sweet spot is difficult.
The classic training phases (from Lydiard):
Establish the base first (which you've done). Then hills (I translate this
to Tu and Th hill work) for a couple of weeks. Then sharpening, which means
2 speed days (of light enough volume to recover properly) for 5-7 weeks
before my target race. When I was younger, I'd improve my speedwork times
for 7 weeks. Nowadays, I peak out after about 4-5 weeks. The long run is
the rock of Gibraltar.
What's a hill workout? Try 3 x (2:30 up hard, 3 min jog, 2:30 down fast, 3
min jog). Same 2 mile warmup and warmdown as a speed day.
Ok, my fingers are completely worn out now. Take what you like...
-- Dan
