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Train hard - race hard?

Just thinking of re-evaluating my training.....if you train slow(Read comfortably) you will also race slow?
Had a decent result and passed session ive made sure i trained hard, almost puking on the runs and stuff. I still have slow pace session and rest days...anyone with similar theory?

Comments

  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    You have to do some fast stuff to get faster. I saw a Helen Jenkins quote to that effect and it's definitely true.
  • I'm still finalising my training theory, but loosely it falls into two key types of training.

    1 - Base period, general aerobic fitness, although "slow" it teaches your body to use fat for energy, and become a more efficient system. It also allows joints to strengthen as they don't improve as quickly as muscle.

    2- High intensity work - yep, you have to train hard to improve, but this needs balanced with recovery, which is equally important. I still don't understand why so many pro atheletes do so many hours of training. I understand the need around technique, but not for fitness/ speed improvement. Recovery is key.

    Of course how quickly you recover is critical...too short a recovery period leads to overtraining, too long and you won't improve.
  • md6md6 Posts: 969
    In my uninformed view, you need a balance, the only way to learn to run fast, it to run fast, but not all the time. I found last year that while almost all of my training was comfortable, I managed to knock 10mins off my half mara, and 5 mins off my 10k pb's. So i was obviously 'faster'. I put this down to being much fitter. however, my 5k time did not improve, and my 1mile TT was 5s slower than the year before.

    Train slow race slow, is not alway the case but once you reach a certain level of fitness i think it comes into play more.
  • You have to strike a balance, you cant train hard all the time.

    I didnt train at all in the 6 weeks leading up to my recent half marathon (wolves) went on holiday, eat shit loads of food and drank loads of beer, put 6kg of weight on but come race day which was the kick start back into training for me I ran a PB on a standalone half by over 4 minutes and clocked a 1:26 effort:)

    prior to this I have never ran below 1:30!

    so my new training plan for next season will be eat loads, drink loads and just turn up for my races and its a 100% sure fire thing that ill do better than actually training for it..........hmmmmm na dont think that will actually work, ill maybe train a little bit,...... prob cap it at 18 hours a week... lol
  • hussler, it seems that my training tactics for Wolves matched yours but the results were very different!!

    I did the full marathon (my 1st) and hadn't trained for a few weeks as I went on holiday came back and did the National Relays (also without much training) rested after that and put weight on!!

    As it was my first marathon I wanted to take it steady anyway and finished in 5:12, although my official time is 5:16, I had "Radcliffe" problems on the way round and stopped my Garmin when I found the portaloo!!! All in all I was happy finishing the Marathon but would do it completely different, I've only go myself to blame!!

    I find training is very difficult to get right, it is a fine balance but some days you find yourself feeling guilty on rest days and think that you're pushing yourself too hard on other days!! Also with me, weight management is a big thing and getting my nutrition intake right to balance with training vs weight loss is hard to keep an eye on!!

    Oh well, the dilemmas of a Triathlete!!!
  • Let us know if it works, as it seems to tie in with my philosophy
  • andissandiss Posts: 82
    What kind of speed are your runs, this is my general setup, plus the occasional intervall, repeats and etc

    Long or Brick runs (anything really above 10km): 5 to 6 min per km
    Medium runs (6-10km): 4.5-5 min per km
    Short runs (3-6km): 4-4.5min per km
  • andissandiss Posts: 82
    Maybe i dont need it though as did last olympic tri in 2h and 18min.....
  • Definitely mix it up.

    last December I did the Bedford Half in 1.29.30 this was after just doing my normal 6 or 8 mile runs on a regular basis maybe twice a week.
    Feb joined running club and started doing road efforts 1 day a week and track work another also doing easier run on weekends.
    By May I managed to do the Chester half in 1.24.50.

    So mix it up
  • andissandiss Posts: 82
    Also got a tip of going long will help becoming faster on shorter distances.
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    If you train a lot, twice a day every day, then I can see the need for putting in slower sessions to allow your body to recover.

    Howver, if (like me) you can't fit in more than about 5-6 hours a week, is there the same need to incorporate slow stuff?

    I usually have at least one day a week without training, often two. If I do a "long" run (say an hour) the temptation is to go fairly fast. My unscientific thinking is I am working on speed and endurance together - if I can run fast for a hour in training I can run fast for 45 minutes in a race, why bother with running slowly?

    I'm only training for sprint and olympic distance.
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