I did my first Friday workout of the aggies plan today. I deferred it last week because I had the 5K on Saturday. The plan says 10-12 x 1k at MP or 6-8 miles at 80%. The first option sounded kind of complicated and I didn't know how much rest was needed, so I picked option 2. 80% for a 19:30 5k runner is 7:56 according to the chart so I shot for something around 8 minutes. Just as an aside, I noticed also that the percentages on the pace chart are pretty close to %MaxHR for me. He calls 85% marathon pace and miles 3-10 are about 85%Max for me in a marathon.
Did 2 miles warmup, 6 miles @ "80%," and 2.4 miles cooldown. I was surprised how easy the pace felt. My splits for the 6 miles were 8:10/139 (includes down very steep 0.3 mile hill), 7:47/154, 7:58/157 (uphill), 7:35/156 (downhill), 8:11/160 (up aforementioned very steep hill), 7:27/160 (net uphill with a big hill in the middle). I think the last one confirms I'm in better shape than I was for the marathon and I kinda wish I had a do over. I think I waited too long to start the fast training before the marathon. It's not entirely my fault though because that shin thing cost me my "month of hills" I planned for March. Oh, well.
I can't quite decide whether to run a 5k on 14 June or a 5-miler on 8 June. The 5M race is around the lake where I do my Sunday long runs so I think that would be fun. It's a slow surface (packed dirt and gravel with some uneven surfaces to negotiate) and there are some hills. I'm leaning towards the 5 miler because I don't want to keep chasing seconds on my 5k time. It is tempting though. The 5k is on the road and the course is supposed to be pretty fair.
Good luck to Mindi on the marathon.
2 comments:
Greg,
Thanks again for all of your comments, etc. re my marathon. I decided to take it easy and go by feel and it worked out well. You were spot on with your advice and I really appreciate it. Your running log program looks awesome BTW!
Greg,
Just so you know, it's best to rotate the workouts--one week do the 80% run, the other week do the 1000 MP intervals. Same holds true for the hill workouts. Joe's system is multi-paced, and by his logic (and others), you're doing different kinds of tempo work based on the workout.
To answer your other question, on any kind of tempo workout, you should take a relatively quick recovery--although, right now, the tempos should be pretty low-key. If it were me, I'd take about a :45recovery on the MP intervals (assuming about 4:00 a pop on for 1000 meters for you). You should feel a bit tired toward the end, but not wiped. If by the 5 interval you're hurting in a bad way, you can increase the rest to 1:00. OTOH, if by the 5th you don't feel worked in the least, then shorten the Recovery by :10 or so.
Joe's system works.
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