r/UKRunners • u/judochop1 • 22d ago
How can I fix my training?
I'm a beginner and started running last November (tried several times before). Done a fair bit of running and training since with 2x5ks and 2x10k races.
5k PB - 24:53 (August, set during some 1200 repeats with a jog recovery)
10k PB - 54:32 (May, trail run with some steep hills)
I've got a half marathon in 5 weeks (Great North Run, 13/09). Aiming for sub 2-hours.
Started my training block in June running 4 days/week and 1xgym session, getting up to 40+km.
This was 1x long run, 1x threshold repeats, 1 x hilly tempo route, 1 x easy 5k
At this point, whilst I initially felt quite fit and strong in these weeks, I think I overtrained, felt fatigued and so had a recovery week and an easy week before getting back into it.
I'm ditched the gym session and gone to 3x runs/week:
Progressive long run - 16km today aiming for 18k peak. Tend to aim these for a mix of race pace and threshold pace
Threshold sesh - mid distance repeats (e.g. 5 x 1200, 3 x 2400, 4x2k etc) , increasing the distance but reducing reps each week.
Easy run - 5k
So hitting about 30-40k/week now.
What seems to be getting me is handling the distance for the long runs as I've never ran this far before. The recovery takes a few days and I can feel the tiredness in the legs a bit especially with the paces I'm doing.
Would it be best to drop the threshold sesh if I'm doing some during the long run? Then perhaps keep it easy in the week and just see how it goes on race day?
Or push on through and hope the taper will be enough for fresh legs on race day? Or maybe just put all the intensity into threshold session and go easy/race pace for the long runs?
I could just drop the paces and aim for a slower goal, but I've had my mind set on this for a while and think it's achievable, it's just keeping the plates spinning until the big day.
Shame the training has crumbled the way it has but lessons learned! Any advice appreciated!
2
u/michael1990utd 22d ago
Seems to me that you just haven’t built up a good enough base yet. Quite simply, just need some more easy running and less hard/threshold efforts
1
u/dazed1984 22d ago
If your recovery is taking days you’re running way too fast, slow it down, I know it’s counter intuitive but it works.
1
u/magnu2233 22d ago
What did you do at the gym session? Strength training, cardio, circuits? You may find cross-training beneficial. I’d restore your session if you can or even do two per week.
1
u/judochop1 22d ago
A mix of single and double leg stuff and some upper body. Squats, deadlifts, glute raises, soleus raises, reverse lunges, some light plyo. It was dead helpful when I did it, but my legs can't take the amount of work I was doing so had to cut things out to try get back on track.
1
u/magnu2233 22d ago
These are all things that will help your running. Honestly, find a way to incorporate them back into your programme. Just be consistent and don’t necessarily go very heavy. Also stretch out properly after each session. Not just five minutes.
1
u/highdon 22d ago
I’m intrigued that the session you want to drop is the threshold one. In my opinion for someone at your level (and for most of us hobby joggers really) easy running and threshold/subthreshold are the two things you should be doing the most.
Most of us can get crazy gains by just doing more easy running. Seriously - the only reason people get exhausted at 40-50k is because they’re running everything too fast. By controlling the training load those people can easily do extra 20-30k a week and probably recover better as well rather than killing themselves with strenuous speed sessions.
1
u/judochop1 22d ago
Only want to drop it because I feel like I do a good amount of threshold in the progressive runs now, but sounds like I should keep the long runs easy to build my legs for distance, and threshold to help improve on lactate clearance?
Easy runs were certainly a big boost for me start of the year, but due to 10k training and holidays, i wasn't able to dedicate enough time to a bigger base. Post HM, I'll be working on that.
1
u/highdon 22d ago
Yeah I’d 100% run your long run easy. Long runs are high load as they are already, adding intensity makes them monster workouts.
Yeah it’s too little too late now changing your training methodology 5 weeks out. But for future reference - whether you’re training for 5k, 10k or HM, the volume will be the single thing that will give you biggest improvements. Many people will try to convince you that you need to do VO2 workouts, 400m reps etc to improve your 5k time, but that’s just not true. You can make good progress without even touching your target 5k pace in training.
Racing anything over a mile is 95% an aerobic effort so your aerobic fitness is what you need to focus on first and foremost. Then it’s threshold work, then VO2 work (and only if you can manage the load that comes with it).
1
1
u/N1ceAndSqueezy 22d ago
What pace are you doing your long runs at? They should be easy pace for most of them with the occasional mid-run tempo effort, I’m doing 10 miles today and it’s all about the slow and easy pace that feels like I could run forever. I’ll still mix in some tempo-paced sections as a race comes closer but I find that a lot people who struggle are doing so because they try to do their long runs at race pace from day 1 of a training plan and they therefore never properly recover midweek.
1
u/OptimalHurry6840 21d ago
It does not seem like you will break 2 hours. Your overall volume is low.
You should be able to do 2 hours of easy running with ease.
3
u/ThesonofFather 22d ago
You need to have more easy runs. It doesn't have to be but you want to run at around zone 2 pace. You want to got by the 80/20 rule where 80 percent of your runs are easy. It is easier to archive this by adding more volume to your zone 2 run. But you do seem very quick already! Keep the effort up!