Any will be fine, doesn't really matter. Flat will obviously give you a faster time which is always nice but if your goal is the marathon then hilly will give you a better training effort.
Carl - I have a Garmin 405CX and that's a decent bit of kit also. I don't know what different functionality it has to the other Garmins but, like Spoons says, this does just about everything you would possibly need
Cater.good pace for this time of year......I'm back to nearer 11 min miling for my long runs..will see howe they build in the next few weeks.........managed a bit over 10 yesterday
just that I have had a long gap without doing much mileage after a few rest months/ easy months..........
I need to start off slow and build up......until i get going i don't know how quickly i will get my pace back so i build up slowly or i will get injured........so i build up the mileage then try some increase in pace
I'm a bit of a plodder but managed to get quicker through lots of hard work. The hard work has lapsed over the last year for lots of complicated reasons but I hope to get back into it soon. PBs are 3:37 marathon, 1:34 HM, 1:09 10m.
I've entered Brighton marathon and Wales trail marathon.
If being a bit of a plodder gets PB's like that then I want to become a bit of a plodder !
Carter - great workout today. Must be good to get that mileage under the belt and at a good pace.
I did an hours run this morning at 7am (have never got up and gone staright out before) as it was the only time I could do it due to family commitments. Pushed it a little as I needed to be back but only to 9:21 mm. Planning a 12 miler on Saturday at 10:00 mm. Having run 3 days on teh trot this week, I must admit to being a little tired but at the same time quite pleased. Running does funny things to the brain !
Looks like I will settle on the Berkhamsted HF and as you say Spoons the hills will work well as part of my marathon training. I am really keen on the Marathon PB and can pick up a HM PB later in the year.
Will investigate the differences in the garmins over the weekend and see what the best deals are in the sales.
Have started putting together a revised schedule to take me to Paris and will share this over the next day or so.
Back to work tomorrow and I am looking forward to it NOT.
Carl - I really enjoyed today's run, it wasn't about the time and for the first time ever I didn't look at my watch during the run. The figures will mean more to me in the new year when the training plan kicks in for real. I don't have young children like you so fair play to you, and anyone with young kids, who can commit to training for a marathon. 3 days on the trot is a good effort but be careful not to overdo things. Would be good to see your training plan when finished to see how it compares to mine. When you get your Garmin it might also be useful to compare training runs on Garmin connect.
I am returning to work tomorrow, albeit I will be working from home, so I will be making the changes to my training plan that Spoons has suggested.
Spoons, question for you. As us newbies are constantly told it can be dangerous to run too fast too far too soon. Does the same principle apply to hills and off road/trails ? A lot of my LSR take in this type of terrain and sometimes it can be hard going. How much off roading would you suggest I do as part of my training ?
Morning - yes - if you up the mileage and pace too quickly you are likely to get injured. If you reduce the pace whilst upping the mileage you are less likely to get injured as reducing pace reduces stress and fatigue. Off road running actually reduces fatigue in many ways as the surface is softer than Tarmac and also every step and foot strike is slightly different so you use a wider range of muscles than the constant pounding of pavements. Hills can add fatigue but I wouldn't worry too much as you will have to slow down when running up them anyway! I think the key is to mix things up as much as possible. Sme road, some trail, some flat, some hills, some quick, some slow, some long, some short etc. It makes things more interesting too.
Spoons - is it necessary to have a weekly session that focuses on hills ? Where I live it is practically impossible to go on a run without hitting some hills. So I was thinking that the hills I climb in my LSR would be sufficient to count as a weekly hill session whihc then gives me more time to focus on speed during the week. What do you think ?
So if we initially work on your goal marathon pace as around 8:45 (we'll have to see as we progress if this is correct but it sounds about right for now).
Therefore:
Long slow run pace is 10 min miling
Half marathon pace is 8 min miling
10km pace is 7:40
5km pace is 7:20
Tempo runs around 7:45 pace
Mile reps 7:20 pace
800m reps 7:00 pace
400m reps 6:40 pace
Do you have a Garmin?
Some of these paces are going to be very difficult for me to achieve straight away. Would it be better if I gradually increased my speed over the course of my plan or do I need to hit them from the start ?
re: the hills - if you're getting loads of hills in on all of your other runs then hill reps are less important.
re: the speedwork - this is just a guide and something to aim towards. If you can't hit the paces straight away don't worry. You may never hit them and you may do better than them. Have a go and see how you get on. The key with intervals is that you don't kill yourself on the first one and gradually slow down throughout the session. You should aim to keep the pace the same or even gradually speed up throughout.
Chickadeee is right - I do love mile reps. I would start off with something like 800m reps first and build up to mile reps. With mile reps start with 3 and build up to 5 in March.
Comments
Any will be fine, doesn't really matter. Flat will obviously give you a faster time which is always nice but if your goal is the marathon then hilly will give you a better training effort.
Nice one Carter
I have 5 x 1km reps tonight
Cater.good pace for this time of year......I'm back to nearer 11 min miling for my long runs..will see howe they build in the next few weeks.........managed a bit over 10 yesterday
just that I have had a long gap without doing much mileage after a few rest months/ easy months..........
I need to start off slow and build up......until i get going i don't know how quickly i will get my pace back so i build up slowly or i will get injured........so i build up the mileage then try some increase in pace
I'm a bit of a plodder but managed to get quicker through lots of hard work. The hard work has lapsed over the last year for lots of complicated reasons but I hope to get back into it soon. PBs are 3:37 marathon, 1:34 HM, 1:09 10m.
I've entered Brighton marathon and Wales trail marathon.
If being a bit of a plodder gets PB's like that then I want to become a bit of a plodder !
Carter - great workout today. Must be good to get that mileage under the belt and at a good pace.
I did an hours run this morning at 7am (have never got up and gone staright out before) as it was the only time I could do it due to family commitments. Pushed it a little as I needed to be back but only to 9:21 mm. Planning a 12 miler on Saturday at 10:00 mm. Having run 3 days on teh trot this week, I must admit to being a little tired but at the same time quite pleased. Running does funny things to the brain !
Looks like I will settle on the Berkhamsted HF and as you say Spoons the hills will work well as part of my marathon training. I am really keen on the Marathon PB and can pick up a HM PB later in the year.
Will investigate the differences in the garmins over the weekend and see what the best deals are in the sales.
Have started putting together a revised schedule to take me to Paris and will share this over the next day or so.
Back to work tomorrow and I am looking forward to it NOT.
That was my point. My first ever race was a half and I did about 2:20ish. So through training I've knocked 46 minutes off. Anyone can do it. Even me!
Nice work Carl
I had to work today as well
I am returning to work tomorrow, albeit I will be working from home, so I will be making the changes to my training plan that Spoons has suggested.
Spoons, question for you. As us newbies are constantly told it can be dangerous to run too fast too far too soon. Does the same principle apply to hills and off road/trails ? A lot of my LSR take in this type of terrain and sometimes it can be hard going. How much off roading would you suggest I do as part of my training ?
Morning - yes - if you up the mileage and pace too quickly you are likely to get injured. If you reduce the pace whilst upping the mileage you are less likely to get injured as reducing pace reduces stress and fatigue. Off road running actually reduces fatigue in many ways as the surface is softer than Tarmac and also every step and foot strike is slightly different so you use a wider range of muscles than the constant pounding of pavements. Hills can add fatigue but I wouldn't worry too much as you will have to slow down when running up them anyway! I think the key is to mix things up as much as possible. Sme road, some trail, some flat, some hills, some quick, some slow, some long, some short etc. It makes things more interesting too.
Ok Spoons, thanks.
Here is the Strava link to my run yesterday - http://app.strava.com/activities/34331099 (you shouldn't need a Strava account to view it).
So, as per Mr Spoons I shall be posting the link to all of my training runs so you can have a good laugh at them !
Spoons - is it necessary to have a weekly session that focuses on hills ? Where I live it is practically impossible to go on a run without hitting some hills. So I was thinking that the hills I climb in my LSR would be sufficient to count as a weekly hill session whihc then gives me more time to focus on speed during the week. What do you think ?
sorry, not very busy at work today so updating my plan and have some questions.
Some of these paces are going to be very difficult for me to achieve straight away. Would it be better if I gradually increased my speed over the course of my plan or do I need to hit them from the start ?
In a Mile reps session how many mile reps would I run ?
During my taper would I also reduce the intensity of speedwork ? (as well as my overall mileage)
Spoons loves mile reps - he'll probably make you do 5 or 6
At least 20
OK:
re: the hills - if you're getting loads of hills in on all of your other runs then hill reps are less important.
re: the speedwork - this is just a guide and something to aim towards. If you can't hit the paces straight away don't worry. You may never hit them and you may do better than them. Have a go and see how you get on. The key with intervals is that you don't kill yourself on the first one and gradually slow down throughout the session. You should aim to keep the pace the same or even gradually speed up throughout.
Chickadeee is right - I do love mile reps. I would start off with something like 800m reps first and build up to mile reps. With mile reps start with 3 and build up to 5 in March.
Mind you - mile reps are so last year. I'm now getting into 2 mile reps
Looking at your schedule - the long runs look good.
When doing some marathon pace in a long run, I would suggest breaking it in half.
So - rather than say, 20 miles with 6 @ MP being 14 slow + 6 @ MP
do - 10 slow + 3 @ MP + 3 slow + 3 @ MP + 1 slow
Make sense?
Looking at your schedule you are starting the tempo runs and speedwork on 7th January.
Can you do a short tempo and speedwork session next week?
Tempo run - just stick 15 minutes at a quicker pace in the middle of an easy run.
Speedwork - Maybe 8 x 400s or similar just to get used to it. Don't worry about pace on the Garmin. Run on feel and we'll look at the pace afterwards.
Also - make sure you always get a decent length warm-up before doing speedwork (at the very least a mile / 10 minutes).
A marathon is really just a short warm up then 26* 1m reps, or 13* 2m reps. I mean how hard can it be....
Or will you be expecting me to increase the intensity ?
What about 1 rep of 26 instead ?? Minni - I hope youre giving your mentee some lovely sessions like these ??
With the taper, keep the intensity and speed but reduce the volume. We can look in more detail closer to the date.