PlatzMan, great post, especially this part:
quote:<HR>Originally posted by mplatzke:
If you did a HIM two weeks ago, you've got enough base for the fast 10k this fall. You need to focus on speedwork and tempo runs because that's probably what you haven't had as much of this summer. And you've got plenty of time to rebuild your running base for Boston 08.
I've found that because I use different muscles between biking and running, I can separate them quite easily. I have no problem coming off a hard run day and where someone who is strictly running would normally take a recovery day, I throw in a moderate to difficult bike workout. Following that day, my run legs are recovered enough to go hard on the run again.<HR>
Ice Cream, with your immense fitness base post-half Iron, if you add on speed your legs will come to life for some solid races. You already have the endurance, now get on the track and get those leg muscles firing more quickly, and you will hammer in your runs. I'm willing to bet that if you started speedwork this week, by December you will be PR'ing all over the running landscape.
quote:<HR>I don't think running and tris are an either or proposition (Thor seems to have done quite well with both). I'm no Thor and I need to have separate training periods for both sports, but things space out enough to allow for that for me.<HR>
You've said this before regarding me and being able to run and do Tri's. When you did, I responded that it only
appeared that I was able to do both in training, and although it still may appear to be so, it isn't true.
I was not able to devout ample time to running when I was training for Ironman. Not at all. The only think I
did do was log a lot of miles, many of them junk miles, including running a bunch of marathons. But truth is, as soon as I started up training for Ironman, speedwork at the track and other training just didn't get along. My body was not able to handle speedwork and the long rides and all the other stuff. So I stopped doing speedwork and instead focused on swimming and biking. This is also why, if you recall, that I was blown away when I ran Sugarloaf Marathon and went sub-3, because I did that off a base that hadn't included speedwork -- not even a single fast lap around the track in, maybe, 12 or more months. I had a few other decent races, but again, these were "freebies" because, well, I went into those running races with the notion that I'd let the day, and the race, come to me. I would go with how I felt. Sugarloaf came out of nowhere.
In hindsight, and this is a point I do want to make, it is becoming clear to me that quality work on the bike -- or more aptly the Trainer -- can indeed make you a stronger runner. It probably will not make you faster, but it will make you stronger. And I don't mean just getting on the Trainer and spinning away. I mean slapping that puppy into big gear and building muscle. For me, at least, this is exactly why I think I started running well. And even that's a misnomer because I was improving at the marathon when I took up Tri's. Add on endurance, dial of a perfect day/race of a lifetime, and yeah, I got a few decent results. But truth is, I did that off zero focused run training, except for the long runs with my peeps (which by the way were at a pace nowhere near tempo).
Ice Cream, get on the track or use your watch for intervals. You will get your speed back quickly. The first few times out will hurt, and then it will get easier. And over the winter if you want to become an even stronger runner, get on the Trainer for some big gear work. I swear to you when I say that when I'm running up a long hill, there is no question I can feel the Trainer work paying off. Same "circles," or in other words form to make those pedals go round properly as it is to run up those hills.
