Renato Canova Pre xc training and my specific training suggestions

"DO" recently asked me for my ideal training schedule for a cross country 10k on my running times blog. I will post my response here as well. Largely becuause the format of the Canova base phase I would use didn't fit into the blog response section on Running Times.
So for those coming over from running times the base would involve following this Canova schedule, which has been widely circulated on the internet over the last few years. The paces should be adjusted based on your fitness level and realistic goals.

PROGRAM FOR THE GROUP OF YOUNG RUNNERS
Augustin Choge – Justus Kiprono – Ronald Kipchumba – Samson Kiplangat
Courtesy of Renato Canova

Note: Six weeks from the beginning of December, before the cross season

Morning Afternoon

(1st Week)

Mon 1 hour easy running 1 hour easy running

Tue 50min easy running + 100m x 10 uphill sprint
(max. speed)

Wed 1 hour 10min progressive running (from easy to fast)

Thu 1 hour moderate pace

Fri 1 hour 20min progressive running (30min easy + 50min from 3min 40s to 3min pace)

Sat 50min easy + 100m x 10 uphill sprint

Sun 2 hour easy (personal sensation)

(2nd Week)


Mon
20min warm-up
10k “medium pace” at 3min 15 > 3min05

Tue
1 hour easy

Wed
25 min warm-up
3000m x 3 in 9’10” recovery 3min jogging
1000m x 3 in 2’55” recovery 1min30 jog

Thu
1 hour progressive running (3min40 > 3min 20)

Fri
45min easy
45min easy

Sat
25min warm – up
6 km climbing fast (gradient 7-10 % about)

Sun
1 hr easy jogging

(3rd Week)


Mon
1 hour easy

Tue

20min warm-up
20 times 60secs fast recov. 60secs easy

Wed
1 hour 10min moderate

Thu

20 min warm – up + 14 km at 3’20” / 3’10”
(about 46 min fast)

Fri
1 hour easy

Sat

45min easy + 60secs uphill fast (recovery 3min walking) x 10 times

Sun
1 hour 40 moderate pace


(4th Week - Block of Volume)

Mon 20min warm-up
2000m x 5 in 5min 55 (track) rec. 3min jog. 40min easy

Tue 45min easy + 10 x 100m sprint climbing 45min easy

Wed 1 hr 10min progressive 1 hr easy

Thu 20min warm – up
40min fast with short variations (40secs about every 3min) on cross country ground 20min warm – up - (Track) :
With recovery 3 min jogging:
3000m (8’40”) + 2000m (5’46”) + 1000m (2’45”)

Fri 1 hour easy 1 hour easy

Sat 1 hour easy 1 hour easy

Sun 30min easy
6 km climbing fast (same course of previous Sat.)

(5th Week - Second Period of Volume)

Mon 45min easy 45 min easy

Tue 1 hour easy 40 min easy + 10 x 100m sprint uphill

Wed
25min warm-up
4 groups of 400m x 5 (rec. between the tests:
60secs - between the groups: 4 min) in
64" / 64" / 64" / 64" / 61" the last, for every group)
40min regeneration

Thu
1 hour easy running
1 hour easy running

Fri

1 h 10min progressive running
40min easy + 10 x 100m sprint uphill

Sat
1 h 20min with short variations (30 / 40 secs)
every 3min about
45min easy

Sun
40min easy
10 km very fast on cross country ground

(6th Week)


Mon
1 hr easy regeneration

Tue
50min easy + 10 x 100 sprint climbing

Wed
1 hr moderate

Thu
1 hr easy

Fri
45min easy

Sat
25min warm – up
12 km (road) at 3’10” pace
25min warm – up + 10 x 1’30” fast climbing
recovery 3’ / 4’


Sun
50min easy


For the specific phase I would take about 7 weeks including taper. I would put in three hard efforts each week. The first and most important would be a 10K specific workout done on terrain that, as best I could managed, simulated the terrain that I would be facing for my focus race. In every one of these 10k workouts I would really hammer the first 400m of the first interval to simulate the start of the xc race as you need to fight for position. So if the workout was 12x800m at 2:24(30:00 10k pace) I would run the first interval too fast, running the first 400m in 62 to 65 and then settling in and running the second 400m in 72. So that 800m would be in 2:17 or a bit faster. the rest of the intervals would be done on pace.
I would progress these workouts each week as below
12x800m with 200m jog
10x1k with 200m jog
6x1600m/mile with 400m jog
6x1600m/mile with 200m jog
5x2k with 200m jog rest
3k, 400m jog rest, 2x2k with 200m jog rest 3 to 4x 1k with 200m jog rest
taper week 3k averaging 10k pace but alternating 400m in 62/63 and 3k in 80.

The second hard day each week would alternate weeks one session would be an long hard tempo/threshold on terrain similar or harder to that I would expect to face in my peak race. The other workout would be long hill reps. Some of those would have intervals mixed in at the top to focus on cresting the hill and putting the hammer down to get back on pace. On the days with the long tempo I would do a set of short hill reps as a second session, 10x15 seconds with jog down rest.
4 to 6 miles at 95% of goal race pace
4xlong hill(800m to 1 mile) with jog down rest
5 to 7 miles at 95% of goal pace
5xlong hill with jog down rest
6 to 9 miles at 95% goal pace
5xlong hill continuing into (without stopping) a 400m at goal pace then jog down rest
taper week- a set of short hills or strides after an easy run

The third hard effort each week would be a race or a workout. If I was getting ready for USATF world xc qualifiers i would make sure to run some under distance races on the track. Though it would be good to mix in one to two long hilly road races of 8k to 10miles if possible. If I was running an xc season I would try to only race every other weekend because 8k to 10k efforts on xc courses do take a good bit out of you particularly while you are training hard.
If you aren't racing on a given weekend then I would do a surge workout. Either a workout averaging goal pace as long as i can while running faster and slower. So if goal pace is 72 per 400m- 30:00 for 10k I would do something like 31/41 200's, or 62/80 400's, or Aussie quarters going 62 to 64 and the 200's in 46 to 44 for rest. If a session was short, ie you would probably only manage a mile or two of the 31/41 then I would take a 5min rest and do a second set.

Lastly on sundays I would do a 15 to 20 mile normal paced run but on very soft hilly terrain something that really saps the legs to get used to running on soft tough surfaces and not getting frustrated but also to build all those little muscles that will get really taxed on a tough xc course.

Build up to Olympic Trails 2007

This is my training from July 23 to the Olympic Trials in 2007, this was all originally on trackshark, but that sight went down so I pieced it back together for this site.
My training from March to July 22 is posted on this blog in its original dates.
OK I couldn’t find the original blogs from July 23 to August 26 or from October 1 to 7 so I just copied them out of my hand written logs so you get no comments or summaries or quotes for those weeks.

July 23 to 29
Monday PM road 20-1:56:28, first Methuen road 10 loop with Garcia, then lake road 1
loop solo- hamstring bad! From an 1:15 on. Tot.20
AM ART and chiro adjustment

Tuesday AM 9 solo at mines falls, easy, 59:11 tot. 9
PM 8 shakeout with Shannon at mines falls, 1:01:03,
springing/bounding/straight leg bounding after tot. 8

Wednesday AM 3 warm up, 22:36, 20k on Tewksbury track, warm 85 degrees, 1:07:38
(major splits 5k-17:08, 8k-27:15, 10k-34:00, 15k-50:52, 16K-54:15) 1 ½
mile cool down tot. 17
2PM 18:56 warm up, 12x15 second hills, very tired, HOT!, 18:23 cool down,
tot. 8
6PM 42:33 shakeout with Shannon on Tewks trails- tot.5

Thursday AM rd. and trail 9 in tewks solo, 1:01:02, tot.9
PM Duffy 5 with Gary 36:22, bounding and stuff, then duffy 5 solo, 34:45
tot.10
XT 2x70y springing, 2x70y bounding, 5x70y straight leg bounds, 2x short hill
Springing, 2x short hill bounding

Friday AM rd. and trail 9 in tewks solo, 1:01:02 tot. 9
PM trail 10 in tewks, 1:20;54, first 5 with Shannon, tot. 10

Saturday AM in Keene, NH on track, 3 warm up, strides 200m in 35, 10k on track first 3k
with Josh Ference, first 8k with mark Miller, 30:05.8 (splits 3:00.3, 6:00.3,
8:59.4, 12:01.8, 15:01.9, 18:03.4, 21:02.8, 24:03.2, 27:06.2) 27:28 c/down
tot. 12++
PM 3 w/up, 15x13 second hills, 3 cool down, tot. 8

Sunday AM rd. and trail 27+ in tewks, 3:03:05, warm but I took water, tot. 27
PM rd. 5+ shakeout, first 3 with Shannon, 43:47 tot. 5+

Summary 157 miles for week.


July 30 to August 5

Monday AM 2+ jogging at camp, some light drills
2PM 9+ easy on road, 1:02:09, tot.9
PM 5+ shakeout with Shannon, 40:22 tot. 5

Tuesday AM 6ish at camp, including 1 mile with Keith Kelly in 5:20/30 range, tot.6-
3:30PM 3 warm up, strides, 10k at 95% goal mp- 32:45, on track, supposed to
go 15K but had bathroom issues 3 cool down, tot. 12+
PM 6+ shakeout with Shannon in Tewks, tot. 6+

Wednesday AM rd. and trail 9 in tewks, 59:19 tot.9
PM 10 shakout in tewks, 1:18;08, 2x100m bounding, 4x100m straight leg
bounding after tot. 10

Thursday AM 3+ warm up, 18K on tewks track at 90% mp, F-ing Hot 90+ and humid,
1:01:56, (10k in 34:32) mile cool down 7:41 tot. 15++
PM at mines falls, 26min warm up 20x9 second hills, 19min cool down tot. 8

Friday AM rd. and trail 9 in tewks, 59:34 tot.9
1PM duffy 5 with gary, 36:39, 2x110y springing, 2x110y bounding, 4x110y str.
leg bounding, 3 cool down tot. 8
6PM trail 5+ in tewks, 41:53 tot. 5+

Saturday AM 3 warm up 22:30, 12x400m with 200 jog rest, fastest 65.2 slowest 68.0
average about 66 mid, 3 cool down, 21:26 tot. 11
PM 3 warm up, 10k on track at 95% mp, breezy and hot 90+ but low humidity,
32:26(5k-16:21, 8K-26:02) 2 cool down tot. 11+

Sunday AM 30 easy on roads in Lowell, 3:16:26, first 16 with Rex, tot. 30

Summary 156 miles for week


August 6 to 12

Monday AM ART and chiro, then 9 miles at Maudsley st. park, 1:03:25 tot.9
PM trail 10 shakeout in tewks, very tired, 1:19:24 tot. 10

Tuesday AM tewks rd. and trail 9, 59:08, tot. 9
PM duffy 5, then 3xhill springing, 3xhill bounding, 5x100m str. leg bound on
flat, then duffy 5 again tot. 10

Wednesday AM Super humid, windy, on tewks track.3.5 warm up strides, 200 in 35,
3200m in 9:28.4(72, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44, 5:55, 7:06, 8:17), 3 cool down,
felt pretty easy, was tempted to push to 5k but decided to play it safe.
Tot. 9
PM 8 shakeout with Shannon at Mines falls, super humid tot.8

Thursday AM jogging and short hills and some hill bounding at camp, tot. 5+
2PM 6++ solo and easy on rds in Lowell, 41:02 tot. 6++
6PM rd. 5+ shakeout, 39:26 tot. 5

Friday AM 6+ rd. and trail in tewks, 40:03 tot. 6
PM 6 shakeout with Shannon in Falmouth, 48:31 tot. 6

Saturday PM 6 plus solo in Falmouth, drills after run. Tot.6+

Sunday 6:45AM 2 mile shakeout, 15:40 tot. 2
9AM 20min warm up, strides, drills, Race Falmouth Road race, dropped out3.5
mile with Achilles issue, jogged to 6.5 mile mark slowly to get ride home.
Tot.9+

Summary 100 miles, was running great! at Falmouth until Achilles went.


August 13 to 19
Got ART every other day
Monday pool workout 10x3mins
Tuesday pool workout 16x2mins
Wednesday pool workout
Thursday jog 4 and ½ minutes
Friday jog ½ mile on track 3:56
Saturday Jog mile 8:14
Sunday nothing
Summary 2 miles for week

August 20 to 26
Monday AM 2 miles on track 14:30
PM pool workout 30x1min

Tuesday Noon 3 miles solo, 21mins
PM massage

Wednesday AM ART
PM rd. 5 solo in tewks, 32:28 tot. 5

Thursday PM 7 easy 48:14 tot. 7

Friday Pm 7 at mines falls, 50:21 tot. 7

Saturday rd. and trail 11+ in Tewksbury, 1:16:53 tot. 11+

Sunday rd. and trail 12, 1:20:43 tot.12

Summary- 47 miles for week



Training August 27 to September 2

Monday AM rd. 7 in tewks w/ Sean, 46:37 tot. 7
PM rd. and trail 9 solo, 58:34 tot. 9

Tuesday AM 3 w/up strides, 2800m on tewks track (3:14, 3:15 (2:35 last 800) had hoped
to go 10k at this pace, roughly 95% goal mp but Achilles started to tighten
so I stopped. 1 lap cool down tot. 5
PM 9 miles at mines falls, first 44 mins w/ Sean, Achilles tired but ok, 58:27
tot.9

Wednesday AM got ART and chiropractic adjustment
PM 1:12:22 at Walden Pond, first 63 mins w/ Sean tot. 10

Thursday AM drove up to camp Foss in Barnstead Nh, to join uml’s xc camp in progress
PM road (mostly dirt) 12, first 9.5 w/ Ruben Sanca (who is very fit), 1:11:47,
we ran the normal Foss 9 loop (for anyone who has gone to camp there) in
54:54 then went out camp road which Gary had marked every 400m the
day before for there 5 mile tempo run, Ruben turned at the half to get 10 I
turned at the 1 and a half. This stretch was flatter, but not flat, I ran about
5:35 pace for the last 3 but it was the same effort we had been running.
Tot. 12

Friday 6:50am 6 w/ gary easy, 47:32 tot. 6
10am 10 w/ uml guys, well a couple of them, 1:03:33, used the same loop as
Thursday and hit 9 in 57:33 then ran 6 flat again the same effort just flatter
for the last mile tot. 10
PM drive home from Foss

Saturday AM Got ART and Chiropractic adjustment spectacular appointment left feeling like
Achilles was 99% healed
Noon at battle road trail in Lexington and Lincoln 10 miles in 1:04:50, wanted
to do a tempo run and had heard this thing was marked but after it took
over 5 minutes to reach cover the first marked “800” and then 54 seconds
to cover the next marked “400” I should have realized there was no way
this was going to work and slowed down but I really liked the trail so I
ran the whole thing and ascertained that the markers were put out by
someone just guessing at location who had no sense of distance what so
ever. Great trail though. But long story short I ran harder then I should
have because now I had to move my tempo to the pm tot. 10
4PM 3+ w/up 2x5k on tewks track, little windy but not bad, 15:38.0 and 15:42.0
with 800 meters in 2:56.6 for rest felt controlled and Achilles was good but
I opted to stop at 2 repeats I’ll revisit this workout once or twice before the
trials and do 4 or 5 repeats and try to change the rest to 1k in about 3:30,
3+ cool down, my right abductor was very tight after the run probably from
favoring the Achilles over the past few weeks tot. 13

Sunday AM woods 10 easy w/ uml guys, 1:13:12, was going to go long but abductor was
very tight and didn’t loosen up. I have spent the rest of the day iceing it and
trying to roll it out with a tennis ball I may take tomorrow off I have had this
in the past and it is rarely bothersome for more than a day or two tot. 10

Summary 101 miles for the week. The Achilles (my computer insists on capitalizing this every time I type it) is much better. I’m very happy with the comeback so far and being able to do some mp work on Saturday was great news. I’m a little worried about the abductor thing but am hoping its just from coming back so quickly, the hills at foss, and favoring the Achilles over the last couple of weeks and that a little rest, a lot of ice and a bit of tennis ball will get it squared away. I’m starting my specific phase for the marathon this week which means that my focus will move away from getting good efforts and move to hitting a specific pace. I will do 4 types of workouts,
1. marathon pace work which will make up the lions share 90% or more of my workouts, this includes repeats like Saturday’s 5k’s and possibly runs of 20 tot 25 kilo meters, varying pace runs of 30 to 40 kilometers that involve running mp off of faster and slower paces when I’m tired, easy long runs of greater then 2 hours, at 7min pace or so, that are finished with running at mp to teach the body to run this pace after severely depleting my glycogen stores, I’ll probably do one super compensation workout which will be designed to do the same thing only in a different way. In that workout I’ll run 10k quickly followed by 10 or 12k at mp then repeat the same workout in the afternoon.
2. Long runs of race time (ie between 2:10 and 2:20) at 90% race pace. These are basically to get the body used to pushing for the amount of time they will have to in the marathon. These are very very tough. If mp is 3:08 a kilo (5:04 a mile) then 90% is 3:27 a kilo (5:34 mile pace).
3. Alternate pace runs, these are 20 kilometer( 12 and a half mile) runs where I run one kilo at half marathon goal pace, roughly 3:00 and then one kilo slower hopefully by the end of the phase roughly 3:18. The idea is that my avg. pace should be marathon pace. This workout teaches the body to handle the extra strain of faster running (surges) and to relax and recover at a pace very close to mp.
4. Progression runs, I do 1 to 1 and a half hour progression runs a few times just to try and maintain my aerobic threshold. These are solid efforts but should not be the focus of what I’m doing.
Most everything else that remains is light running, I’ll do some short hill repeats and bounding, drills ect… but nothing that will take much out of me. My miles will be slightly, 5 to 10 miles a week, lower then during my base phase and I’ll be doing a bit more easy running between hard efforts.



Training September 3 to 9


Monday off for sore abductor, iced it about 12 times, basically 20 minutes out of every
hour for the vast majority of the day

Tuesday AM rd. and trail 9 easy in tewks, 1:05:28
PM get ART and chiro adjustment

Wednesday AM rd. and trail 9 in tewks solo, 55:45, ice abductor after tot. 9


Thursday AM rd. and trail 9 in tewks solo, 55:55, tot. 9
3pm light ART work
6PM 8 shakeout in tewks w/ Shannon, 104:57 tot. 8

Friday Noon, hot!! 95 degrees, 2+ w/up, 6.3 miles medium pace (roughly 80% mp)
36:01, into 5k alt. 1 min hard 1 min medium (16:13) 3.2 miles medium
(19:01 (passed 5k in 18:24), 1 mile in 5:18 was supposed to be 5k at mp but
the heat had gotten to me and I stopped, 13.6 miles in 1:16:35, passed half
marathon in 1:13 so all and all a good run with the heat, 11 minute c/down
tot. 17++ Ice bath after

Saturday AM 6 mile easy shakeout w/ Shannon, 50:01 tot. 6
PM 6 mile easy shakeout solo, 48:23 tot. 6

Sunday AM rd and trail 9 easy solo in tewks, 58:01, tot. 9
PM 8 shakeout w/ Shannon at mines falls, 1:04:31 tot. 8

Summary 81 miles for the week, 1 ok workout. I’m healthy and got in one of two planned workouts this week. It was hot so I’ll take it for what it was. Hot or not I really struggled with the 1min hard 1 min medium stretch basically I am still really struggling with anything that involves shifting paces, but I have a few more workouts that will target this. Ok this week was not what I hoped for but it was successful, hopefully this coming week will be better.

Quote of the week “We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.”
Sir Winston Churchill, speech in the House of Commons, July 14, 1940



Training September 10 to 16

Monday Noon woods 24 easy in Lowell into 3200m on track in 10:11. Hamstring
bothersome everything else (adductor, Achilles) good tot. 26, 2:50:10,
tot.26

Tuesday AM rd. and trail 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 1:01:23 tot. 8
PM rd. and trail 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 1:01:50 tot. 8

Wednesday AM got Chiro adjustment and ART
Noon 9 easy, solo in tewks, 56:17 tot. 9
8PM rd. 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 1:04:16 tot. 8

Thursday 1PM at mines falls, 4 w/up 1 hour progression run around factory loop, 5 laps
(13:24, 13:00(26:25), 12:36(39:01), 12:08(51:10), 11:48(1:02:59) 11
minute cool down. Honestly I would have liked to do another loop and
really open it up but my hamstring started to get a little funny and where
this isn’t really an important workout for me I decided to leave it. Tot. 17

Friday AM rd. and trail 9 easy in tewks, 56:55 tot. 9
PM 8+ shakeout at mines falls, first couple with Shannon, 1:03:35 tot. 8

Saturday off- sick Shannon has had a cold all week and I caught it had a workout scheduled and decided to try and kick the cold with a day off

Sunday 1Pm 9 at mines falls easy, 57:19, felt ok but ended up feeling crumby after tot. 9

Summary 102 miles for the week. Ok week I’m worried about the hamstring which has been an off and on problem for a year now. I think I have it figured out though. My working theory is that the problem isn’t the hamstring itself( I’ve had it worked on by a few different people and they all say basically the same thing that it doesn’t seem to be in very bad shape) I believe the problem is that my quads are way to tight and that when I run faster the hamstrings have to fight the quads more( because my heel comes up higher ect.) and that when I run quicker for long periods of time this exhausts the hamstring and causes it to fatigue out. So I have started doing some active stretching for the quad and it seems to be working, though I haven’t had a chance to really test it yet with the cold. Which is pretty much finishing up now(Wednesday).

Quote of the week “I've had a few setbacks in my life, but I never gave up” Harry
Truman

Training September 17 to 23

Monday Off sick

Tuesday Noon rd. and trail 9 in tewks solo easy, 56:28 tot. 9
PM rd. and trail 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 58:47 tot. 8

Wednesday Noon rd. and trail 10 solo in tewks, 1:01:27 easy, congestion starting to clear
up tot. 10
PM 8 shakeout solo in tewks, 1:02:06 tot. 8

Thursday Noon at mines falls, 3 w/up (23:30) Progression run around factory loop, lap 1-
12:49, lap 2-12:30(25:19), lap 3-12:09(37:29), lap 4-11:47(49:17)
straight only-4:08(on last lap I went 4:18 to this point) 53:25, 2 min rest
2 c/down tot. 15+
PM 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 1:00:16, tot. 8

Friday AM rd. and trail 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 59:40 tot. 8
PM trail 8+ shakeout at mines falls w/ Shannon, 1:04:30 tot. 8

Saturday 9:30AM 3+ w/up, 24:30, 2x10k on Tewks 2.1 mile loop(lightly rolling), first
10k 35:15, 1:28 rest w/ 1/10th a mile jog, a bit of water and a quick
stretch, 10k in 31:19 (splits 5:06, 5:01, 5:01(15:39 5k), 4:53, 5:03,
5:11) bad side stitch the last two miles hence the slow down on the
plus side other then the stitch running 5:11 felt like a walk if you’d
asked me what pace I was running I would have guessed 6 mins. 1-
c/down 7:48, it was warm 75 or so tot. 16.5
4:10PM 3 w/up, 22:30, warm again 80, 2x10k on same tewks 2.1 loop, 1st 10k
34:46, 1:58 rest, little water, light stretch 1/10th mile jog, 2nd 10k 31:28
(splits 5:06, 5:06, 5:03 (15:47 5k) 5:00, 5:05, 5:04), 51 second rest, 1
mile c/down, 8:01 tot. 16.5

Sunday AM rd. and trail 6 solo shakeout, 45:52, tot.6
PM rd. and trail 6 solo shakeout, 47:43, tot. 6

Summary 122 miles, two real good workouts. I measured the factory loop and the progression run was a little over 10 miles and I averaged about 5:09 a mile so that is a real solid effort and the super compensation workout on Saturday went great. I figure mp must be about 5:05 over the rolling hills, though they aren’t as tough as the ones in central park but then it won’t be 80 at 7am on November 3rd there either, at least I hope it won’t. It was nice to finally get over that cold and hopefully that will be the last unplanned hurdle for this training phase.

Quote of the week “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson


Training for September 24 to 30

Monday AM rd. and trail 10 in tewks solo, 1:01:36 tot. 10
Noon ART and chiro adjustment
PM rd. and trail 8 shakeout w/ Shannon in tewks, 1:04:55 tot. 8

Tuesday AM rd. and trail 9 solo in tewks, easy 55:17 tot. 9
PM rd. 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 1:04:06 tot. 8

Wednesday AM at mines falls, 3 w/up 22:40, factory loop progression run, 14.25 miles
(6 loops), splits 13:32, 13:15(26:47), 12:50(39:38), 12:32(52:10 ten
second stop on that lap to tie shoe included in that time), 11:54(1:04:04)
11:35(1:15:40), 2 mins rest then 12:09 c/down, very hot, 80 degrees
despite early start tot.19
PM woods 8 shakeout w/ the umass Lowell girls, 1:05:10 hot 90 degrees
plus tot. 8

Thursday AM rd. and trail 10 solo in tewks, 59:57 tot. 10
PM rd. and trail 8 solo shakeout in tewks, 1:04:10 tot. 8

Friday AM in tewks on 2.1 loop, very warm again 75plus w/ humidity, 3 w/up 24:30,
3x4.1 miles at goal mp w/ half mile jog rest, 20:47(5:12, 10:11(4:59), 5K
15:46(5:02), 5:01. half mile in 2:45 rest, 4.1 in 20:39(5:00, 10:03(5:03), 5K
15:37 (5:01), 5:02, half rest in 2:41, 4.1 in 20:40 (5:00, 10:04(5:04), 5k
15:37(5:01), 5:03, 2 mins standing rest then ¾ mile w/down. This loop is
lightly rolling tot. 16
PM at mines falls 3 ¾ w/up 10 x 9 second hills jog down rest, nice to get back to
these, I’ve been worried about adding them in before the achilles was strong
enough but it was fine, 3 ½ c/down tot. 8

Saturday AM 8+ solo shakeout in Keene, NH on rail road tracks, 1:03:09 tot. 8
PM woods 8 solo shakeout in Lowell, 1:00:16 tot. 8

Sunday Noon just over 1 mile w/up at 8 min pace then just over 40 km (40.11) at
between 90% and 95% of marathon pace on a very very hilly loop
(2:16:56), ran four 9.25 km loop and finished w/ a loop that was just over
3km loop splits (32:09, 31:18, 31:08, 31:37,(3.11k in 10:41) my average
pace was 5:29.65 a mile (3:24.8 a kilometer) oh ya, I almost forgot 40.11
km is 24.92 miles tot. 26

Summary 146 miles for the week with three very good workouts/hard efforts. This was as good a week training as I have ever had. After this I feel I’m certainly fit enough for the trails. Now it will come down to staying healthy, racing intelligently, and being ready for the course. The long run at the end of the week was particularly gratifying. Frankly the course was much tougher then I thought it would be but I had little problem with it, at least aerobically, (I’m still finding my weakness is muscular). Still to run just a shade shy of 25 miles at under 5:30 mile pace over a course that was much tougher then anything I’ll ever have to race a marathon on and to do it at the end of a 146 mile week with two good workouts in the previous four days was a real good effort. It was a week with a lot of distractions so to still train this well was very nice. This coming week I’ll be mostly resting up for the BAA half marathon on Sunday. I’m not real sure who is going to be there, I know Samuel Ndereba and Linus Maiyo are in but other than that I’m not sure. I’m fit and ready to run well. Hopefully there won’t be a repeat of Falmouth and I haven’t left my race in the last few days of training. Really though I’m very confidant that I’m ready to run well. The course is a little tough but it fits my style of racing well.

Quotes of the week “By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” Christopher Columbus

“Work is hard. Distractions are plentiful. And time is short.” Adam Hochschild


October 1 to 7
Monday AM ART and chiro
Noon 6 miles solo in Maudsley tot. 6
3PM 6 with Gary, 44:54 tot. 6

Tuesday AM woods 10 solo, MD, 59:35 tot. 10
3PM ART and chiro,
5PM woods 8 solo, 59:48 tot. 8

Wednesday 3+ warm up, 5k on track, 15:08, bad workout VERY tired/heavy. 3 plus cool
down tot. 10

Thursday AM 6 with gary and Amanda- 49:05 tot. 6
PM woods 6 with UML girls, 47:16 tot. 6

Friday Noon- woods 7 with Nikki, 55:45, 6 strides, tot.8

Saturday Noon- trail 5 easy at Franklin park, 34:36, drills after tot. 5

Sunday AM 20min warm up with Nikki, some jogging and strides, Race BAA Half Marathon, 7th 1:06:16, Hammy went after 8 miles stuggled after that. 20min cool down tot. 19

Summary 84 miles for week


Trackshark blog October 8 to 14

Monday AM ART and Chiro work with Brian McCracken (my normal guy and yes he is
a chiropractor with McCracken as his real last name.)
PM woods 6+ solo shakeout, 47:10 tot. 6

Tuesday AM woods 9 easy solo 1:03:32 tot. 9
Noon ART and Chiro w/ dr. Pete, the point is he is a different guy then usual.
Better then my regular guy. Yes he has a last name and no I don’t
remember it.
PM woods 7 shakeout w/ Jenna and Nikki, 55:20 tot. 7

Wednesday AM woods 9 easy solo easy 1:02:01, tot. 9
PM 1:00:32 shakeout on Hickory Hill Golf course well watching uml guys
workout tot. 8

Thursday AM woods 10 solo medium, 1:02:01 tot. 10
PM woods 8 shakeout w/ Ray Drewitz, 58:32 tot. 8

Friday AM On very hilly loop in Dracut, 3 w/up, strides, 7 miles at goal mp(36:00), 1
mile rest (6:02 but that is including a 29 second) 5 miles at goal mp (25:46) 1
cool down tot. 17
PM 2.5 w/up 10x14 second hills jog down rest 2.5 c/down 50:01 total runnig time
tot. 6

Saturday AM woods 7 solo shakeout, 52:56, tot. 7
PM woods 7 solo shakeout, 49:53 tot. 7

Sunday AM woods 9 solo, 59:24, tot. 9
PM woods 9 solo shakeout, 1:08:09 tot. 9

Summary 112 miles for the week w/ 1 workout. A good week. I bounced back from the
race well. The only thing that bothered me was that during the workout my legs did the same going dead thing well I was still feeling good as they did at the BAA so I’m a bit more worried about that. I don’t know if it is that my aerobic system is just ahead of my muscles or that I screwed up my training or it could be that I’ve been eating poorly and that I’m running out of glycogen very very quickly. Frankly I’m not sure and grasping at straws a bit but really there isn’t much I can do at this point so I’ll do my last few workouts, try to eat better and hope that tapering and racing smart will help me avoid it when it matters. I don’t need to avoid it completely I can honestly run pretty well with it for 5 or 6 miles.

Quote of the week “Ask yourself “Can I give more?” The answer is usually “Yes’.” -Paul Tergat


The last hard week October 15 to 21


Monday AM ART and Chiropractic adjustment with Cracken (regular guy)
Noon woods 8 shakeout, 1:00:48, first 3 w/ Gary tot. 8
PM woods 10 solo(started at same time as uml guys but none wanted to go,
1:00:01 tot. 10

Tuesday AM on very hilly Dracut loop 2+ w/up (15:08) 9 at bit faster then 80%mp
(53:08) 3 miles alt. 1 min fast one at roughly 80% mp (16:15) 4 miles at
what was supposed to be mp, first mile I just screwed the pace but as soon
as I picked it up my legs went and I gutted it out for a while but stopped
after 4 in 21:10 (5:19, 10:35, 15:47, 21:10). This was an extremely
disappointing workout I felt great the whole way except the legs just stopped
working. Very frustrating! Tot.18

PM woods 5 shakeout with some uml guys(36:50) ran straight into 4 miles on
the track at mp (20:03) splits (5:00, 10:02, 15:01) now the track is perfectly
flat and those are only 1600’s hence why they are much faster then any
other mp work I’ve done. My legs went a little on this but only when I was
feeling tired which is much less unsettling tot. 9

Wednesday AM woods 9 solo/ easy, 1:00:39 tot. 9
PM woods 8 solo shakeout, 58:32 tot. 8

Thursday AM woods 10 solo/md, 59:53 tot. 10
PM woods 8 solo shakeout, 59:22 tot. 8

Friday 1PM on tough hilly Dracut loop, 19:56 w/up strides, 3x4 miles at mp w/ 1 mile
at roughly 80% mp for rest and a bonus. 20:49 rest 5:49(26:39)
20:26(47:09) rest 5:49(52:54), 20:37(1:13:31) rest 5:52(1:19:24 for 15
miles) 1 mile in 5:18(1:24:42 for 16 miles) 3 minute cool down. I’ll put
the exact splits below the summary tot. 19++
5PM 3 ½ w/up 10x9 second hills at mines falls jog down rest 18:45 cool
down, 57:14 total running time tot. 7-

Saturday 10:30AM ART and Chiropractic adjustment w/ Cracken
11:30AM 8 shakeout at Maudsley State Park in Newburyport, 1::01:53 tot. 8+
PM woods 9 solo/easy, 1:02:19 tot. 9

Sunday 8:30AM at Stonehill College on there xc course, 10 miles(59:22) first 5 easy,
33:35, second 5 at roughly mp (25:56) honestly I was a bit tired so I
really didn’t push. Splits 5:12.1, 5:11.1, 5:14.9, 5:07.3, 5:10.9) course
was very flat but had a lot of turns and the ground was uneven in short it
was nice tot. 10
10AM jogging and running around xc course getting splits for the uml men and
women. At the end of this week you better believe I’m counting it, plus
I had to hustle a couple of times tot. 2
Noon 8 shakeout on stonehill xc course, 54:44, a little quick for a shakeout but I
wanted it over with and I was trying to get back in time for the post race
banquet. I’m nothing if not a hound for free food. Tot. 8

Summary 143 miles for the week, 1 good workout, 1 shitty workout, 4 good medium
efforts. Overall I’m happy with this as a solid last week of prep. I’m not in the shape I had dreamed of but man have I come a long way from where I was on the uml spring break trip in march(my first week back from mono). I’ll post more often over the next couple of weeks about specific tune up workouts and the work I have done in general. But overall I’d give my prep for this race a B+. I did suffer one, sort of one and a half small injuries and think I should have done some more progression runs in the spring and summer. But at the end of march I raced 5 miles on a fast course and ran 25:07. So I’ve come a long way. I’m fit and ready to run. Now I need to not get sick or hurt the last couple of weeks, do enough to not feel flat, and back off enough to not be tired. Honestly the next two weeks are a bit of an experiment still. The race will be a double test, one of my fitness but then also one of my ability to honestly gauge my effort on the terrain. I’m looking forward to it.
And as promised the splits from Fridays workout first 4 20:49(5:16, 10:30(5:14), 15:39(5:09), 20:49(5:10), second 4 20:26 (4:58, 10:10(5:12), 15:18(5:08), 20:26(5:08), third 4 20:37 (5:08, 10:20(5:12), 15:28(5:08), 20:37(5:09).
Sorry no quote this week I’m being lazy.


Training October 22 to 28 2007 blog

Monday Noon 22 miles on roads starting and finishing at top of Mnt. Watchusett.
Medium pace(just under 6 mins per mile avg.) for first 19 miles then hard
on the climb (3 miles 1070 feet) for just over a 7min a mile avg. (21:38),
2:16:52 total time, heart rate a bit over 250bpm at finish. Tot. 22

Tuesday AM woods 5 easy w/ gary, 37:11 tot. 5
PM woods 5 easy w/ uml guys, 36:23 tot. 5
Between runs got ART/chiro adjustment from Dr. Pete

Wednesday AM woods 7 solo and easy, 46:34 tot. 7
PM 7+ solo easy at Maudsley state park, 49:48 tot. 7
Got ART/Chiro adjustment from Dr. Cracken between runs

Thursday 11:30AM at mines falls 19:56 w/up, couple strides, 7 1/8 mile progression run
in 34:57, (3 loops of factory loop) 12:03.8(5:04.8 pace),
11:39.3(4:54.5pace) 23:43.1 at 4.5 miles, 11:14.1(4:43.8pace)
34:57.2(4:54.4 pace) 12 minute flat cool down tot. 11-
3:15PM 18 min w/up w/ tim and ruben, solo 7k on track at about mp, 21:50,
felt easy as hell, splits (3:06.3, 6:15.0(3:08.7), 9:21.9(3:07.0),
12:30.3(3:08.4), 15:36.7(3:06.4), 18:42.6(3:06.0), 21:50.3(3:07.7))
17:56 cool down w/ ruben and tim. Tot. 10+

Friday AM woods 6 solo, easy, 44:09 tot. 6


Saturday 7AM woods 13++, 1:26:14, honestly felt a little flat after staying up too late the
night before tot. 13

Sunday Noon woods 5 solo, easy, 35:07 tot. 5
5PM woods 5 solo, easy 34:51 tot. 5

Summary 96 miles for the week, 1 workout, 1 real long run, 1 pretend long run. I had to slip out for the second run just before half time of the Pats game, and miss a field goal and a touchdown because I slept so late after staying up to watch to sox last night. I’m typing this after staying up to watch them win again tonight. I’m glad they won it tonight so I have all week to get on a better sleeping schedule for a 7:30am race. It’s a wonderful year to be a Boston sports fan.


Training October 29 to November 4

Monday AM woods 7 solo, easy, 46:57 tot. 7
4PM ART and Chiropractic adjustment
5PM 5+ easy, solo at Maudsley 37:27, tot. 5

Tuesday PM 2 w/up with Tim Guerin (uml guy), 16:28, couple of strides, 5k on the track
with tim at my mp goal pace, I led until 600m to go when he kicked in
nicely. I ran 15:42.4, Tim went 15:34.1. splits (3:09.2, 6:17.9(3:08.7),
9:26.0(3:08.1), 12:34.2(3:08.3) 15:42.4(3:08.2), this was super easy, 2
c/down with 15:52 tot. 7++

Wednesday AM woods 6 solo, easy 41:53 tot. 6
PM woods 6 w/ uml guys, easy, 43:52 tot. 6

Thursday AM travel to New York City
PM 31:53 out and back from hotel along bike pace on the east river tot. 5-

Friday AM 29:34 out and back from the hotel mostly in central park, also stopped for 4
easy strides with jog back rest in the park, not included in time, tot. 5-

Saturday AM 12 min w/up, few strides, Race Olympic trials marathon, 7th place 2:14:56,
the biggest 32 second pr of my life. Great race on a super flat fast course 4
years ago sell ran 2:17:10 for 7th, on this hilly course I was 2 mins ahead of
that on a tough course and 20 men cracked 2:18, 39 cracked 2:20. Frankly
a huge statement about the quality of American marathoning.

Sunday 9AM 24:34 out and back along the east river, I’m calling it 3 because it hurt so
damn much but in all honesty I’d be willing to be it was less then 2.5 tot. 2

Summary 65 miles for the week, well ok so that was the best race of my life so far. I’ll leave it at that. RIP Ryan Shay.

Race 5k splits
5k- 16:54
10k-32:27 15:33
15k-48:03 15:36
20k-1:03:33 15:30
25k-1:19:04 15:31
30k-1:34:55 15:51
35k-1:51:17 16:22
40k-2:07:44 16:27
Finish 2:14:56
Last 2.195k in 7:12

Runningtimes.com

If you like what you see on this page you should come check out my regular weekly blog at www.runningtimes.com in the athletes blogs section. I post my training for the week every Sunday night and talk about how the training is going and where I'm trying to go with it. There is also a comments section for questions about running, or anything really.
I do still very occasionally post new stuff on this site but if you want the weekly updates on one guy's quest to make the 2012 Olympic Marathon Team then you need to head on over to runningtimes.com
nate

Treadmill Effort Conversion Charts

A couple days ago some one posted the comment I have cut and pasted below asking about a treadmill effort chart. I was in a rush glanced at it, and basically answered that it was very similar to the jack daniels chart. First for my excuses, I didn’t have the daniels one in front of me, and I was looking a colum over from where I though I was, ie I was thinking I was looking at the 12% grade it was in fact only 10%. This chart below is totally out of control! I’m not sure about the slower paces but I was able to hold the 5minute effort for exactly 58 seconds. All out! I’m sorry!! So I figure I’ll do a blog on treadmill conversion charts and what I think of them. This blog isn't allowing that comment, cut and pasted so if you want to see it just look at trackshark, but the point is hillrunner blog's chart was way off, 5:00 effort according to his chart was my allout for 58 seconds, since I ran sub 4:20 solo last weekend for a mile I'm saying that is not so.

Ok now I’m going to try and recreate the daniels chart but I’m not sure I’ll be able to because posting these blogs sometimes moves things around which is a disaster for a chart. But there is a cut out of the daniels chart at http://karlstutelberg.blogspot.com/2008/08/human-race-10k-workout-5100.html ,

You need to scroll down a bit but it is easy enough to find.

Now today after my 55 seconds at hillrunners 5 minute pace I went in and quickly found the above web page and went back to the treadmill to do my workout at the Daniel prescribed pace/incline. But my brain apparently wasn’t working so hot and or I just can’t read a chart to save my life, but I thought I was supposed to do 7.5 mph at a 9.9% grade for 4:59 mile effort. But that was actually supposed to be 9.9 mph at a 7.5% grade. Finding that the treadmill I was on increased grade by .5% only I did 7.4 mph at 10% grade for 20 mins. My quads were screaming but aerobically I thought it felt about right, maybe a bit hard but not too bad. Here comes the problem. According to daniels 7.5mph at a 10% grade is 4:13 mile effort! Now I’m a person who believes he is capable of much more then he has done but there is no way on Gods green earth I threw down the equivalent of 20 mins(4.75 miles) at 4:13 mile pace. A workout that would indicate I was ready for something in the range of 26:12 for a 10k. K.B. watch your back!!

So where does this leave us? I’m not real sure. I am certain that hill runners chart is way off and I’m certain that Daniels is equally off in the other direction. I’m very surprised at the latter because he usually does very thorough research on his stuff, in this case I guess he did not.

So if anyone has any treadmill charts that fit some place in between please post your link, or chart here. I will start doing some searching and do the same. In the meantime I’m going to stick with trying to go as long as I can at 7.4mph/10% grade and figure it is close to 5:00 effort.

Why do Short Hills

Why do I do short hill repeats if I'm training for a marathon and not a mile?
I do short hill repeats for 2 reasons the first goal, and most obvious, is to gain physical strength. Since strength is in our sport is often interchangeable with speed I see why it seems strange for a marathoner to be doing this type of a workout especially with such frequency. I mean why try to get a faster top end speed when even to run a world record I only need to run 4:45 or 4:46 a mile. The first reason is that every race is a race of speed, meaning that no matter how long the race is the fastest person over the distance wins. But that alone doesn't justify hill repeats one to three times a week. The real reason is strength and speed over the short distance equal efficiency. By doing these hills and getting stronger and faster in the maxim. I teach my body to consume less glycogen, and less oxygen when moving at sub maximal speeds. The less of these "fuels" the body consumes at a given pace the longer I can hold that pace.
the 2nd reason I do short hills is that they drive my heart rate way up in an extremely short period of time, to within 10 beats of max or higher in 10 seconds or less and then because my heart rate hasn't been up that long and no acid needs to be flushed out of my system (it takes 15 seconds of an exercise to begin to produce any lactic acid) my heart rate basically plummets back down to a relatively rested level, 120 to 130 beats per minute, in a short time 20seconds to a minute. This exercise on the heart teaches the heart efficiency as well meaning it takes less energy to pump more blood.
Now if I was training for the mile I would still do short hill repeats for the same reasons I have listed above but I would probably try to go a little longer (say 13 to 15 seconds rather then my usual 8 to 12) and I would try to do it on a slightly less steep hill and with better footing. Why? Because a miler would want to improve there efficiency, muscular as well as heart but he/she would also want to work more specifically on there top end speed and running uphill but with your form closer to that which you use to run over flat ground is a spectacular way of doing that.

Finally the greatest advantage of short hills is that you can reap huge long term benefits without having to sacrifice much of anything. They are very easy on the body and mind. Sure you run all out but only for a few seconds so they really are not hard and because little or no acid is accumulated in the system they take little recovery at all. This is why if I had one thing I would recommend to all runners to add to there program right now short hills would be it. They improve your basic speed, improve your efficiency and strengthen your heart and if you do them once or twice a week your body won't be any more tired or worse for the wear. It’s a win win situation. I am convinced that these, progression runs and the use of circuit training are the biggest reasons the Kenyans are so far beyond us here in the US. That said I believe we are starting to look to their training and we are closing the gap rapidly. So add progression runs and short hills to your routine and join the charge for world class running in the US, or at least a new pr.

Progression runs

I have some time so I want to talk about progression runs. These are my favorite workout. I think that they have applications at every level for every event. They are for my money the best workout you can do to improve your overall fitness level. I only started using them a year and a half ago and I haven’t fully utilized them like I should but I’m working hard to correct that.

So first what is a progression run? Well they are really any run that starts slower and progresses to finish faster. More specifically they are any time you steadily increase the pace of your workout to finish at a hard fast pace. They can be any distance and should be varied in length in any program but the bigger variations should be depending on your event. As I am focused on marathons my progression runs generally range from 40 minutes to an hour and a half, though I do do some runs of more than 2 hours that could qualify as progression runs but they are more structured and varied in pace so for this forum I’ll keep them separate. Also for this forum I’m going to stick to progression runs as a workout for distance and mid distance runners so generally speaking from roughly 3 to 20 miles and 15 minutes to 2 hours plus.

Some people like to start them at a jog, 8 min pace or slower even at the elite level. Personally I like to warm up with a light jog for 2 or 3 miles then jump in a decent clip. I don’t generally do the strides and stretching I would do before a interval workout, tempo run or threshold run for two reasons, first because I’m only starting at 80% to 90% of marathon pace I really don’t need to be all that well warmed up, second and more to the point if I do all that I tend to be too keyed up and I go out too fast and screw up the workout.

Now what makes a progression run so great? They teach you to run your fastest when you are at your most tired. In a nutshell that is the main reason that they are important. But Nate I run the last interval of my workouts faster then all the rest isn’t that the same thing? NO it isn’t, it is a good thing and keep doing that but the fact is you have rested since finishing your previous effort, you are less tired then you were then, often you end up packing away time in the first part of the effort and finishing slower, we have all gone out 4 seconds faster for the first ¼ of a mile then the pace we finish it at.(stop doing that by the way all you are teaching your body is how to do the slower running) But even if you run that last mile repeat in 75, 73, 72, 65 it still not as good as the progression run because again you had a rest after the last interval. Why is this important, because there is no time out at the 2 mile mark of your 5k state cross country meet or the 4 mile mark of your 8k college cross country race. But Nate if I’m trying to simulate the finish of a race why don’t I just go out and run a race in practice. Two reasons again, first without race day adrenaline you can’t run race pace for a full distance, can’t do it. Second there is no guarantee of success. This is the beauty of a progression run, if you think your going to slow down, kick like hell and finish, you are done. But you were planning on going 9 miles and you have only done 5, doesn’t matter, except the workout for what it is. Now I’m not saying the progression run is the only way to simulate the problems you will face in the last part of a race, far from it. I’m just saying that it is the best.

The next reason to love the progression run is the simplicity combined with its natural adaptability. You don’t need a track or a measured loop, or even a loop really (though I really really recommend using a loop). Just go out and start at an ok effort and keep picking up the pace until your running as hard and fast as you can. You can go measure it after. That’s the simple part. The adaptability is that it is always the perfect effort, why? Well because you run as hard as you can and finish strong. (if you just run as hard as you can from the gun all you teach your body is that when the going gets tough it should rig up and die)

Now the downside. The first time I did a progression run I did it all right found a loop that was like the courses I was racing, it was on one of them actually, and I started slow and finished as hard and fast as I could. It was a total disappointment. It was cross country season when I was in college and I ran about 40 minutes and covered barely 7 miles. Worse yet when I measured the loop I found that at my fastest I was only running 5:15 mile pace, now I was trying to run 25:00 or so at the time so this seemed like a total waste of a workout, hell my pr was already under 25:20. So I went back to my next workout happy to return to mile repeats with long breaks at something around 4:40 pace and felt I had wasted a workout by doing that stupid progression run. I had missed the point, the progression run had shown me my weakness I couldn’t run a sustained hard effort and finish well. I never ran under 5:10 for my last mile that year except in races where I ran super slow for the 4^th mile (5:20 or worse). So if your first progression seems like a flop then understand two things, one they aren’t about averaging some super fast pace, no pr’s in these workouts, and if you really sucked then you should probably do some more because they are just what you need.

Ok so I hope that I have got my love for progression runs across to you but to sum up. Progression runs teach your body to run its fastest when its tired and to be able to finish races off of a sustained hard effort. They are best if left unstructured because this enables you to run by how you feel so that the effort automatically adapts itself to your exact condition that day. To illustrate what I’m talking about I’m going to put the last three progression runs I have done below in detail (these have been in my last couple of training logs the only difference is that I finally measured the loop so I can give you paces to go with the times) and I’ll talk about the positives and negatives of each workout.

Progression 1 September 13, 2007 (all done on Factory loop at Mines falls (2 3/8 miles pre loop)

Loop 1 13:24, loop pace 5:38.5

Loop 2 13:00, 5:28.4

Loop 3 12:36, 5:18.3

Loop 4 12:08, 5:06.5

Loop 4 11:48, 4:58.1

Total 1:02:59, average pace of 5:18.2, total distance 11 7/8 miles

Ok first great workout because each lap got faster. What I didn’t like is that my hamstring flared up and I didn’t get to do a real hard loop to finish up but I was looking to do about an hour and a quarter so if the hamstring hadn’t started to be a problem I think it would have been a great workout. But even with it I think it’s a real good go, I ran almost 12 miles at under 5:20 mile pace and the last 4.75 miles averaged marathon pace and I finished feeling easy, other then the hammy.

Progression 2 September 20, 2007

Loop 1 12:49, pace 5:23.8

Loop 2 12:30, 5:15.8

Loop 3 12:09, 5:06.9

Loop 4 11:47, 4:57.7

Straight away (.87 mile) 4:08, pace 4:45.0

Total 53:25 average pace 5:09.1

Total distance 10.37 miles

Ok once again first it’s a great workout simply because each lap got faster. Now what I didn’t like is that I went out too fast, I knew it by the end of the straight on the first lap by seeing the split but I make a policy of never slowing down in a progression run and I felt easy so I stuck with it. So what happened? I was aiming for an hour and a quarter or so again and I fell way short. I finished very fast but I didn’t have the volume of work under my legs to properly tire them that I would have liked, also I gave up on myself and only did the straight on the last one. I was right to tell myself I could stop at the end of the straight to get myself to pick it up but then I should have picked another marker and another until the lap was done, also although my last 3 and ½ laps averaged about marathon goal pace only my last lap and a half was actual at or under goal marathon pace. Pluses, well the average pace looks real good and for ten plus miles it is good but honestly I think the first workout was better simply because I exercised more control and had more miles under my legs before I started to run fast.

Progression 3 September 26

Loop 1 13:32, pace 5:41.9

Loop 2 13:15, 5:34

Loop 3 12:50, 5:24.2

Loop 4 12:32, 5:16.6

Loop 5 11:54, 5:00.6

Loop 6 11:35, 4:52.6

Total 1:15:40, average pace 5:18.6

Total distance 14.25 miles

I’m really happy with this run, I wanted to do an hour and a quarter or more, I did that, I wanted to finish at something close to half marathon pace for a full lap and I did that. So this is a great workout all around. Yes my average pace is slow but the distance is real long and I was under marathon goal pace for two full laps (4.75 miles) and averaged mp or better for the last 7.12 miles and averaged under 5:09 (the pace of the last progression for the last 9.5 miles, so almost the same distance as that whole workout). Most importantly each lap was faster then the one before it, even lap 4 when I had to stop and tie my shoe (the watch never stops during a progression run!). I had almost ten good miles of running under my belt before I started running fast and still I was able to run nearly five miles at 5 min pace or better.

My Marathon Training Guidlines

the idea of this blog is to just lay out some of my basic beliefs about marathon training. I hope to do some more stuff like this but we’ll have to wait and see if I ever get around to it. Let me preface this by saying that the most important aspect of training is you the individual. Bill Bowerman said “The magic is in the man not the miles” I think that may be the truest statement in coaching history. So this is what I believe is a good outline for marathon training. It is based heavily on what has worked for me, I hope it is helpful.

I will base all the times off of a 2:11 marathon, just because I have memorized them. But to figure your own times out the easiest way to do it is to figure your marathon pace out in kilometers (there are plenty of online calculators to do this, I like the coolrunning one) then put the time in seconds 3 minutes equals 180 seconds then divide by 5 or multiply by .5 you get the same answer. That is 5% so then add that number to get what is 95%, 90%, 85%, 80% marathon pace and subtract it to get 105% and 110%. In our 2:11:00 we’ll go with 2:10:48 because that is exactly 3:06 kilometer pace. So 186 seconds, so 95% is 3:15.3, 90% 3:24.6, 85% 3:33.9, 80% 3:43.2. 105% is 2:57.4 roughly goal half marathon pace (hmp)though if you are an endurance guy like me 104 or 103% is really more like half marathon pace. 110% is 2:47.7 roughly goal 10k pace but again for me and other pure endurance runners it ends up being more like goal 5k pace.

Ok I break marathon training into two phases basically a base phase and a specific phase. But you need to be very fit to start training so if you are not very fit you need to add a third phase, a build-up phase. This starts by building up your mileage to the range you want to be running in. Next you hold that mileage and add some light workouts until you are fit enough to be comfortable at it.

General guidelines

Mileage: I really feel that for most marathoners (male or female) that want to be elite they really should be running in the 130 mile a week plus range. That said there is a lot of variety in the mileage of successful marathoners some succeeding exceedingly well with as low as 90 miles a week or just below, Benji Durden comes to mind. So lets say for a general guideline range for the runner who truly wants to find their full potential in the marathon 90 to 210 miles a week. The bread and butter range where most should find themselves eventually is the 130 to 160 range.

Paces: we already covered most of these but I want to add easy and regeneration to the list easy is anything slower then 80% mp that isn’t a stupid slow jog. Regeneration is a stupid slow jog, for me right now its anything from 7:30 to 10 mins plus a mile.

Phase length: each phase should at the absolute shortest be 6 weeks and 8 to 10 is ideal. The specific phase includes a 2 week taper prior to the race.

The fundamental phase:

Here we try to build our overall fitness as much as possible and prepare ourselves to handle marathon training. I believe that in this phase our mileage should be at least as high as during our specific phase and can average as much as 10 or 15 miles a week more then during our specific phase. During this time I feel you should run as many different types of workouts and paces as possible to condition as many different systems as you can. I like the easy hard method. One day hard one day easy. Now you may need two easy days or three or you may be able to do just a medium day and recover(paris marathon champion and world champs runner up mbrack shami does this). How easy is easy. I like a nice 10 easy 10 regeneration double or a 9 easy 8 regeneration double. After extremely hard workouts I will do a 6 and 6 both regeneration pace double . But Kenny Moore who finished 4^th at the Olympics in 72 and ran 2:11 liked to do only one run of 4 to 6 miles on most of his easy days. The point is find what works for you. But be honest with yourself. You are much better off getting good quality on your hard days and logging pathetic mileage on your easy days then working too hard on your easy days and having your quality suffer.

Now during the fundamental phase what is important is internal effort not the specific paces you run. So if the workout is 10k at half marathon goal pace(hmp) and for our 2:11 guy that its about 2:58pace or 29:40 and he runs all out and only manages a 30:20 that’s fine as long as he was running half marathon effort. During the specific phase the pace becomes important and if you can’t run the pace you are supposed to then you need to take another easy day and do the workout as intended at a later date.

What to work on: Again variety is the key. In a given week hopefully you can get 3 or 4 solid efforts but if your recovery rate only allows one or two then that’s what you have to work with, although if this continues for a few years I would definitely try making your easy days easier. Hard efforts include 8 to 12k at half marathon goal pace, 20 to 30k runs at 95% marathon pace, 30 to 40k runs at 90% marathon pace 20 mile(32K) to 26 mile runs(42K) runs at 80% marathon pace, 12k progression runs in 4k at mp, 102%mp, 4k at hmp(105%mp), 20k alternating 1k or 2k at hmp and 1k slower (start at 40 seconds slower and try to work down to 20 to 25 seconds slower by the end of the fundamental phase). Another great workout that is more involved is 6k at the pace of your marathon pr, 5k at goal marthon pace, 4k 2 seconds per k faster, 3k 2seconds per k faster, 2k 2 seconds per k faster still, 1k all out(roughly 10k pace, do this with a k at roughly 30 seconds slower then mp for rest after each, so very quick jog. If you repeat the workout the paces stay the same but the jog rest gets faster. Finally you can do a super compensation day also called a special block during the base phase the second session should have intervals at hmp as the main focus. An example AM 10k at 80% mp rest 1 minute 10k at mp PM 10k at 80% mp rest 1 min. 10 to 12 x 1k at hmp w/ 2:30 rest. These should only be done a couple of times during the phase at the most and you should take an extra easy day before them and two extra easy days after at least.

Medium hard efforts include 45 minute to 1½ hour progression runs, 10 to 12 x 1k at half marathon pace, 5 to 6x 2k at half marathon pace, 4x3k at half marathon pace. 4x3k cutdowns start at marathon pace cut down to half marathon pace, 3x4k cutdown, start at mp work down to hmp, rest on all of these workouts should be two or 3 minutes jogging. If you can run quicker and do something like at 3 flat 800m for the rest. Finally you can do long easy running 2 and ½ to 3 and ½ hours. Now when you are really fit that may work as an easy day but only after years of high mileage.

Finally if you tend to under perform at the short races or have had a muscle biopsy done that shows you have the slower of the two slow twitch fibers then you should do some aerobic work. So 300 to 500 meter repeats at 3k to 5k goal pace w/ short rest, minute or less. Or hill repeats of 100 to 200meters with jog down rest either way do a lot 10 to 30 in a session. This will teach your legs to burn lactic acid as fuel. Now if you are a good 5k/10k guy your body does this well enough naturally that you need not waste energy on in marathon prep because your base level of doing this is enough for a marathon.

Finally in the second session after doing an am workout once or twice a week you should do short hills as steep as you can find for 8 to 10 seconds, if you are one of the slow people like me you can just do your 100 or 200meter hills here and kill two birds with one stone. These hills serve two (three if you are going anaerobic) purposes first they greatly improve your hearts stroke volume increase the amount of blood pumped out of your heart with each beat. Second they are great for the muscular development of quads, calves and ankles. Jog down and make sure your heart rate is below 140 for rest. It is the great and violent increase in heart rate that leads to increased stroke volume.

As a general guideline I like to cycle things on a two week cycle doing 2 real hard efforts and 1 or 2 medium hard efforts the first week and then 1 hard effort and 2 or 3 medium hard efforts the next week and then repeat. This helps keep an even keal. But you need to find what works for you. First let me recommend caution and control. You need to train hard for a long time to get good. Training as hard as you can for a week will only ruin you because there will be nothing left for the next week. I like to suggest 90%. Each week during heavy training should be at 90% of what you could do if you were to go as hard as you could for the week. Now maybe once or twice during your season you may want a special week to go beyond this but do so only with great caution and extremely rarely. The most incredible training means nothing if you are not healthy on race day.

The Specific Phase

Like the title suggest specificity is the name of the game. Two major things to think about here, pace specific and time specific. Most of your workouts should meet one of those two requirements. Either you run hard, less then race pace but at least 80% mp for roughly the time you want to run your marathon in. One extremely hard session 4 or 5 weeks prior to the goal race of running race goal time at 95% mp or 90% over very hilly terrain is a favorite of mine. I recommend more easy days during this phase, leaning towards two after most hard days.

Try a special block, if you did them during the base phase and like it then do two. But this time both sessions should be mp based for example AM 10k at 80% 1 min rest 10k at mp PM repeat. If you do a second one try to do 10k at 80% 12k at mp Pm repeat.

Race pace Race pace Race pace. More then any other distance race pace is of the utmost importance in marathon prep and yet it seems so few in the US use it and I think that is why so many under achieve at this distance. If you take only one thing from my growing manifesto here let it be this. Do a ton of marathon pace work for the marathon. These workouts can be very straight forward run 12 to 16 miles at mp. But I and others find that impossible to do alone in with the tiredness of mileage in our legs so I recommend doing intervals during which you cover 12 to 16 miles at mp. 4 to 5x5k, 4x6k, 3x7 or 8k. For rest take 800m to a mile but at a quick pace only 20 to 40 seconds a mile slower then mp. Another great mp workout is that 1k at half marathon pace 1k slower workout only now the rest has to be fast enough that you avg. marathon pace for the whole 20k so for our 2:11 guy he needs to run 2:58 on the on k’s and 3:14 on the rest k’s so he is recovering at 5:15 mile pace or better.

Finally there is running marathon pace tired. These workouts specifically target the last 10k of the marathon. The special block is one. But others of note are 1 ½ hr progression runs with the last half hour at mp. Or run at an easy pace for 22 to 30 miles then do 10k at mp to finish up. This was a Kenny Moore classic. Canova likes varied pace runs of 30k to 40k. for example 10k at 80%, 5k at mp, 5k alternating 1min hard 1 min at 80%, 5k at 80%, 5k at mp. Then two or 3 weeks later 15k at 80%, 5k at mp, 5k alternating 1min hard 1 min at 80%, 5k at 80%, 10k at mp (or 5k at mp, 5k all out). These are great because they also serve as race simulations. If you are going to be running for the win or in a group of people where pace shifts or variations are possible then these type of runs, an the 20k alternating pace workouts are an absolute must.

Peaking ok I don’t feel I’m an expert on this and I am still experimenting. I like the 80 60 peak so two weeks out you to 80% of your normal volume and the week of you do 60%. Also during these weeks you cut back on the intensity of your average running days and you only do 1 or two workouts. These should be real light. I really like Pete Pfitzinger’s peaking from his book so if you can get it check it out. But I also like more canova styled workouts. Anyway some stuff they agree on is one workout the week before. One the week of, 7 days before a medium long run say 1:20 or so. Run it solid, not hard but solid, if you want you can go a bit easier and run the last two mile at mp.

The last workout should be 2 miles to 6k at marathon pace. I like 4 days before the race, just how my body works but you may want to go 3 days before. But if you have been working on a hard easy hard easy schedule I really recommend going 4 days before. You can go harder on the workout the week before. I did a double workout before the trials (8 or 9 days out) I ran a 7 mile progression run in the morning and 7k at mp in the afternoon. I also like a long run 12 to 14 days before the race at a solid but not killer effort. I ran 22 miles with the first 19 at roughly 85% mp and the last 3 miles all out climbing 1000 feet 11 or 12 days prior to the trials. I ran 20 miles at 80% mp 13 days prior to my debut marathon.

Now as long as that is there is more stuff that you can add in and a million different ways to personalize what you are doing but that’s my philosophy in a big nutshell. It takes very heavily from the Italian/Kenyan marathon school. But if you cut back on the quicker stuff, eliminate the short hills and increase the volume to 1000 kilometers a month you have the Japanese school of marathoning. Also from what I know it is similar to what the Ethiopians are doing but they often do a bit less mileage and more quick stuff. The Moroccans are similar to that.