Charting progress

Woddle

Just curious to whether people have a session or sth that they do each week or month or how ever often that gives them an indicator of their fitness (obviously not including races).
Now that I'm getting back into it I just want to start sth for interests sake and to chart progress and I want to do it weekly or every 2nd week.
I'm thinking maybe a 2 mile time trial or sticking to a set time and HR and seeing the distance travelled at the end (although maybe too many factors to consider in HR).
Any ideas or share your own session.
Thanks

And would anyone getting back into it be interested in charting progress together.

also while typing this the baby has just pulled out every baby wipe of a full pack, argh

Krusty_Clown

Woddle wrote: »

Just curious to whether people have a session or sth that they do each week or month or how ever often that gives them an indicator of their fitness (obviously not including races).
Now that I'm getting back into it I just want to start sth for interests sake and to chart progress and I want to do it weekly or every 2nd week.
I'm thinking maybe a 2 mile time trial or sticking to a set time and HR and seeing the distance travelled at the end (although maybe too many factors to consider in HR).
Any ideas or share your own session.
Thanks

And would anyone getting back into it be interested in charting progress together.

also while typing this the baby has just pulled out every baby wipe of a full pack, argh

^^ Lol. Classic!

Isn't 5k the generally used yardstick for measuring progress? It offers the right pace/cardio/recovery balance that means you can do them frequently without impacting training too much? A fast 10k takes a couple of days of easy running to recover from, but a 5k shouldn't take as much recovery, and should give a good indication of progress. Wouldn't mind giving this a go, once my next race is over and done with.

mloc123

For me... what my easy pace is, simple

BeepBeep67

Yep 3k /12min / 5k time trial is typically used.
Although I was reading in the latest edition of Running Times also about using a 5-6 x 1 mile session every 4 weeks I think, where each one is run marginally faster but not more than 15 seconds between the slowest and fastest (I'll confirm later).

Woddle

Good suggestions. Another I was thinking of was 400s. How many you can do off a minute rest until you blow (if I was to guess now I'd say 3 ). I read Emil Zatopek was a huge believer in 400s as is hard worker
I really do want to pick sth, print it out and fill it in each week.

stmochtas

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Yep 3k /12min / 5k time trial is typically used.
Although I was reading in the latest edition of Running Times also about using a 5-6 x 1 mile session every 4 weeks I think, where each one is run marginally faster but not more than 15 seconds between the slowest and fastest (I'll confirm later).

I like to do 5 x 1 as above. That is before I was injured

shels4ever

Before I was using the rahney 2 mile series to see how things were going, but at the moment I'd prob do something a little longer ever 4 week.

Woddle

shels4ever wrote: »

Before I was using the rahney 2 mile series to see how things were going, but at the moment I'd prob do something a little longer ever 4 week.

Would love a 2 mile sries like Raheny out my way. 4 weeks is too long for me, I want instant results

TFBubendorfer

My coach had me do 4 miles at HR 160 (which was HRmax minus 30, but that's not very important - other HRs would have worked as well) every 2 weeks. We would track pace per mile but what was more important than overall pace was the slowdown between the first and last mile (during base phase my first mile pace improved by about 2 seconds, the fourth mile by about 25).

The advantage was that I could do it even if there was no race on and that it would take nothing out of me - it was rather mellow as far as workouts go.

shels4ever

Woddle wrote: »

Would love a 2 mile sries like Raheny out my way. 4 weeks is too long for me, I want instant results

I knew you would say that ,
wish there was some magic pill that could improve your running

huskerdu

I have two measures - my easy pace, and my time for 7 or 8km.
The only reason for using 7 or 8km is that this is my standard mid-week "run home from work" run, which I do at least once a week.

It feels great to look at the watch and see 43 minutes for 8km, and know that it used to take me 46min and I dont even feel like I was killing myself.

menoscemo

For me it's my run into work once a week. I run it on empty (no food or water) early in the morning. It's about 7.5 miles and very uphill. I take it nice and handy and don't look at the watch, but my overall pace at the end is a good indication of what kind of nick I'm in.

Gringo78

Woddle wrote: »

I really do want to pick sth, print it out and fill it in each week.

Something like a 4 mile Tempo run then each week would be useful from both a tracking & a useful training session point of view.

RayCun

Woddle wrote: »

I really do want to pick sth, print it out and fill it in each week.

not to rain on your parade... but isn't there a risk that by measuring your progress too often, you'll slow your progress down? If you raced 5k every weekend you'd keep improving (from your current standard), but if you only raced once a month and spent the other weekends doing shorter intervals and tempo work, your month-by-month improvement would be faster.

Woddle

RayCun wrote: »

not to rain on your parade... but isn't there a risk that by measuring your progress too often, you'll slow your progress down? If you raced 5k every weekend you'd keep improving (from your current standard), but if you only raced once a month and spent the other weekends doing shorter intervals and tempo work, your month-by-month improvement would be faster.

Good point but I think gringo has grasped exactly what I'm looking for

Gringo78 wrote: »

Something like a 4 mile Tempo run then each week would be useful from both a tracking & a useful training session point of view.

something measurable and beneficial and a 4 mile tempo at said HR would do that job, also like TFBs suggestion.

shotgunmcos

Woddle wrote: »

Good point but I think gringo has grasped exactly what I'm looking for


something measurable and beneficial and a 4 mile tempo at said HR would do that job, also like TFBs suggestion.

You could add a capped heart rate for another variable/metric to measure progress. Assuming you do it on the same route etc..

eg timed 4mile tempo at max 165avg hr

So
an improved time for the same avg hr = progress
the same time but at a lower avg hr = progress

sorry just saw the TFB basically said the same thing

dna_leri

Woddle wrote: »

Just curious to whether people have a session or sth that they do each week or month or how ever often that gives them an indicator of their fitness (obviously not including races).
Now that I'm getting back into it I just want to start sth for interests sake and to chart progress and I want to do it weekly or every 2nd week.
I'm thinking maybe a 2 mile time trial or sticking to a set time and HR and seeing the distance travelled at the end (although maybe too many factors to consider in HR).
Any ideas or share your own session.
Thanks

I think it depends on what you are training for.

For me its my 1K reps, where I have been working up to 10x1K @10K pace off 1.5 min recovery.

The danger with doing something like a time trial every week is that it becomes a maximal effort where you are depleting your fitness level not adding to it.

An alternative might be the cooper test where you run as far as possible for 12 mins and record the distance convered and estimate your VO2 max based on the result. Someone setup a thread to track a cooper test result here a while back, with a tracking spreadsheet etc.

shels4ever

dna_leri wrote: »

I think it depends on what you are training for.

For me its my 1K reps, where I have been working up to 10x1K @10K pace off 1.5 min recovery.

The danger with doing something like a time trial every week is that it becomes a maximal effort where you are depleting your fitness level not adding to it.

An alternative might be the cooper test where you run as far as possible for 12 mins and record the distance convered and estimate your VO2 max based on the result. I think someone setup a thread to track a cooper test result here a while back, with a tracking spreadsheet etc. Will try to find it later.

Yep you also need to take into account the context of the test your doing, 4 months ago I would have been doing 800m reps in 3:15 , but would have found that very hard last week. Although i've improve a good bit , the fact I was doing 3:15/20 off 25/30 mile week, but not its 4ish weeks. So number might not tell the full story thats why a nice test or race over a longer period will tell you a bit more.

lfp

I have a good few "progress indicators" but they are all linked to HR.
The indicators are:

Actually, before I list these - the best advice I can give is - don't get sucked into this. The fact I have indicators for most levels of fitness means I got into racing within HR limits for every session/run in the week at one time or another, it was a mind blower. A second or two slower than the previous weeks "test" and I got down on myself. I have made a very specific decision to only do these every month/6 weeks or so or coming up to races to help guide a pacing plan and use the data to inform me. for example - what 7.30 min miling easy run shape equates to when I do a 10k race the same week.

Anyway - here's my stuff
1. Easy aerobic 5-7 mile run with av HR of 148-151. HR stays consistent, times got better as I got fitter.
2. An Threshold runs - 4-5 miles starting steady and building to a HR of 166-169 and then easing back a little bit if the HR hits 170+ to make sure it doesn't go any higher. My Av for the 4 miles will probably be 164, but I focus more on keeping it at 166-169 for the final 3 miles.
3. Intervals - this is messier. Firstly I try to have variety here to keep it fun, so comparing can be rare (thankfully). Also I could do 8x600s one week and my HR could hit the mid 180's (if I'm fresh) and I'll be at 3.25 per k pace. Another week (at the same fitness level) I could do the same session and the average pace could be 3.35 per k, but the HR only got to the mid 170's - due to the fact I was sluggish or wasn't recovered from the previous tough session (or miles etc.)
4. Anaerobic stuff - 10x200's with 90 sec rec or 10x300's with 90 sec rec. Been years since I did those. Planning to re-introduce them this summer. Shudder to think how slow they'll be. Once again, HR is the baseline for comparison and the times should very (in a positive way).

It's easy enough to do with any session once you have the HR as the basic indicator.

BeepBeep67

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Yep 3k /12min / 5k time trial is typically used.
Although I was reading in the latest edition of Running Times also about using a 5-6 x 1 mile session every 4 weeks I think, where each one is run marginally faster but not more than 15 seconds between the slowest and fastest (I'll confirm later).

It was McMillian and it was 5-6 x 6mins (1200m to 1M), run at 3 to 5k pace going slightly faster for each one but not more than 15seconds between the slowest and fastest.

Clearlier

TFB's is nice because it also allows you to measure improvements in endurance through measuring the difference in time taken for the last mile compared to the fourth. You might have to start increasing the length of the run after a while but that would be a good problem to have.

One pretty good way to compare almost every run is to measure your beats per mile (BPM). i.e. calculate the average number of times that your heart beat per mile during a run. That way you can compare your easy runs with your tempo, your marathon pace and your long runs. Caveats - it's no good for intervals, very short runs are misleadingly low and friends have reported that longer runs give a lower reading although I haven't experienced that myself. Obviously hilly v flat can't really be compared but over the short and long term outside of races I haven't found a better way to measure my progress.

pgibbo

Joe Friels take on it here.

heffsarmy

pgibbo wrote: »

Joe Friels take on it here.

I bought The Triathlon Bible, its more like a science book, I got bored very qucikly, goes into way too much detail. In regards gauging progress, I use a 1mile or 3mile time trial, I run them hard, gives me a good indication of fitness. I don't think you have to get too scientific about things, just run a measured course every few weeks to gauge your progress.