quote:<HR>Originally posted by Fishbowl:
Thanks, Nobby, for all of the info. Will probably take me a while to digest it, but I will and I appreciate the time you are taking.
Wednesday's workout was supposed to be:
Speedwork - 5 miles including warm up and cooldown and
4 X 800m at 4:41 with 400m recovery jogs.
Next Wednesdays workout would be a Tempo 6 mile run with 4 miles at 10:33. This is a much easier run for me than the repeats, but I guess it should be?
Of course, as I mentioned, I only managed 3 of the repeats, but I did make sure to get in the 5 miles. That part wasn't a problem.
I agree that one shouldn't have blind faith in a specific training program and I am trying to be flexible when necessary. I am just trying to educate myself so that I can use good logic when making those substitutions. There's a lot to learn though. Thank goodness we have people like you to help us along.
Thanks.
Fishbowl
http://This message has been edited by Fishbowl (edited Sep-28-2007).<HR>
When you go out and run faster than normal pace, I usually categorize them into two simple groups; one is to "work on your breathing", the other is to "work on your leg speed". Many people would laugh at this approach; I don't use fancy terms like LT pace or threshold pace or lactate level or whatever... But frankly, I don't quite know added benefit of knowing all that fancy stuff.
You go out and do some long repeats of, say, 600 and up. Sometimes 800, or 1200 or you may even decide to do a 3-mile tempo run. All these, once you start pushing the pace, you start to breathe hard. During your aerobic running, you'd be breathing comfortably, you can chat with your running partners and laugh about jokes. Once you start to push the pace, your breathing would start to work harder--as if you're racing. Now, the point here is; if you breathe so hard that you completely get into "breathlessness", that would be too much. Or, on the other side of the coin, if you're not quite working your breathing, you're probably not running hard enough. If you decide to do, say, 4X800, you should be able to hold the same pace, from the first rep to the last one, comfortably. If you're struggling to hold the pace, it's either you're doing them one too many, or notch too fast. Ideally, you want the time to come down slightly with the same perceived effort (without trying to make it faster). If that pace is 5:00 (for 800), well, so be it for the first time. And if you're not quite working your breathing at 5:00 pace, well, I'd suggest you come down the distance, say, 400, and do them in 2:20 pace (equivalent for 4:40 for 800).
Second type of "faster" running is to work on your leg-speed. In this one, I don't really like to see you breathing too heavily. You stop before you get into oxygen debt situation. So naturally, the distance will be shorter--maybe up to 200m, or 40 seconds or so. You'll be running FAST; but you don't push yourself too much. You'll take plenty of recovery, at least 3 minutes, so you can produce the same speed over and over again (you won't be struggling). With this, you'll work on your form. Pick your ideal runner (unfortunately, nothing against people like this, but not someone like Mary-Jo in the neighborhood who, at the age of 65, lost 40 pounds and completed the Race for the Cure in 1:30--as admirable and inspirational as it is, her form would most likely not be ideal to immulate), Bill Rodgers, El G, Lagat, Deena Kaster, Kara Goucher...whoever. The smoother the runner, the better. Imagine you're that runner; imagine you're running that fast. They don't hunch back and clinch their fist and stick their elbows out, looking down. Invariably, they'll be looking ahead, or slighly upward, with straight back (stick your chest out!), arms swinging back and forward straight, relaxed; knees coming up high, with their back leg straight pushing the ground; and most of them don't land hard on their heel. I often tell people to "imagine you're drawing a circles with your legs..." Technically, you won't be drawing a circles with your legs; nor ankles, nor knees... But once you get into the groove, you'll know what I'm talking about. Once your knees start to come up high and you're NOT sticking your foot so far out in the front, you'll start to get the feel of "drawing a circle". Then you'll start to feel like you're "rolling forward". Tosa's coach taught me this one. He said, if things click, you'll feel like you're "rolling upward" even on the uphill running.
I see a lot of slower people working their knees like a piston, but not necessarily up and down, but sticking it out front and back, swinging their lower leg forward, landing hard on their heel. You want to land more or less "flat" footed (or mid-foot landing). This way, you'll be using your calf muscles more to brake the braking action. Once again, you don't want to land hard on your heel; you want to land almost mid-footed and light as a feather. In this type of training, you don't push yourself too hard; but you'll notice, in the next day or two, that there are lots of muscle groups that you didn't know existed. Some calf soreness is one of them. You hardly use your calf muscles, landing hard on your heel. But once you get up on your toes and run fast, your calf would start to work much harder to brake that braking action. So some calf soreness can be expected. Your butt will feel sore because now you're using glutes to push the ground, as well with hamstrings. Start out easy like, say, 4X120m. If you start to struggle, stop. You want to keep good technique, good posture, and good "feeling".
Whether you'll have these types of workouts within the same weekly schedule; or have them alternating weeks, is totally up to you. Listen to your body; pay close attention to your legs, see how they feel. And as for tempo or reps, if you go out and don't feel "right" in the first one; just pack up and go home. No point pushing to meet the scheduled workout when your body's telling you that it's no use. You'll be so much better off just jog around for half an hour or 45 minutes. I guess one other thing I noticed is the Smart Coach prescribes things like "do such-and-such repeats while doing 5-miles including warm-up and cool-cown". This is simply a personal preference but I don't really like it that way. Particularly for warm-up; I don't like to limit it to 1 mile. I'd start out until the urge to go hard comes up. It could be as short as 10 minutes; but it could be as long as 30 minutes some other day. Once again, be tuned in with your body...
http://This message has been edited by Nobby (edited Sep-29-2007).
