One of the most common type of questions I get are related to my easy/recovery run paces, and from reading blogs of elite/sub-elite runners I have seen a lot of them getting similar questions too. I read a message board thread on letsrun earlier this week where someone was questioning Alan Culpepper's suggestions on easy run paces and Robert Johnson, one of the site owners chimed in with a story from his coach about how "the last thing we'll worry about in training is the pace of the easy runs". I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, nonetheless the questions still keep coming so I'll post a couple of my sample weeks (and trust me, these are NOT outlier weeks) from this past cycle to drive this point home:
Week starting 3/30 - 110 miles (the day after the Shamrock Shuffle 8K)
Monday AM - recovery run with my wife. 10 miles @ 9 min/mi.
Tuesday AM - 10 mi @ 7:27
Tuesday PM - 6 mi @ 7:30
Wednesday AM - 10 mi @ 7:33
Wednesday PM - 6 mi @ 7:20
Thursday AM - 10 mi @ 7:48
Thursday PM - 6 mi @ 7:10
Friday AM - 10 mi @ 7:03 (poor excuse, but I had to finish running by 9 to take a conference call, so I picked it up the last couple of miles)
Friday PM - 7 mi @ 7:12
Saturday AM - 3mi, 2mi, 1mi workout on treadmill: (13 miles total)
Warmup = 4 mi @ 7:20
Workout = 3mi @ 5:15, 2:22 rest, 2 mi @ 5:13, 2:21 rest, 1 mi @ 5:09
Cooldown = 3 mi @ 7:30
Saturday PM - 6 mi @ 7:20
Sunday AM - 16 mi @ 7:16
Week starting 4/06 - 124 miles
Monday AM - 10 mi @ 7:17. Last mile in 6:43.
Monday PM - 7 mi @ 7:50. Slightly hillier / more trails than usual, but not by much.
Tuesday AM - 10 mi @ 7:42
Tuesday PM - 6 mi @ 7:20
Wednesday AM - (12 total) -
4 mi warmup @ 7:20, 5 mi tempo @ 5:14, 2:20 rest, 1 mi @ 5:07, 2 mi easy @ 7:15
(workout was 5mi tempo + 1 mi fast with a 2:20 rest on treadmill)
Wednesday PM - 6 mi @ 6:35. Felt really good on this run so I wore some lightweight flats and by mile 3 I still felt pretty good so I threw in 2 miles @ 5:11.5/mi average. I occasionally do this, but never planned. (a very short 2nd workout like a short tempo or fartlek on the afternoon of a planned workout)
Thursday AM - 11 mi @ 7:20
Thursday PM - 6 mi @ 7:20
Friday AM - 10 mi @ 7:22
Friday PM - 6 mi @ 7:15 (started around 7:40s and finished around 7:00)
Saturday AM - 14 mi w/ 6.5 @ tempo.
Warmup - 4 mi @ 7:25
Treadmill tempo - 6.5 mi @ 5:14.3 average
Cooldown - 3.5 @ 7:22
Saturday PM - 6 mi @ 7:20
Sunday AM - 15 mi @ 8:40s - very hilly trail run. I tried to do this while waiting for Maureen to do a trail race and I am a terrible trail runner (as well as being very sore from yesterday)
Sunday PM - 5 mi @ 9:00 - another shakeout run on the trails in Palmer Park. Again very hilly but even if I did this on flat roads or on my treadmill I doubt this would have been much faster than 8:00/mi.
Week starting 4/13 - 117 miles
Monday AM - 9 mi @ 7:23
Monday PM - 6 mi @ 7:06
Tuesday AM - 10 mi @ 7:24
Tuesday PM - 6 mi @ 7:10
Wednesday AM - Workout of 4-3-1.5-3x0.5 (Total = 16 miles)
Warmup = 3 mi @ 7:30
Treadmill Workout = 4 @ 5:17.7 (4min rest) 3 @ 5:14.3 (3 min rest) 1.5 @ 5:14.8 (60s rest) 3x800 @ 2:30 (60s rest).
Cooldown = 3 mi @ 7:36
Wednesday PM - 6 mi @ 7:10
Thursday AM - 10.5 mi @ 7:05
Thursday PM - 6 mi @ 7:14
Friday AM - 10 mi @ 7:08
Friday PM - 6 mi @ 7:07
Saturday AM - 10 mi @ 7:05
Saturday PM - 6 mi @ 7:06
Sunday AM - 16 mi @ 7:40
Week starting 4/20 - 69 miles (week of Country Music Half-Marathon, including a "0" on Sunday)
Monday AM - Tune-up workout (9.5mi total with 4 mi progression/tempo)
3.5 easy @ 7:25
4 mi progression - 5:15, 5:12, 5:10, 5:06. (on treadmill)
2 mi easy @ 7:00
Monday PM - 6 mi @ 7:20
Tuesday AM - 10 mi @ 7:22
Tuesday PM - 5.5 mi @ 7:13
Wednesday AM - 9 mi @ 7:12 (with 5x1mi pickups @ 4:55-4:57 average)
Wednesday PM - 5 mi @ 7:04 (last mile in 6:35, felt smooth)
Thursday PM - 5 mi @ 7:03 (not bad after getting 2 hours or so of sleep during the 18 hour car trip from Colorado to Nashville)
Friday AM - 5 mi @ 8:30 (shakeout with Maureen)
Saturday AM - 13.5-14 mi (Finally parked 40 minutes before race started and spent another 10-15 walking to the start line, managed to get about 2-3 minutes of jogging beforehand). Country Music HM in 68:54. Then I jogged around for a few minutes afterwards, didn't really track anything since I was just trying to find the parking garage with our car.
Sunday - OFF (was going to run but just felt tight and awful when I got home after another 18 hour drive)
I will admit though, that my easy pace runs have steadily gotten a little faster as I have gotten in better shape these past couple of years. 2-3 years ago when I was a 70-72min half-marathoner I was doing runs around 7:30 average at sea level, and most of last year I was averaging 7:30-7:40 on my easy runs. Now lately it seems to be in the 7:00-7:15 range. However, I am running my easy runs at the same effort as I have been the past couple of years.
I have also been starting my runs around 7:45-8:00/mi and ending around 6:40-7:00/mi. Again, the increase in pace isn't forced at all, just a result of my legs loosening and warming up after 2-3 miles and slowly getting going.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Training Summary - Weeks 15 and 16 of 22 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon Training Cycle
Week 15 (4/28 - 5/03) - 109 miles: Did 4x2mi on Wednesday, and tuneup 5K race on Sunday.
Q1 - 4x2mi with 2:30 rest. I went back to base to use the hilly road loop I was doing workouts on last fall. Goal was to do 10:40, 10:30, 10:20, 10:10 and I ended up running a little faster for the first 3 reps but died a little on the last one. I was surprised with how good I felt through the 3rd one, but then again I was using my garmin so maybe it was off by just a few seconds...
10:28, 10:21, 10:06, 10:20.
Q2: Ran a 5K up in Denver that Andrew told me about. It was sponsored by the Colorado Rockies so I ended up winning a bunch of Colorado Rockies memorabilia. Course was slightly hillier than expected but I got in a solid effort. I ran 15:59 but my garmin read 3.20 miles. I normally hate it when people cite garmin readings as proof of race courses being long, (most notably every April when tons of idiots claim Boston was long because their GPS watches say so) however my garmins have always consistently read 3.11-3.14 for every other certified and accurately set up 5K I have run the last 3-4 years so I am going to argue for about another 15 seconds here. The other argument was that I am definitely in much better shape than when I ran 15:58 and 16:00 at altitude last year during my tuneup races, but I guess we'll see next weekend.
Week 16 (5/04 - 5/10) - 80 miles
I thought about trying to squeeze in a short tuneup session, but my calf was just a little tight on Monday and Tuesday so I decided to just run easy until race day on Saturday. Not sure when the last time I had 5 easy days before a race was, but it seemed to have worked out okay.
Q1: 5th 3rd River Bank Run / USA 25KM Champs - Grand Rapids, Michigan - 14th men, 13th American - 80:55 (5:12/mi).
Very happy with the run. It was "VDOT PR" in slightly suboptimal conditions and every American in front of me has either qualified for the Olympic Trials or was a former trials qualifier
Upcoming blog posts: Race reports for CMM Half (this will be short) and the USA 25KM champs (will be longer) as well as a more detailed breakdown of a couple of my training weeks per one of the reader's request.
Q1 - 4x2mi with 2:30 rest. I went back to base to use the hilly road loop I was doing workouts on last fall. Goal was to do 10:40, 10:30, 10:20, 10:10 and I ended up running a little faster for the first 3 reps but died a little on the last one. I was surprised with how good I felt through the 3rd one, but then again I was using my garmin so maybe it was off by just a few seconds...
10:28, 10:21, 10:06, 10:20.
Q2: Ran a 5K up in Denver that Andrew told me about. It was sponsored by the Colorado Rockies so I ended up winning a bunch of Colorado Rockies memorabilia. Course was slightly hillier than expected but I got in a solid effort. I ran 15:59 but my garmin read 3.20 miles. I normally hate it when people cite garmin readings as proof of race courses being long, (most notably every April when tons of idiots claim Boston was long because their GPS watches say so) however my garmins have always consistently read 3.11-3.14 for every other certified and accurately set up 5K I have run the last 3-4 years so I am going to argue for about another 15 seconds here. The other argument was that I am definitely in much better shape than when I ran 15:58 and 16:00 at altitude last year during my tuneup races, but I guess we'll see next weekend.
Week 16 (5/04 - 5/10) - 80 miles
I thought about trying to squeeze in a short tuneup session, but my calf was just a little tight on Monday and Tuesday so I decided to just run easy until race day on Saturday. Not sure when the last time I had 5 easy days before a race was, but it seemed to have worked out okay.
Q1: 5th 3rd River Bank Run / USA 25KM Champs - Grand Rapids, Michigan - 14th men, 13th American - 80:55 (5:12/mi).
Very happy with the run. It was "VDOT PR" in slightly suboptimal conditions and every American in front of me has either qualified for the Olympic Trials or was a former trials qualifier
Upcoming blog posts: Race reports for CMM Half (this will be short) and the USA 25KM champs (will be longer) as well as a more detailed breakdown of a couple of my training weeks per one of the reader's request.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Training Summary - Weeks 13 and 14 of 22 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon Training Cycle
Week 13 (4/13 - 4/19) - 117 miles:
Just one workout this week, but a good one o Wednesday.
Q1 - Intended workout was 4-3-2-1, but I felt on the edge halfway through the "2" so I changed it a little and did 4-3-1.5-3x0.5.
4 miles - 21:10.8 (5:17.7 average)
4min rest
3 miles - 15:42.9 (5:14.3 average)
3 min rest
1.5 miles - 7:44.2 (5:15.8 average)
1 min rest
3x800 @ 2:29-2:30 (60s rest after each)
Week 14 (4/20 - 4/27) - 69 miles
Two hard sessions this week. First one went well and second was slightly below expectations. Unfortunately the 2nd one was way more important.
Q1: (Monday) - 4 mile progression/tempo/tuneup in 5:15 - 5:12 - 5:10 - 5:06. Felt good and ready to roll.
Q2: (Saturday) - Country Music (RnR) Half-Marathon in 68:53 - 2nd place.
I am going to hold off on posting a race report for the Country Music half for a couple of weeks since I think it would be more valuable to post a "what did I do wrong?" along with it. Luckily I have the USA 25K champs in Grand Rapids, Michigan coming up in a little over a week (Saturday 5/9) so I can try to make some of those adjustments and see how it works out. So for the 5 people or so that actually read the blog my apologies for making you wait, but at least you should get to read 2 race reports in mid May. In the meantime one of my reader's requested a more detailed breakdown of my weeks so I'll try to get that up in the next few days.
Just one workout this week, but a good one o Wednesday.
Q1 - Intended workout was 4-3-2-1, but I felt on the edge halfway through the "2" so I changed it a little and did 4-3-1.5-3x0.5.
4 miles - 21:10.8 (5:17.7 average)
4min rest
3 miles - 15:42.9 (5:14.3 average)
3 min rest
1.5 miles - 7:44.2 (5:15.8 average)
1 min rest
3x800 @ 2:29-2:30 (60s rest after each)
Week 14 (4/20 - 4/27) - 69 miles
Two hard sessions this week. First one went well and second was slightly below expectations. Unfortunately the 2nd one was way more important.
Q1: (Monday) - 4 mile progression/tempo/tuneup in 5:15 - 5:12 - 5:10 - 5:06. Felt good and ready to roll.
Q2: (Saturday) - Country Music (RnR) Half-Marathon in 68:53 - 2nd place.
I am going to hold off on posting a race report for the Country Music half for a couple of weeks since I think it would be more valuable to post a "what did I do wrong?" along with it. Luckily I have the USA 25K champs in Grand Rapids, Michigan coming up in a little over a week (Saturday 5/9) so I can try to make some of those adjustments and see how it works out. So for the 5 people or so that actually read the blog my apologies for making you wait, but at least you should get to read 2 race reports in mid May. In the meantime one of my reader's requested a more detailed breakdown of my weeks so I'll try to get that up in the next few days.
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