Ladies,
We were short of runners today - some had holiday plans, others are hurting. The ones who were here are hurting now.
The paradigm has shifted. Our daily pace has to get faster if our racing pace is going to improve. The concept is rooted in sports specificity - practice what you'll do competing. We always have to balance risk against reward, and in my view, this is our best chance to do that.
Ordinarily I would work to get our distance up so that we would be strong. That's not been possible because of injuries. I can't see pushing our luck any further chasing that goal - I think we've topped our mileage limit for the year.
That means we have to look more to quality. That doesn't mean full speed every day... what it means is every day has to be at a higher level of effort. There won't be as many rest days, but good news... we also lose the tempo day. So how would it look?
We race on Saturdays from here on out. So, building from a race day, we want a couple days after a race before we hit the hard stuff. Speed work will fall on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. This will be intervals for the rest of the season. I would have come back two days later and hit you with a tempo, but instead we are going to run at a faster speed every day. This will put us in the neighborhood of what is called a "steady state" run. These are runs that get the heart rate up to 75% for longer periods of time. This is not race pace!
By doing this we are working efficiency every single day. You will learn to relax at a faster running form. You will become more efficient. It's going to be really hard to handle for the first week or two, but after that you won't think too much about it.
Will it take a little edge off speed work? Probably. It doesn't matter. Speed work is as much about working form and pain tolerance as anything. Using Carrie as an example, last week she was able to average 6:15 pace for the workout. If this week she winds up doing 6:30 pace, cool. That's right at 20-flat for 5k. I'm totally alright with that.
The fact of the matter is your race pace will be within 1:00-1:30 of your training pace. You want to guarantee you can race at 7-flat? Run no slower than 8-flat in practice. I guarantee you if you can handle 5-6 miles at 8-flat, you will race 7-flat at least. That's 21:42 5k. Want proof? That's what Carrie has been doing.
This is the turning point. This is the point where we decide the fate of the season. This is where you personally decide what your position will be on the roster. Fight for it every day.
Oh, and I want to remark on something else I saw today. Madison and I warmed up with a 2-mile bike ride before I let her run (and I LOVE my new bike!). By the time I got down to the trail, you folks had split up a bit. The way the workout set up doubled you gals back-and-forth on one another. What I loved was how, when you girls passed, you slapped hands. It's such a little thing, but so powerful. That little bit of encouragement might be all it takes to keep someone going hard. I don't know who did it first or whose idea it was, but I loved it. Way to go, all of you.
We were short of runners today - some had holiday plans, others are hurting. The ones who were here are hurting now.
The paradigm has shifted. Our daily pace has to get faster if our racing pace is going to improve. The concept is rooted in sports specificity - practice what you'll do competing. We always have to balance risk against reward, and in my view, this is our best chance to do that.
Ordinarily I would work to get our distance up so that we would be strong. That's not been possible because of injuries. I can't see pushing our luck any further chasing that goal - I think we've topped our mileage limit for the year.
That means we have to look more to quality. That doesn't mean full speed every day... what it means is every day has to be at a higher level of effort. There won't be as many rest days, but good news... we also lose the tempo day. So how would it look?
We race on Saturdays from here on out. So, building from a race day, we want a couple days after a race before we hit the hard stuff. Speed work will fall on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. This will be intervals for the rest of the season. I would have come back two days later and hit you with a tempo, but instead we are going to run at a faster speed every day. This will put us in the neighborhood of what is called a "steady state" run. These are runs that get the heart rate up to 75% for longer periods of time. This is not race pace!
By doing this we are working efficiency every single day. You will learn to relax at a faster running form. You will become more efficient. It's going to be really hard to handle for the first week or two, but after that you won't think too much about it.
Will it take a little edge off speed work? Probably. It doesn't matter. Speed work is as much about working form and pain tolerance as anything. Using Carrie as an example, last week she was able to average 6:15 pace for the workout. If this week she winds up doing 6:30 pace, cool. That's right at 20-flat for 5k. I'm totally alright with that.
The fact of the matter is your race pace will be within 1:00-1:30 of your training pace. You want to guarantee you can race at 7-flat? Run no slower than 8-flat in practice. I guarantee you if you can handle 5-6 miles at 8-flat, you will race 7-flat at least. That's 21:42 5k. Want proof? That's what Carrie has been doing.
This is the turning point. This is the point where we decide the fate of the season. This is where you personally decide what your position will be on the roster. Fight for it every day.
Oh, and I want to remark on something else I saw today. Madison and I warmed up with a 2-mile bike ride before I let her run (and I LOVE my new bike!). By the time I got down to the trail, you folks had split up a bit. The way the workout set up doubled you gals back-and-forth on one another. What I loved was how, when you girls passed, you slapped hands. It's such a little thing, but so powerful. That little bit of encouragement might be all it takes to keep someone going hard. I don't know who did it first or whose idea it was, but I loved it. Way to go, all of you.
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