I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

Any reason for you not to run 6 days a week? 3 miles easy pace to start, then increase as you feel ready. Build some solid base before you try the repetitions. It is very rare for somebody who runs only 10 miles a week to be limited by mile race speed (which is what the 400s will refine) in a race even as short as a 5 K.

I'm working towards 6 days a week. That was my goal for this week, but I've had a bad week for some reason. I'm running 2x today to make up for earlier in the week, when I was traveling.

I'm used to training for 5K, so training for a marathon is different for me. My problem is that according to my last 5K, my easy pace is 11:14 and it hurts to run that slow. So I feel like I've been just running "quality junk"--lots of miles between my threshold pace and marathon pace, according to Jack Daniels. If I don't go out and run some faster 400s or 800s, I don't even feel like I've gotten in a good workout. I felt like I slept through this morning's run and according to the vdot calc, I ran 2 at marathon pace and one at threshold. It didn't even feel like any effort.

With my team, I have detailed plans for training, but with mine, I just go out and do whatever. I've looked at a couple of plans, but I'm unable to commit for some reason.

I'm not sure what you mean by "limited by mile race speed." Can you please explain?

Sasha can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe he means that your speed is definitely limited by lack of overall miles (i.e. aerobic base) rather than interval/mile speed. In other words, running 400 m intervals to increase your speed in a 5k or longer won't be near as beneficial as just running more base miles.

OK! Gotcha!

I do, though, feel bored by running the same stupid loops at the same stupid speed. How do I break through that mentality with just more of the same?

Also, I know that I have some sort of potential to be fast (relatively I suppose), but haven't figured out, exactly, how to accomplish that just by logging slow miles.

What would you suggest?

I would not worry too much about hitting the no-mans land in Jack Daniel's book at your current paces. Take a note of it, but do not hold it religiously. Go by feel. If you can talk at a certain pace, and discuss complex issues than just exchange quips, the pace is OK. Invite somebody from your cross-country team to join you for an easy run, just run and chat about something you really care about with you speaking a lot, and see what pace that produces. It might very well produce 11:14 pace, if might not, but whatever you get will be right for your body.

Regarding the plan - here is what has worked wonders for everybody on the blog so far - run 6 days a week, never skip. Run the longest you can so that you are fresh the next day at a conversational pace. A little longer on the weekend before taking a day of rest, maybe 50% longer than the standard weekly run. Race once or twice a month to test your fitness. No complicated plans, very straightforward, easy to remember. My guesses as to why it's been so successful - a non-professional runner regardless of individual strengths will very rarely be able to exhaust the potential of his aerobic base, because it takes 50 miles a week for the least base-oriented runner to get there, or possibly even more. And for some it can be as much as 140 miles a week. If you do speed before exhausting what your base can possibly give you, you are wasting time because speed does not respond to training nearly as well as your aerobic base. It makes you too tired to do the extra aerobic training you could have done otherwise. And it also increases the risk of injury, and if you get injured, you are out for a while, and you lose a good portion of your aerobic base on top of it.

"Limited by mile race speed" - if your best mile is 6:00, you will not average faster than 6:00 pace in a 5 K. Thus if your goal is to average 6:00 in a 5 K and 6:00 is all you can do in an all out mile, you are limited by your mile race speed.

It's true, you have to "train just to train" to an extent. But one can become quite fast without doing an iota of speedwork. Sheer consistency and easy mileage will raise blood volume and efficiency, giving your heart the ability to do more work at a lower cost (effort). This results in faster race performance. But I do understand that nothing but easy running can leave one chomping at the bit for something harder. Fortunately, it doesn't ALL have to easy and monotonous.

First off, don't worry too much about VDOT at this point. According to Daniels', my easy pace should be something like 6:20/mile, but I run "easy" about a minute slower. Other people are the exact opposite, and naturally run faster than VDOT. View things like VDOT as a suggestion or as a trend, but it may or may not hold true to you as an individual.

Here are a few suggestions on how to keep things interesting while building your aerobic base:

1. Try a trail run once or twice a week. I've never had a boring trail run, even when keeping things slow and aerobic.

2. Do a fartlek once/week. 2-3 minutes at 10K or half marathon pace, followed by 1-2 minutes rest. Repeat 4-6 times. Don't work too hard and keep it fun. Remember, "fartlek" means "speed PLAY". Easy fartleks can be done even during base training.

3. Do a "brisk" run once a week. People have different terms for this. I use brisk, others use "slow tempo", or whatever. Just run about 20 seconds/mile faster than your normal easy pace. It should feel pretty easy, yet invigorating, and is an outstanding way to build aerobic fitness. Again, this can (and should) be done during base training. It should not feel hard.

4. Do 6-8x100m strides in the middle of your run, 2-3 times/week. This will break up the run a little bit, and also help improve your form and efficiency. Pace should be about 3K pace, so faster than 5K, but far from a sprint. You should feel good, fresh, and invigorated after a series of strides.

4. Run a 5K or 10K once/month. This will help you monitor progress and give you encouragement that, yes, your "easy" running is indeed paying off. Plus, races are fun.

Hope that helps!

BTW - by "rest" in a fartlek, I mean running at the your easy pace. Do not stop running at any point.

Perhaps clarification is in order. By "repetition" I'm not talking crazy pace. I'm talking controlled, but more effort than I put into an easy run. When I hit the track for 400s, I like to be able to understand my pace more than on a mile-to-mile basis. I would call my planned workout more of a fartlek, since I run my "recovery." Maybe I misrepresented myself, since I would hardly call a 2 min. 400 "speed."

The mantra on this site seems to be "whatever works for you." I've always been a mental person when I run. If all I've been running is slow, then I'll just continue to run slow. If I throw in some faster runs at smaller distances then I know I'm up to the challenge when I run with my kids or when I race. It works for me. I'm not an elite runner and I have no will to be one, but I'd like to be the best I can be. But I will update my "personal" section to better demonstrate where I stand as a runner! Maybe that'll help.

Welcome to the blog (and your runners - I am guessing that some of the new HS kids coming on are yours?!).

I am also a Track and XC coach. In fact, there are a few of us on here.

Yes--the Illinois ones are mine! Only a few right now, as we're experimenting.

Good to hear that there are some other coaches out there. Are some of your runners on the blog?

Maybe I'm just being sensitive, but I'm guessing the lack of response is because my last comment came off as rather crabby. You should read that as me being frustrated with myself rather than being crabby about people who are trying to help me be a better runner. Read my last comment and this one with the kind of whininess that only a woman can deliver.

Buried somewhere under 3 years and 7 pounds of jiggle that seems to have accumulated around my midsection (but at least I still have my beautiful legs!) is a 6:15 mile and a low 22 min 5K. I feel as if I'm going nowhere with running because I'm afraid to try to go faster just in case I can't do it! I have to take baby steps, but on the plus side, I took some baby steps today and I feel a little better than I did last week.