Runners, What Training Plan With No Race?

Aubie Spr96,

I've failed and struggled here...I try to push myself on days to simulate a 10K or on a Higdon pace run but I'm poor at it. Pacing and lack of ability to make myself suffer alone is my issue.

I can't mentally or physically simulate a race day.

Last year I had many halfs & 10Ks done at this point to run hard in a race atmosphere.

I recently cut my mileage down now that I’m really sick of summer and increased the intensity to keep it interesting. Will probably run a 5 k time trial in a couple of months as my goal.

I run two workouts a week. I just take them from Jack Daniels’s 1,500 m/2 mile or 5 k plans and put them into my watch, then I choose whatever I feel like running on the day.

Do your own time trial. I used to do that when I was coming back from injury. Do the speed work and get on a track for a 5000 to see where you are. Short of that, try to PR on a known course you run regularly. Races are starting to kick back up again so get ready

So I had to Boston Qualifier marathons cancelled on me so I’m gonna just man up and do a 100-miler in November. I was already doing 50-60 miles per week training for the marathon. That said, I know few have interest in ever doing an ultra.
Here are some sprint work structures:
10min WU, 16x 30sec sprint/30 sec recovery, 10min CD
15min WU, 10x 60sec sprint/60 sec recovery, 10min CD
15min WU, 7x 2min sprint/2min recovery, 10min CD
20min WU, 5x 3min sprint/3min recovery, 10min CD
When I’m in peak marathon shape I’m doing 10x 3min sprint/3min recovery
Here are some good tempo options:
10min WU, 3x 8,10, or 12 min tempo/ 4,5,6 min recovery, 10 min CD
You can anywhere from 2-4 tempo intervals and the recovery is always half the time of the tempo interval.
Or you can do 2 mile repeats: 2mile WU, 2 mile race pace, 1 mile recovery repeated as many times as you can handle, with a half mile CD at the end.
If you run let’s say 4 days per week I’d make 1 day a long run, 1 day a normal distance zone 2 run, one day a sprint workout, and one day a tempo run. The biggest key to getting better a running though is when your doing a chill run, which should be 75-80% of your total volume, then you need to make sure you stay in HR Z2 (125-140bpm roughly). This trains your body aerobically to burn primarily fat as its fuel source. And then you are doing a anaerobic stuff on the high end for the sprints.

Walker Higgins hosts Children of the Cane in Port Allen November 14. Its 6 16.7 mile loops through Cane fields and on the levee. It’ll be my first 100 miler so I don’t mind doing one this flat. And like you say, it’s one of the only ones in the country still going on.
He is also hosting “Unleash the Beast” in St Francisville tomorrow. It’s a very hilly trail and you can do a 3hr, 6hr, or 12hr.

if you are talking about pure speed work as in sprinting workouts. Back in my track days we would work in sprint days at least once a week, may have been twice...too long to remember.

Quick 15 minute warm up jog. Then we would sprint 200m, walk 200m, sprint 200m, walk 200m... We would do this until we struggled a straight 200m sprint. Then another 15 minute jog/cool down after.

Post track days I would double the walk....100m sprint, 200m walk; or 200m sprint, 400m walk.