The Running Thread Vol 2

[anonymous-user]

KTF said:

A must under 6 min avg is very good for a 5 miler! I managed 6:06 for a 18:59 5k and was having a good stagger afterwards. That was earlier on in the year and have only hit low 19s since.

The session today was with 2 min recoveries. Have managed to get them all below 3 mins a month or so ago but I was out earlier than usual today and needed time to wake up I think

I started adding intervals to my training about a year ago now and 200s are down to 35s ish now, 400s 1:20-25, 800s 3 mins and miles 6 min. Parkrun times are now under 20 mins unless I am having a bad day then it's low 20s.

A recent half was a low 1h29 (3rd year at a sub 90 at the same event so it's all paying off.

The moral of the story is do intervals

Intervals and consistent longer runs are the key from my experience.

I have three main sessions that I run: 6x3 mins off 1 minute recovery, 12x45secs hill sprints and parkruns/5k tempos. Whenever I'm running well I'm performing well across these sessions.

[KTF]

cookie118 said:

Intervals and consistent longer runs are the key from my experience.

I have three main sessions that I run: 6x3 mins off 1 minute recovery, 12x45secs hill sprints and parkruns/5k tempos. Whenever I'm running well I'm performing well across these sessions.

Yeah, I have been following a 16 week marathon plan on rotation for the past year (cutting down on the very long Sunday runs) so my schedule normally looks like:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Interval work
Wednesday - Rest (or if marathon training, longer (8 - 10 miles), slower run).
Thursday - Shorter tempo run (6 miles or so)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Parkrun (full tilt)
Sunday - Long run (double digit miles)

Before that I was generally just going out and running distance at the same speed but since mixing it up my times have come down a lot.

[johnwilliams77]

cookie118 said:

Intervals and consistent longer runs are the key from my experience.

I have three main sessions that I run: 6x3 mins off 1 minute recovery, 12x45secs hill sprints and parkruns/5k tempos. Whenever I'm running well I'm performing well across these sessions.

I do 1 min sprints with 1min breaks on the treadmill.....does anyone have any belief of what intervals work best for them?

[KTF]

My 16 week plan looks like this from an interval point of view. If you want the spreadsheet I can share it with you.

[Cybertronian]

For anybody with access to Sky Atlantic, a HBO produced documentary about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing (Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing) launched on Monday. I'm normally quite stoic, but found myself getting a bit misty-eyed when shown what some of the survivors from the blasts went through.

[Halb]

KTF said:

A must under 6 min avg is very good for a 5 miler! I managed 6:06 for a 18:59 5k and was having a good stagger afterwards. That was earlier on in the year and have only hit low 19s since.

The session today was with 2 min recoveries. Have managed to get them all below 3 mins a month or so ago but I was out earlier than usual today and needed time to wake up I think

I started adding intervals to my training about a year ago now and 200s are down to 35s ish now, 400s 1:20-25, 800s 3 mins and miles 6 min. Parkrun times are now under 20 mins unless I am having a bad day then it's low 20s.

A recent half was a low 1h29 (3rd year at a sub 90 at the same event so it's all paying off.

The moral of the story is do intervals

Do you do hill sprints? I have a nice lil slope a 2 min walk from my house on a rural lane. It has a pretty darn steep slope, maybe 10-15°, probably around 80 metres long. I'm gonna have a crack at a session on it soon, also take my kettlebells.

[KTF]

Halb said:

Do you do hill sprints? I have a nice lil slope a 2 min walk from my house on a rural lane. It has a pretty darn steep slope, maybe 10-15°, probably around 80 metres long. I'm gonna have a crack at a session on it soon, also take my kettlebells.

Yes, they are in my plan as well. Although where I am is pretty flat so there aren't really any 'hills' about.

I normally do between 10 - 14 (depending on the plan) of this hill near my house as its a double bridalway so I sprint up one side then jog down the other to recover before repeating.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6994180

The winter course at the local parkrun has 2x hils per lap (3 laps) that are steep enough to make themselves felt - even if they dont register on the GPS plot - so thats another 6 each week.

[AbzST64]

The one thing that has really helped me has been hill reps/sprints.

Ive gone from this time last year around 43ish min 10k to now mid 37mins and 5k 22 mins to sub 18mins !!

I used to mainly run roads then i moved out to the country where there are no flats and joined a trail running club! Im now much fitter and faster than my mates who still just train on the roads/flats! Honestly put hill reps into your plans, it will make differences.

[dave0010]

9.5 mile run for me today at a average pace of 8:13. I was exploring a new running route and didn't know what the final distance would be though. As such for the first 4 miles I was plodding to save energy incase it was a really long route. As much as I love exploring I think I need to find different length loops then just run them multiple times for longer distances. Then I will know for sure the distance I will be running and can focus on pace and stamina.

[Cybertronian]

dave0010 said:

9.5 mile run for me today at a average pace of 8:13. I was exploring a new running route and didn't know what the final distance would be though. As such for the first 4 miles I was plodding to save energy incase it was a really long route. As much as I love exploring I think I need to find different length loops then just run them multiple times for longer distances. Then I will know for sure the distance I will be running and can focus on pace and stamina.

Worth using a service like mapmyrun.com to plan out the length of route you want to cover. I don't like surprises when I go out running and I have an awful sense of direction, so it's reassuring to know where and how far I'm going!

[Cybertronian]

Well, after 5 years of running and countless races and Parkruns, I had my first ever DNF at the Telford 10k this morning. Caught a pretty bad cold on Monday and have spent the entire week trying to shift it.

Felt recovered enough to run the race, and if 100% fit, it would have been a pretty much guaranteed PB. The effort didn't stack up against the pace I was producing, and with a 40 minute cut off, I knew I probably would have then ended up as one of the last to finish doing nothing for my already shakey morale. Dropped out at halfway...

[anonymous-user]

Had a fairly horrible experience at the Derbyrunner 10k in Bolsover today.

Set off and felt ok for the first couple of miles, in hitting a 5:55 first mile and a 5:45 2nd mile (which was probably much too fast). After that I hung on a bit in the third mile (for a 6:13) and then my asthma kicked in badly. My final 3 miles were 6:40, 6:49 and 7:13, ouch!

I actually had to stop in the 6th mile as my chest was just closing up and I was struggling to breathe.

I'm heartened by the quick first couple of miles-I felt good! I've not been feeling great this week and I'm changing my asthma medication regime at the moment which probably isn't helping! Hopefully with a few more miles and speed sessions I won't experience a repeat of today!

[Smitters]

Enjoyed a 10 miler on Friday and then a point to point LSD Sunday. Did a family swim session, then chucked my kit on and ran home from the pool, taking in a portion of the route for one of my races next year as a bit of an early recce. I do like running point to point as you have to keep going. There's no way of shortcutting the route because I'm tired or whatever, I just have to keep moving. Muddy as hell which meant lots of slipping and leg twisting, which has done my knees no favours, but I'm sure they'll ease out today in time for a few miles tomorrow morning.

[ukaskew]

Cybertronian said:

Telford 10k this morning...and with a 40 minute cut off

Have a I read this right?! I've not come across a race with a cut-off time yet (thankfully).

[johnwilliams77]

ukaskew said:

Have a I read this right?! I've not come across a race with a cut-off time yet (thankfully).

I would definitely be stuffed with a 40min cut off

[KTF]

ukaskew said:

Cybertronian said:

Telford 10k this morning...and with a 40 minute cut off

Have a I read this right?! I've not come across a race with a cut-off time yet (thankfully).

That cant be right as most people would struggle for a sub-40 10k. The results show people finishing >40m as well: http://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=164...

[Cybertronian]

ukaskew said:

Have a I read this right?! I've not come across a race with a cut-off time yet (thankfully).

KTF said:

That cant be right as most people would struggle for a sub-40 10k. The results show people finishing >40m as well: http://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=164...

There are two different races on the same morning; a sub-40 or faster, and a 40 minutes or slower. They merge the results together.

Due to the course config, it's to give the sub-40 folks a clean run without any lapping taking place, and vice versa.

[bennyboysvuk]

I had a fairly painful experience a few weeks back when my leg and stomach hit a bollard on a dark section of a night run recently. I flew over the thing and sprained my wrist for good measure too. I think it was cold, slightly watery eyes, plus headlights in the distance that caused me not to see the bollard.

Still, I bought a Petzl Tikkina and it's changed my night training runs like nothing I can imagine. All other head torches that I'd tried in the past have been too bulky, but this is brilliant and I've since had my fastest night run in a long time. I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Smitters]

KTF said:

Seasonal bump for the pistonheads running club on Strava: https://www.strava.com/clubs/pistonheads-running

Not that anyone will know who anyone is as there is no way of matching it up to the forum name but its the thought that counts

I was listening to an old marathontalk episode last night and realised that Jantastic had dried up, so I wondered if our Strava Running Club could do something similar? I reckoned on something like:

By Dec 31st you commit to x number of runs and y number of km for the month of January, then set out to hit both targets. No sense in sandbagging, since there is only internet pride and self-satisfaction to be won. Or if you insist on splashing about in a pool and pedalling about too, how about an hours-of-training goal?

So I would say:
15 runs
180km

Both will be a stretch for me, particularly the 15 runs.

[Mothersruin]

Core strength exercises - what's the view from the experienced guys?

Planks, side planks, crunches and the usual, or anything specific, or don't bother?