MITHACAL MILERS workout for the week of 12/16, on your own or with a friend

Group Runs & Workouts
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Since Barton Hall is closed for finals this week, we can’t run on the track. Those who like running on Tuesday night can join @twalsky and others at 6:30 on the Sapsucker Woods trail for some headlamp miles.

For a hard workout some other time this week, you’ll want to find a good flat surface that’s snow-free. If you can do it with a pace-appropriate friend, it will feel easier and more fun. Feel free to fit it in anywhere during the week, though try to avoid the day before another hard workout.

To accommodate the cold, footing, and extra clothing, this workout will be a bit slower and based on time rather than distance, using your T pace (roughly 10K race pace). The goal here is to build aerobic strength and endurance — we’re putting in some base to support the faster workouts once we get back on the track in January. It’s also an excuse to sneak in some longer stuff that would be hard for a large group on the track.

After at least 10 minutes of warmup running, run 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and 3 minutes at T pace, with 3-minute recovery jogs after each one. Once you’ve done the last 3-minute recovery jog, do six 30-second strides, where you evenly 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. Cool down with at least 10 minutes of jogging at the end.

If you’re running less than 20 miles per week, shorten the reps to 6, 4, and 2 minutes.

Bonus points for doing our warmup lunge matrix and leg swings, plus the strength and mobility exercises afterward—it’s always tough to make time for the supplementary work when you’re not with the group, but it makes a difference in the long run. (And the mile.)

If you have a few minutes, report back on where you did this workout and how it went.

And if anyone wants to organize a particular pace-group workout time/place, feel free to post here, too!

Resources

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I get partial bonus points for starting off with the warmup lunge matrix and leg swings! I have been following along with the weekly workouts despite a conflict w/ hot yoga on Tuesday nights, and really appreciate the extra motivation to do speedwork. Plus, today was a balmy 42 in the morning – shorts weather! I liked the time-based basis, since I could monitor things on my watch without worrying about how far I was going.

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Good on you, Scott—in another month, you’ll be ready for Hartshorne, and these tempo workouts will help anchor that. :slight_smile:

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Just did this workout in Cortland. I was very happy with my choice of route. Ended up doing a longer warmup but managed to space the road crossings so I didn’t have to cross mid-interval. Had good long stretch of well salted road for the 10 minute interval.

Not happy with my pace. Was over a minute and half slower than T pace on the first interval. Got closer with the last two. I think I would have had more success doing this workout backwards (3,5,10) and getting the legs warmed up to speed before trying to hold it for 10 minutes. Would that alter the objective of the workout?

Now I’m off to the gym so hope that gets me post run workout points :blush:

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Good feedback, Julie, thank you! In retrospect, perhaps I should have increased the amount of warmup jogging before the first rep, and possibly suggested a few strides to get the turnover up to that speed. It can be hard to increase speed when it’s cold in particular.

However, as you said, the drop from 10 to 5 to 3 was intentional, to keep the pace higher even as you tire out, and then to go into the 30-second R-pace strides while tired. With everything getting shorter, it psychologically feels more like approaching the end of a short race — only 3 more laps to go, only 2 more laps to go — so I’m trying to get people to work hard all the way to the finish even though they’re tired.

Going the other direction, 3 to 5 to 10, feels to me more like a long-distance workout more appropriate for half marathon or marathon training, where each rep becomes more about locking in the pace you want to hold. I probably wouldn’t add strides to such a workout but would go straight into a cooldown.

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