An exact clone would be nice

[Dstew]

Decided that this year to focus and run the short course trail races of the 5 peaks series that range from around 5 to 8 K. With the number of chronic injuries I have had, been doing a lot of cross training. Or to be more accurate, I was doing weights, a rower, bike and stepper with a lot of 7.5 K walks (from work to home) and the very rare "run" so it was more fitness than cross training. The first race is the end of May so decided it was time to actually run in order to train for a running race. I am keeping it to three runs or less a week at this juncture and to the point of my subject line, it would be interesting to have an exact clone to see what approach would be better given my obseravations. To the point, I have to believe a RUN is still the best training for a race as when I do the cross training, I can tell I am not using some muscles or at least not in the same way as when I run. On the other hand, my overall strength is much better and I sense my endurance has not suffered that much, it at all, and most importantly, all of the nagging running injuries are gone and yet to return. So for me it would be interesting to see how I would do with the training regime I have picked versus my exact clone with a run only training program.


As an old guy who wants to keep up this speed, any suggestions as to what I should be doing on the three runs. The plan right now is to do a long run of around 18 K one or two times a month. But most weeks I had thought it will be a tempo run, a long run of around 10-12 K and intervals? For the intervals, some weeks 1,000 m at race pace X 5 - 8 depending upon the length of the race. The long runs will be done on the trails and the tempo, does it matter where? Any substitute suggestions?

[jgore]

I know at least one person who qualified for Boston doing what you have planned, though his long runs got quite a bit longer, for obvious reasons. Good luck.