Details

Building on the concepts of the last post I thought it worthwhile to note my thoughts on the "how" or my new running philosophy/practice. Having recognized in finer detail the wonkishness of my being, which has lead to so many frustrating injury enforced lay offs in my running, I have become rather methodical in my preparation. Well, I suppose the training plans I've designed in the past have also been very detailed, but they tended to work against me in that I would be tied to the plan so strongly that my attempts to keep to the schedule were at times counterproductive.

So, with this in mind, I have constructed a plan of sorts that is leading me towards a Fall marathon. It is simple, yet challenging:

• Tuesdays: Run 8-10km with a purpose
• Thursdays: Run 8-10km with a different purpose than Tuesday (unless it is a recovery week)
• Saturdays & Sundays: Long Run with a purpose on one day, short and slow recovery run on the other

The "purpose" is the key. For instance, I am trying to get faster so that I can make a solid attempt at the BQ at some point. Therefore, I no longer believe it is worthwhile to simply slog through slow miles and reinforce the habit of running slowly. Instead, I prefer to include variety in my training and have a bunch of choices at my disposal:

1. General Aerobic (the bread and butter run, which for me fits in the 4:45-5:09/km pace)
2. Easy (a slow General Aerobic run)
3. LSD (self explanatory, but always with a goal pace between BQ and 5:06/km)
4. Tempo/Tempo Intervals (distances vary with Short Temp pace at 4:04/km, Mid Tempo pace at 4:14/km, and Long Tempo pace at 4:23/km)
5. Speed/Track Repeats (200m up to 1600m intervals at various paces based on distance, but quick for me at 3:30/km to 3:47/km)
6. Fartlek (basically a General Aerobic run with pick ups here and there)
7. Hills (basicall a General Aerobic run while seeking out a decent hill for a few repeats)
8. Recovery (short distance at slower than 5:23/km pace)

Depending on how things go I reserve the right to run some trails and do other fun variations, but largely I will be choosing a specific goal for every run according to how I am feeling and/or where I am in my training.

More importantly, by giving myself the above structure I am forcing upon my training off days. Also, I am planning on a two weeks up, one week down approach to keep my body healthy. The down weeks will be very much low mileage and will serve to allow my body to properly recover from the tougher efforts that, if I am not careful, will definitely result in injury.

Added to the running component I will continue to strength train, but cut it down from 5 days/week to 3 days/week. I will also continue to bike to and from work and will now consider this 'cross-training', even if I will not keep any stats on how fast, far, or for how long. I do this ride every day and my effort varies. All told, it will serve the cross training purpose that most lower mileage training plans call for...