by Larry Eder
This is March 9, 2024.
This is your race day.
Race Days early in the long season are about testing your fitness, trying new tactics, and shaking up your daily training.
Warm-up,
30 minutes of running, slow to moderate,
4-6 x 150m stride outs,
Race 800m, 1000m, 3000m, one of those.
If you can not find a track race, do a flat 5k on the roads and push it hard.
20-minute cooldown, moderate to easy,
stretch,
get dry clothes on,
hydrate,
Larry’s Deep Thoughts: Racing a variety of distances now is essential. For example, if you are an 800m racer, do 400m, 4x400m, 1,500m. If you are a 5,000m type, race 1,500m, 3,000m, and 800m. If you are a 10,000m racer, race everything from 800 m to 5,000 m. The more you get the stuffing knocked out of you in shorter distances, the better. I would race 2 miles 6 times during summer and winter, all comers, to keep some speed and have fun races, learning how to do a negative split. In high school, I raced 8-12 times in cross country and 12-16 times in outdoor track. In college, I raced 6 times in cross country, 1 x indoors, and 10-12 times in spring, focusing on a 10,000m effort in April. During summers, I raced almost weekly, 2 miles, 5.8 miles, and a few hilly 10k-12ks before the cross-country season. Most years, 30-35 times a year.
Post collegiately, I raced 30-35 times yearly, with one marathon in November or December. I tried 4 marathons in one year, PB the first time, and each time after that, worse, so I settled on one marathon a year, end of season (November), and that gave me PBs each year. I completed 18 marathons, 9 sub 3 hours.
PBs were 15:28 5k, 24:48 8k, 31:08 six miles, 32:53 10,0000m, Hour run (track), 10 miles, 880 yards, 1:14:18 HM, 2:48.12 Marathon.
