Training plan update = help

shels4ever

Hi all,
Well my racing season ended a few weeks ago *might just get around the half on sat) and been in a new phase of training with a bit more speed work. i've been doing sessions with

15 mins warm up

4 X 1000m *not measured but going on time as i'm away .

15 min warm down.

I do feel that i'm stronger now on my 5-6 mile runs and tend to run even now compaed to weeks ago when i used to slow in the last 2 miles.

But my problem is that i'm still not seeing much speed improvments , would it be ok to pus sessions of 200's in also to try and improve leg turnover? or a Shorter faster tempo run mid week?

I'm a little frustrated at the moment as the improvments have slowed and i want to make sure i'm still on the right plan.

I know going from the starting point i've made some good progress but I would hope to be able to take another 5-6 mins of my 5 mile time by Jan/Feb.

Starting point was 50 mins for 5 mile.
Current is 23:50 for 3 miles.

Would hope to be in sub 40 form in a few weeks, but not improtant at the moment as i wont race a 5 mile road race till next year.



Cheers.

ss43

shels4ever wrote: »

Hi all,
Well my racing season ended a few weeks ago *might just get around the half on sat) and been in a new phase of training with a bit more speed work. i've been doing sessions with

15 mins warm up

4 X 1000m *not measured but going on time as i'm away .

15 min warm down.

I do feel that i'm stronger now on my 5-6 mile runs and tend to run even now compaed to weeks ago when i used to slow in the last 2 miles.

But my problem is that i'm still not seeing much speed improvments , would it be ok to pus sessions of 200's in also to try and improve leg turnover? or a Shorter faster tempo run mid week?

I'm a little frustrated at the moment as the improvments have slowed and i want to make sure i'm still on the right plan.

I know going from the starting point i've made some good progress but I would hope to be able to take another 5-6 mins of my 5 mile time by Jan/Feb.

Starting point was 50 mins for 5 mile.
Current is 23:50 for 3 miles.

Would hope to be in sub 40 form in a few weeks, but not improtant at the moment as i wont race a 5 mile road race till next year.



Cheers.

To improve speed, you could try short sprints. 10-30 seconds long, you could even do them uphill. Recovery should be long to ensure you're fresh to put in a maximal or close to maximal effort on each one. This should improve your basic speed and turnover.

dtf

It looks like your situation is similar to mine.For years I used to plod around, doing an average of 10 minute miles. I then started to do one speed work session a week, and I couldn't believe how quickly my times came down. I could easily run 8 minute miles most races. It's just that since then the times have kind of hit a plateau. I could train harder, watch what I eat etc, but still I can only improve by a couple of secs per mile. I suppose that as you get quicker the improvements get smaller.

shels4ever

ss43 wrote: »

To improve speed, you could try short sprints. 10-30 seconds long, you could even do them uphill. Recovery should be long to ensure you're fresh to put in a maximal or close to maximal effort on each one. This should improve your basic speed and turnover.

How steep a hillwould we be talking, i think i've an ideal place for this on my run ... might start that next week when i get back.

ss43

shels4ever wrote: »

How steep a hillwould we be talking, i think i've an ideal place for this on my run ... might start that next week when i get back.

Not so steep that your form changes much, or that you end up running slowly up it - you still have to sprint. I'd reckon around 10% incline would be ok.

shels4ever

great thanks i'll give that a go over the next few month..

dna_leri

shels4ever wrote: »

Hi all,
Well my racing season ended a few weeks ago *might just get around the half on sat) and been in a new phase of training with a bit more speed work.

...

Would hope to be in sub 40 form in a few weeks, but not improtant at the moment as i wont race a 5 mile road race till next year.

Shels,

Just a question, if your racing season is over, why start speed phase now?

Wouldn't it be better to time this to before your next racing phase?

shels4ever

Well The reason i'm starting now, Would be to increase speed not getting into race shape i'm prob a year away from that as it is.
I'm coming back from years of doing nothing and jsut really want to increase leg speed . I'm not looking to get in race shape but when you find it hard to run a 8 min mile there is something wrong.

I'll be doing some CC races but not looking to do anything other then get around them.

shels4ever

Well a couple of week into my new plan , and i'm not feeling so great. The last week has been really hard, legs feel tired , I'v ebeen resting enough and my mileage is prob around the samle level as the end of my first phase.

Maybe its due to the new plan that is a lot more structured with tempo runs and my 800m intervals?