Run-Down Forums

[Dan]

I recommend 2 weeks off at the end of the season. Some even go as high as 3 weeks. One week is barely enough time unless you are a highly trained (i.e. lots of miles over lots of years) athlete accustomed to rarely taking rest days.

Dan
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[Angelo Z]

Dan is totally right. I also take 2 weeks off. You can do some cross training, but take it easy. If you also get the chance, buy a Polar heart rate monitor. It usually costs around $100 and it comes with a count down, stop watch, records your workouts, calories, indiglo, everything. They do sell some at $499 but those have a built in GPS system, barometer, they also measure elevation, etc. You will only know if you built up your endurance the correct way if 7:50-8:00 pace is within 70-80% of your max HR, something like between 140-160 because as I said before, max heart rates are barely different especially since we are almost the same age. Mine is at 201. To find it, you could wear a heart rate monitor in an 800m race. Don't try use any other methods to find your heart rate. Using that 2 finger method on your neck's artery or your wrist's vein is very innacurate because your heart rate falls rapidly and you also can't run a race while counting your pulse. Trust me, those $100 would be the best $100 you've ever spent. This isn't anything that is a waste like me advising you to buy a Bowflex, MANY elite athletes use heart rate monitors. Some heart rate monitors even include a feature that finds the proper zone for you if you feel unusual or overtrained. Your heart rate is higher when you're overtrained by the way. 7:50-8:00 pace is only proper for you if it's within exactly 70-80% of your max heart rate. Otherwise you will need to run slower and build up from there. If you want to build a base properly, you need 12 weeks. Will your coach still let you join a couple weeks later into XC season?

Now I'm skeptical about how you built up your endurance because I don't know exactly how many days you ran a week etc. And it's not like you could build it up during track anyways. However, if everything is ideal like you say it is, I reccomend to build up from 60 to 75 or 80 only if your body is 100% sure that you can take it. Those guys on your track team running in the morning and at night are probably just doing recovery runs. It's nothing serious at all really, it's just a safe way of getting in some mileage without affecting fitness. It can't anyways because when you're doing a lot of speef work, lactic work, and VO2 max training, aerobic training is basically useless since the enzymes are extremely unbalanced. Therefore, a recovery run just helps with making you feel well mentally and clearing out some of that bi-product of lactic training within the body. The same happens when you take an ice bath-the blood vessels contract and push out all of that residue or lactic acid, leaving your muscles feel more refreshed as a result.
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My favorite all time race: Hicham El Guerrouj - Prefontaine Classic Mile 2002 http://youtube.com/watch?v=4YykUTHzOL8
¥London 2012 XXX Olympiad¥

[ssteve235]

Thanks for the advice. This week im just going to do some light running mayb 3 or 4 days becuase im running a 10k on sunday so i want to at least stay at where i am right now and not go on break yet. After that im gonna take two weeks off and then start my summer training. Also at my meet yesterday i ran a 5:01 not happy as you could probably imagine. It was a bad day to run, rained all day and it was cold, my flats were soaked before i even got on the track. It'll just give me some motivation for the summer

[Dan]

Gotta love the unpredictable nature of nature...

Dan
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[ssteve235]

Haha yea, day before the meet it was 75 and sunny and today its 75 and sunny again

[Angelo Z]

Out of everything else, your aerobic endurance is your bread and butter. For example, on your track team, everyone in your group can do a session of 10x400 at the same pace, a session of 6x1000, but it's the endurance where most people get caught up in. Anaerobic training is the easiest theoretically, but the most painful. Aerobic endurance is the exact opposite. You can't improve your endurance if you don't increase the mileage. There is no way that you'll ever get to run all of your mileage in 6:00 with 30 miles a week. The only way to get faster anaerobically is to increase speed, the only way to get faster aerobically is to increase distance. There is something out there that I don't believe in at all. That one thing is why some elite athletes run 60 miles a week and why others run 120 miles a week. The truth is that those running 60 miles a week can't run more miles because their pace is too fast. They run 60 miles a week at 4:50 pace, but if they wanted to run 120 miles a week, they have to increase the pace to 5:40+ or else they will get hurt. If you think about it, it kind of sounds ridiculous how some athletes can only run 60 miles because of their genetics and some can run 120 miles. That is way too huge of a difference because both types of athletes are humans and they can't be that genetically different. It's like saying one guy can lift 500 pounds more than the other guy but reasonably it should be about 10 pounds more. 60 miles a week can still produce an incredibly fast miler, but more miles would extend the miler's capability. Haile, Bekele, and Guerrouj are those types of runners. Hicham has a lot more endurance which is why his 5K is much faster than Webb's.

Anyways, that's just some info. Don't ignore endurance.
_________________
My favorite all time race: Hicham El Guerrouj - Prefontaine Classic Mile 2002 http://youtube.com/watch?v=4YykUTHzOL8
¥London 2012 XXX Olympiad¥

[ssteve235]

Im not planning on ignoring it. Change of plans...since a friend of mine made states me and another guy are going to keep on training with him up until wednesday of this week. Mostly just for moral and physical support. Then sunday im running a 10 k and next tuesday were getting together a bunch of guys and were gonna run a mile sub 5:00. I know at least 5 guys who go sub 5 and they're gonna keep me on pace to run sub 5. We figured that i put in all of this training and it shouldnt go to waster. Im gonna take one more shot at it. After all of that im taking two weeks off and then starting my summer work.

[Dan]

[Angelo Z]

The thing about 90% of all high school runners is that they are good in the mile and 800m. How many actual HS runners do you actually hear about running a sub 2:50 marathon or a sub 35:00 10K? There were some exceptions such as Galen Rupp but he goes to college now. I know this senior at my school who ran a 4:27 mile, but his 2 mile time is a 10:10.
_________________
My favorite all time race: Hicham El Guerrouj - Prefontaine Classic Mile 2002 http://youtube.com/watch?v=4YykUTHzOL8
¥London 2012 XXX Olympiad¥

[ssteve235]

Sorry man but wat was the point of that post?

[Angelo Z]

Just saying because I remembered you're going to run that 10K on Sunday. I'm curious about what time you'll end up with. You're supposed to run a 36:06 with a mile time of 5:01 but that's an approximation so instead you should run at least close to sub 37:00 since you're a middle distance runner. Do you think you can run 6.2 miles at 5:57 mile pace? That's where I'm trying to get at because I know you don't have the endurance to do it. You're also supposed to be able to run a 2:49 marathon, a 10:42 2 mileand a 17:23 5K.
When I put in your mile time in the VDOT table and various calculators, they all gave very similar results.
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/Running%20University/Article%201/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Since you're going to do long runs, easy runs, etc. I advise you to put in your 10K time or the longest race you've ever been in in order to get the most accurate paces that reflect your endurance. This is what I mean by not seeing many high school runners have astounding 5K, 10K, and marathon times. Those distances require extra running outside of the extracurricular activites that high schools offer. You have XC, inddor track, and track right? Most runners that participate in those sports in highschools, don't train before or after those sports start. You need to be running consistently even though the seasons just ended/haven't started. The real endurance comes from your easy runs-extra running such as building a base individually where you do not need to be on a team for. When you join XC, indoor track, and track, they only give you the training that causes your body to peak within a short amount of time (3 months for the regular season) but the bulk of becoming a true runner comes from doing it yourself which the majority of people don't do. Only a couple of people are serious about running and carefully plan out their training and run on a daily basis regardless if the season hasn't started or just ended. Besides yourself, how many other people that were on your track team will actually spend the time to train by themselves? It just depends on each person's goal. In general, there are only a few people that do what they do a lot more seriously than others whether it's in football, singing, running, acting, etc. The only exception to that is that the more popular the activity is, the more people will be serious about it.

Many people think that those star high school runners that are exceptions among all the others (like Webb was) is due to their genetics. That is not true though because all of those runners either had a personal coach, or to them running was an obsession so it was something they chose to do everyday.
_________________
My favorite all time race: Hicham El Guerrouj - Prefontaine Classic Mile 2002 http://youtube.com/watch?v=4YykUTHzOL8
¥London 2012 XXX Olympiad¥

[ssteve235]

Yeah i get it now. I know i dont have the endurance to run a 36 10k or even a 37 10 k. My goal is to run a 39. I think im in good enough shape to run around a 17:30 5k but thats just an estimate. There are a few kids on my team who run outside of prac but most of them are graduating. Right now there is only one other kid who is close to as serious as i am. I know wat you mean by obsession, i didnt run yesterday or today becuase my body and mind really need the reboot, and they still do. But im going crazy not getting out on the road running. Im reconsidering making the two weeks off into one becuase i just cant take that much time off from running.

[Dan]

[Dan]

[ssteve235]

Ahhh i didnt even think of that. Thanks for the help.