Saturday's workout was pretty tough. The times Will lay out for me were 2 wu, 1600 in 5:36, 1600 jog and then a slower set of cutback 1600's with 400 rest, ending with a 6:00 final 1600. Then 20 minutes of jogging afterwards. I was feeling a lot too frisky at the starting line of the first 1600, and blew out a 37.5 sec. 200...nope...I'm not gonna make a 5:00 mile happen on this one, time to slow it down a bit. I ended up hitting 5:32, so the rest was more or less on pace.
Then 6:24, 6:10, 6:04, and 5:57. Not too bad. I was happy with the workout, but I was feeling pretty flat by the end. Another 2-3 miles later put me at home. Later that night I felt the soreness creeping on, and by the next morning, I was stiff as hell. The Sun long run went okay...I ran the first 4.5 miles at 9 minute pace, but I could really feel my hamstrings. There was a lot of microtearing in them, especially on the right side. I slowly picked things up from 65 to 75 percent MHR over the course of 15 miles, and was running 7:0X by the end, although there were definitely some twinges.
I relayed my slight worry about the tightness to Will, and he calmly asserted (if one can assert in any way but calmly in an email without using all caps) that with the Mon easy run + light strides, I'd be 95% by Mon night, and ready to rip out a good Tuesday workout the next morning, just in time. Sure enough, the pain was light by Mon. night, and completely unnoticable when I hit the indoor track this morning for 8 miles at 85%. The weather was cold, and there was a slick layer of snow on the ground. A scan of the treadmills at the gym showed that I had too many undergraduate girls to compete with for space. I headed over to the indoor track, despite the wear and tear that 128 turns in 8 miles can inflict.
Again, I was too big for myself in the beginning of the workout. The first 1600 went by in 5:42...yikes. I put on the brakes a bit, ran 5:57, 6:00, 6:06, and then took things back under 6:00 for the remainder. 47:36 for 7.95 miles = 8*(1600m). The lactic burn settled in at around 5-6 miles, but my body learned to love and accept it, and I loosened up again a bit later. A lactic acid stomacache over breakfast was my body reminding me that I shouldn't be so rough on it. Overall, it was a really nice workout. My legs feel fine 12 hours later, and tomorrow's a nice relaxing easy jog. Tremendous hills, deep deep valleys... Thanks Will.
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10 comments:
That Sat workout is a bear. I love it!! You really have to work through oxygen debt and being fatigued and that will pay dividends soon enough.
Out of curiosity, what are you setting as your goal times for your races? It sounds like he's really trying to get you ready to pop some really terrific times...
Wow, nice work, particularly running 9000 times in a banked circle.
Hi Joseph,
Under 16min for 5k would be great, and low 33s for 10k. I'd really like to go under 52 minutes at the Boilermaker, which is doable if I can hit the 5k and 10k times this spring (given decent conditions at the race). This would be a nice 4 minute PR :-).
Wow, those are some robust goals, but doable, I think, if you're able to get in the training and stay healthy, which, under Will, I suspect you should be able to. Fingers crossed...
Hey fellas,
Please don't take this message as an assault on your training...it's only a question. We live in different worlds as far as goals are concerned. I read dozens of blogs, from 5k specialists to 100-milers. The one common theme among all runners is injuries when they start to do too much high intensity work. Your coach has forgotten more about training than I'll ever know...but have either of you wondered if you're committing to high intensity work a bit early? Again, I'm not saying you are, just wondering so I can compare my own program. Thanks!
Hi Adam,
I think you're right, although there's usually another part to that common theme, and that's improper recovery. Now I'm not saying that we're not courting injury with this type of running, but it definitely is a different experiment from what I've been doing. 9 minute miles have *never* been part of my training plan...*ever*.
If you look at the plan I have (I lay out the first week here), there are really only two tough workouts a week, and then a third low-key workout sandwiched between two very easy days.
So this is, I hope, the right way to be adding higher intensity training. Am I courting injury? Maybe. I don't think I can avoid it though if I want to hit my goals. High mileage is "dangerous," high intensity is "dangerous." On the bright side, my old problem with chronic achilles issues is gone at the moment (and actually has been for months now!), and whatever niggles I've had have been fleeting. We'll see how it goes!
Adam,
No offense taken, but you're off in your assumption. I've had 8 weeks of easy, non-fast paced running. Can't speak for Hubitron, but I'll even say even if there was only 2-4 weeks easy running before re-introducing pace work, what we're doing is base building with the pace work.
So that said, Will uses multi-pace training. You start workouts even in the pre-season. It's the dominant theory in 5000-10000m training--college XC, the Kenyans, the Portuguese, etc.. It just is: if you want to start breaking 16 or 35 for the 10k, you've got to start to hit the race paces early. Months of all easy running just won't get you there.
You're also assuming we're doing intense running because we're using 5k Paces or 10k Paces. But that's not the case: if you do a fartlek that asks you to hit 1:00@10kP, but you have a 2:00 recovery, you get the benefits of a base run.
Finally, Hubitron has some wheels on him (see his 400m time). Will's playing into that strength. Per the rate of injury.
Well, yeah, but your thinking is very all or nothing. I got injured not because of the multi-pace work but because I did not give enough attention to recovery and did way too much volume. So far, there has been zero aches and pains. However, if injury was approaching, then the coach makes the adjustment by reducing the paces, scrapping the workout, etc.
Vigil, Rubio, Simmons, Wetmore--even Daniels and Lydiard--introduce pace work in base building. It's not the pace, it's the recovery.
Thanks for the info guys. I'm continually trying to determine whether I should be doing more or less higher quality work, talking through it helps me.
Adam,
I really think it depends on the specificity of training. You're mostly an ultra guy, so I'm not sure there's a whole lot of need to hitting faster paces through the training cycle. My slight understandinf of the ultra is that it's mostly a more low-end aerobic endurance event.
Hubitron,
I found your blog through Joseph's and I noticed your routes in Hyde Park. I guess we might have something in common. I was there from '93 to '98 in grad school (chemistry). Small world I guess.
Greg
Hi Greg,
Yeah, especially the academic world. It's not actually me that's associated with U of C. My wife is a graduate student there. I commute to the suburbs.
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