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[Rick Lovett]

We'll start 2008 with a new thread. (Kellbelle, can you pin this, and de-pin the 2007 thread?).

Our first track workout for 2008 will be a whistle workout. The concept is simple, I blow a whistle, you run! I blow it again, you recover. The big advantage of this is that everyone's workout begins and ends at the same time, so we can cool down afterward all a the same time, a rare boon.

The formula is a secret because part of the workout is that you don't know it and have to be prepared for anything! But I'll tell you this much: you'll get about 20 minutes of speed, and somewhat less of recovery. No interval will exceed 6 minutes. None will be shorter than 20 seconds. OK, that's a wide range. You can figure that some of them will be in the 3 minute range and that there will be method to the madness.

Target L pace, and during recoveries, find your partners and regroup so you've got company.

L pace (and other terminology to be used in this thread) are defined in the attached table, made for us by the Tober.

Also, please save this thread for workout posts. Questions, and "who's coming?" posts work best on their own threads. (I like to be able to review this thread occasionally as a handy compendium of what we've been doing, for planning future workouts, and too many other posts makes that hard to do.)

Attached Files

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[Rick Lovett]

Week 2 of 2008. Guess what, more L pace! (This will become a refrain.) Can we possibly get a day as glorious as today (Sunday?). Who knows. Regardless, we'll go for a gloriously exotic descending ladder. To wit:

1 x 1000 (400)
1 x 900 (300 or 500)
1 x 800 (200)
1 x 700 (300)
1 x 600 (200)
1 x 500 (300)
1 x 400

What could be more fun? How many of you have ever done a 900? Or a 700? (Don't answer; it's a rhetorical question!) Distances in paren are recoveries, but they're basically suggestions. Feel free to go an extra 200 if you like. The suggested #s will give you rational starting points, but what really matters is that the recovery shouldn't take any longer than the preceeding interval.

And regroup, so you can run with your buddies. That way someone in the group should be able to remember where you are on the ladder!

[Rick Lovett]

Week 3 of '08. Sun predicted, which may mean chilly. We'll do more L pace but we'll keep it to the longer end so folks aren't tempted to go too fast.

1 x 1200 (400m recovery)
3 x 600-600 (300m recoveries)

[Rick Lovett]

OK, Duniway's going to be damp and chilly, but should be ice free unless it hails (if it does, we'll run for the Y; there really is a chace of "small hail" this afternoon and evening, but for those of you new to Oregon, we're not talking the monster stuff you get in the Midwest. "Big sleet" is more the norm.

We've done a ladder, we've done floats. Let's pyramid it this week.

1 x 600 (200)
1 x 800 (200-400)
2 x 1000 (400)
1 x 800 (200)
1 x 600

All at L pace. If you're doing more than 50 miles/week, you can add a 1200 in the middle (or at the end, if you want to stay with your pace group). Or not. It's still early season.

[Rick Lovett]

By the Oregonian's count, 24 states are having primaries this Tuesday in one party or another. By my count 7 have already voted. That's a total of 31. So, what can we do that has 31 segments?

Why, what else but Super Tuesday Super-Cutdowns!

What are those? Short obviously, since you know I wouldn't run you for 31 miles...

The base workout is one we've seen before: 4 sets of 4 x 300 on 100m floats, 500m between sets. Approx L pace. We'll have three options, so pick your ballot!

1. Independents...just to the basic workout. No frills.

2. Party faithful...single-variable cutdowns. In each set, cut down either the time spent on the float (that is, speed the float up just a bit with each reapeat within the set) or cut down the 300s. Your choice. So, one option is do all the 300s at the same pace, but trim a second or two off each successive float. The other option is to keep the float constant and try to go a touch faster with each repeat within the set. Don't exceed M pace, though, so if you start too fast, switch parties and focus on the floats. Each set is the same. This, btw, is a good workout for pacing discipline because you won't be able to hit the pace if you start too fast. None of us ever start too fast, right?

3. Candidates...double-variable cutdowns. Try to win all the voters by cutting down both the recovery and the pace with each 300 within the set. (Do each set identically.) There are two tricks to this: precision pacing, so that you're only speeding up a little bit each time, and not spending your entire campaign war chest all in one "stte." And again, don't go below M pace. View this as a pacing challenge, not a toughness test.

[Rick Lovett]

Here's the workout for Feb 12. Shamrock's looming, so we'll get a little tougher. This time we go up the ladder, not down.


1 x 400 (200)
1 x 600 (200)
1 x 1000 (400)
1 x 600-600 (300)
1 x 600-400-600

L pace. And watch your pace on those first two.


BBLs and other high mileage folks can finish with an extra mile, if they so desire.

[Rick Lovett]

Wow, a dry day! And not too cold, most likely.

This one will be psychologically easier than last week:

4 x 800 (400m recovieres) at M pace
Two 400-400 pairs at M pace (300 between sets), or, if you prefer, 4 x 400 at S pace on 400m recoveries.

[Rick Lovett]

Continuing in the mode of last week, we will again exercise our "M" pace, this time with a classic workout...

8 x 600

Since M pace is fairly brisk, plan on either a 400m recovery or a very slow 200m. You want to take at least as long on the recovery as you did on the preceeding 600.

[Rick Lovett]

Last week, we did a classic workout. This week, it'll be another -- sort of. We'll to 10s and 2s.

4 x 1000 @ L pace, 400 m recoveries.
5 x 200 @ S pace (200m recoveries)

BBLs (Boston Bound Lizards, for the rest of you) probably want to replace the 200s with another 1000. (You might want to go as high as 6 x 1000).

For those not up on the terminology, it's in the first post on this thread.

[Rick Lovett]

After watching the weather shift ... and shift again...I'm sticking with the original plan for this week. It's

3 x 1200 at L pace on 400 m recoveries. We may do the 1st and 3rd on the chips, depending on the sog factor. Otherwise, they'll all be on the track and we'll save the chips for some other week.

That will be followed by
6 x 200 @ s pace, 200m recoveries.

Boston folks will want to do a 1200 at this point, and, might consider going as high as 6 x 1200.

[Rick Lovett]

Since most of the normal Duniway Denizens were at Shamrock, we're going to do a St. Patty's day hangover workout. Athletic hangover, that is. Short and sweet: 10 x 500. Why 500s? To keep you from going too fast.

Target is L pace. We'll do 'em in pairs.

So it's 5 sets of 500-500 on 100m floats, 300 to 500m between sets.

If you didn't do anything beyond 5K last weekend, run the floats fast and make these things feel like 1000s, then hold the reoveries to 300m. If youre a bit tired, float slower and/or extend the recovery. This is a workout that can very much be geared to how spry you feel, and how far you are into your spring training.

The total time spent in recovery in each set (float plus the full recover) should be somewhere between 50 and 100 perecent of the total time spent on the two 500s. My guess is that most of you should go for the slow end.

[Rick Lovett]

Sorry for a bit of delay in posting this. I'm car shopping, which is kinda'.... we'll just say I'd rather run a marathon on zero training.

Speaking of which...nah. This week, we'll go back to a workout that was super-popular in January. But this week we'll reverse it...and thow in a kicker for those who want it.

Back in Janaury, I discovered that a descending ladder from 1000 to 400 was a really nice L-paced workout. So let's do it again, with a bit of a twist.

Here's the drill...The recoveries are suggested. If you're in a group, vote or something. The key, as usual, is that the recovery should not take longer than the preceeding repeat. Nor should it take less than half as long. If your goal is to peak for May, then back off in June and July, go for the short end of the spectrum. If you're targeting a later peak, go a bit easier now.

1 x 1000 (400)
1 x 900 (300 or 500)
1 x 800 (200)
1 x 700 (300)
1 x 600 (400)
3-4 x 300 @ S pace, 300m

Marathoners, bag the 300s and finish with a 1200. High-mileage marathoners (50+ miles) do two 1200s. Really high mileage marathoners (70+ miles) targeting Boston, finish with 3 1200s. But for heaven's sake, watch the pace!

P.S. For those who want, let's try something new this week. At a little after 6 pm, for those who want, I'll lead a mile warmup somewhere other than Duniway (or if I'm busy, I'll appoint someone to lead it). Pace will be about 9:00s, to get back to the start with a few minutes for stretching or an extra lap. We won't go far and won't cross any roads, which will limit the options a bit; maybe a couple laps of the upper track, or a bit up Terwilliger.

[Rick Lovett]

April 1, and it finally (finally!) feels like spring.

We're going to keep going longish:

2 x 1200 @L (400m recovery, but try not to zip around it insanely fast)
2 sets 400-400-400 (500)

BBLs, float fast, and add an extra 1200 at the end. The race is still 21 days away. (And for the others, BBL = Boston-bound Lizards.)

All at L pace

[Rick Lovett]

It's been a while since we did "M" pace. So, let's do our sometimes-standy "M" pyramid.

2 x 600
3 x 800
2 x 600

400m recoveries.

BBLs, shorten it to 200m recoveries but slow the pace to "L" or thereabouts.

[Rick Lovett]

Wer'e gonna go short-long simultaneously. That's 300s on short floats, in other words.

We've done this before. It's fun, and flexible. The drill:

16 x 300 in sets of four @ L pace or a touch faster. Between elements of a set, 100m floats. Between sets, 500m fuller recoveries. As always, you can toughen the workout by speeding up the float, in essence turning each set into something more and more closely approximating a 1500. Or, if you're peaking for something short, speed up the 300s and take longer recoveries. Lots of options.

BBLs, hold it to two sets, then tack on an 800 at the end, and DO NOT exceed L pace. Marathon pace is fine. You're just getting a bit of turnover here so you don't go flat (or, the more common dread, think you're going flat, which isn't the same thing.)