Ah, the track. Seems like I haven't been there in ages. Two and a half weeks, I think? Reason being some races were substituted for speed workouts the past few weeks. But it was nice to return, and in a different atmosphere to boot. School is not far away from starting, and adjacent to the high school track, football workouts were going on the athletic fields while the cheerleaders also rehearsed ("Be! Agressive! B! E! Aggressive! B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!")
I had a root canal earlier in the afternoon, so with my mouth still numb from Novocain, I drooled a bit more than usual during the workout. It went well though. In fact, a little too well in the sense that it seemed too easy. I did some research the past few nights and asked for advice on the RunningAhead forums on how best to structure mile repeats for marathon training.
I came to the consensus that 5 X 1 mile repeats at 10k race pace with four minutes rest would be a good place to start. The caveat is that I really don't know what my 10k race pace is. I went ahead and guessed maybe around 6:30-6:40/mile, so tried for that.
First mile was well below that. Second one was also, and at that point I decided screw it. I'll just run them somewhat fast since it felt somewhat challenging yet comfortable. Even then it was too comfortable. I averaged 5:59/mile with the pace increasing or staying the same with each rep. I'm wondering if I should decrease the rest in between each rep next time, and/or increase the reps. It just didn't kick my butt the same way Yasso 800s did. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
After the workout, ran a cooldown barefoot on the athletic fields. Felt good. Looking to do a medium run tomorrow at an easy pace.
Warm up: 1.0 mile @ 7:27/mile pace.
5 X 1 mile w/ four minutes rest: 6:08, 6:05, 5:57, 5:57, 5:48
Cool down: 1.4 miles @ 8:33/mile pace. Barefoot.
Upper to mid 70s, partly cloudy.
Saucony Kinvara, shorts.
16 comments:
Well my advice is to run a 5K or 10K and then use McMillan's calculator to get your interval paces. Did you race your Back Cove 5K? Really race it? That course is about 30s slower than a fast road 5k. Start from that.
Yeah, used McMillian based on the Back Cove time. 30 seconds slower than a road course? That seems like a lot, given that the trail is hard packed, but what do I know. Still, I think I can do better than my last race there. Will likely do the Back Cove again a week from today and readjust. Think I might also try less time in between intervals, perhaps two minutes instead of one, based on someone's suggestion on RA. Makes sense.
Should add that I fudged the McMillian time a little thinking I'm capable of a faster 5k than what I ran a few weeks ago.
Yes looking at McMillan those are really fast repeats for a 19:56 5K. McMillan suggest 6:04 -6:18 mile repeats for a runner doing a 19 min 5K. I think a 1/4 mile recovery at slow pace (2 - 2:15) makes more sense.
Yeah, me too. Will probably go that route. If you're free, you should also do the Back Cove on Wednesday. Last time I did it, hardly knew anyone there.
I do Back Cove every week that I'm in town (including tonight's 5Xmile repeats at MP - 10s). Next week is 3X2 miles at MP - 10s with 1/2 mile recovery. I was in NC last week.
My initial advice would be to not sweat the exact numbers. You won't be running your marathon on the track. MDI is way too hilly to get an exact translation from "I ran XX:XX on the track" to "I can run XX:XX:XX on race day." What I'm trying to say is stop thinking so much.
That being said, 4 minutes is an eternity. Jog a lap easy.
Quite true, Mr. Snowman.
6:30-6:40 pace would definitely be too slow for a runner of your capabilities, but holy smoke you sure ran those 5 repeats very fast! It makes me think that your marathon goal is a bit too conservative.
When I'm training for marathons I run my mile repeats slower than that, and I'm a 3:05 runner (at least I used to be).
Thanks Thomas, but the four minutes rest in between was too long, and it made it easy. Also, the MDI Marathon course is pretty tough, so I'll be very happy to BQ on it.
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3570729
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2487659
Good links, Jeff. Thanks.
Ah, yes...Let's Run. Don't forget, according to Let's Run, unless you can run a 15:30 5k, you shouldn't even bother.
Can you go backwards and predict a 10 time from this? This suggests a sub 36 10K then?
John, I think predictors for running in general are highly subjective. Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day kind of thing going on. Just too many variables, but they are useful as a general guideline. However, they are good for training purposes and more useful for determining interval times and what not, but as Ryan eluded to, you can't accurately predict a marathon time based on a 5k time. Just plain ridiculous, in my opinion. Just my 2 cents.
MILE REPS
CHECK OUT THIS ON MILE REPEATS
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/general/rws-definitive-serious-speedwork-mile-sessions/171.html
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