Training by running every local road race

I thought about this. one thing that would concern me though is that I would get TOO comfortable with being in a race...so when it was time to really gear up for a serious one, it might not really work.

or maybe that's just stupid, and wouldn't happen.

Check out the active.com state for Mark Lipking, my AG competitor here in Mississippi. He ran something like 45 road races in 2007. Most of them were 5Ks, but he salted in a few 10Ks, halfs, and a marathon or two. Quite remarkable.

Maybe it's different on the roads (I really don't know), but I remember a high school season where my coach only had me running slow/moderate repeat miles with minimal rest and 10+ mi. distance runs.

Basically it was like cross-country training while only racing the 800/1600 with 4x400 thrown in for torture.

End result was that my 3200m race pace felt like a breeze through 2400m and the mid-season races were really just hard workouts at distances I wasn't very good at.

Maybe if you're training for a marathon, running a 5K or 10K intelligently every other weekend isn't such a bad idea and could reap benefits.

But if you're training for a 5K and you're only racing the 5K, I think then you might hit some more serious problems and get stale.

I do plenty of local races, but I am in my 2nd year of running only.

I already love to peak once a year, and I do base+race 9-10 months. I run 10k to HM, sometimes a 5k.

I build up towards a first real marathon in 2009 and I like my gradual approach.

My muscles had torn months ago if I interval-trained right away.

IMO many road races are a laid-back approach and a "soft" way to train.

I am 32 years old.

So how much prize money can you win at your local races? Compare to the cost of entering said races.

I would offer that one's ability to improve is impaired by over-racing

Right, prize money isn't a guarantee, and entry fees are getting pricier all the time (not that in my case, prize money is a factor, although merchandise age group awards are always a nice bonus).

But honestly, I find if I race more than, say, once every two or three weeks (and more likely once a month), I get sated with races. The group interval workouts I do once a week give me the satisfaction of running with other like-minded people, and otherwise, I'm perfectly happy with my solitary tempo runs and interval workouts. Personal satisfaction has no price.

Benji Durden did this back in the late '70s and '80s using Atlanta area races. He finished 2nd at the 1980 marathon trials (the boycott trials) and 2nd at Boston in 1983 in 2:09:58. I guess it worked well enough for him.

Correction, Benji was 3rd at Boston.

Hey Kudzu,

Where are the coolrunning folks posting these days? Those were some great threads over there before it all changed.

I have run 40 roadraces in a year. It is a great way to get yourself in racing shape, but you will find that your times will level off in 6-8 weeks. You can mix up the distances over the year to keep interested. Start with 5k's and work your way up to longer races as the year goes on and you get stronger. I just liked taking a little mini vacation every weekend going somewhere to race. I did pick a race every 4 to 5 weeks to shoot for that was a "big" race compared to some of the local festival races.

The key to racing every weekend is to be well rested for every race. I tried to run harder for 4 days including the race and then recover the other 3 days.

Saturday-race

Sunday-Steady 8-10 miles

Monday-crosstrain (or easy run)

Tuesday-warmup, 5 mile tempo, cooldown

Wednesday-crosstrain

Thursday-easy run or crosstrain

Friday-Off

repeat

Some weeks replace tempo with intervals. Like I said before, you can improve for 6 to 8 weeks and then hold a plateau for months on this schedule, but to improve, you have to go back and build a better base.