I just wanted to add my name to the list of people who have had success running the 'BarryP style'. For those that don't know, it's a pretty complex plan: Run a bunch, be super consistent, and don't thrash yourself.
Last season my run program was a bit of a mess. I was only running three days per week and almost every run contained some sort of interval or tempo. This was after a ~5 year layoff from serious running. I wasn't getting any consistent miles because I was too thrashed from the workouts to run any more often. St. George 2017 was my 53rd run of the year, and I ran 1:55 (with a three minute emergency nature break).
Needless to say, I realized I needed to do something different this year, so I decided to adopt the BarryP 3:2:1 approach (if your weekly mileage is x, then you do three runs of x/10, two runs of x/5, and one of 3x/10). I started at 12 miles in the week of Jan 1 and built up to 10 straight week of 40 mpw leading up to St.G this year. After six or seven weeks of build, I introduced a little intensity, sometimes in the form of a fast finish long run (something like 5 miles at 8:30 pace followed by 7 miles at ~7:30 pace), but more often in the form of a tempo run (two mile WU in ~18 minutes, 5 miles hard tempo, always trying to break 35:00, one mile easy). Today (St.G race day) was my 107th run of 2018, and I ran 1:42. That is especially sweet, given how absurdly hard this course is, and that my all time PR is 1:37, on a flat flat course circa 2009 when I was running about 2000 miles per year. I've never been a 'good' runner, but today I was strong and didn't buckle in the heat.
Tomorrow will be my first 'missed' run of the year, but I'm looking forward to keeping the consistency going. Thanks to BarryP and all the others who wrote on his threads (I've read them over and over).
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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.
Last season my run program was a bit of a mess. I was only running three days per week and almost every run contained some sort of interval or tempo. This was after a ~5 year layoff from serious running. I wasn't getting any consistent miles because I was too thrashed from the workouts to run any more often. St. George 2017 was my 53rd run of the year, and I ran 1:55 (with a three minute emergency nature break).
Needless to say, I realized I needed to do something different this year, so I decided to adopt the BarryP 3:2:1 approach (if your weekly mileage is x, then you do three runs of x/10, two runs of x/5, and one of 3x/10). I started at 12 miles in the week of Jan 1 and built up to 10 straight week of 40 mpw leading up to St.G this year. After six or seven weeks of build, I introduced a little intensity, sometimes in the form of a fast finish long run (something like 5 miles at 8:30 pace followed by 7 miles at ~7:30 pace), but more often in the form of a tempo run (two mile WU in ~18 minutes, 5 miles hard tempo, always trying to break 35:00, one mile easy). Today (St.G race day) was my 107th run of 2018, and I ran 1:42. That is especially sweet, given how absurdly hard this course is, and that my all time PR is 1:37, on a flat flat course circa 2009 when I was running about 2000 miles per year. I've never been a 'good' runner, but today I was strong and didn't buckle in the heat.
Tomorrow will be my first 'missed' run of the year, but I'm looking forward to keeping the consistency going. Thanks to BarryP and all the others who wrote on his threads (I've read them over and over).
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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.