I’m planning on (weather permitting) another set of 10x440s beginning at 6:00 p.m. on 5/21 at the starting line of the Literacy course and anyone interested in a bonus speed work opportunity is welcome to join in.
This will not replace the 7:00 club run. That will happen as scheduled.
One of the surest ways to build top end speed, the classic 10x440 workout goes like this:
- Run a short, easy warm up (10 or 15 minutes)
- Run a quarter mile (440 yards) at interval pace
- Wait one minute
- Run another quarter mile.
- Continue until you’ve run 10 consecutive 440s with one minute rest intervals in between
- Run a short, easy cool down (10 or 15 minutes)
The idea is to find a pace that is challenging, but that you think you can maintain for all 10 runs. Anyone curious about what that pace might be, should use a recent 5K time to calculate training paces (use the 400m time under Speed Paces) on the always handy McMillan Running Calculator.
This is a fun (in its way) and dynamic workout that will help any runner get faster. If you interested in speed, join us at 6:00 p.m on Tuesday in front of Dowling.
We should be done in time to join the 7:00 p.m. run.
Although week three is technically in the box, I’m counting on an 8 mile carryover. The weather wasn’t very cooperative for the long run on Sunday and I just couldn’t talk myself into grinding out two hours on the treadmill. Don’t worry, I’ll make up the difference before the end of next week.
Beyond that, the training looks good so far. The mileage keeps creeping up, but I only see five runs that look like they might be problematic. The longer days on weeks 9, 10, and eleven are a little scary, but assuming no injuries and that we find a route that doesn’t make us run endless laps somewhere, they should be doable.
More than anything else, this week shows that I can make myself run better than I can do anything else these days. I did get a couple of solid swims and rode my bike once. Next week I’m going to make that two swims and two bike rides.
I think that upping my bike miles over the summer is really the best thing I can do for my overall time in the September tri that has kind of become my benchmark race. Over the last two years my times on the fourteen mile course were 46:33 and 44:29. If I could drop it to something more like 38:00 I think I could really get somewhere in the standings.
The 50K run is still looming, but I feel like I got its measure pretty well when we previewed the course last week. I’m not going to push that one exceptionally hard, but I think there’s still a pretty solid chance for a finish in the 4:30-5:00 range.
After an unscheduled two week hiatus I got back to intervals yesterday and a bunch of local runners joined me. Running intervals is good all by itself, but running intervals with five other runners=awesome.
With a low of 1:20.2 and a high of 1:37, my times weren’t exactly where I’d like to see them, but I’m going to give myself a couple of weeks to get back into the groove and see if I can’t get them back down to all sub-1:30s. For the record, though, the 1:20.2 is a new fastest 440 during an interval set.
Week two is done and it turned out pretty well. I can’t say enough about how much better it is to run in the group. Those longer runs especially can be crushing without some company.
Yesterday’s run also served as a preview for the 50K event itself (we ran 3 laps of the 7 lap course) and it left me feeling pretty confident. Based on yesterday’s pace and assuming no injuries or illness, I think a sub-5:00 might be realistic even if I hold a comfortable pace the whole time.
After sort of falling off the wagon for a couple weeks I feel like I’m back on track with a great week of running. I’ll start working in other activities this coming week including a bike ride and a few laps in the pool. 50K training is coming along well, but I keep thinking about how much I could improve my finishing time in September’s sprint-distance tri if I can shave some time off my bike. Maybe there’s still some time to get my time trialist on.
50K Training: Week One (plus a day, minus two miles)
Last week kind of got away from me in a couple ways, so I wasn’t able to finish week one of my training plan until yesterday. Even then, I was two miles short on my mileage, but that’s close enough for now.
Both the long runs were ok, but I’m wondering what it’s going to feel like when they start stretching out in week 5.
The weather might be looking up enough for a couple of bike rides this week as well. I’m convinced that the best investment I can make to improve my sprint tri speed is to spend more time riding my bike. Hopefully I can fit in forty or so miles of saddle time this week.
