Weekly Run Summary

Weekly run summary:

Sunday - 10.1 miles, with strides (1:43)
Monday - off
Tuesday - 7 miles easy, with strides (0:57)
Wednesday - 7 miles, with reps: 6x400 at 86 seconds (1:00)
Thursday - off
Friday - 6 miles, with 3x (2 min, 1 min, 30 sec hard) (0:49)
Saturday - off
Total - 30.1 miles

Should I throw out my training plan?

Since I feel like I'm kind of flying solo here, I wanted to get some feedback on my training plan. Is it realistic? Does it have enough easy running? Are the long runs long enough? Is it true to Daniels' philosophies of running? I was looking for a basic sanity check.

So I posted a link to my training plan on the CoolRunning.com forum asking for critiques. I got a few responses, but this one kind of shook me up.

I would change everything.

You ran 40:39 2 yrs ago on 15 miles per week. You are a very good runner.

Just doubling your mileage to 30 miles/week will create a load.

I would change to 13 on Sunday, 5 on Tuesday, 7 on Wednesday, and 5 on Friday.

Drop the intervals/repetitions for now.

Add 1 or 2 miles extra per week. Add it to your long run. When you reach 16, stay at 16, and re-direct the extra mile to your wednesday and friday. Never on Tuesday.

Tuesday should be reserved for hill repeats. 5 miles of it. Hill repeats. Slow and powerful up the hill. It's not a sprint, its not an anaerobic workout. Work the kick, straight leg push, ankles, high knees, arm swings. etc... Note: introduce hill repeats 7 weeks out.

5 weeks out, introduce aerobic Intervals (3:51 per 1000m) x 6 with 1 min. rest on fridays. Also do a few anaerobic intervals (meaning mile pace). Do a few short 400-meter intervals with a 400m jogging recovery. Make sure you continue on afterward to cover your remaining miles.

Every 4th week cut your mileage in two. No intervals, no hills. That is designated as your recovery week. This is where the super compensation takes place.

On Tuesdays, you can alternate between hills one week and a nice 85-90% vo2max run the next. Never go past 5 miles.

Now If I had your best 1-mile time right now or a 5k time, I could attach paces with each day of the week.

Well, this wasn't quite what I was expecting. I was thinking in terms of a tweak here or there, not "change everything!"

The newly-proposed plan actually looked solid, and the poster seemed to know what he was talking about. One thing that was missing was an actual critique of my plan, the very thing I had requested. If I was going to throw out my plan and use this one, I would need to be convinced of two things. First, I wanted to know how this plan was superior to mine. And second, I wanted a few details about the poster's credentials.

In the end, I didn't really get a response to either question. I did find out that the new plan was based on Arthur Lydiard's teachings. Lydiard was a legendary running coach. Far be it from me to question him! But then again, I based my plan on a book by another legendary running coach, Jack Daniels.

So it looks like it comes down to Lydiard vs. Daniels. Since I've read Daniels and haven't read Lydiard, I'm sticking with what I've got for now.

Today's Run

I ran 6 miles today, with three sessions of 2 minutes, 1 minute, and 30 seconds hard. Rests were 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 30 seconds, respectively. This is basically a repeat of last Saturday's run in the rain, but today I did one fewer session. I'm just slightly concerned about doing too much hard running.

Still, I felt pretty good. On my bike ride to work this morning, my legs felt amazingly good. That's not saying too much, because my morning commute is extremely easy, but it's something, at least.

Rep Workout #2

Today's run included my second Repetition workout. This one called for 6x400 at 86 seconds each. I knew this would be a little tougher than last week, because last week had a mix of both 200s and 400s, and the 400s felt significantly harder than the shorter reps!

After warming up for 2.5 miles on the Creek Path, I again found myself at the Boulder High School track. It's so convenient that I can do a track workout on my lunch break, without even hopping on my bike to get there.

The first rep felt ragged. I was pushing hard, but didn't feel smooth at all. I was surprised that my watch said 88.7 seconds, nearly two seconds off pace! And it wasn't for a lack of trying, either.

I jogged another 400 for recovery and then walked around a little, allowing my heart rate to settle back down, before starting the next rep after about 4 minutes total recovery. I ended up using this same recovery period after each rep. As I understand it, the point of repetition workouts is not to stress your VO2 max or your lactate threshold -- it's to improve leg speed and running economy at speed. Thus, full recoveries are necessary in order to insure that each rep can be completed in the same amount of time.

The second rep felt a little bit smoother, and I came in at 86.3 seconds. From there, the rest of my reps just kept feeling better and more in control. I posted the last four in 85.9, 85.7, 85.5, and 86.0 seconds. Actually, the last rep felt so good that I foolishly ran the first 100 in 18 seconds (it should have been 21.5). I consciously slowed it down, though, and finished the 400 right on pace. I jogged another 400 and turned for home. Total mileage for today: 7 miles.

I think next time, it would be worthwhile to pick up the pace a bit toward the end of my warmup. Going from my 8:10 warmup pace straight to my repetition pace of 5:46 minutes per mile is a bit harsh, I guess. Well, I'm learning!

What's this about VDOT?

I've mentioned VDOT a couple of times already, but what the heck is it, and why do I care?

VDOT is the brainchild of running coach Jack Daniels. It's just a number that represents a runner's ability. It combines VO2 max and economy, as well as lactate threshold and even hard-to-quantify qualities like mental toughness.

The beauty of using the VDOT system is its simplicity. To find out your VDOT, just look up a recent race time in the VDOT Table. If you've run several races of different lengths recently, go with the one that results in your highest VDOT.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm using my 10k personal best time of 40:39, which gives me a VDOT of 51. That race result is almost two years old, so I may need to adjust my VDOT after I run my next 5k, hopefully in a few weeks.

Now that you know your VDOT, what do you do with it? Here we get to the practical aspect. Look up your VDOT in the Training Intensities Table, and suddenly you know exactly what pace to train for all your workouts. For example, my workout tomorrow calls for 6 x 400 at R-pace. I look it up in the table and see that I should run the 400s in 86 seconds. This is great for people like me who a) are not that knowledgeable about running, b) don't want to bother with hiring a personal coach, and c) still want to train smart.

It's important to realize that your VDOT number is not an estimate of your VO2 max. To make this crystal clear, let's look up the VDOT of a famous athlete, Lance Armstrong. He ran the New York Marathon last November in 2:59:36. That corresponds to a VDOT of 54. But we know that Lance has a VO2 max of 85 ml/kg/min, which is truly an elite-level of oxygen utilization.

Clearly, 54 and 85 are two different numbers. What accounts for the difference? Economy. The fact is, Lance is just not a very efficient runner (that is, compared to elite runners). He's got a great VO2 max, but relatively poor economy. That's why VDOT is not an estimate of VO2 max -- it combines several different factors, and athletes with the same VDOT may arrive there through different combinations.

Ok, enough about that for now.

I had a fun run today - 7 miles easy, with six strides, averaging 8:13 per mile. That's a little slower than my recommended easy pace of 8:07, but I don't think it matters too much. It was cool and overcast, good running weather. Looking at my training plan, I should relish today's run, because there aren't too many easy days like this remaining on it!

Sunday Long Run

I feel kind of funny calling today's jaunt a "long run," but for me, ten miles is a few miles longer than average. With my low mileage, a 10-mile run accounts for one-third of my entire week's mileage. Plus, today's run took an hour and 43 minutes. That's long enough for me, at this point!

The ground had dried a bit, but unfortunately I still had to battle a lot of mud. I started with the same loop as yesterday -- out the Eagle and Sage trails, and then north on the Left Hand singletrack. Across Route 36, I ran home on the Beech Trail, a lesser-known but excellent narrow trail that is both flat and in the foothills. That combination makes the Beech Trail one-of-a-kind in Boulder, as far as I know.

I had a few minutes of excitement a couple miles from home. A passing runner warned about a rattlesnake up ahead. Sure enough, just around the bend I heard the telltale rattle coming from underneath a rock beside the trail. Try as I might, I just couldn't spot the thing, and I wasn't about to poke around under the rock. Although I know the Front Range has lots of rattlesnakes, I can think of only one that I've seen in the nine years I've lived here. Today's incident doesn't count.

I added six strides to the run, but overall I felt fairly tired and slow. My average of just over 10-minute miles confirms that fact. I didn't mind, though, as the bike ride I'd done earlier provided a great excuse to run slowly. Tomorrow is a day off.

Rain and Mud

Overcast, rainy, and cold does not usually describe Boulder weather, but it did today. The first thunderstorm of the year blew in yesterday afternoon, dropping a huge dose of rain and lightning bolts in the first hour. In its wake, the storm left a miserable low-pressure system that continued throughout today.

But the run must go on! The training plan called for 6 miles today, including some "unstructured intervals". This meant the following workout:

4 x (2 minutes hard with 1 minute rest, 1 minute hard with 30 seconds rest, and 30 seconds hard with 30 seconds rest)

After a leisurely morning, I finally got dressed to go. It was 40 degrees and raining steadily. Although I feared it would be a mistake to venture off the pavement today, I headed out to the trails of Boulder Valley Ranch for a 6-mile loop.

As I suspected, it was a mudfest. The intervals were tough, mostly because trying to get any speed was futile -- my feet simply slipped instead of gaining any traction. After 55 minutes, I finished, soaked to the skin but no worse for the wear.

Weekly run summary:

Sunday - off
Monday - 10 miles easy, with 6 x 100 strides
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - 7 miles, with reps: 3 x (2 x 200 at 42 seconds + 1 x 400 at 86 seconds)
Thursday - 7 miles, with threshold intervals: 3 x 1600 at 6:40
Friday - off
Saturday - 6 miles, with unstructured intervals: 4 x (2:00 + 1:00 + 0:30 hard)
Total - 30 miles

Tomorrow I'm going for a bike ride, but if I can get motivated, I'll try and get in a 10-mile run beforehand. With a little luck, the weather will improve.

Threshold Intervals

The legs felt ok this morning. Ok, but not great. I took 15 minutes before breakfast and hammered my left IT band and TFL (Tensor Fascia Latae), problem spots for me, with a foam roller. I felt much better afterwards.

I was a bit nervous about today's workout: threshold intervals. Once again, I refer to Daniels:

Ti (Threshold Intervals): Sets of repeated miles at T-pace with 1-minute rests, up to 8% of week's total mileage or 10 km (whichever is less).

Again, I'm running 30 miles per week, so 8% would be 2.4 miles. I went a little crazy and rounded it up to 3 full miles. Next I had to look up my Threshold (T) pace in the Training Intensities Table. Using my estimated VDOT of 51, my T-pace is 6:44 per mile.

I decided to run these at the track. Even though the creek path has every half-mile marked, I was still worried about pacing correctly. At the track, it's just so easy to see if you're on pace every 100 meters. I also decided to run 1600-meter intervals, instead of a full mile. It's only 9 meters difference, and I can't seem to find the mile marker on the track anyway.

The first mile felt easy. I turned in 400-meter splits of 99.0, 100.6, 100.1, and 100.5 seconds, for a total of 6:40. A little fast, but no problem. By lap 3 of the second mile, I was starting to feel it. I was still running a bit fast, though, and came in at 6:39 this time. The last mile definitely felt hard, but I still finished in 6:40.

To me, this workout felt much more difficult than yesterday's. Now I'm wondering if I have overestimated my VDOT. If so, I'm running too fast. I just looked up Daniels' definition of T-pace:

"Subjectively, the intensity of effort associated with T-pace running is comfortably hard. The effort should be one that you could maintain for about one hour in a race."

I highly doubt I could run at 6:40 pace for a whole hour at this point in my training. So, maybe I'm running too fast. But for now, I'll just go with it and see what happens. With any luck, this workout should feel a little bit easier next time I do it.

Repetitions

Today I completed my first repetition workout at the track. Daniels describes repetition (R, or rep) training as repeated sessions of fast running that last 2 minutes or less. Recovery times are relatively long, to allow each rep to be run just as fast as the initial one. The idea behind rep workouts is to develop good mechanics and efficiency (i.e., economy) at faster speeds, and to develop anaerobic (not aerobic) metabolism.

I pulled today's workout straight from Chapter 13 of Daniels' Running Formula.

R-1: Sets of 2x200 + 1x400 at R-pace, up to 5% of week's mileage.

First I determined how many of these reps to do. Since I'm currently running 30 miles per week, 5% of this week's mileage is 1.5 miles, about 2400 meters. Since each "set" as described above is 800m, I just needed to do three sets of 2x200 plus 1x400.

Next, I needed to figure out my R-pace. Normally this is a simple task. Just look up a recent race time in Daniels' VDOT Table, then use the corresponding R-pace from the Training Intensities Table.

However, I don't have a recent race time. My last 10k race was at the Bolder Boulder at the end of May last year, where I ran a disappointing 43:46. That corresponds to a VDOT of 47. However, I was recovering from my first marathon at the time, and had stomach issues as well. In 2005 I ran a PR of 40:39, which corresponds to a VDOT of 51.

In the end, I decided to use a VDOT of 50-51 to determine today's Repetition Pace. That meant 200s should be run at 42-43 seconds, and 400s at 86-87 seconds. I had no idea whether this would be easy, difficult, or impossible. That should give you an idea of how little time I've spent at the track!

After 2.5 miles of warmup running, I lined up at the Boulder High School track and started my first rep way too fast. I ran the first 100 in 17 seconds (it should have been 21). I slowed down and hit 200 on 40 seconds. After that, my pacing improved, and I hit all the rest of my reps either right on pace, or a second or two fast.

Frankly, I was relieved to complete the workout successfully, considering I was just guessing about my appropriate VDOT value. The reps felt fast, but pretty controlled. Only one of them felt hard -- the last 400, where I finished into a stiff headwind and came in at 87 seconds.

Now I'm waiting to see how my legs feel tomorrow!

Last Night's Run

I had a good run last night after work. I usually run during lunch, but my planned 10-miler was pushing the usual lunch break boundaries. Instead, I got started at around 6:30 PM at the 5-mile marker on the Boulder Creek Path.

I must admit, I love running on the Creek Path. It's cool and often shady next to the creek, you have the option of pavement or (usually) a dirt singletrack, the scenery and people-watching are both excellent, and there are no cars. As a bonus, there are mile markers all the way down.

The path winds its way along the creek, climbing gradually the whole way, for more than five miles before depositing you at Eben Fine Park at the west end of town. If desired, you may continue another four miles up Boulder Canyon on dirt.

My run was simple. Run to the park (mile marker zero) and turn around. The great thing about starting in East Boulder is that you get a nice downhill all the way back. It makes getting negative splits almost too easy.

I felt better and better as the run progressed. I did my six 20-second strides and they felt smooth and controlled. I was tired and extremely hungry by the time I got home, though. I had a huge dinner, watched a little TV, and hit the sack early.

Training Plan

I finally got around to putting together a formal training plan. It's based on Jack Daniels' Running Formula and tweaked for my own particular needs. For example, since I plan to run only four days per week, I'll be skipping most of the easy runs. Unfortunately this means that most of my runs will be 'quality' (i.e., HARD) workouts. Gulp!

You may notice that there is no Phase 1 in the plan. That's because I've been doing base training (i.e., nothing but easy miles) since the start of the year. I did start adding 20-second strides at around 5k pace to my runs the last couple of weeks, in order to start adapting to the faster running I'll be doing this week.

Here is the key to the types of workouts:

• E: Easy, comfortable running
• L: Long run
• S: Strides, 20- to 30-second runs at comfortably-fast pace using light, quick turnover
• T: Tempo runs, done at lactate threshold pace
• I: Intervals (VO2Max development)
• R: Repetitions (speed & economy development)
• Mix: A mix of intervals at T, I, and R paces.

I will discuss pacing and the concept of VDOT in another post.

The trip to Moab this weekend was fantastic. I did a couple of classic mountain bike rides -- Porcupine Rim and Amasa Back. Here's a photo, even though this is not running related.

Weekly Run Summary

Here is my running summary for the week:

Sunday - off
Monday - 10 miles easy
Tuesday - 7 miles easy, with 6x100 strides
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 7 miles easy, with 6x100 strides
Friday - 6 miles easy, with 6x100 strides
Saturday - off
TOTAL - 30 miles

I should add a word or two about my overall strategy, as well as other (non-running) goals. First, I like to compete in off-road triathlons, like Xterras, so I'm also doing some biking and swimming during the week. For example, this week I swam 3 days and biked 2 days in addition to the running schedule you see above. That's one reason I'm planning to run only about 4 days, and a max of 30-40 miles, per week.

I realize that most runners who want to run a sub-40 10k would run at least 5-6 days a week, and perhaps as many as 50-80 miles. I'm hoping to do it on a lot less, as I don't want to compromise my swim and bike.

I think this approach is going to make my running goals a lot more challenging, because I'm limiting the amount of running I'll do. Hopefully I'll be up for it!

Strides

I've added strides to my runs the last couple of weeks, based on Jack Daniels' advice. Strides are "20- to 30-second runs at comfortably-fast pace using light, quick turnover," or (if you're later in your base-building phase), "20- to 30-second runs with 1-minute rests at about mile race pace," according to Daniels.

I found an even better description of strides in this coolrunning post by KudzuRunner:

One way of thinking about strides is as those showoffy spurts that runners put on for other runners in the 7-10 minutes before any road race--racing away from the line for 10-15 seconds, then petering to a stop, slowly wheeling around. Those are strides.

The best time to introduce them into your menu of runs is NOT on race day, but several times a week in the several months before race day. But that's pretty much what they look like.

The key, I've found, is to warm slowly into them. Let's say that my 5K race pace is 6:20 and my half marathon pace is 7:00. (As they are, pretty much.) I'm going to run my first stride of the day no faster than HM pace. The second, with the same effort, is going to come in close to 10K pace. The third, same effort, will smoothly approach 5K pace. At that point, on my fourth, I can smoothly--and the operative word is "smoothly"--accelerate to 6:00 pace and below.

That's where I want to be running my strides, given my race paces--sub-6:00--but if I started there, on the very first one, I'd almost certainly feel clunky. The whole point of strides is to consolidate your stride. They should leave you feeling completely in control at whatever pace you run them. Over time, if you do them several times a week, you can begin to test your limits.

I run strides of up to 30 seconds, BTW. They're supposed to be alactic--no oxygen debt incurred--and it's hard to run fast much beyond 30 seconds, I've found, without doing that.

The point of strides is to improve running economy at higher speeds, and to prepare your body for the next phase of training. For me, the next phase of training will involve a lot of repetition work, but more on that later...

I had a good run today, 6 miles at just under 8-minute pace. That's a bit fast for me on my 'easy' runs. It was sunny and just about perfect at 63 degrees. I did six strides, widely spaced out for full recovery, and they felt pretty good, but not great. Both my left quad and left achilles tendon are a bit sore right now.

The most interesting thing I saw on the run today was a dad with a baby stroller, pulled over at the side of the bike path by a cop, who appeared to be writing him a ticket! I have no idea if he was in trouble for anything, but I had to laugh because that's just what it looked like.

This weekend I'm off to Moab, Utah. I'm not going to run the spectacular Canyonlands Half Marathon, as you might suspect. Instead, I'll be mountain biking. It should be great fun, as always.

First Post

What does it take to run a 40-minute 10k? I don't know, but I hope to find out over the next 10 weeks.

To me, there has always been something about that arbitrary 40-minute time barrier that I can't explain. Maybe it's because I've never considered myself a true runner, and somehow I think breaking 40 minutes in a 10k would finally give me the badge I need to join their 'secret club'. Maybe it's because I live in Boulder, Colorado, where even great athletes are humbled daily by the elites, not to mention average joes like myself. Maybe it's because I've gotten close to this goal, but never succeeded.

A quick Google search revealed that I'm not alone. This thread on CoolRunning.com has the topic, "Sub 40 minute 10k by the end of 2006." It spans 16 pages and stayed alive for ten months. It seems that breaking 40 minutes in the 10k is a goal for quite a few recreational runners. Maybe I'm going a bit far to call it the Holy Grail of Recreational Running. Or maybe not.

Armed with a copy of Daniels' Running Formula, the bible of running according to some, I am setting out to develop and follow a 10-week training plan, leading up to the Bolder Boulder 10k race on Memorial Day, 2007.

Will I reach my goal? I don't know. But I do plan to have fun along the way!