FLRC workouts for the week of May 4th

Group Runs & Workouts
1

May the 4th be with you in this week’s workouts! Feel the pace, Luke.

Middle Distance Workouts (5K to 15K)

We have some completely different workouts this week, so read carefully and check your paces with the calculator before heading out.

  • Workout 1: 4-8 sets of 2 minutes at I pace, followed by—wait for it—1 minute steady state for recovery. So far, all our recoveries have been easy recoveries, so what’s a steady state? It’s more like M pace, or just something that’s harder than E such that your heart rate comes back down a bit, but not as far as it would. When you finish a 2-minute rep, just pull back on the pace a little, but maintain form and concentration. You can almost think of the steady state as your base pace, with the 2-minute reps as surges. Keep it relaxed at first—this workout will bonk you otherwise.

  • Workout 2: Progression run, starting with (after the warmup) 10 minutes at M pace, followed by 5 minutes at T pace, followed by 2 minutes at I pace, with a 3-minute jogging rest after each repetition. When you’re done with the I pace work and are rested, do 6 by 30-second strides (30 seconds at R pace, followed by 30 seconds of jogging). Don’t start too fast—the heart of the workout is that 5 minutes of T pace while staying strong enough to hold your form in the I pace and strides.

  • Long Run: 25-30% of your weekly mileage at E pace

Long Distance Workouts (Half Marathon to Marathon)

It’s hill week, baby! You can think of hills as speedwork without as much pounding.

  • Workout 1: Where you run this is up to you, but look for a long uphill that takes you at least 5 minutes to reach the top (probably at least 800m). It shouldn’t be super steep because you’re going to need to run down it as well, and steep downhill running requires practice when you’re fresh. Do as many reps as necessary to hit 40 minutes of uphill running. You’re aiming for M pace effort, which will obviously be a lot slower than M pace on the flat. Start out at what feels like your long run pace and then gradually pick up the pace until it’s uncomfortable but doable until you hit the top. If you can’t think of a good place to run this (and it could be trail or road), ask over in the Where to Run forum. Let us know where you do your hills, and how well you liked the course!

  • Long Run: 25-30% of your weekly mileage at E pace

Resources

2

Hills are fun (: I ran 7 reps of Dodge Rd from the bend in the road (about 150 m before the 3 mile marker for Skunk cabbage half) to Ellis Hollow - just barely long enough as it took 5:15 min per hill; technically I should’ve done 8 reps but the dog was uncooperative and I was late for a meeting. I liked this workout although it was deceptively long - I find it easier to maintain good running form going uphill!

3

Glad you liked it and thanks for reminding us that hill repeats take longer than one might expect. The problem is that the downhill portions are just as long as the uphill ones in distance, and likely even longer in time. And unlike on a track, there’s no way to cut them short since you have to get back to the start.

So yeah, leave plenty of time for this workout!

5

That was my “workout” from home to Cayuga Heights Elementary School from 1954-1959. Not a particularly steep stretch, a little bit at the beginning and end, but in the middle almost flat, maybe a grade like the S Hill recway going out from Coddington.

6

Finally got a chance to do this - and ended up running on the Black Diamond Trail because of winds and schedule. Not the best choice - it took me longer to run down than up which I suspect sorta defeats the purpose. Perhaps when it is warmer or less windy I’ll try on University or on College+Maple or Ellis Hollow Rd starting at East Hills Plaza. Genug Rd between Ellis Hollow and Snyder Hill might work too. And when I do, maybe I’ll have enough time, er be strong enough, to run all 8 up, instead of 7 up and 1 down. Then again, I probably won’t have a red-tail hawk watch me go by several times as it perched high in a tree - glad it couldn’t mistake me for an errant chipmunk…

7

Ouch. It’s disgusting out today, between the wind and snow/hail/sleet/glop out there. You get points for just getting out there.

Cornell has a hawk cam for the nest on the light towers above the track. One year when I was running with High Noon, one of the hawks would often perch on the fence and watch us—we were a little worried it was trying to figure out if anyone was going to collapse during the workout and thus be hawk lunch. You can watch them live too: