Downhill running might be a good way to improve turnover this close to the race. Not too steep a hill is needed, and that would be a higher injury risk anyway.

As Rob says, there is a practical need to plan your run. You have to have some idea of how far you're going, and you use your projected pace to figure that out. I disagree. If the plan says run 3 hours at long run pace (whatever that is for you), then just run 3 hours at that pace! Pretty simple. I...

Even with all the people saying they race with no carb intake, isn't it true that muscle/liver carb stores deplete after around 90-120 minutes? So, for Half Marathons around 90 minutes or longer, I have to wonder if there's at least *some* loss of performance as carbs deplete. You might be able to f...

Perhaps, it may be a good idea to do a 5K / 10K race pace and/or a TT to get a better idea of what your current race fitness is and plug it into McMillan for your correct training paces ?? :think: :think: :think: The Canada Day 5K / 10K events in Kanata next Friday is a pretty flat / fast course .....

How about running a bit of Tempo/LT before (or after) the RR workout, rather than replacing an easy day?

Also, not sure how flexible you are on your schedule, but consider keeping the easy run on Wednesdays, and do hill repeats on Fridays, instead of doing the 2 hard days back-to-back.

I know I've said this before but I think hills are virtually pointless unless you can run up a decent hill at a minimum of 5km pace, preferably much faster. I see many people not even fit enough to run fairly fast on level ground thinking that just getting up a hill at any pace is magical for stren...

+1 to Ironboy's caution. I think the big thing is to stay consistent through a Calgary winter where it might be easy to let your fitness lapse. If you can get the runs in, even if they're mostly easy ones, you'll be in a great position to put up some low numbers next summer. Whether that means sub-...

what do want, a medal? :naughty:[/quote]That was pretty uncalled for. It's the data for the run, nothing more. I'm not bragging or anything. Why would I want too? It's just a run. I said my pace because it keys into heart rate. Maybe 171 is too easy of a heart rate for me to run my tempos at, or ma...

Thanks for posting that, they had some shoes I needed, that you didn't list, but are even cheaper.

Argggg!!! I'm in a cold bath right now and can barely handle it. Are cold water baths useful as well without the ice? I didn't have enough ice A few years ago when I increased my long runs up to 3hrs to prepare for a race, I was suffering for 2-3 days afterwards (dead legs as well as DOMS), so I tr...

we LOVE new runners here. :) I don't think RR sells defeet brand, so check out an independent store (MEC sells lots too). I don't know what brands of socks the RR sells... just a word of caution, though: they will try to sell you the double-layer socks, and when I tried those for blisters (when I w...

My 305's battery died (out of warranty), so rather than get it repaired (for half what a new one costs), I'm buying a new one. MEC's in-store exchange is nice, but the warranty is still (officially) 1 year. When I checked gpscity's prices, I saw they offer a 2-year warranty extension for $25, and th...

Thanks Ian, very helpful. I picked the 4 mile distance somewhat arbitrarily. In the winter I can't really run outside, so I have to use the treadmill at the gym. I'm a big guy, and I find that running 10k or more on the treadmill is very hard on my knees. So this winter I picked 4 miles as a distan...

Steve, you say you just started running regularly in January, so IMO you should ease your body into speedwork with some fartleks and tempos, maybe once a week, as well as some hill repeats (for strength, don't have to go 100%). You won't fully benefit from hard repeats or intervals if you aren't rea...

+1 on "pick one".

IMO, running a Half the week after a 10k "to test both areas of running fitness", one or both results may be compromised anyway (either you run the 10k hard and end up tired for the Half, or hold back in the 10k to save for the Half).

Unfortunately, this more exercice = lower cholesteral equation does not work all the time :? My cholesterol keeps going up and up, no matter how much exercise I do... My "good" cholesterol is way above average, but my total cholesterol is also pretty high... Lats time I saw my doc (this f...

I vote for nuts and fresh fruit.
Does the fruit really need to be cold? If you eat it the day to bring it in it should be fine, but one option is the insulated lunch bags you can buy for <$10. I keep my lunch and snacks in that, in my desk.

Of the gels I've tried - Hammer, Power and Clif - I find the Clif Razz gels are not overly thick and go down without gumming up my mouth.

Don't worry about getting in the extra kms tonight - at this point, extra mileage isn't going to help your race - you want to stay active and limber, but mileage totals don't matter. Getting heat stroke today won't help your race though! Yeah, I agree, in the last week, do some short, quick runs, t...

This thread has got me thinking about the differences in the "train from where you're at" and the "train to where you're going" schools of thought. To use the weightlifting analogy, suppose that I can bench press 150 pounds ten times and my goal is to do 170 pounds 10 times. The "train from where y...

I'm surprised so many of you are happy with your B&D machines, the online reviews make them sound like they don't last at all, so I didn't get one. I had a Hitachi that lasted way past 10 years (making about one loaf a week), until the stir shaft seal (?) started leaking, so I replaced it with a...

I agree with Ian's suggestion to have one tempo/speed/fartlek run per week, since when you have the faster day to look forward to, you can save your energy and do your long runs slower, and your fast runs will get faster, it just starts to make more sense.

The other option, and the one I prefer, is to extend the distance of your reps and keep the equal recovery and pace the same. It is rarely a problem to run at goal pace from a pure speed perspective and your primary goal is extending the distance you can run at set paces. So just to simplify it if ...

Some good advice here. I found that training for a half I needed to work on my endurance and speed at the same time. I wouldn't add any Easy runs at all. -snip- 3) Four runs a week - one Track workout, one Longish Tempo run, one Fartlek training or even Half-Marathon Pace run, and one LSD. Half a g...

The long run is the least important run IMO unless you are running a marathon. I would always suggest reducing it and even your medium runs, add the extra day (or two ) and then let your key runs creep back up in distance and intensity. If you can run for two hours, you can run every day. You're ju...