This week showed promising results on the track. Last week I rode the roller coaster of life into a low point, but time cures all. A new week sent that coaster climbing back up towards a new peak. Stick around for the training details, negotiation mindsets  and more!

 

I am so glad to have you joining along as I work to break a personal best of mine that has now stood for over 10 years.

Each week I’m posting updates on my progress, insights I learn along the way and sharing the training strategies I’m depending on to reach my goal.

If you want the full back story you can read about it in another post.

The quick and dirty is that recently I got stuck sick in bed for almost a week. This could have been an excuse to bail on my goal, but instead I doubled down and am now documenting my final training weeks leading up to my deadline of June 2,2017.

It is my intent that by posting the details of my experiences learned along the way I will better help you as you work on your own improvements. Maybe it can even be a bit of motivation to challenge yourself to consider taking on a fresh fitness goal of your own.

Not to mention it is some extra accountability for me.

Disclaimer: Sometimes I use “mile” and “1600 meters” interchangeably. I do know these distances differ by 9.34 meters. My previous PR was completed on a standard 400m track thus if 5:00.0 is run at a true mile road race the previous record will be beat and my goal accomplished.

 

THE GOAL

The goal is simple, break my personal records for the Deadlift and 1600 meter run within a week of each other. For me that is lifting 300 pounds and running sub five minutes. These are long standing personal limits for me. If I can eclipse them I will arguably be at my fastest and strongest!

Not to mention my oldest 😉

 

TRAINING WEEK: MAY 15 to 21

LAST STEPS:

The previous week was the first week back into a regular training load after a recovery week. Recovery weeks can throw the body off due the change in schedule and intensity. Last week’s Tuesday track session showed I need some more help with endurance at my top end speed. I expected to be able to do two rounds of intervals, but the body gave out after one.

Rather than letting fear take over I decided to stay calm and re-focus on my easy days. Counter intuitive maybe, but I thought it was the smart thing to do and this week confirmed I was right.

Jump over to last week’s post for more details on why I went slow to get faster.

 

WORKOUT SCHEDULE:

For full transparency below is an image from my training log for this week.

Weekly workouts for breaking run goal

(Click for bigger view)

 

PROGRESS:

The priority for this week was to see endurance improvements at my goal pace. I had set the goal of completing 2 miles at five minute pace or faster. If I could check this goal off I could claim improvements.

I am happy to have successfully nailed Tuesday’s track session of descending 400’s and 200’s done on :35. I even hit 67 seconds for my last four hundred despite some much hotter than usual conditions.

To meet my other “Next Steps” goal of running fast while tired Doug and I added 4x 200 to the end of our Thursday tempo session. The tempo work has benefited us both.

Neither of us wanted to give it up to make time for more speed work, so this was a good compromise.

We capped the week off with an over-distance run on Sunday. This was 15 miles not tracking pace, but running off feel. We were just trying to stay comfortable and let the legs turnover. This was more for Doug’s half marathon, but the extra mileage is also time for me to work on changing my form and ingraining better landing habits.

I took some video during Tuesday’s track session and can see I am still landing too far out in front of myself. If I can find some time I’ll try and get that video posted with commentary on the form issues.

 

 

WEEKLY TAKEAWAY:

It felt great to get back to speed work this week because I knew it was getting me closer to my goal. I enjoy enjoy running with Doug. We have great discussions and I appreciate his company, but we are running for different reasons.

When it comes to our motivations he wants to qualify for the NYC marathon. I want to check off my goal of running a sub 5 minute mile and deadlifting 300+ pounds within a week of each other.

This week was a reminder that working within a team can get everyone to their goals, but it is your own responsibility to keep sight of what you’ve been working for.

Every workout Doug and I do together is a practice in negotiation.

Some of you might hear the word “negotiation” and immediately have a strong reaction. The most common being that there must be a winner and loser. That is not the kind of negotiating we do. Each workout we come up with helps both of us achieve what we are trying to do. We put together win-win solutions.

No one loses!

Why does this work?

I want to see Doug achieve his goal and he wants me to crush mine.

Practicing this style of negotiating not only helps my fitness, but I carry it over to my marriage and business debates as well. I try to find a solution that gives all stakeholders what they want, or at least an acceptable substitute. 

In the end it is up to us as individuals to keep ourselves accountable, do our work, and keep moving forward towards our personal goals. We can’t do others work for them, but we can run alongside each other while we do the work together.

Keep your eye on the prize.

 

NEXT STEPS:

Keep the speed coming. With less than two weeks to deadline speed is still critical.

At the end of this week I kick off seven days traveling away from home. While I am sure to be active it will be a challenge to stay on my regular training schedule. The strategy will be to get in key workouts before flying on Thursday.

I will also be traveling to an elevation of 6,500 feet, where oxygen is harder to come by.  This will impact my workouts and be prime for some last minute VO2 max efforts. Though I may have to adjust paces slightly slower to accommodate the elevation

 

  • Run 3x 800 at 5:00 pace or faster

  • Add 4-6x 200  at the end of my tempo sessions to teach the body speed even when tired

  • Maintain workout focus while traveling

 

 

That is it for this week. Stop by next week to see if things go better on the track. If you want to get update notices about this experiment and other great training opportunities coming out of TGB go ahead and submit your email below.
Happy training!
TGB training

 

 

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