50K Training

50K Training Schedule

I officially start 50K training today. I looked at training plans online and settled on this one. Similar structure to marathon plans I've used in the past, but with longer long runs. 

The schedule is a slightly modified plan from the Run for the Toad, a 50K trail run in Ontario. The structure and distances of the plan looked good, so I converted the kms to miles, and changed Mondays from “Rest” to “Rest or Cross train.” That’s what I’m used to in past marathon plans. On shorter mileage weeks, I may cross train more. On the biggest mileage weeks, I'll need the extra rest. I’ll probably modify the Wednesday workouts also. My 50K race isn’t very hilly and there are no hills nearby to train on, so I won’t do much hill training. I also may switch the longest runs from Saturdays to Sundays, may substitute cycling/running bricks for some of the weekend runs, and will probably experiment with some run/walk intervals for the longest runs.

My target event is the 21st Annual Rocky Raccoon 50K Trail Run at Huntsville (TX) State Park on November 5, 2011. http://trail-race.com/stone/rocky_raccoon/

Training Tips Thursday - Run/Walk

I just thought I'd mention the run/walk method.  It's a widely used training method, most popularized by Jeff Galloway.  I don't use it regularly, but for certain specific training, I found it to be valuable.  Here is a link to a good article on Galloway's Run Injury Free with Jeff Galloway page.  The article does a good job of explaining the details and recommending different run/walk ratios based on pace.  Galloway defines a method for running a marathon, taking scheduled walk breaks through the first 18 miles.  I didn't use the method in my first marathon, but I did take a few short unscheduled walk breaks.  Perhaps I would have run a better marathon if I'd taken scheduled breaks.  For my next marathon, my goal has been to strengthen my overall training enough that I don't have to walk at all.

However, I did find this method very useful in the distance-increasing phase of my first marathon training.  When faced with running 16, 18, and 20 miles the first time, I took scheduled walk breaks.  Here's how I did it.  For example, when I first wanted to run 16 miles, on my first attempt, I alternated two minutes of walking with every eight minutes of running.   I found that it really helped me make the distance the first time.  The second time I ran 16 miles, I reduced the walking by about half, alternating one minute of walking with every nine minutes of running.   By the third time I ran the new distance, I found that I could run the entire distance.  I repeated this as I came to each new distance milestone up to 20 miles, and it helped a lot.

Weekly Training, September 21-27

Sunday: Recovery run; Nice and easy; 3.2 miles; 37:49; 11.81 pace. 7:45 AM, 76 degrees, 96% humidity. Resting HR: 49 bpm; Workout HR: 143 bpm.

Saturday: 14.2 miles. Started @6:45 AM, 71 degrees, 98% humidity. No new record attempt today, just aiming to hold last week's gains by doing last Saturday's new distance a second time. For a little change up, I experimented with Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk approach to long run training. For this experiment, I walked 1 to 2 minutes for every 8 to 10 minutes of running. The idea is that the walk breaks push the fatigue factor further back, allowing for a stronger finish. Today, this approach resulted in a longer total time than last Saturday's 14 miler; 2:49:22, 11.93 pace. However, it seemed like each level of fatigue came about two miles later than the previous run. Last week, I struggled to complete the distance, and this week I felt like I could have gone a couple additional miles. I also think I could reduce the walk times and get the same benefit. Galloway says that the early-mile breaks are more important than later-mile breaks.
Here's a link to an article by Jeff Galloway.

Monday through Friday: Alternating Easy runs and Tempo Runs. As I've read more, I decided to try substituting Tempo Runs for the sprint intervals. The sprint pace came with enough extra shock to aggravate my heel pain. Like most runners, I'll experiment with a lot of methods and settle on what works best for me. Unfortunately, I've mostly learned "what not to do" the hard way; by trying things and quitting whatever hurts. Anyway, the Tempo seems like a good middle ground, harder than long-run and easy-run pace, but not not nearly as intense as all-out sprints. In theory, Tempo sounds good for long-distance training. Seems like there is a lot of confusion out there about what a Tempo Run is. I had to search a little bit to find articles that defined it well.  It's just a run of at least 20 minutes at threshold pace.  The idea is to train just below Lactate Threshold (or Anaerobic Threshold), or at 85 - 90% of max heart rate, which results in pushing the LT/AT farther back.  The training should boost speed, and also help delay onset of "the wall" on longer runs. Pace is easy to determine by using a heart rate monitor.  To determine pace based on time, The McMillan Running Calculator  is a good tool.  The calculator estimates running time for various race distances based on a good, recent race time at another distance.  It also gives pace ranges for different types of workout runs, including Tempo Runs.
Here's a link to a good article on Tempo Runs. 
Here's a link to another Tempo Run article.

Monday: Tempo Run; 3.1 miles; 28:16; 9.12 pace.
Tuesday: Easy Run; 3.1 miles; 30:44; 9.91 pace.
Wednesday: Tempo Run; 3.1 miles; 28:12; 9.10 pace.
Thursday: Easy Run; 3.1 miles; 31:08; 10.03 pace.
Friday: Rest Day.