First race in years

3 watchers

Big Al Widepants Sep 2021 11:23am, 16 Sep 2021 4,750 posts	0 Big Al Widepants I'm down to do the much rescheduled Bath Half marathon in March next year. And I'm canvassing opinion on training regimes. I'd obviously like someone to recommend a plan that guarantees 10 mins off anyone's pb. So how about it Fetchland, what secret sauce will work? My current regime is running every day for 5 miles at somewhere between 7:45s and 9mm. So between 35-40 miles a week. I'm looking to get under 1:50 but maybe I'm still capable of better...?
HappyG(rrr) Sep 2021 11:25am, 16 Sep 2021 39,709 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) I would run every day for 8 or 9 years, including running through injuries and illness. I heard that works quite well? Best of luck. Couldn't possibly advise on training for races for a PB as haven't done any for about 5 years! G
rf_fozzy Sep 2021 11:32am, 16 Sep 2021 15,386 posts	0 rf_fozzy Without chatting to you and having a discussion about what works/doesn't work for you etc and building something bespoke, then the general advice is that if you're running 7.45m/m in training, you should be running faster than that in a race. Standard rough training plan would be to instead of do 5miles per day to build in (a) a longer run, (b) something faster and continuous (e.g. a tempo run or a parkrun) and (c) some kind of speedwork like interval training and hill reps. 35-40mi per week is a good base and certainly capable of building a good training plan. But the caution is here that I don't know what injury status /history you have, what other commitments you have etc etc. Your 5/10k times suggest you should be capable of running sub-1.35 if you're in that kind of shape.
chunkywizard Sep 2021 11:41am, 16 Sep 2021 12,593 posts	0 chunkywizard Hey Big Al, if I was you I'd vary the distance of your runs and also do different intensities, this is what is on most plans ie. Monday: Rest (so 1 mile for the streak - keeping up 5 miles per day will really hinder good training IMHO) Tuesday: Recovery, slow paced run Wednesday: Speed, intervals at faster than race pace will a warm up/ cool down which makes the length longer than Tuesday Thursday: Medium Long Run, slow but on tired legs Friday: Rest (1 mile only) Saturday: Standard run, 5 miles and medium pace Sunday: Long Run, getting up to HM distance. Only increase by 10% max per week. If you current distance is 35 miles/wk then start with that sort of distance in total for the week but try and raise it as you get stronger. By the way, I'm no coach, but that's what I'd do!
Derby Tup Sep 2021 11:43am, 16 Sep 2021 51,811 posts	0 Derby Tup Interesting looking at your time Big Al. Your 5K and marathon look better pro-rata than your 10 mile and half fozzy is right I think. If you can train at 7:45 you ought to be able to PB at the half, plus you’re already running very decent mileage I’ve recently been doing some ‘proper’ training on a Tuesday night with our club. The sessions are designed to help 10K times, but I’ve seen good improvement in my Parkrun times, in spite of being 57 yo To run fast you need to run fast. Not getting injured doing too much, too often is the secret I’d suggest look out for half training programs and find what suits you but fozzy’s suggestion of three key sessions makes sense to me
larkim Sep 2021 11:44am, 16 Sep 2021 15,401 posts	0 larkim Taking a quick look at your training and variety seems to be pretty much absent! Nearly everything is 5 miles or thereabouts. Tempos have the same pace as recoveries (in some cases); but this might be terrain limited, or (because I can't see the detail) it might be that you're doing some tempo and some warm up / cool down. In simple terms, I'd be adding something "fast" mid week either as a tempo or some 800m-1000m intervals, making sure you're doing longer weekend runs (start with 10m at 9m-9m30 pace and build up to 13-15m at that pace; overdistance can be helpful). And limit yourself in terms of recovery pace. 35-40mpw is plenty, but stretching yourself a little with some faster pace and longer distances should make a difference. And (within reason) be diligent about sticking to some reasonable pace guidelines for each type of run; avoid stuff around race pace and either go a fair bit quicker, but shorter, or just more generally slower especially as the distance increases.
Dvorak Sep 2021 11:57am, 16 Sep 2021 23,413 posts	0 Dvorak Well somebody might suggest rest days, but that's not going to happen Could you try a relative rest eg make it a two-mile daily minimum? Make your five miles a day a weekly average? Or if you absolutely can't get your head round that, a two day pair average (ie run 2, run 8 the next day. Not insist on 8,2,2). Balance the load with some longer runs, which I think are the absolute key to HM success. And maybe run those a bit more slowly, in general.
Dvorak Sep 2021 11:59am, 16 Sep 2021 23,414 posts	0 Dvorak * 8,2,8
Big Al Widepants Sep 2021 12:15pm, 16 Sep 2021 4,751 posts	0 Big Al Widepants Thanks folks. I agree with the need for variation. I want to get to 1 year of 5 miles minimum every day so that would take me to 24/11. Then I'm happy to modify the minimum down to 1 mile. Agree about the longer stuff. Thinking maybe start at 9 miler and go up by a mile a week until I reach a 15 miler. Meanwhile I should probably do the interval session on the Meadows in Edinburgh. Don't really fancy a 5 miler after that though!
Derby Tup Sep 2021 12:16pm, 16 Sep 2021 51,812 posts	0 Derby Tup I’ve done a few streaks up to iirc 135 days-ish. Streaking’s great for weight loss but isn’t great if you’re training seriously. And I only ever had a one mile / 15 min minimum saver. Five miles / day and train seriously for a HM pb will be tough