Puttin' Money In The Bank (L.A.D.)

December 27, 2024

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Location:

St Louis,Mo,

Member Since:

Dec 16, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

PRs 1986-1989

800m-1:53

1600m 4:19

3200m-9:36

5k-15:45 

I stopped running for 15 years and picked it back up again in July of 2007. PRs since then ...

1 Mile - 5:09 (Hockey Team Timed Mile 08)

5k - 18:59 (Christian Family Services Fun Run 08)

5 miles-30:31 (Glendale Firehouse Run 08) 

6 miles-38:30 (Webster/Kirkwood Turkey Day Run 07)

10k - 40:17 (Reeds Lake 2009)

15k - 1:01:21 (Meijer Festival of Races 2009)

1/2 Marathon 1:24:55 (St. Louis Track Club Half Marathon 2008)

Marathon 3:06:07 (Boston Marathon 2009 -- Only 2nd Marathon to date)

Short-Term Running Goals:

• Build back to 6 days/week consistently

• Build mileage up to 40-45 mpw consistently

Long-Term Running Goals:

 • Sub 3:00:00 Marathon

• Sub 1:20:00 1/2 Marathon

• Sub 39:00 10k

• Sub 18:00 5k

• Sub 4:45 Mile

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Asics Gel Speedstar II Lifetime Miles: 93.35
Pro Grid Ride #3 Lifetime Miles: 400.95
Asics Cumulus #5 Lifetime Miles: 398.15
400 m race pace800 m race pace1500 m race pace3 K race pace5 K race pace10 K race paceLactic ThresholdAerobic ThresholdMarathon PaceBase IIBase IRegenerationTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.006.000.000.006.00

Out and back from home to the corner of Lockwood and Rock Hill. 12:00pm, 25 degrees, streets slush covered and sidewalks unrunable. 8:00s on the way out, 7:30s on the way back for a total run time of 46:30 over 6 miles. Sasha suggests running 6 days a week. I'm skeptical. I have a tendency to work so hard on the days I do run that I feel my body needs the extra days off to recover. I'm not sure exactly what this means. Am I going to hard on the hard days, or am I capable of recovering during a 6-8 miler slower than LSD pace.. I normally would have taken today off. Perhaps I can stick to the 4 days a week of quality work plan and bump these other 2 days a week down to 8:15s+.

Comments
From Jon on Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 14:35:54

It's always a balance with mileage versus days of week. One thing you don't want to do, though, is run every day if it means increasing your mileage too fast, increasing risk of injury. I usually do 2 quality work outs per week (either hills, tempo, or speed) plus a long run. The other 3 days are easy. If you do 50 mpw, with a 20 mile long run, you could do 2 easy runs of 3-4 miles each, with the other 3 days about 7-8 miles each. But I would not recommend just adding easy runs to run every day if your mileage goes up too much.

From Jon on Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 14:37:55

After your marathon, though, I highly recommend running 6 days/week, like Sasha says, with probably 2-3 easier days. You can increase mileage as appropriate. Your example is a bit off the norm since you are asking for specific advice for a race only a few weeks away.

From Tom on Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 16:12:25

I think Jon's advice is spot-on. I too was skeptical when Sasha first suggested to me to run 6 days a week and gradually work up to 50-70 miles a week. I thought there was no way my body could handle that, but I've becoming a big believer. From what I've read and heard others say, you get anywhere from 75-85 percent of your speed from nothing but mileage base that you mostly run at very conservative pace. The key for me, especially as I've gotten older is to keep the pace the day or 2 after the hard workouts VERY easy (1 1/2 to 2 minutes slower than marathon pace) and when in doubt, go even slower. You'll feel like they are just wasted/junk miles at first but in reality they work there own kind of magic and may be just as important as the tempo/speed workouts in helping you reach your potential at any race distance, but perhaps especially for the marathon.

I know a few folks who work in some type of cross-train on a couple of the days rather than running as an alternative to pounding the legs 6 days.

Of course everyone is different and we all have to find what works for us.

From Dustin on Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 16:32:59

First of all best of luck with your upcoming marathon. I'm sure it will be a great experience and you are probably in better shape than you think, so go after your goal and get that BQ. Similar to what Jon wrote I had a lay off for a few years and just got back into running in 2006. I've been able to increase my mileage slowly and have found success in having Monday as a speed workout day (intervals, tempo run, hill workouts), followed by Tuesday and Wednesday being as easy as they need to be, then I usually do a medium distance run on Thursday with a few miles at tinman tempo pace which I understand to be tad bit slower than marathon race pace, followed by a recovery/easy day Friday, then a long Saturday run with maybe a few miles at Marathon Race Pace. Then I always take Sunday completely off and focus on other things. I think once you find what your body can handle then you can experiment a little with increasing mileage.

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