Run Workout Question
Haus Vets I've got a question for you:
Today I was prescribed a run workout as follows: 1:00 hour total with a MS of: 4 X 200, 3 X 1000 (Zone 5)--each with full recoveries, then to keep the rest of the workout at Zone 1.
I was feeling good and completed the MS no problem. I was feeling so good I decided to ramp up the pace from the prescribed 7:30 (Z1) min/mile to 7:00 min/ mile (no man's land but faster than Z1), only for 10 minutes, still ending with 5:00 minutes of cool down at 7:30 min/mi (Z1). I
Should I not push it a little like I did above and keep it slow as prescribed? Is it okay to push it a little when you feel strong? What say ye?
By the way, my legs don't feel toasted afterwards and I feel like it won't compromise tomorrow's workout.
Comments
Stephen,
Note - I just re-read your post and I realize that I had my Z's backwards! Doing part of your warmdown around Z2 rather than Z1 I don't think is going to kill you. I had thought that you were talking about dropping 30 seconds off your Z5 time...and I'm thinking that would be BAD. So the rest of this post is kinda off for your particular question!
While I don't know much about your current plan, I can offer some general guidance: don't do more than the plan says. If you find that you're always having a bit of extra juice, and you can't wait until your next test, then you might want to drop 5 seconds down on your main set pace. That would go under the category of "I think I sandbagged my last test, so I think I should be running at this new pace." I wouldn't do your main set per the plan, then throw any extra gas you have in the fire and see what comes out. That sounds like a good way to get injured.
I would add that I think you're looking too narrowly at the window of time that the extra work can affect. You comment that your legs don't feel trashed, but I think the real metric is how your legs feel after tomorrow's planned workout. The plan is just that - a PLAN. So I think it's shortsighted to look at any one workout in a vacuum.
Expanding on that, if you look into the November group, you'll see a number of people now that we're into week 8 starting to wonder where their mojo slinked off to, why their legs are trashed, etc. The moral - the plan is for months, not days. You don't want to burn a season because you have some extra gas on any one day.
Ok, now that all the official stuff is out there - yeah, if every once in a while you realize that you have some gas, and you're feeling the juice, then cranking out an extra 10 min isn't going to kill you. But I would suggest that by doing so you get the short term high at the expense of long term gains.
Mike the "Killjoy"