Trails!

Cody- nice run! and for a great cause too, I hope lots of money was raised. While you were doing that I was over at Jon's place helping him plant trees and shrubs. we got 50 in, it was fun, but he kept complaining about how you weren't helping us!

Nice job, man. I love your comment about cutting through people's yards! And just look at your time- you were only 6 seconds off you PR despite no rest, high mileage, and no speedwork. I think you are in better shape than you think.

By the way, as a reward for getting chicked, Jason and I left you a present on your front porch. And Jeff did move all the dirt, so be sure to thank him. He was out there until 9:30 last night moving it.

Nice job. I love Ruby Tuesday.

Cody nice running man! sheesh! speedy! Im going to try the running through backyards.

Looking at the results, 16:34 for Lindsey is a little fast for a course with hills, but not incredibly fast, so I would guess the course was 10-15 seconds short. Mary Ann's 17:51 is difficult to evaluate, two months ago I would have had a really good idea, the gap between them is bigger than it should be, which could mean either Lindsey had a breakthrough, or Mary Ann went the other way, more likely the latter.

So in that context, I'd say this is a near PR effort.

For speedwork, I would recommend 3x2000 start with 800 meter jog, cut down to 400, shoot for 6:45, once you master that, 3000-2000-1000 10:10 - 6:45 - 3:15, start with 800 jog, then work your way down to 400. If you feel 81 second quarters are taxing you from the first or second lap, then add 6-8x400 as fast as you can without totally losing it with full rest in between first to break out of the plateau. It might be a good idea to do those anyway, because 81 second quarters probably will feel fast otherwise.

However, that may interfere with your marathon training, but since you've plateaued in the marathon, it may be good idea to forget about the marathon for a few months and try to remove the speed barriers.

Thanks for the comments folks!

Sasha, thanks for the feedback. I agree with what you are saying. I have seen a near plateau effect in my results. I need to start to look for the less obvious ways to have a breakthru (rather than relying on mileage). I also agree with your guess that the course was short by 15 seconds as that was my guess too. Mary Ann went out hard with Lindsey and fell off the pace hard at mile 1 and struggled from then on (from what I could tell).

I will try your recommended workout as part of a Big Workout starting next week. Looks to be quite challenging as anything below 5:40 pace feels very fast. I will try doing some of the 400's before the 2K's to get the legs used to the speed.

Cody:

This won't work as part of the Big Workout because you will not be able to hit the right pace unless you are fresh. We are assuming you have the aerobic fitness to go the pace, but lack the muscle power/neural drive/pain tolerance. If that is correct, then mileage or Big Workout does little for 5 K performance. Mileage builds aerobic fitness, Big Workout builds the fuel system and efficiency at marathon race pace, but neither addresses the 5 K issues we have assumed to be the problem.

To test if the assumption is correct. Put on HRM, go to the track, run 81 second quarters to failure. Does the failure correlate with a drop in HR? If it does, then you are aerobically OK, but fail in the muscle power/neural drive department.

Can you run 6x400 in 70 with full rest in between? If not, same deal. Also, try 6x400 with 200 meter jog, if going from full rest to 200 meter jog does not slow you down much, then we have a neuromuscular limitation again.

Sasha-

I will try the 6x400 in 70 test on monday.

This race was the same as your 81 second quarters to failure test. The only problem was the headwind I experienced starting at mile 1.4 until 2.1. The first mile I was at 5:19 so pretty well on pace. My HR climbed the first mile to 183 then peaked at 184 at mile 1.2 and stayed there until 1.5. I started to slow down once I made the turn into the wind and it got lower and lower as the grade increased. My HR started to drop starting at Mile 1.5 (183) and bottomed out at Mile 2 (179) before holding steady at 182-183 over the last mile and peaking during the kick to 185.

During my First Dam run 5K PR (11/1/08) race, I was able to push my HR up during the whole race 187 @ mile 1, 190 @ mile 2, 194 @ mile 3, and peaking at 195 for the finish. I was fresher for that race so my leg fatigue was not a limitation like I suspect today's race was. I was able to mentally push myself harder that day too.

I will see how the 400's go. I haven't done them for a long time, so I am interested in what happens.