Any competitive runners here?

[Honorable Mention]

I'm generally not real big on New Years resolutions, but the whole theme made me realize that my upcoming year is going to be considerably different than it has been in the past, since I'm taking the year between graduation and post-grad off. In short, I'm going to have slightly more time and was thinking I'd fill in the gap with some athletic pursuits I had to put off during undergrad. Namely, I was considering training for a half marathon (or possibly a triathlon.) I generally get in about ~7 miles a day/5 days a week (it used to be running all 7 miles, but lately I've switched between the full 7 mile run and a 3.5 split between running and the elliptical.) But that's purely for personal conditioning and to stay in shape. Now I'd like to compete a bit.

Anyways! I'd love to hear from other folks who run, especially those who compete. I'm afraid in HS most of my running was conditioning for other sports and I missed out on the cross country boat, so this is pretty new to me.

[aerius]

I'm not, but one of my friends is. She does half marathons & triathlons, I bike with her once in a while and picked up some of her training info. Most of her runs are around 7 miles or so and around once a week she'll toss in a longer 10 mile run, total of 3-5 runs a week depending on what other training she needs to squeeze in, which is usually a day of swimming a week plus a couple days of biking if she's planning on a triathlon. Her area's pretty good for running since there's a big valley for doing hill work and interval training, and there's also a lot of possible route variations to keep the training from getting boring.

If you're looking for specifics on her training program, preparing for competition, and all that other stuff I could squeeze it out of my friend and take down some notes the next I see her.

[Sriad]

I'm (relatively) fat and slow right now, but I was a pretty good XC runner in high school, I'd be glad to answer any specific questions you have. Your distance base is pretty good, but to get into racing shape you need to include variable intensity and interval training.

For example, if you want to run your half marathon at 6:00/mile, a good higher intensity work out would be a 1-mile warm up run, stretching, then running four 1km intervals at under 3:40 each, with 1 minute of rest-jogging between each one. Or ten 75-second quarter miles with 30 seconds of rest jogging.

If you can find time for a sixth work-out day I'd suggest a very approximate training schedule of 1:Intervals 2:Easy day 3:Long run/medium-low intensity 4:Easy day 5:Intervals 6:Easy day 7:Day off. Easy days are something like a 1 mile warm up, stretches, 3 mile jog, cross training. Long run should be 65%-120% of your target race's length and 10% (for the short distance) to 25% (for the long) slower than your target racing speed. As aerius alluded to, hill training is important too; I'd suggest you spend one hard day every week or two on interval-on-hill training.

[CmdrWilkens]

Its been years since I've run competetively and honestly work has kept me from oing anywhere near the level of running I would like but up until about 1 year 1 and a half ago I was running mostly 5k-10k with the occasionaly foray into the annual Metric Marathon (26.2km instead of miles) that they hold in my hometown. So anyway...

If you are planning to go with half marathon's or any other long distance race, and you wish to do so competetively, there are two seperate and distinct types of training you need to focus on: Short distance sprinting while already at an elevated hartreat for overtaking, the initial push, and the final push; and your endurance. Best comparison I can give to my own training is when I prep for the 26km race. In that circumstance I usually start about 2 months out focusing on that race specifically. I start with 4 day/wk then flex in some 5days/wk for weeks 3-7 and then scale back to 4/wk the week prior and 3 days the week of.

In the midst of that at least 1 day per week will be interval or fartlek training. The later is my preference but the former is easier to do. I like to (in the 2 months) work in about 2-3 days of interval and 5-7 days of fartlek. If you are uncertain how to do either of them I can expound more but anyway. The remaining days should be distance and preferably all of it should be on the road. Elliptical is fine and dandy for a workout but it doesn't really prep your body for terrain. I usually start at about the 3-4 mile range unless I'm already in competetive shape, work my way to around 6-8 miles by week 3 and then do mostly 8-10 mile days with 1/week to a longer distance for the next 3. Usually around week 6 I will switch to a couple 12 mile runs and a couple 15+mile runs and maintain a balance of that through until the race. If I'm already in competetive shape I start at 6-8 miles and work to 12 miles by week 4 or 5 and start mixing in longer runs about 3 weeks out frm the race.

Anyway that was my training regimen.

[Sea Skimmer]

I’d prefer that my joints still work by the time I’m 40, so I’ll only run on a proper track; and not much even then.

[SpacedTeddyBear]

My boss has a saying, " The number of days you eat in a week, should be at least the number of days you run in a week."
It looks like you're already well on your way if you're running seven miles, 5 times a week. If those seven miles are done under an hour you're in great shape to put some effort on the track. Doing bulk mileage is good, but that only teaches your body to keep a "slow" pace when your body is tired. Fast tempo work on the track teaches your body to maintain speed when it's tired.

When you transfer those 7 miles onto the track, you could do the runs in 1-mile blocks. It's not a strict rule, just for mental book keeping. Ex. 8X200m ( ~45s-50s each), 4X400m ( 95s-100s each), and etc. The pace is assuming your 7 mile runs are done comfortably in under an hour.

Do at least one run a week on the road. I work at a running specialty store, and I've lost count of the number of customers who done training exclusively in the hills, only to have their legs die on them when they do a race on the road, even though the race was only a fraction of the distance their average runs covered.

There's a bunch of other stuff too, but w/o knowing your current athletic shape, it's not wise to start handing workouts tips out.

[LMSx]

There's already been a lot of good advice in this thread, but I'd just add that local 5k / 10k races are worth considering. That probably requires more speed work then a marathoner wants, but the shorter distance might be easier to convince a few athletic friends to get in shape for and add a social component to your work.

[Themightytom]

I wouldn't say I'm "competitive" I have completed nine marathons, including the Boston Marathon twice but I have never "won anything" longer than a 5k.

but I am a volunteer coach for the police athletic league and was a track coach for a special olympics athlete. All of these little side hobbies keep me from ever having the time to train to be competitive, plus i would like to still have my original knees in ten years :-/

The training you describe would probably let you complete a half marathon with dignity, Cross training with the eliptical saves your knees but helps you develop stamina. I would think about doing a speed workout once a week, I typically combine the following during my peak season.

Long runs: On a flat surface, the purpose is to build endurance, work on running form and pacing.

Speed workouts: I used to do a warm up, then some hills then a short run, then some hills then a slightly longer run. Now i run with a buddy, we alternate sets of telephone poles, four sets at eighty percent, four sets at fifty.

Track workouts: Join a running club, with a coach, track workouts SUCK on your own whereas other people will push you harder than you think. Great for building speed, mental toughness and for exchanging running info

Resistance training: i just do a long cross country run over rugged terrain, it helps to build your stabilizers and keep your legs from turning into flimsy accident prone sticks

Time trials: Over the years I have worked out specifi times for each mile I run, that I have as a goal. This is beause I know some of the races i run in very well, and I know my own pacing, I don't even know how I started on this, so it might not be so helpful for you at first.

Cross training:

Swimming: If your ever sore, most of these exercises have a pool related alternative you can find with some resaech, its waaaay better for your knees and theres comparatively litle soreness.

Basketball: If you get bored with my idea of a speed workout, playing basketball is a good substitute if you play with a dedicated group. Sprinting from one end of a court to the other is a GREAt speed workout

Tag: yeah this only works if you work with kids, but its good for building stabilizers and endurance. kis have more antural endurance for some reason and its pretty engaging. i usually have them play freeze tag and I'm the base.

Ultimate Frisbee/football same theory as basketball over a longer distance. Frisbee tends to be aster paced, football tens to be a little rougher.

Martial arts: I do Kung Fu, it builds flxibility and once your in the advance levels its a good endurance workout as well. (three sets of high medium low kicks? Jump double knee lifts? Daoists pushups????)

At the moment I am under snow, so trudging along, or climbing over snowbanks is a good enough workout every day, sometimes I use an eliptical, but i feel rediculous because I er... have to walk two miles to the gym and two miles back,. which is nothing in the summer but again....through the snow... whats the point..

Any strategy you choose, I have found it helpful to train both alone AND with others.

[Davey]

I don't run competitively, although I do run a lot. But I don't run on a track, I run anywhere. The more uneven the terrain is, the better. Some people think I've been playing too much Mirror's Edge, but the truth is I could never decide whether I wanted to run, to jump, or to climb, so I just did them all at the same time.

[Grog]

I do orienteering. Not very competetively any more unfortunatly. For me running really long is kind of useless as training, intervalls or similar things were much more effective (a orienteering race is almost never longer than half a marathon usually only half that) someone mentioned basketball or similar things this is really fun and at least for me surprisingly effective if you get bored with simple running.

[CmdrWilkens]

I do orienteering. Not very competetively any more unfortunatly. For me running really long is kind of useless as training, intervalls or similar things were much more effective (a orienteering race is almost never longer than half a marathon usually only half that) someone mentioned basketball or similar things this is really fun and at least for me surprisingly effective if you get bored with simple running.

Basketball is all well and good as a cardio vascular exercise...the problem for adistance runner is that it gets your body very used to stopping and starting which is the last thing you want your body used to for distance competition. The reason why I always suggest interval and fartlek is that you never stop you just slow up a little. That said its not like playing basketball a few times over the course of a multi-month training period is going to seriously crimp you but as a designed training tool (rather than athletic fun) its a poor choice.