Barry P Running Plan (Page 2)

I would like to do this too- building my running back up gradually after another injury set back, and I don't see my self doing any speed work for a long time.

I'm only running 5 days per week so far though, and by time it's about 30-30-30-60-60. Eventually I want to get to the 3:2:1 where the long run is 90 minutes, so I'll probably start by spreading that total mileage over the six days.

My first year of running (at age 44) 3x per week was riddled with large and small injuries, and very frustrating! :-(

So, I think I'm going to try this, but I'm having trouble figuring my paces.

If I'm running a little more than a 5k 3x per week (about 9.75 MPW) now at around a 9:30 pace, what should be my paces be for 1:2:3? (BTW, my best 5k race of the 8 I did was a 8:37 pace.)

Also, am I correct that Week 1 (10 miles/week is pretty close to what I'm doing now) would look like this:
Day 1 - 1 mile
Day 2 - 2 miles
Day 3 - 1 mile
Day 4 - 2 miles
Day 5 - 1 mile
Day 6 - 3 miles

Then should I increase it 5-10% each week, or do two weeks, then increase it 5-10%?

Edited by DannyII 2013-11-10 12:26 PM

If your 5K race pace was 8:37/mile, then you should slow down that easy pace to closer to 10:30. Slowing down now may sound counter-intuitive, but it is what will allow you to build mileage more easily and safely. It really works. To compare-- my easy pace is 9:40/mile only when I'm racing about 7:30/mile for a 5K. Now my 5K race pace is about 8:15/mile, and my easy pace is about 10:00/mile.

Your increases do not have to be set-- you can hold it at the same increase before increasing again, or keep increasing with small increments (5%) most weeks.

You will know when it is time to increase 5 - 10% by how you feel. Was your runs extremely easy or are you getting fatigued by the time you hit your long run? If it seems extremely easy and you are not exhausted at the end of the week and soar then it might just be time for a slight bump in mileage/time.

Hey Danny,

I'm in the exact same boat as you are and I just finished my first week of 1mi, 2mi, 1mi, 2mi, 1mi, 3mi, off. My 10k pace in my first tri was right about where your 5k pace was, but in training for that I ran only 2 times per week (increasing from 20min each when I first started to 40 minutes a week up to race time). Hence, even up to my race, I was running about 10 - 12 miles a weeks.

So I decided to start with 10 mi/week. This week definitely felt easy, but I've read that its supposed to. Trying to "run easy" my pace ends up fluctuating between 10-11 min/mi (Jen was spot on).

Ok. I think I got it. I'm going to add 2 minutes to my best 5k race pace, so something around 10:30ish should do, right?

This first week will be interesting. Getting changed and ready for a 1 mile run at a 10:30 pace; it'll take longer to get ready than to do it!

Question: Right now, I typically do 5 minutes of warm up walking, and then 5 minutes of cool-down walking followed by some stretching after a run. What do I do now?

This very well may be completely wrong, but I don't warm up for an 11min mile. I feel like that was my prior "warm up" pace and I don't feel its really necessary (also adds unaccounted for miles).

Though my 10 min mile today (short run) I did after a 90 minute spin, so I was pretty much warmed up from that. On a weekdays this past week where I had nothing going on other than a run (no swim, no lift, etc) I just go out nice and slow.

x 2 Don't worry about pace while doing this plan. You want to be able to run at a pace slow enough such that you can have a normal conversation.

I usually just ease into my pace in the first few minutes without doing a walking warmup. However, if you are running only 1 mile now for the short runs, adding some walking isn't a bad idea. And I hardly stretch after a run.

How are people doing? I started doing this in conjunction with the Holiday Streak- run every day between Thanksgiving and New Years; just added an extra 10% day.

Here is the tricky part, and I assume I just don't have to be perfect for this- sometimes my runs are a little more , sometimes a little less than the target % for the day. Does that seem right?

I have been doing a 'modified' version of this, just because my schedule is a little weird...so I'm asking here since this seems to be a current thread.

Probably started running 5-6x/week a year ago, after seeing BarryP's info. Love the schedule and although I seem to be injury prone, it seems to work quite well! Got some great advise in past forums, and here is where my milage is now:

Starting on a Monday: 5,2,6,2,10,2

If I only run 5x I would drop the last 2 miler.

I know, not really what the plan says, but here's why:

I teach 2 spin classes on Tues and Thurs - one at 5:15am and at 9:15. These are the days that I can really only fit in a 2 miler (in-between) due to time constraints, picking up kids from school, errands, life etc.

I've tried running 3 on these days but the fatigue in my legs is usually the limiting factor. My Mon/Wed/Fri and maybe a weekend day are designated medium and long run days, since I don't teach on these days.

Other than backing off on my intensity for spin, any suggestions or a way to shuffle the milage around so that I'm back on plan.

I'm doing a Half Marathon in Feb and Duathlon in March.

Thanks for any advice!

I am in week 6 (started on 11/3/13) and have been fairly consistent (missed my first, and hopefully only, day this past weekend because I was at a bachelor party).

I started with 10 miles per week and increased to 11 the second week, 12.1 the third, 13.3 the fourth,14.6 this past week, with 16 slated for this week). So far so good, feel like I'm getting my running legs (will get niggling pains here and there but will resolve soon thereafter).

FWIW, I'm in the same boat as you - my runs tend to skew up since they're never quite perfect, which has led to my actual mileage being 12 miles a week a majority of the weeks. I feel like that ok; after all, as I felt fresh for all of the runs. Also, I've been told that you could spend weeks with the same mileage, so I'm thinking that sweating minor fluctuations would be losing the forest for the trees.

resurrecting thsi for a quick question- do you think it matters if the mileage is broken up to 2 parts during a day? I'm thinking about running over tot he pool, swimming, then running back. The total distance is even a little more than I need for the day right now, but it'd line up my exercising pretty nicely.

that's a different workout. If you're doing a running workout, do a running workout. A swim in the middle is a brick, sort of an aquathlon, but not a run. Breaking runs into two parts would be great on its own, but not as much with the swim in the middle.

do you think it's just a question of the continuity of the same kind of workout?

Sometimes I'm pretty sure there aren't enough hours in the day!

That's basically what I am wondering- there aren't enough days in the week to train 6 days with BarryP, 3 days swimming, 3 days biking- that would make a 12 day week if everything had to be on it;s own?

(newbie, so don't think I'm been flippant) (or at least not really flippant)

I don't see a problem with this. Especially if the alternative is missing either the swim or the run.

is it not possible to do 2 workouts a day? I do that most days, one in the morning one in the evening, or one in the afternoon, one in the evening...I guess it all depends on your time constraints, but it's not at all uncommon to do a twofer.

It's pretty hard for me given open pool times, kids, work, etc. Lumping 2 together would be easier! Again, if it isn't compromising training. Does it?

I have to remember that training isn't just checking off that I did something, but I need to do it right too, or it's not as much benefit as it could be.

Edited by el penguino 2014-01-13 10:34 AM