Neighborhood doesn't allow for Z1 or Z2 running!

lancelsu

My run course/neighborhood is a series of rollers. There is very little flat land to cruise on. It's always work!

So, is it hurting doing my runs 60 mins or less at a constant Z4 or Z5 without any real intervals, just full blast per HR?

Or should I really find a treadmill to stick to the interval workout and recovery, then rinse and repeat.....

rlh2000

Take what I say with a big grain of salt since I'm in Chicago and have no concept of hills... First, if you are able to do your runs of 60 min at constant Z4/Z5 I am wondering if your zones are really accurate. I train by pace, not HR, so this may be different, but I could definitely not survive 60 min at Z4/5, or at least not on a consistent basis. But anyways, I'd say this is a great chance to practice even pacing. Most race courses aren't pancake flat, and your goal will be to pace them the EN way- flatten the hills both on the run and bike. I know hills suck and you just have to get over them, but see what you can do to decrease your effort going up to try to run more even. Remember, the plan is just going to keep getting harder, so while you might be surviving now blasting Z4/5, that will definitely take a toll down the road.

Peter Wick

I'm not doing the NOS this year but I will say this about living in a hilly area. It is challenging but not impossible to run at Z1/Z2 on hills. You just have to accept that your pace is going to slow down or speed up depending on what the road is doing. I live in a section of New Jersey that has hills that are just plain stupid ridiculous. I don't know how folks decided to live on streets that are on 12-18% grades but they did - in a wintry climate? Nuts!

I don't run on those hills much (but I do ride them every week) but when I do I go by a combination of perceived effort and heart rate to stay in whatever zone I'm supposed to be in. You'll get the hang of it. In fact you should be glad you live in such an area 'cause unless you're doing IMFL or a half like Eagleman or Bassman the run course is going to have hills. You need to work on learning consistent run pacing so you can flatten out those running hills just like you're supposed to learn flattening the hills on your bike.

There isn't a single stretch in my town that doesn't have some sort of hill (except for roads that aren't safe to run on) but that's a benefit not a curse. Learn how to adjust your pacing on the hills. It took me a long time to stop demanding I keep to a predetermined pace. I'm not some kind of monster that can keep it at a 7 min/mile pace when the grade goes up to 10% - nor should I try unless I wake up one day with a 2:30 marathon PR. Okay, enough silliness. If you keep at it you'll eventually figure out how to stay in a zone and leave your ego out of it. That's how you get the ability to keep chugging along at a pace that will be possible for those last 26.2 of 140.6.

Rachel! I used to live in Elmhurst. Talk about ffffflattt. And those rail trails get kinda dusty. Like Will Rogers said, you could sit on your porch and watch your dog run away


for three whole days...

Al Truscott

Posted By Lance Nobles on 19 Nov 2013 08:03 PM


My run course/neighborhood is a series of rollers. There is very little flat land to cruise on. It's always work!



So, is it hurting doing my runs 60 mins or less at a constant Z4 or Z5 without any real intervals, just full blast per HR?



Or should I really find a treadmill to stick to the interval workout and recovery, then rinse and repeat.....

I think your question is, "How do I do TP intervals in my hilly neighborhood?"

Like Peter, I live in an area of endless up or down. E.g., I live at the bottom of a hill, three ways up, all going up 5-12% grade over 3/4 mile. I do just fine in that environment when I want to go at a Long Run Pace, or Marathon pace or even Half Marathon Pace running. But when I get up to 10k/5k speed (TP, Zone 4/5), then I have to make come compromise. I either go to a track (local school 3/4 mile away at the top of the hill, HS 5 miles away, or college 8 miles away), a treadmill if it's raining, or a rolling rail trail two miles away - still some hills, but manageable.

It's critical to do this type of work at the prescribed pace, keeping it steady. While that can be done by trying to maintain an even heart rate or Rate of perceived Exertion (RPE), those are lagging indicators - so you may start out working too hard - and, maybe more important, the gradient puts a different kind of stress on bones, ligaments, and muscles than the flatter course would. Increasing both the risk of injury, and not working the proper muscle system.

Also, the work/rest/work/rest ... protocol is essential to being able to get the proper training stress without getting so fatigued you have trouble with downstream workouts over the next few weeks. So going all out for, say, 20 minutes is not nearly as effective as going all out for 3 x 1 mile with 4 minutes easy walking/running between.

morpheus

similar boat here. It's taken 2-3 years to start to 'get' what Peter and Al are talking about. Seems ez on the computer screen, but I've had a hard time applying what is taught.

but, I'm finally starting to accept what/how I have to take what RnP put on paper and apply it to my terrain and resources.

Basically, I make a decision/connection on what is the purpose of the day's run. Pace work with intervals? I'll hit the treadmill or, preferably, the local HS track. Using numbers. Longer z1/z2/z3 stuff? I'll run the rollers around here and drop into a RPE mode. (have to stay disciplined with this...back off on the climbs, focus on cadence, be patient, don't try to look pretty for the passing cars or other runners....) That transition from numbers to RPE workouts comes from paying attention to what those paces felt like during the treadmill/track pace work.

I'm x2 on paying attention to recovery with hilly runs. Huge fatigue/heavy legs/injuries hang around if I don't space these really hilly runs out.

Please note, that I'm am, at best, an average runner. I'm just chiming in cuz I'm working on the same stuff you are!