Thread About Running

[Peter5]

Well, you know you're capable of faster, it's just a matter now of dialing it in and monkeying around a bit with different paces until you know how fast you can go for X number of miles without redlining and still be able to finish strong. It's a process, as you know.........

Your right, its just hard, for me anyway, to really pace myself in a certain way as to get that 1 hour 35 mins I want. A bit more training, and some longer runs I think, and I will be more comfortable at trying to run that time, rather than blowing a gasket trying to achieve it. I am doing this hill running thing with a friend this weekend, then I am going to try and do perhaps 15/16 miles, but about 90 seconds slower than race pace, just to build up my endurance, as I have only ran 14 miles once, and thats the furthest I have ran so far, but like I say, I will run that at about 9 min miles, perhaps 10 min miles and hopefully that will extend my ability over tha half marathon for now anyway. I am also considering doing some speed work somtime early next month, its not something I have done before, and I cant say Im looking forward to it, but I hear its good for you Any suggestions on speed training Sal? What sort of distances/reps should I be looking at?

[salsanchezfan]

Speedwork, eh? Well there are a million good ways to do speedwork, though I'm partial to tempo runs. I just think tempos more closely match the conditions you see in a road race, as opposed to track work.

You can do tempo runs anywhere, your normal running route, wherever. You start out jogging slowly for a mile (some like to measure tempos based on time, but I prefer measuring them by distance) and then gradually ramp up to maybe 5% slower than 10k pace (whatever that is for you) and hold that pace for 3 or 4 or 5 miles, then cool down by jogging for a bit before stopping. These would be really good runs for you to do, as they really help you discover what kind of a pace you can hold for a certain distance. Easy they are not. If you don;t have one, it might be a good idea to get a sports watch of some kind so you can time your miles to make sure you're maintaining pace.

Another kind of cool workout is track work. The simplest one I'd recommend for somewhat longer races is 800 meter and 1600 meter repeats. After a warmup, run these repeats at 5k pace with an 800 meter jog in between. Start out doing maybe four of these if you're doing the 800's, perhaps two if you're doing 1600's. In my marathon training, I eventually built up to 8 x 800's. You are very tired indeed after one of these sessions.

If you're really into self-abuse, here's a fun one.......

Devil's Ladders (actually a pyramid). After the warmup, run 200 meters at ten seconds faster than 5k pace. Jog the same distance to recover, then do it again. After the second recovery, do two 400's at 5k pace, with a 400 meter recovery jog. Then step up and do two 800's at the same pace, with an 800 jog in between. Then do one 1600 at the same pace.

After the 1600, recover this time with just an 800 jog.


Then..........back down the ladder, same way you came.

B-R-U-T-A-L.

[Motor City Sam]

Excellent job with your time, Peter. Pretty cool getting your results by text.

I actually strained my back a little bit last week during a run, and instead of giving it time to recover I went to the boxing gym for a workout a couple of days later and just made it worse. Dumb. I don't think it's serious. I'm going to my massage therapist this week and that should help. I'll probably be back to training later on this week.

With all of these little injuries lately, I'm starting to feel like Vitaly when he was training to fight Rahman!

[Motor City Sam]

Speedwork, eh? Well there are a million good ways to do speedwork, though I'm partial to tempo runs. I just think tempos more closely match the conditions you see in a road race, as opposed to track work.

You can do tempo runs anywhere, your normal running route, wherever. You start out jogging slowly for a mile (some like to measure tempos based on time, but I prefer measuring them by distance) and then gradually ramp up to maybe 5% slower than 10k pace (whatever that is for you) and hold that pace for 3 or 4 or 5 miles, then cool down by jogging for a bit before stopping. These would be really good runs for you to do, as they really help you discover what kind of a pace you can hold for a certain distance. Easy they are not. If you don;t have one, it might be a good idea to get a sports watch of some kind so you can time your miles to make sure you're maintaining pace.

Another kind of cool workout is track work. The simplest one I'd recommend for somewhat longer races is 800 meter and 1600 meter repeats. After a warmup, run these repeats at 5k pace with an 800 meter jog in between. Start out doing maybe four of these if you're doing the 800's, perhaps two if you're doing 1600's. In my marathon training, I eventually built up to 8 x 800's. You are very tired indeed after one of these sessions.

If you're really into self-abuse, here's a fun one.......

Devil's Ladders (actually a pyramid). After the warmup, run 200 meters at ten seconds faster than 5k pace. Jog the same distance to recover, then do it again. After the second recovery, do two 400's at 5k pace, with a 400 meter recovery jog. Then step up and do two 800's at the same pace, with an 800 jog in between. Then do one 1600 at the same pace.

After the 1600, recover this time with just an 800 jog.


Then..........back down the ladder, same way you came.

B-R-U-T-A-L.

Sal, what fresh Hell is this???

[salsanchezfan]

Sal, what fresh Hell is this???

Oh, they're ever so much fun. I assure you.

Sorry to hear about the back. Nothing quite like back pain to slow you to a crawl.

Ice up, man........

[salsanchezfan]

Well this thread has died a quiet death lately...........

Today I ran the Seattle Rock And Roll Half Marathon; The "R&R" marathon series is run in many cities throughout the U.S. each year, and they are hugely popular. Tens of thousands every time out.

This thing was flawless. Jesus H. Christ, they do a good job. 25,000 people running in this thing, and it went off completely smoothly and without a hitch, not even a hint of one. Possibly the best race experience I've had. It shits all over the other bigger races I've done. If you ever get the opportunity to run one of their races, make a point of doing it. Bands at every mile playing for you, flawless bus shuttle service to the start line, plenty of supplies along the course to keep runners hydrated, huge crowd support (which is really more a local endeavor, but they know how big these races are, and come out IN FORCE). They feed you both before and after the race, the medal looks great, everything.........just brilliant work they did.

I ran very well today, setting a personal record in the half at 1:45:23, busting my old record by more than six minutes. I had set a goal of running an 8:14 pace average, but started out at 8:02 for the first mile, and 7:56 for the second. I purposely held back and ran an 8:17 for the third, then ripped off a 7:50 for mile four, and just felt good so decided to just go ahead with what I was doing. After the crash job I did in Eugene in May in the full marathon, how bad could it be to crash in a race half the distance, I thought.

Well, I continued on at this pace more or less and while I felt it, I never had to relent and slow down. I was pushing and it was quite warm out, but I felt okay and just rolled with it, and finished with a sprint. The last two miles were 7:40 and 7:45, respectively, the fastest two miles of the race. The last .10 miles was done at 6:19 pace. I felt great at the end of it.


I had to wait a bit for the rest of the team I had been training; the next guy came in at 200, and the next at 200. One of the girls hurt her knee and crawled in at 3:30:00. I give her a lot of credit, that showed guts. She had a cellphone, could have called someone to come and get her, but she wouldn't quit. I'm proud of them all.

What a great day.

[Motor City Sam]

Great job, Sal. Seems like you were really in the zone. Glad to hear things went well. The girl on your team who managed to finish with a hurt knee should be very proud. I'm sure you told her how great she is.

I have never run in one of the Rock and Roll events, but I've heard good things. It's always nice to see a well run operation like that. My good friend Kristin, who lives in Seattle, ran the half yesterday with some friends and told me it was a great time.

Great job, brother.

[Motor City Sam]

I have to take part of the blame for the lack of activity on this thread lately, because I've taken some time off due to that sore back. Feeling much better now. I got in a 5K yesterday. It was my first run since the back injury and I know I was slow. I just concentrated on finishing and keeping up a steady pace alongside my sister, who did the race also.

I'm getting back to normal and I'm targeting a 10K in July and a steady training schedule up until a half marathon in September.

Keep up the good work, guys.

[Peter5]

Well this thread has died a quiet death lately...........

Today I ran the Seattle Rock And Roll Half Marathon; The "R&R" marathon series is run in many cities throughout the U.S. each year, and they are hugely popular. Tens of thousands every time out.

This thing was flawless. Jesus H. Christ, they do a good job. 25,000 people running in this thing, and it went off completely smoothly and without a hitch, not even a hint of one. Possibly the best race experience I've had. It shits all over the other bigger races I've done. If you ever get the opportunity to run one of their races, make a point of doing it. Bands at every mile playing for you, flawless bus shuttle service to the start line, plenty of supplies along the course to keep runners hydrated, huge crowd support (which is really more a local endeavor, but they know how big these races are, and come out IN FORCE). They feed you both before and after the race, the medal looks great, everything.........just brilliant work they did.

I ran very well today, setting a personal record in the half at 1:45:23, busting my old record by more than six minutes. I had set a goal of running an 8:14 pace average, but started out at 8:02 for the first mile, and 7:56 for the second. I purposely held back and ran an 8:17 for the third, then ripped off a 7:50 for mile four, and just felt good so decided to just go ahead with what I was doing. After the crash job I did in Eugene in May in the full marathon, how bad could it be to crash in a race half the distance, I thought.

Well, I continued on at this pace more or less and while I felt it, I never had to relent and slow down. I was pushing and it was quite warm out, but I felt okay and just rolled with it, and finished with a sprint. The last two miles were 7:40 and 7:45, respectively, the fastest two miles of the race. The last .10 miles was done at 6:19 pace. I felt great at the end of it.


I had to wait a bit for the rest of the team I had been training; the next guy came in at 200, and the next at 200. One of the girls hurt her knee and crawled in at 3:30:00. I give her a lot of credit, that showed guts. She had a cellphone, could have called someone to come and get her, but she wouldn't quit. I'm proud of them all.

What a great day.

Great job Sal, and was this not your most hated distance? Seems like a great run/event, good time too bro

As for me, I havent been posting much ingeneral, just been busy, dont have an event lined up, they are all too far away, and what with my 2 hour + drive home last time, Im not keen on any events unless they are local. I have done some serious hill running lately though, fuck me I nearly died the other day going up this killer hill for the third time, I thought I was running up it, looked down, I was barely moving!!

Traing is going well though in general, Im also contemplating a duathlon or triathlon in the future, if anyone has any tips for me, let me know.

[Peter5]

I have to take part of the blame for the lack of activity on this thread lately, because I've taken some time off due to that sore back. Feeling much better now. I got in a 5K yesterday. It was my first run since the back injury and I know I was slow. I just concentrated on finishing and keeping up a steady pace alongside my sister, who did the race also.

I'm getting back to normal and I'm targeting a 10K in July and a steady training schedule up until a half marathon in September.

Keep up the good work, guys.

Keep the faith Sam, I never thought I would get past all my niggling injuries, but they eventually went away.

[salsanchezfan]

Keep at it Sam, I think you played your cards right in that 5k; you might consider physical therapy........I can vouch for how it helped me in training for this half.

Peter - yeah, I've traditionally hated this distance, never done well at it. I think based on the fast finish I can do even better, but I'll leave that for next year's race I think. The rest of the year will be all 5, 8, and 10k's. I always do better in the short distances.

[Motor City Sam]

Keep at it Sam, I think you played your cards right in that 5k; you might consider physical therapy........I can vouch for how it helped me in training for this half.

Peter - yeah, I've traditionally hated this distance, never done well at it. I think based on the fast finish I can do even better, but I'll leave that for next year's race I think. The rest of the year will be all 5, 8, and 10k's. I always do better in the short distances.

Thanks for the advice. I've been to see my massage therapist twice in the last two weeks, and that has definitely helped. I was seeing her on a regular basis for a few years and never had back problems, but I got laid off from my job this year and those regular massages were something that i had to cut back. I'll probably try to go once a month and do more stretching. Hopefully, that will keep my back in good health.

I've been at the gym three times this week for boxing workouts, and my back feels great. I'm doing a short run tomorrow to get me back in the flow.

[Peter5]

Did 8 miles yesterday, all on road this time, no off orad hill running. I must admit, it seemed to hurt my legs a little, not sure if thats just because I havent run on the road much recently or not, not sure. Felt good though, booked a 10mile race in Wales (The Brecon beacons) for the start of August, my only race in the near future, my folks live half hour away so it hits two birds with one stone if you know what I mean.

Hope everyone elses training is going well.

[salsanchezfan]

Peter - I wasn't aware you did so little road running. What do you mean by that legs hurting thing, is it the knees?

Yesterday I did the Kent Cornucopia Days 5k. I was a bit disappointed in my time (22:12), but I wasn't expecting a whole lot. I've felt tired and burned out, especially since I took zero time off after the half two weeks ago. Since then, my legs have felt heavy, I fatigue easier, I don't sleep well, I'm irritable, my resting heartrate is up.........every one of them a classic sign of overtraining, it's virtually textbook.

It started out okay; I planned to go out with a 7:00-7:05 first mile and ramp it up as I went. The first mile went in exactly 7:00, but then the second was 7:07, and mile three was 7:12. I just didn't have it.

It was brutally hot out, 80 degrees with high humidity, but that's no excuse. The others had to contend with the same conditions. The real bitch of it is that I missed an age group award by one lousy second. ONE SECOND!! The guy in fifth place for 40-50 year old males got 22:11.

[Peter5]

Peter - I wasn't aware you did so little road running. What do you mean by that legs hurting thing, is it the knees?

Its only a recent thing Sal, I used to run on the road exclusively, just a friend I have been training with, we do it all off road, and I havent managed to get any road running doen in between. The legs hurting thing? Just that my legs got tired, some pain around my ankles, that sort of thing, nothing major, felt nothing afterwards anyway, just something I noticed whilst running. Good to run on road again though, that hill training shit gets tough, a nice long-ish road run is so calming, time to think and daydream in that runners solitude, but tat the same time work up a sweat. Nothing serious I dont think, might have just been the harder surface hitting my legs a bit after a while off it.

Ive got a damn cold now as well, either that or Swine Flu! Pissing me right off, I wanted to do a 10 mile run in the week, will probably have to wait until the weekend now, but I'll up it to nearer 12.

Keep up the good work lads, Unlucky Sal on missing out on that Medal, maybe you need to take a few days off buddy, a rest can do wonders, we are often our own worst enemies