There are so many run races to run in the Chicago area every summer, it's tough to narrow down your schedule to a reasonable number. And it's even more difficult to cater your training to those races, when they typically involve different distances, terrain, and elevations. So what's a runner to do?
My own situation is pretty typical. On the first of the May, I ran a marathon that I'd trained specifically for over several months. But four weeks later, I find myself getting ready for the Soldier Field 10 mile race. And over the next couple weeks, I have plans for several 5k races. I enter a fair share of races for the experience, and the fun of being around other runners at fun events. But there are others that I want to run well in. All of the races I just mentioned, from the marathon to the 5k distance fall into the latter category.
As a former track guy, I still gauge my running fitness from track workouts. Even though I haven't run competitively on a track since college (almost three decades ago!), when I want to run for specific times, I'm just more comfortable running around the 400m oval than any other place.
So the variety of distances I want to race coming up presents pretty significant training challenges. My marathon training has provided plenty of strength and endurance. I can run 7:45/mile pace for a pretty long time. But that won't get me anywhere close to my goal in the 10 mile race, where I hope to run about 7:00 pace. And it's even further away from the 6:20 pace I hope to run in the 5k.
I've been running pretty well in training lately, which gives me confidence that those times should be possible. And I have run those times in the past. But still, it's a bit of a mental hurdle to climb because I have not run that fast lately in any races.
To try to combat that, I have run track workouts once a week for the last couple months. Coaches will tell you that in order to run fast in races, you need to run fast occasionally in training. The same goes with running a slower pace for a longer race. It's best to practice running that pace in training as well.
It's too soon to tell how well this has worked, but what I've done is try a little bit of everything. In the months and weeks before the marathon I ran a series of mile repeats on the track at 7:00/mile pace. Since the marathon, I've run a ladder track workout (400, 800. 1200, mile) at just under 7:00 pace. Last week I ran just 400s at sub 7:00 pace. And this morning I tried to get my legs moving a little bit faster by doing 200s in under :40. Other than the track workouts, I basically run pretty easily four other days of the week, and do a longer run of at least ten miles on Saturday mornings.
My marathon training base included enough long runs that I should be strong enough to get through the ten miler, and it's speed that I need to be comfortable running at that faster pace. I ran the ladder workout and the 400s are with that race in mind. I ran the 200s specifically to help with form and fitness in the 5k.
I don't usually bore you with the specifics of my workouts, but in this case, I thought it might be interesting because the range of distances I'm looking at is so vast. And I honestly don't really know whether the training will pay off. We'll see over the next couple weeks, starting Saturday morning with Soldier Field.
I hope to see you out there!
Comments