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Monday, October 5, 2015

No wonder that hurt.

I am seriously questioning this Hal Higdon half-marathon plan I have been loosely following. I actually have a more detailed post about that half-written, but what really jumped out to me as I nursed my sore hamstring this week was the week following my half marathon. Here's what the plan looks like:

(Instead of a 10k race, I ran a half-marathon)
So you see, the plan calls for some tapering prior to the race, which I was happy to do since I was on vacation that week anyway. That makes sense, but the week following the race - not only is there no recovery period at all, the intensity increases!
- The speed work intervals jump from 400m to 800m for the first time
- The tempo goes back to 45 minutes, which it's only hit once before in the entire training cycle
- The long run extends to an hour and 45 minutes from 90 minutes
- AND it's a 3/1 run, which means the final quarter of the run is run at fast finish
- The day before the long run is switched from "easy" to "pace" - which means race pace miles, usually reserved for weeks when the long run is not fast finish
- AND the "pace" miles jump from 3 miles to 4 miles.

So let's see - the week after a race I'm increasing speed workouts, intensity, and distance? No wonder my hamstring hurt.

7 comments:

  1. Yeah, I never understood training programs, that expect to you to resume speedwork/interval training two days immedietly following a race....

    I think racing takes much more out of you, than just tempo running.

    I do like Hal Higdons training programs though...

    Hope the hammie is feeling better.

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  2. Well, bear in mind, you were supposed to race less than half the distance you did! The schedule basically wanted a 40 minute tempo run on the weekend, instead of an hour and a half. But yeah, I still generally follow the "1 day recovery for every mile raced" rule -- not taking 6 days off after a 10k, but 6 days off track and tempo (just doing easy/recovery and/or pace work).

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  3. I've always had my plans written for me by a coach and they usually include a recovery week after a race but not all the time. It depends on whether the race is within a block where I'm training for an A race and it's only a B race. But there's always my responsibility to monitor how I'm feeling and take off extra days if necessary or make a hard session into a light one.

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  4. As you know, I've been really healthy throughout all of my miles - but the single biggest thing that will hurt me, is not the long mileage ... but 100% the speed at which I do the run. I do far less speedy miles than I used to because that's the quickest way for me to injure myself. It also seems like you're running a lot, with 6 days. But you know your body. But watch the speed and tempo work.

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  5. I think that following a 10k race with 800's at 10k pace is better than at 5k pace? But I would probably rest a bit more. How beat up are you after a 10k usually? Maybe there is a component to the lower mileage of the 10k race verses the half. Who knows! I've never done a higdon plan and definitely don't know how to train for races without getting hurt. ha! I might have gotten lucky once. I hope your hamstring is all better soon!

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  6. That sounds bananas. Although, usually when speedwork intervals go from 400s at 5K to 800s at 10K they're doing something slightly different. (Only 4x800? That seems like a short speed session to me...but what do I know.) Get some rest till your hammie feels better!

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  7. When I was training with a VERY successful running group in DC, the coach's rule was NO hard runs for 1 week after a half marathon. He would send you home for an easy run if you showed up to a track/tempo workout if you were in the 7-day window. So yeah, it made sense that your hammie started acting up the week after when you upped your intensity.

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