6 races in 6 weeks - Training

Hilly

30/09/2002 at 14:37

Hi everyone. Now I know what I should do but being one of a crazy breed I very rarely follow the rule books. So let's have your views on doing 6 races in 6 weeks with one weeks rest before another 3 weeks of races!

The 6 in a row are all 1/2 marathon distance except one 10 mile race. They are a mixture of multi terrain and road so the surfaces are varied. The final one will be Cheddar where I'm hoping to get a pb! After the weeks rest I then have a further 3 races of 10k and one 10 mile. The last one I want to attempt to get a new 10k pb. Thoughts please.

WildWill..... pirate

pirate

30/09/2002 at 14:43

I did 5 in 7 weeks and that was not too bad – but they were not all ½ ‘s – they included: a 10m, 2x10k, 2xTRI

I think the key is to listen to your body and continually assess to see if you can continue with you goal

Will

MartinH

30/09/2002 at 15:02

Hilly

Most people will probably advise against it - personally I'm a fan of frequent racing and regularly run successive weekends. My advice would be:

1. Whilst I think frequent racing is OK, I think 6 half-marathons (one 10 miler) is too much. Generally recommended is one day of recovery for each mile raced, so if I was going to do six weeks of races I would say max would be 2-3 halfs and the other 10k or shorter.

2. Drop all speed training if you decide to do it otherwise you risk overtraining.

From your posts you seem in pretty good shape so give it it a go but be prepared to bail if your body says no.

Hilly

30/09/2002 at 15:21

WW I've done 4 weeks of racing before but like you not all 1/2m's. Listen to my body it might be!

Martin, I too am a fan of frequent racing but normally wouldn't do 6 races of 1/2M distance. I just thought with 3 of them being off road it would be like doing my long Sunday runs, which are normally 15/16 miles. I might have to assess as I go along.

It's a pain as they are all races I want to do, except one, which I've already entered because it's a club race.

Mike S

30/09/2002 at 15:27

Hilly,

There are (faint!) similarities between my situation and yours - I've raced the last 3 Sundays, and am contemplating 2 more races in the next 4 weeks (possibly 3 in 6).

If these sort of distances are what you'd do in the course of training normally, the mileage in itself is not an issue, I wouldn't have thought. More relevant is maybe the intensity question: how hard are you going to race them?
I put a lot into the latter stages of both the 10Ks I did a fortnight ago and last Sunday. As a result, it took most of the rest of last week before I felt I'd recovered anywhere near enough for yesterday's 5K. But maybe that's just my lack of fitness.

Nonetheless, for longer distances, I'd have thought that "eyeballs out" efforts week after week would be a huge ask - possibly risky in terms of health or injury.
Maybe alternate between "hard" and "flat out" from week to week? Or are there consecutive races on your schedule where you really want to make an impact?

Hilly

30/09/2002 at 15:35

Thinking about it Mike S, only 3 of the races would I want to try to get a decent time. The others are off road and I generally run them hard, but don't normally race them! The road races aren't on consecutive weeks so it might not be too bad. It's sounding better already.

Dangly Spice

30/09/2002 at 16:02

I did 4 x 4 1/2Marathons to celebrate my 40th Birthday some years back. Apart from getting me in the local papers as a local nutter, I followed the 1/2Ms with a 2 week rest then did a PW (personal worst) for a 10 miler.
For the halfs i did times of: 1.41, 1.40, 1.41 and 1.47 hours. (My PB for a 1/2M at that time was about 1.35 hours.)
So take it easy, get lots of rest between races and see how your body feels.

Hilly

30/09/2002 at 18:29

Cheers Dangly, after all this I might not be able to do the 6 anyhow as I've just been informed of prior engagements by Mr hilly! I can do the next 3 weeks, but the others are only now a possibility. Oh well there's always next year.

Dustin

30/09/2002 at 19:42

I think its OK as long as you ascertain beforehand which you will treat as 'races' and which you treat as 'runs'.

I've not done 6 in 6 weeks but I've done 4 in 4 before (includes a midweek event). I treated the midweek race as a recovery after the previous Sundays race , and treated one of the other two Sundays as a 'long run' albeit with a group of others.

I have to admit to usually being so lacking in self discipline that it was tempting to 'race' all 4, but I'd rather have taken the 2 very good performances (+ 2 more medals) than 4 so-so runs.

Whats the timetable ?

Hilly

30/09/2002 at 20:30

If I am able to sort out prior engagements and do the 6 races the timetable is:
5/10 Blandford Tower 1/2 (multi terrain)
13/10 Mendip Muddle 20k (multi terrain)
19/10 Weymouth 10 (road/hilly)
27/10 either Exmoor Stagger 16 miles off road or Stickler 3 peaks 10 miles off road.
3/11 Salisbury Fire Station 1/2 (road)
9/11 Cheddar 1/2 (flat road pb attempt)
Rest from racing
24/11 Brent Knoll 5.5 (off road)
1/12 Fully Monty 10 tough miles (off road)
8/12 Christchurch Christmas Cracker 10k (flat road-pb attempt)

But as mentioned I may now not get to do them all.

Scar Runner

30/09/2002 at 22:07

Wow Hilly, nothing like setting tall targets for yourself is there! I don't have any advice being a lot more inexperienced than you Hilly, but I've noticed how much endurance training you do and would think you have a lot of strength and base endurance. So as said above, the miles themselves are not the issue, but the intensity.

Are you disciplined enough not to run/cancel race plans if you're feeling fatigued or do you think to hell with caution and do your damnest to run anyway?

Best of luck with your race plans; also, will you be starting marathon training straight after Christmas or having a well earned rest??

Mij

30/09/2002 at 22:30

Good luck!

I would have thought you could re-arrange your schedule so that these runs replace your normal speed sessions. It would certainly work for 10K's - I guess if you take the starts and the finishes slower than race pace you should survive but be prepared to bail out/slow down if necessary.

As a side thought you might enjoy the Mortimer Forest 10M at Ludlow - its very .... dare I say it ... hilly.

Groan ... Sorry

Hilly

01/10/2002 at 11:55

Laura, I do believe I'm disciplined enough to cancel if I'm too tired. I have to admit though to finding it difficult not to race once I've started. I find it hard to run easy, if there is such a thing, in a race situation, especially if fully fit. I would rather not run in a race if I was going to do training pace.

Obviously sometimes we experience bad runs in races and some races are more of a struggle than others. I might be lucky to actually feel happy with my times in a few of them.

When you know what you are capable of, I think one then does have certain expectations. It's sometimes hard when things go wrong, but I can and do put bad experiences behind me and get on with the next one.

If I manage to fit them all in, there's one that I really might not be able to do now, then I will take Christmas week off completely from running. I'm not sure if I'm going to do the London Marathon yet or whether to concentrate on something else. I have a month or just over before I have to send my Marathon entry. Decisions! Decisions!

Hilly

01/10/2002 at 12:03

Where's Ludlow Mij?
I do love off road hilly runs! Can't say the same for hilly road runs though.

Mij

01/10/2002 at 14:11

Its in South Shropshire right on the Herefordshire border. Mortimers Forest is to the West of the town spread all over a hill. which includes some very steep sections. The running club hold their Xcountry there and I'm told most clubs don't like it cause its too hilly. The tracks are mostly stone and gravel from what I've seen so far, and the race organiser warned me it is very hard when I told him I wanted to do it - I think as an incentive to enter!

Hilly

01/10/2002 at 14:32

Sounds like a great race. A bit far for me to travel though!

Caz

02/10/2002 at 14:04

Boing

02/10/2002 at 14:10

You certainly are keen Hilly. I'll probably get up to 15 for the year. Hopefully meet you some time.

Hilly

02/10/2002 at 18:27

BK I just love racing or I should say taking part in races (I don't always race them)to run hard with others around me. I look forward to meeting you and some of the others sometime. 15 is still a good number of races in a year.

Caz I'm not up on some of the talk used on this forum, what is Boing?

Caz

03/10/2002 at 10:08

Hilly "boing" as in "boing said zebadee" (Magic Roundabout). We just do it to bounce the thread back to the top of the pile.