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Long pace/long recovery
5K/10K workout
500 meters @ pace/ 300 meters R (Recovery)
3x/4x/5x 500 meters (1 1/4 laps) run at race pace with 300 meters (3/4 lap) recovery jog, three sets or four sets or five sets
Distance Focus (more than 10K as max race distance)
500 meters pace / 300 meters R, 5x/6x/7x
The goal of this workout is to stretch out the distance of the repeat to push the athlete towards that aerobic/anaerobic threshold, but insuring not to step over the line, thereby diminishing the value of the workout. The first one or two shouldn’t seem to be that bad. Refrain from stepping it up however, because the benefit of the workout is at the tail end of it, not the beginning. The first couple are to set the stage for the difficulty of the workout, to tire you out enough so the later rounds provide the work load that will make you faster. If the workout seems too easy, add a repeat rather than increase your pace. If you add a repeat at the end and it seems too easy, choose a faster pace the next time around.
Beginning runners
Prepare to cover 10 laps (2 and 1/2 miles) by running as easily as you can for one lap, then walking for one lap. As your fitness improves add one lap of running to the workout, while keeping the walking lap the same until you can run for 10 laps straight. Now you are ready to begin the 5K/10K workout regime.
In 2010, Mascenic high school coach Mike Smith volunteered his services to the Milers to oversee Wednesday night track workouts at Conval High School from April to October, starting at 6PM. While many programs revolve around running repeats of 400, 800 and 1600 meter intervals, faster than race pace and with a timed rest period, Smith's program focuses on active recovery and continuous work at 5K pace. Considering most adults only race down to the 5K distance, goal pace at that distance is an excellent pacing regime for all distances beyond 5K.
The success of his program has shown proven results. He has coached more than twenty individual state champions as well as five state championship teams in cross country, the most recently in 2014. He was recognized in 2006 as the women's cross country coach of the year, and again in 2014 as the men's coach of the year by the NHCCCA. His teams performance in 2014 was also strong enough to garner him the NH's men's coach of the year by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He currently competes over a range of distances, 5K to marathon. He lives in New Ipswich with his wife, Gretchen, and his two daughters, Victoria and Amelia, and trains all over the region trying to stay one step ahead of them.
See you on the track, April through September.
Coach Mike Smith on transitioning to the great outdoors
I hesitate to say warmer weather is right around the corner, but during the month temperatures are certain to move towards the warmer end of the winter weather spectrum, and you’ll be tempted to break out the shorts without having the running pants over the top of them. I find March to be refreshing in that I see bare ground beginning to poke through the cover of snow.
At this point I’ve spent two months or more away from the various trails and grassy surfaces I use to supplement the training I do on the roads. While most of my mileage is founded on asphalt, I truly enjoy getting off of it in order not to just give my legs a break, but my mind as well.
Running off road has it’s psychological benefits as well as it’s physiological benefits. While less pounding is good on joints, faster turnover saves both the muscles in the legs and teaches efficiency, the switch to undulating terrain with varied surfaces aids the psyche even more. There is nothing like the anonymity of being out in the woods, without particular trail markings and distances well known, that allows the mind to relax, to reboot, to remember why we are drawn to this pursuit.
For the most part, very few of us started running because we were already accomplished at it. We started for other reasons, maybe for fitness, maybe for something to do, maybe because we enjoyed pushing ourselves. But we’ve kept at it because it brings us some amount of joy, a joy that for the vast majority of us rooted in the fact that, at times, when we put away the watch and let our fitness and mind set determine the pace, allowing us to feel a sense of freedom. A freedom to run how we feel. I probably won’t hit the trails until well after the first of the month, and it might not even be until April that I get to go out and get one of those kind of runs in. But March tells me it’s coming. There will be some weeks where I will spend more time trying to avoid mud and puddles, keeping the shoes dry so they don’t weigh me down. But I know that somewhere in there I’ll get some of these runs in.
By summer I’ll be desperate to “hit the woods” in an effort to avoid the heat. And I know in mid June I will have some very up-tempo runs on the Widerness Trail in Lincoln, NH. I’ve been doing these runs for the past five years and have well recorded the time and effort those runs have taken me. My summer job takes me to North Conway three times a week and I use this opportunity to get in a solid workout on the relatively flat old railroad bed which is slightly uphill on the way out, slightly downhill on the way back. I run three miles out to Franconia Falls or five miles to the Bond Cliff trail, then turn around and run negative split on the way back. With the slight downhill, the run back can get quite fast.
As always, I will measure the time the run took. I will compare the effort and times, but unlike a calculated tempo workout on a well run road circuit, the conditions of the day will prevail, not the need to match or beat the times I’ve posted previously. I will finish breathless, sweat and mud covering the parts of me not covered with clothes, spent. I will soak my sore body in the cold water of the Pemigewasset, removing both the dirt and the effort from my legs. As I sit there on the rocks, I will relish the effort, not the time, that went into this run.
I will have run by feel.
Milers can be found running the roads on most weekends. Runs vary in length, but are typically 4-8 miles, with long runs often added during marathon training seasons. There is a wide range of paces and interests, from new runners to seasoned competitors.
See below for routes frequently run on weekends. Links take you to mapmyrun.com for complete route details.
Saturdays, 8:00AM - Hancock Town Offices
Sundays - Check Facebook for group runs
Favorite Francestown Routes (all start and end at the parking lot near the carriage sheds in the center of town):
3 Mile route along the Francestown 5K race course
The full 5 mile Francestown Five course with a little extra
Pleasant 5 mile, known as "Fersen Loop"
5 Mile Dump Loop (via King Hill Rd. or run in reverse via Poor Farm Rd.)
Nice 10 mile, scenic route via Journey's End
Our favorite 13 mile loop, challenging and scenic... the "Reservoir Loop" via Deering Reservoir
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