Race this weekend and missed my speed session. Advice

HelenAnne

Hello, hope someone can tell me the best thing to do tomorrow.
I'm doing the five mile on Saturday and had intended on going to the track for speed tonight but had to stupid work stupid late. I was really keen to get a speed session in as I haven't done one in weeks ( have been helping with kids training and the times clashed). However I did a two mile race last Tuesday and parkruns the two previous Saturdays and speed the week before that, so I have done something faster every week except this week for the last while.
My question is, should I do a speed session or some hill repeats or whatever tomorrow, or is that too near the race? Will the last few weeks of running a few shorter, faster things still stand to me.

Am irritated at my plans going awry today and suppose I just want someone to tell me what will give me the perfect run on Saturday

Am so stupid! Posted this in wrong place. Sorry! Perhaps a mod could move it to the main thread. Really sorry.

Eta:
Thanks to whoever moved this thread.

ecoli

If you haven't done a session in a few weeks then I would advise not doing one this week. Anything you do this week will not have any physiological benefit until roughly a week after the race so you may as well rest up.

If you are afraid about your legs going stale make your last mile tomorrow at tempo effort or throw in a few strides and this will keep them ticking over perfectly for the race.

Your races over the last few weeks will have improved your fitness so no need to prove it to yourself with a session this week.

HelenAnne

Thank you! Good idea re tomorrow, I will do that and then take a rest on Friday. Thank you!

tunguska

It wouldnt make any difference if you did a speed session before the race to be honest. I think you'd have everything to lose and nothing to gain. If I was racing on the saturday I'd do bugger all in the way of speedwork during the week, Its overkill, I always just do easy runs and take the friday off completely.

shane1981

Im also running the 5 on Saturday. I had hoped to do a tempo session today but Ill be swapping it for an easy run instead. Figured Ill be fresher Saturday and probably get the same benefits from the race run anyway.

I might also push my long run to Monday if i don't feel up to it on Sunday.

YFlyer

tunguska wrote: »

It wouldnt make any difference if you did a speed session before the race to be honest. I think you'd have everything to lose and nothing to gain. If I was racing on the saturday I'd do bugger all in the way of speedwork during the week, Its overkill, I always just do easy runs and take the friday off completely.

It depends whether the race is important or not. For any low key race, a session on Wednesday is no harm. No point easing back for all races.

tunguska

YFlyer wrote: »

It depends whether the race is important or not. For any low key race, a session on Wednesday is no harm. No point easing back for all races.

But why not ease back, what have you got to lose? You're not gonna lose any fitness or conditioning by knocking a speed session on the head, running easy and doing a race at the weekend. Runners a lot of the time just cant let go and leave it alone, I used to do it myself until I actually stopped and thought about how obsessive it was and how its actually a bad trait to have. The best athletes I know are the ones who can let go and relax and not try to flog it all the time. The ones who obsessively have to get their sessions in are the ones who blow themselves out and then wonder why they ran crap in their target race.

YFlyer

That's why I said depending on the importance of the race. A week easy before every race, progression would be slow.

ecoli

YFlyer wrote: »

It depends whether the race is important or not. For any low key race, a session on Wednesday is no harm. No point easing back for all races.

tunguska wrote: »

But why not ease back, what have you got to lose? You're not gonna lose any fitness or conditioning by knocking a speed session on the head, running easy and doing a race at the weekend. Runners a lot of the time just cant let go and leave it alone, I used to do it myself until I actually stopped and thought about how obsessive it was and how its actually a bad trait to have. The best athletes I know are the ones who can let go and relax and not try to flog it all the time. The ones who obsessively have to get their sessions in are the ones who blow themselves out and then wonder why they ran crap in their target race.

I would agree with both points to a degree. I think it depends on how frequently you plan on racing and what is the purpose of each race. I know some people who would use races as sessions and as such they just swap it for a planned session and leave the speed work in place during the race.

Others race alot more sparingly and as such look for a good hard effort and in this case there is no harm having a handy week every so often provided their training has been consistent

HelenAnne

ecoli wrote: »

I would agree with both points to a degree. I think it depends on how frequently you plan on racing and what is the purpose of each race. I know some people who would use races as sessions and as such they just swap it for a planned session and leave the speed work in place during the race.

Others race alot more sparingly and as such look for a good hard effort and in this case there is no harm having a handy week every so often provided their training has been consistent

I would agree with both of the above too. Between parkruns and my club's summer series I'm sometimes racing twice a week. I just do them for fun, so I certainly wouldn't taper / rest for every race. I suppose for the race series / the mini marathon etc I'd like to do as well as I can, so I might take a rest before them. But generally I'd just run the little races as part of my week.

Thanks, everyone.