How are you doing with these workouts, folks? Too easy? Too hard? @jeanluc, have you been able to work some of them into your schedule, like @gplwoo? Questions welcome!
Middle Distance Workouts (5K to 15K)
Let’s keep it simple this week, after last week’s more complicated speed work:
Workout 1: 4-6 reps of 4 minutes at I pace (which could range between 800m and 1200m, depending on your speed), with 3 minutes of jogging to recover between each one. Your goal is to hit about 8% of your weekly mileage with the number of reps, so scale up or down as needed.
Workout 2: 2 miles, 1 mile, and 1/2 mile, all at T pace, with a 3-minute jogging rest after each repetition. When you’re done with the T-pace work and rested, do 6 by 30-second strides, where you increase your pace to what feels like your R pace, hold it for the remainder of the 30 seconds, and then jog for 30 seconds before repeating. Focus on maintaining good running form while doing the strides, and if you can’t hold it, call it a day and cool down.
Long Run: 25-30% of your weekly mileage at E pace
Long Distance Workouts (Half Marathon to Marathon)
Make sure you’re fresh for your long run, whenever that is in the week!
Workout 1: After the 10-minute warmup, run 40 minutes steady at M pace, then cool down for another 10 minutes.
Long Run: 25-30% of your weekly mileage at E pace
Resources
Introduction:Background and advice, particularly for those not running 20-25 miles per week
Enjoyed running the marathon workout today, but boy was it ever windy on open stretches of sidewalk! Pretty sure the 40 min pace varied depending on which direction we were going.
I imagine it’s good training for those unexpected issues that crop up in marathons. The question will be, will you be able to run the marathon by yourself?
So I have been doing these workouts, I’ve been trying to do the long distance workout on Tuesday and one of middle distance workouts on Thursday or Friday assuming I feel recovered. I did the long distance workout last night on the treadmill due to scheduling issues and not being able to get outside. 40 minutes at basically one pace is an eternity on a treadmill. Adam thanks for posting these, gives me weekly goals to try and get these done.
Hey, great to hear, @bdonato. For more serious marathon training, doing two workouts a week is good, though I’d probably encourage you to do Workout #2 of the middle distance set most of the time, since it’s more on the distance/tempo side of the equation. Workout #1 is generally more on the speed side.
And if you’re just looking for a nice mix so you’d be ready to race anything from the 5K to the half marathon (which is generally what I do when I’m healthy), mixing and matching with what sounds fun for any given week will work fine.
Though if I was going to do 40 minutes on a treadmill, I’d be watching an episode of The Flash on Netflix at the same time to avoid going nuts.
Thanks for the input. I’m in the second category right now I’m really just trying to do a mix of workouts and the shorter stuff has seemed more interesting.
I did watch a movie which helped, just usually try to do workouts outside.
I’m really enjoying these workouts, @adamengst. Thanks for the motivation! Turning out to be fun challenges.
This morning I ran the 2 mile, 1 mile, 1/2 mile … I forgot it was supposed to be T pace (tempo, right?) and tried for M pace (marathon, correct?) Anyway, it was a great mental trick because I ran all three FASTER than my T pace–without even trying!
My swim coach is always telling me to “slow down to speed up,” meaning that good form and not panic will give me speed. That totally happened today. Looking forward to next week’s running adventures.
Yep, T is tempo or threshold, and M is marathon. Ben de Haan, who was Cornell’s top distance guy a few years back and ran XC with us one year before turning pro to run for the Netherlands, was telling me last year that he thought M pace was underrated for non-marathon training. He thought it was a nice combination of effort without as much risk overdoing it. He wrote:
It’s an unfortunate name because maybe some people think it’s only useful for marathon training. Most runners tend to neglect this pace too much (between threshold running and easy running). Along with that, most people run their T pace too fast because they are relatively underdeveloped aerobically (especially when filling out the VDOT tables using a mile time – it’s often too optimistic about peoples’ running abilities at longer distances). Running at a strong aerobic pace below threshold pace (M pace or SLOWER! but faster than easy pace – like for you, ~6:30/mile) is a great way to build endurance without beating your body down. Food for thought ;).
I’m glad you reminded me of this, since I may work in some more M pace training for the middle distance workouts because of it. At M pace, you can go a bit longer for each rep, so it also allows some beefier workouts on the endurance side.
Form is of course vastly more important in swimming that running because of the drag from the water, but improved running form leads to improved running economy, which leads to faster times (by being able to hold the same pace for longer) and fewer injuries (from less asymmetry as muscles tire at different rates).
