Back in July, as I was about to plunge into a fall marathon training program, I decided to skip it instead and work on running the same number of training miles, but with a far different goal. Instead of working on distance, I wanted to work on speed. And while the experiment’s far from over, it seems to have worked so far. On Aug. 12, I ran the Cigna Elliot 5K in Manchester 47 seconds faster than my prior 5K best, which had only improved by a few seconds over the prior two years I’d been focusing on marathon distance.
EXPERIMENTING ON YOURSELF, SET GOALS AND MEASURE
Notice I referred to this training cycle as an “experiment.” I suppose if I had a coach, or had come from a high school or college running background, this would be less of an experiment and more of a time-tested strategic shift. But for me, I read training books, talk to other runners in our club, share info on message boards and DailyMile, and then try and figure out what sort of training is going to work best for this aging body and this incredibly busy life. I set goals, log assiduously, measure and compare similar workouts, routes and races over time. What was I eating, drinking? What temperature was it? Humidity? Sleep? Experiment. Perfect for someone a bit (?!) geeky, on the one hand, who loves data, loves to track progress through cycles and try and figure out what it all means. But on the other hand, in training and in racing, there’s always a moment when the data part goes out the window and it’s just all guts and heart and flinging yourself at the wall as hard as you can. A nice contrast.
THE SCHEDULE
Anyhow, basically what I’ve been doing is logging same number of miles a week (between 45-55), but instead of running the 9-14 mile midweek tempo runs and race pace long runs I would have put in for marathon training, I switched from a 5-day-a-week schedule to 6 days, and built the schedule out of shorter runs with a heavier focus on speed. Without those midweek medium long runs, I was able to hit our Wednesday night track workouts much harder, and run my shorter tempo runs much faster. And I’ve seen major changes as a result, both in terms of my recovery time between hard intervals and the pace I can run them at. Then there’s the August 5K I mentioned – my first race as a 40-year-old and a personal best, 47 seconds faster than the prior PR back in June of this year. I’m hoping to run one more of those this fall and improve again this year.
IN PRAISE OF DOUBLES
The other thing I’ve really come to appreciate in this training cycle are doubles. They work great both in terms of getting lots of mileage in without beating yourself up, and in terms of scheduling. I find it’s much easier to fit a 4-mile easy run in before everyone gets up in the morning, and the a 6 mile tempo run at lunchtime or in the evening, than it is to squeeze in one ten miler. And my legs are much fresher the next day after doubles than they are after a single long run. Skipping midweek long runs wouldn’t work for marathon training, since you wouldn’t be getting the same physiological benefits. Since the longest I’ll be running this fall in one stretch is a half marathon, though, these doubles are a great way to bulk up the base mileage you need to keep building speed, without beating up your legs or your schedule too much. They also make good training for Reach the Beach. I’m running on an ultra team again this year, and I’m running in position 3, which means 6 legs totaling 39 miles in about 24 hours. Doubles, and triples!, make a lot of sense to me in terms of training for something like this.
NEXT
So the experiment continues, and we’ll see how it pans out with reach the Beach in September, the Smuttynose Half Marathon in October, and our newspaper’s fundraising race, the Santa Fund 10K on Halloween. If I ran the experiment correctly, these all stand to be PRs. Then it will be on to the final stage of the experiment, where I see if an increase in baseline speed can translate into a significantly faster marathon next spring!
Ernesto~ just happened on your website as I have befriended your brother James in downtown Pittsfield. I recently have started a business The Running Center of the Berkshires. Wanted to introduce myself, your brother sings your praises as I went to Boston this year….I took on 3 marathons in less than 6 months….finally got my BQ at Hartford and skated through the other two.
I am working with Dr. Mark Snowise (local Hawaiian Ironman) and VO2 testing etc….we are focusing on the less mileage more quality approach to training and found your blog very interesting….
Thought I would introduce myself…..a big fan of James and his work and hopefully we will meet at some point….Shiobbean Archey …
peace~
Shiobbean, Sorry for taking so long to respond to you. I left for a week’s worth of work travel the day you left your message. Congrats on your BQ and your Boston run! Sounds like your business is really exciting – it’s an interesting balance to strike between mileage and high quality, and I’d love to hear more about what you come up with. I’m sure we’ll meet up at some point to talk running with James’ restaurant as a nexus! What races are up for you next?
Ernesto,
I too am taking to long to reply. I was a committee member for the Josh Billings Triathlon and it really consumed my time. My next race is the Diva Half-marthon on Long Island. Alot of fun, all women…and they don you with a feather boa and tiara at mile 12.5 to finish in true diva style. The finishers medal is a blinged out spinning rhinestone clad audacious piece given to us by NY fire fighters.. Sounds like a good time;) Then the Stockadethon 15k will be the next big one…all is good. How about yourself? Do you ever come to Pittsfield? Let me know and we can meet!