TR Running Thread 2021

A continuation of the 2019 and 2020 threads :smiley:

This year I’m hoping to improve my short game until the summer months arrive then switch up to longer, endurance efforts…and as always, avoid injury!

Running five-six days per week small amounts, no intensity yet.

Share your goals, questions, trials and tribulations below:

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On my end I think I’ll switch to a more running focus towards mid year and might target a 3h marathon in November/December.

Planning to follow a Pfitzinger plan. Still unsure between 55 and 70. But one of my goal is to keep a couple of super easy bike sessions a week rather than dropping it completely like I’ve done in the past.

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For my running, I am going to progress from pure MAF to towards a more 8020 approach. Probably looking to do some long trail /fell runs in the early summer as a build up towards the IM

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I’ve got a few goals for this year but need to think about if they are challenging enough and/or realistic.

2 in 2 for me… changed the bike and run workouts around today in case the weather got worse.
Could have comfortable ran my fastest 10km in 25 years today but it was a touch slippy / chilly (fingerless gloves) today and didn’t want to risk a fall as that would have been a set back. Just over 6km seemed a compromise of risk vs reward. :slight_smile:

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I’m going to continue to run 3 to 4 times per week in 2021, but have set myself a few promises.

More time in ‘true’ Z1 / Z2 (not exceeding 145bpm), rather than the ‘grey zone’ where it’s not fast enough to call it fast or slow enough to call it Z1 or Z2.

Set a 5km PB of sub 18:00 - I’ll likely use the track for this effort.

Commit to daily stretching - I’m very guilty of neglecting this.

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I think about dropping my heel on the trainer at least for a period on a workout which helps me keep my calves getting too tight. Also squats. Other than that just one set of heel drops/raises per week for me.

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Love Pfitz plans for sure

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I’ve more gravitated towards JD in the past but read recently pfitz book and I quite liked the plans. They are similar in many ways (Pfitz even quotes JD in the book) but I feel like Pfitz plans will suit me more as it’s focused more on T and M run whereas JD has more R and I early in the plan. And as a 40+ athletes it’s starting to take quite a toll on me :slight_smile: I’ll report back when I start!

Only thing where I’m still learning is that Pfitz is more RPE and HR based whereas JD pretty much dictates your pace based of his charts. Will need to get used to it!

He says HR but I adapted to mostly pace (Vdot) depending on the workout as in GA it can vary widely if I am outside or inside. Doing HR though is indoor for me mainly as with a fan I tend to run faster. It is super interesting.

The faster road racing and advanced marathoning are very good books.

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I might end up doing the same… Too old to change my habits or running based on pace!

Try HR on the treadmill with a fan.

I ended up logging 4258 miles running in 2020. With restrictions in place, I only raced once and focused 2020 on the process of training.

This year I plan to increase racing and “epic run/ride” frequency, by reaching a consistent minimum of one monthly race or epic run/ride. These monthly “races” don’t need to be official, and may take the form of time trials etc. Essentially, I want to test myself a bit more than I did in 2020, and enjoy the fitness I’ve been building.

Also what are your thoughts on primarily training on a treadmill for 2-3 months?
95% of my miles were outside, but for the foreseeable month or so, I’ll be running inside.

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I am running twice/week (30mins@ 6:30 - 6:50 miles) for bone density as the gyms are shut. Doing 8-9 hours of TR for the UK TT season but I would like to run a 5k this summer either in a parkrun, race or if there are none a solo time trial at sub 6min/miles (so 18:30 ish)…have a pb of 16:48 from when I just ran …but that was from 2007 when I was under 40 and ran 50+ miles/week! :laughing:

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I used to run 5-6 days a week, then I discovered cycling. :slight_smile: Plus I was in Florida at the time and with the humidity it would take me an hour to stop sweating after running. Anyway, I run one day a week now for about 30 minutes at an easy tempo pace to keep all of those small stabilizing muscles in shape. In case I can’t bike for some reason (i.e. business trip, etc) I can more easily fill in with a couple of runs and still be able to walk.

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Interesting - I don’t tend to get tight calves, I’ve been struggling with tight hip flexors though.

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I wanted to do this in 2020, however, realised early on that it was going to far too expensive and settled on the time trial approach instead.

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God tight calf muscles has been the bane of my running life - about the only injury I have had through 30 plus years of running/cycling/tri - never a huge problem but regular strains that stopped me running for 1-2 weeks at a time :grimacing:

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A few years ago I switched focus between running and cycling depending on the time of year, races, which races I was targeting. I sometimes miss it, but not enough to seriously commit. Interested to see how TR users get on with running consistently, and how you all schedule running alongside bike workouts. Good luck everyone :+1:

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I’m also interested in this - I’ve found it tough but achievable. I tend to try and avoid running and cycling on the same day, however, often find myself running in the AM before work and then TR in the PM after work.

I follow a low volume cycling plan to make sure that i’m 100% compliant and able to fit in other workouts (like running and S+C), but wonder whether i’m leaving anything on the table in terms of cycling progression.

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Like single discipline training, I think you just need to build into it and cap each one a little lower than you could handle on its own.

Minimum effective dose and all that.

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