What plan are you following?

Schuey wrote:So with fall marathon training started what type of training are you all following?

If your not running a marathon what type of training plan are you following for a 5k, 10k, half or any other distance?

Do you believe in Quantity? Quality? or combination of both?

Do you have any training types you would like to share or any other advice to pass on?

My first post on the forum...Looks good so far!

Obviously, I'm not running a marathon this Fall. I've got a goal 5K race on October 2nd, then either a Nov HM or Club XC Champs in Seattle, if I can get a team together. I'm currently on day 4 of 4 day's or so off after my Spring season ended on Saturday. This worked well since I seriously F'd up my Calf during the last 150 yards of Saturdays race. I don't know if it's a bad cramp, or a strain, or what it is. It about brought me to the ground though! I can walk without a limp now but it still hurts when I push on it. Haven't tried running yet. Just icing & resting for now.

I've been averaging about 70 mpw for the year. Mostly just running with a weekly 3-4-5 mile tempo, an occasional track session, and good strong 15-18 miles run on Saturday. I hope to jump right back into that next week. Depends on how the calf feels. The basic plan calls for 75'ish mile weeks, 3-4 hill sessions/month, add 1-2 weekly track session in mid Aug, heavy on the 400's, 800's & 1000's. May do some tempos during my buildup until then. Easy days are as easy as necessary, hard days will force the easy days!

Schuey wrote:

Do you have any training types you would like to share or any other advice to pass on?

Run more.

Hi Mr. Bull.

Working on the half....still. Met my goal of 2:20 and moving up to 2:15 for this fall. Once that's accomplished, I'll hopefully be signed up for Chicago 2012. Late September goal race so right now my plan is as follows (devised by my Personal Trainer).

LSDs - get up to 18 miles
Once per week - either Hill/speed intervals, many times a combo of the two
Once per week, sorta long easy run
Strength training twice per week (primarily core and upper body)
Cross training with Bike, rowing, 2 times per week. I'd combine strength on one of these days)
Rest one day.

Since the summer time is busy for me work wise, I'm trying to get 3 quality runs in per week and also focus on the rest of my body to keep me free of injuries.

I made my own plan.

4-5 days of running/week. One pace run/one tempo per week.

Peaking (twice) around 75 miles. Long runs up to 22 miles.

Right now I'm not following any plan. Its too hard (for me at least) to follow a plan in the horrible Texas summer heat. So summer becomes the time to work on base building and get miles in without too much worry about pace, and then I can fine tune things in the Fall. My next planned race isnt until January, with maybe something thrown in in Oct or Nov, so this is sort of the "down time" of the year for me.

I am following the Zen Runner plan.

Schuey wrote:

Vivian wrote:I am following Pfitz 18/70 as a base with elements of Hal and McMillan thrown in. I am mixing in quality and quantity. My last few attempts at emphasizing quantity did not work well for me so I am back to what has worked for me in the past.

Great idea going back to what works. I believe what daniel's says u have to find that balance and get the most out of your training by doing the least!

Viv, you and I seem to have similar approaches. I also mix in Hudson.

Mr MattM wrote:I am following the Zen Runner plan.

Ohm. Ohm. Now dig deep ooooohhhhhmmmmmmmmmmm.

Scott C wrote:

Schuey wrote:

Do you have any training types you would like to share or any other advice to pass on?

Run more.

Hi Mr. Bull.

Hey Scott glad to see you found your way here!

Mr MattM wrote:I am following the Zen Runner plan.

Nice Matt.

As for my plan basically doing my own thing but can't take all the credit for it. My knowledge for training for the marathon has come from lydaird,pfitz,Hudson and articles out of running times. I do use pfitz's more then 85 miles a week as a guideline for mileage. But I do believe this training cycle I will some more of a breakdown of % from my peak like 70,74,78,80,82,82,87,78,92,92,100,92,100,89,89,66 and 49%.

I generally like leaving my training open to change like Hudson but not to loose! I believe there has to be structure but at the same time I like to keep it fresh. Like I love the tempo run but it gets boring doing the same run week after week or on the same day. So I like to do tempos,interval tempo,fcr and fartlek runs and doing them on different days and times week to week.

I really feel the fresher and exciting you can keep your training 1 the more fun it will be and 2 it will help move along the training cycle.

I would say there were time I fell into the quality camp and then the quanity camp. These days I believe in a balance of both but if it comes down to it and I have make a choice it will always be mileage over quality for the marathon and more quality for 10k and below. Then again aerobic fitness is still huge for 10k and above races. That would be another great topic to debate!

As for tips I would say consistency and patience is very important.



As for tips

Schuey wrote:So with fall marathon training started what type of training are you all following?

I am roughly following the Marathon 3 program in Brad Hudson's Run Faster book. I modify it to do more tempo work than it calls for, plus I have to reduce the mileage as I can't run as many miles as it calls for.

Schuey wrote:If your not running a marathon what type of training plan are you following for a 5k, 10k, half or any other distance?

I am training for a marathon, though I hope to run a half, 5K and 10K in the process.

Schuey wrote:Do you believe in Quantity? Quality? or combination of both?

I believe in a combination but quantity probably beats quality. Both have their injury risks though. It takes some years to be able to ramp up to many miles if you are older so quality helps then. I've averaged about 50 miles per week for three years now with peaks in the 70s. I think I'm about at my max capability for quantity.

Schuey wrote:Do you have any training types you would like to share or any other advice to pass on?

Tempos are good, long tempos are better.

I more or less create my own plan, but I steal philosophies from what has worked for me in the past. A lot of what I do is Pfitz-based, but I mix in some other things that work for me. Post-Boston, I've been taking things day to day, but after my half marathon, I'll switch to more marathon type training and get serious about running.

I'm training for the Ironman so I mix a lot of different training philosophies I've tripped over and just try to fit as much quality in with as little a time commitment as possible. As I've gotten older I see myself doing more Rob DiCastella stuff from the 80s and some basic hard core efforts like go out fast and just try to hold it. I run effort based and use feedback after the fact from my heart rate to tell me how close I've hit my goal. I've also really adopted more idle stretching to try to stay somewhat flexible because age hasn't been kind to me in that department. I wish I had time to follow a plan or have a coach, but during the school year I only have 7 hours to work, train, and do everything else I need to do, and can't even commit day to day whether I can work out or if I'm home with a sickie or whatever. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be, that actually helps my performance, because when I accomplish something, I'm just still thrilled I can pull it out of a hat!

Sam from RonItch! wrote:I'm training for the Ironman so I mix a lot of different training philosophies I've tripped over and just try to fit as much quality in with as little a time commitment as possible. As I've gotten older I see myself doing more Rob DiCastella stuff from the 80s and some basic hard core efforts like go out fast and just try to hold it. I run effort based and use feedback after the fact from my heart rate to tell me how close I've hit my goal. I've also really adopted more idle stretching to try to stay somewhat flexible because age hasn't been kind to me in that department. I wish I had time to follow a plan or have a coach, but during the school year I only have 7 hours to work, train, and do everything else I need to do, and can't even commit day to day whether I can work out or if I'm home with a sickie or whatever. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be, that actually helps my performance, because when I accomplish something, I'm just still thrilled I can pull it out of a hat!

don't worry about it, I biked for you today. The run goes on my log, but you can have the bike.

Tea from Ron Itch wrote:

Sam from RonItch! wrote:I'm training for the Ironman so I mix a lot of different training philosophies I've tripped over and just try to fit as much quality in with as little a time commitment as possible. As I've gotten older I see myself doing more Rob DiCastella stuff from the 80s and some basic hard core efforts like go out fast and just try to hold it. I run effort based and use feedback after the fact from my heart rate to tell me how close I've hit my goal. I've also really adopted more idle stretching to try to stay somewhat flexible because age hasn't been kind to me in that department. I wish I had time to follow a plan or have a coach, but during the school year I only have 7 hours to work, train, and do everything else I need to do, and can't even commit day to day whether I can work out or if I'm home with a sickie or whatever. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be, that actually helps my performance, because when I accomplish something, I'm just still thrilled I can pull it out of a hat!

don't worry about it, I biked for you today. The run goes on my log, but you can have the bike.

I appreciate that, after all, I did run 50 yds, how far did I bike? I've been cleaning up vomit, does that count as swimming?

Sam from RonItch! wrote:

Tea from Ron Itch wrote:

Sam from RonItch! wrote:I'm training for the Ironman so I mix a lot of different training philosophies I've tripped over and just try to fit as much quality in with as little a time commitment as possible. As I've gotten older I see myself doing more Rob DiCastella stuff from the 80s and some basic hard core efforts like go out fast and just try to hold it. I run effort based and use feedback after the fact from my heart rate to tell me how close I've hit my goal. I've also really adopted more idle stretching to try to stay somewhat flexible because age hasn't been kind to me in that department. I wish I had time to follow a plan or have a coach, but during the school year I only have 7 hours to work, train, and do everything else I need to do, and can't even commit day to day whether I can work out or if I'm home with a sickie or whatever. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be, that actually helps my performance, because when I accomplish something, I'm just still thrilled I can pull it out of a hat!

don't worry about it, I biked for you today. The run goes on my log, but you can have the bike.

I appreciate that, after all, I did run 50 yds, how far did I bike? I've been cleaning up vomit, does that count as swimming?

You biked 34 miles. You should feel pretty wiped out.

Vomitous mass always counts as swimming.

Let's count it as a brick. swim/bike/run. You're ready for Ironman. I might even post a serious response now. Maybe.

Training....what plan am I following?

The HELLACIOUS PLAN PUT TOGETHER BY MY COACH (whoofcourseIlovedearly)

Currently: Training for Ironman Boulder 70.3, august sometime, but I don't want to think about it.

3 swims a week, 4 bikes ranging from Long ride to zone 4 and 5 workouts, zone 3 workout and 1 day of drills, 4 runs a week following basically the same pattern as the bike.

Train to your weakness; race to your strengths. You'll NEVER guess what my weakness is. What's that? The run, you say? Let's just say that I'm such a bad runner that Sam insists I'm running on just one leg. Pretty sure I can swim faster than I can run.

Tea from RonItch wrote:

Sam from RonItch! wrote:

Tea from Ron Itch wrote:

Sam from RonItch! wrote:I'm training for the Ironman so I mix a lot of different training philosophies I've tripped over and just try to fit as much quality in with as little a time commitment as possible. As I've gotten older I see myself doing more Rob DiCastella stuff from the 80s and some basic hard core efforts like go out fast and just try to hold it. I run effort based and use feedback after the fact from my heart rate to tell me how close I've hit my goal. I've also really adopted more idle stretching to try to stay somewhat flexible because age hasn't been kind to me in that department. I wish I had time to follow a plan or have a coach, but during the school year I only have 7 hours to work, train, and do everything else I need to do, and can't even commit day to day whether I can work out or if I'm home with a sickie or whatever. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be, that actually helps my performance, because when I accomplish something, I'm just still thrilled I can pull it out of a hat!

don't worry about it, I biked for you today. The run goes on my log, but you can have the bike.

I appreciate that, after all, I did run 50 yds, how far did I bike? I've been cleaning up vomit, does that count as swimming?

You biked 34 miles. You should feel pretty wiped out.

Vomitous mass always counts as swimming.

Let's count it as a brick. swim/bike/run. You're ready for Ironman. I might even post a serious response now. Maybe.

Let's ease into that Hoppity, I'm exhausted from training today, levity is all I have!

I'm following a Pfitzinger Marathon plan I think it's the 55/60 or something.

My biggest help has been running with a friend who is faster than I am so every 8 and 10 miler we do mid-week is like a tempo run for me.

I'm still a Self-Coached Runner. I thought about paying Hudson for a cycle to do something different. I bought season tickets to the Bulls instead.

Dave-O wrote:I'm still a Self-Coached Runner. I thought about paying Hudson for a cycle to do something different. I bought season tickets to the Bulls instead.

Well I think that was a wise move as long as we don't have to wait another 20 years for a championship!

I think I'm going back to the POD system. My blog starts June 27th, so you can learn all about it then.

Schuey wrote:

Dave-O wrote:I'm still a Self-Coached Runner. I thought about paying Hudson for a cycle to do something different. I bought season tickets to the Bulls instead.

Well I think that was a wise move as long as we don't have to wait another 20 years for a championship!

You probably will.

GregC wrote:I think I'm going back to the POD system. My blog starts June 27th, so you can learn all about it then.

Sweet look forward to reading about and learning something new from one of running idol!

I am planning on a modified Higdon Intermediate I for my next cycle. Modified in that I am not doing the pace run the day before the long run because I have tried that and my body just can't take it once the pace runs are more than about 5 miles. I need a rest or easy day after those. Also, I am tossing in some hill work days because a friend at work likes to run a hill route at lunch, and I am throwing in some 5ks to run faster but not full out because I want to run them for a local series. I figure they will just be tempo run type days. On some of the weeks I am also running 4 days that week instead of 5 with extra cross training. So it really is a heavily modified plan.

I definitely like quality over quantity. My body doesn't take quantity too well, but can take quality if I rest after long runs and speedier days.

carleenp wrote:I am planning on a modified Higdon Intermediate I for my next cycle. Modified in that I am not doing the pace run the day before the long run because I have tried that and my body just can't take it once the pace runs are more than about 5 miles. I need a rest or easy day after those. Also, I am tossing in some hill work days because a friend at work likes to run a hill route at lunch, and I am throwing in some 5ks to run faster but not full out because I want to run them for a local series. I figure they will just be tempo run type days. On some of the weeks I am also running 4 days that week instead of 5 with extra cross training. So it really is a heavily modified plan.

I definitely like quality over quantity. My body doesn't take quantity too well, but can take quality if I rest after long runs and speedier days.

Yeah I like your plan and the approach you are taking to your training. I also like the fact that you realize that doing a pace run before your long run doesn't work for so why keeping beating a ! So you made that change and now you are also adding some hill work. Way to look for ways to make improvements. I think with the tweaks you are making you will see some nice improvements!