Training January 16 to 22, 2017

Monday AM boxford 10 mile with Uta, 1:07:55
               late AM few drills and massage with Anna
               PM road 4 solo, 28:31

Tuesday AM road 4.1 with Uta, 30:19
               PM 3 warm up, drills- a skip, b skip, a+c skip, fast exchange, side 1, side 2 and karaoka, fast exchange 3 with 3 hops, hopping, strides, Moneghetti Fartlek covered 3.7 miles- 0.05 more than last time so an improvement.   I dodged a bullet on this one it was supposed to be sleet and freezing rain but it arrived late so it just started to drizzle as I started the fartlek and it was just getting going good over my last few efforts.  It was a cold 3.6 mile cool down to the house but two weeks ago the whole thing was in a driving cold rain so this was a nice improvement.

I should also note that I'm using a garmin now to measure in the past I used online mapping.  For the most part this hasn't changed anything pretty much everything is within a 1/10th a mile up or down from what the other measure said.  That said on the loop I use for the Moneghetti the garmin is consistently .15 shorter.  So on the computer this was 3.85.  This is unimportant except for comparison to when I have done Mona's on this loop in the past.  For perspective I was quite fit at this point last winter and was covering 3.9 to 4.1 miles pretty consistently on this loop per computer measurement.  So seeing 3.7 could be pretty frustrating as 3/10ths of a mile is a LOT of distance over only 20mins.  It is the difference between 5:24 per mile and 5:00 per mile.  Realizing that really I'm only running 1/10th to 0.15 less than last year is important in that I don't panic and think I'm in abysmal shape and not making progress.

 I must stress it doesn't matter what matters is the effort for the workout and for tracking training what matters is the comparison to past results.  IE you don't need to measure the loop at all you could just keep track of landmarks telling you how far you get.  For me I know if I finish past Mt. Vernon street I'm killing it.
  For the type A folks among you who need to know which is more accurate I would guess the garmin.  This loop is pretty hilly and based on my race times last winter while I was doing this loop regularly the performances lined up with being able to do a 4 mile Mona on the perfect flat but not over rolling hills.  To be honest in measurements I only trust a USATF cert. over the top steel tape and the full nine yards type thing I few everything else as ballpark.  That said the technology today has made the ballpark much much smaller.

Mona rates this fartlek a "would you please just shut up and run."

Wednesday Off day- semi planned.  Been right on the edge with training and work and this week has been a bit over the top at work, pretty much 10 hours every day in the building not counting 'homework'. So figured I'd take a day, either today or Friday

Thursday AM road 4 with Uta, 31:17, felt very flat after a day off 

                 PM  off, got home very late and it was Melissa's Birthday so no time to run.

Friday PM 3.5 with Uta then 12x12 second hills with jog down recoveries. Not a good day for volume but very happy to squeeze this session in.

Saturday AM road 7.2 with Uta, 47:21, 40 degrees sunny felt spring like.
                PM boxford 10 mile loop, 1:06:04, very warm 50 or so ran in shorts!

Sunday AM warm up with Ruben, drills, bunch of strides, one 27 second effort, race GBTC invite 2 mile, 7th place 9:15.91.  I was very pleasantly surprised by this one.  I though 9:20 was the absolute best I could hope for.  I planned to try and run 35 laps as long as I could.  Instead I was consistently a shade under and it felt very easy/smooth.  I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but it didn't I ran hard the last 800 but I really feel like I could have run a second a lap faster just by being more aggressive. I really haven't done much work so this was really nice. 5.2 cool down with a group.

pic from Sunday by Mike Giberti showing me looking about as good form wise as I ever have.

Summary 66 or so miles for the week, 1 good workout, 1 moderate session, 1 race.  Not a great week volume wise but I hit the stuff that mattered so I'm happy with it.  Hope your training is going well.

My Current Training Plan

  This is an outline of my training schedule for the near future.  Basically until I get really fit or come up with a goal race.  This is a base phase or general fitness schedule.  This is not targeting racing well.  It is targeting improving my overall fitness.  It isn't too different from good half marathon specific training but I'm not doing it with a specific half marathon race in mind though I will likely run the New Bedford Half Marathon in March as well as the Jones 10 mile in February and a 15k in early April.

  This schedule is designed around four main goals.  In no order to return general aerobic fitness, to improve lactic threshold, to improve muscular power and efficiency, and to touch on every major training speed and effort in each two week cycle.  The workouts I selected were selected based on two main criteria.  First did they accomplish the training goal and second they had to work with the training resources and limitations I have currently.  Ie, I need to be able to do them without a track, in a New England winter, and in the dark as 11 out of 13 of my runs each week from early November until March are generally run in the dark.

  I like repeating a similar or even identical micro cycle a few times through a phase of training.  Partially because I can gauge how my body is progressing but also I'm just a very habital person who if I didn't give a damn about performance would probably do the same double every day over the same routes at the same effort. I like what I'm doing to be a bit mindless so I can focus entirely on doing it well.  Or at least that is the excuse I give myself.  

  Without further B.S. here is the schedule

For both week one and two I do an easy morning run, almost always 4 miles because of time constraints, Monday through Saturday.  On Saturday the run maybe done as the afternoon session and it maybe longer.

Week 1

Monday in the afternoon I'll do 10 miles at a steady effort- generally between 6:00 and 7:00 per mile, depending on conditions and how I'm feeling.  This is a fairly hilly run as there are a lot of hills around here.  After the run I'll do either Squats, dead lifts or box jumps.  The run is for recovery and general aerobic fitness, the exercises are for range of motion in my hips, power in my ankles and glutes and to increase strength as a means of increasing efficiency.

Tuesday in the afternoon I'll do a Mona Fartlek (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/monaghetti-fartlek.html) This is most importantly a bounce threshold or alternation session.  I would actually prefer to do Aussie quarters, (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2014/12/workout-wednesday-australian-quarters.html) right now to be able to focus on specific paces but with no indoor track option that isn't happening.  The secondary focus of this session is to touch on a bunch of quicker paces 5k down to perhaps mile.   After this session I'll do either squats, deadlifts, or box jumps.

Wednesday in the afternoon I'll do a medium long run.  Right now that is only 12 miles I'll build it up to 16, I should go up to 18 but frankly 18 miles after work in the dark is a tall order particularly when sandwiched between two workout days. Physiologically this workout is for basic aerobic fitness and there is a time on the feet efficiency training effect for the leg muscles but for me it is much more plainly about building up my ability to run longer without coordination problems.  Finally you guessed it I plan on doing either squats, deadlifts or box jumps after the run.

Thursday in the afternoon, short hill sprints- max effort very short, 10 seconds give or take. I'd prefer to keep with the 100's and the like but without a track that isn't an option and I don't have much for flat areas with good footing so short hills it is.  To be honest as a general rule I like short hills better anyway but right now I want to focus on my form on the flat so I'm sorry to lose that.  These are obviously a muscular exercise though they do also help increase the stroke volume of the heart.  I will start the winter only doing about 10 of these but I'll increase that by 2 or 3 sprints each time.  In the past I have done 30 or more sprints though I doubt I'll get to that many.  It will be key for me to keep good form on these which is a struggle for me on hills but I have been improving so hopefully it will be good practice. squats, deadlifts or box jumps after

Friday 10 miles, same as Monday.

Saturday 4x2 miles at Half marathon pace. with 3min recoveries with drills.  This is for lactate threshold and muscular endurance at speed.  The drills help with the latter and with improving form.

Sunday Long run- I'm around 13/14 miles now will try to push out to 20 to 22.  Long run is for basic aerobic fitness, efficiency and muscular endurance. I may do squats, deadlifts or box jumps after this.

Week 2

Monday same as last week

Tuesday 3 mile tempo, half marathon to marathon pace, 10x30 second hill repeats at a good effort, but not max, focus on form putting weight of stride on glutes and quads. Try not to hunch at shoulders. This is for lactate threshold and muscular power and efficiency.

Wednesday same as last week

Thursday 6 x mile at 10k pace with 2 to 3 mins recovery with drills- bit of threshold, lot of muscular efficiency and muscular endurance.

Friday same as last week

Saturday 20 to 30 x 20 second sprints fartlek style, meaning I'll just put them in on a run where the footing looks good. Full recovery.  This is for muscular efficiency and endurance.  Though it is also good for stroke volume but not as good as the hills.

Sunday fundamental tempo run in the 5:25 to 5:50 per mile range over rolling hills.  Hopefully as the coordination improves I'll be able to increase the volume on these.  This is my single favorite type of workout.  I have since beginning the form work I have been able to to up to 22 miles like this but only on soft surfaces.  So on the road I've been stuck in the 12 to 15 mile range on a good day.  I'm going to start in the 9 mile range and try to build up.  I may play with stopping for drills and continuing on in an attempt to 'teach' the body to hold the form that doesn't lead to coordination issues.  This is for aerobic fitness.  Sessions like this can lead to huge jumps in general aerobic fitness as well as your threshold.  I actually don't know exactly why perhaps it is simply that it is an under trained area or it is that threshold is impacted well by not going over it but by testing it from below.  I can tell you that these workouts changed my life as such for me I simply believe in them as an article of faith.  Also as I mentioned I love doing them.  Running for a long time at a quick pace is to me the single most enjoyable training experience.

Odds and Ends

 In weeks that I race I'll just drop the hard effort from the weekend.  If I race on a Sunday I'll skip the long run as well.  I'm planning a few races over the winter.  A 5k on the 1st.  A 5 mile, a 10 mile and a track 5k in February and a half marathon in March.  Hopefully by that point the winter is coming to an end and I'm getting fit and I'll be able to move onto a new training program with more specific goals. 

Why do Short Hills

Why do I do short hill repeats if I'm training for a marathon and not a mile?
I do short hill repeats for 2 reasons the first goal, and most obvious, is to gain physical strength. Since strength is in our sport is often interchangeable with speed I see why it seems strange for a marathoner to be doing this type of a workout especially with such frequency. I mean why try to get a faster top end speed when even to run a world record I only need to run 4:45 or 4:46 a mile. The first reason is that every race is a race of speed, meaning that no matter how long the race is the fastest person over the distance wins. But that alone doesn't justify hill repeats one to three times a week. The real reason is strength and speed over the short distance equal efficiency. By doing these hills and getting stronger and faster in the maxim. I teach my body to consume less glycogen, and less oxygen when moving at sub maximal speeds. The less of these "fuels" the body consumes at a given pace the longer I can hold that pace.
the 2nd reason I do short hills is that they drive my heart rate way up in an extremely short period of time, to within 10 beats of max or higher in 10 seconds or less and then because my heart rate hasn't been up that long and no acid needs to be flushed out of my system (it takes 15 seconds of an exercise to begin to produce any lactic acid) my heart rate basically plummets back down to a relatively rested level, 120 to 130 beats per minute, in a short time 20seconds to a minute. This exercise on the heart teaches the heart efficiency as well meaning it takes less energy to pump more blood.
Now if I was training for the mile I would still do short hill repeats for the same reasons I have listed above but I would probably try to go a little longer (say 13 to 15 seconds rather then my usual 8 to 12) and I would try to do it on a slightly less steep hill and with better footing. Why? Because a miler would want to improve there efficiency, muscular as well as heart but he/she would also want to work more specifically on there top end speed and running uphill but with your form closer to that which you use to run over flat ground is a spectacular way of doing that.

Finally the greatest advantage of short hills is that you can reap huge long term benefits without having to sacrifice much of anything. They are very easy on the body and mind. Sure you run all out but only for a few seconds so they really are not hard and because little or no acid is accumulated in the system they take little recovery at all. This is why if I had one thing I would recommend to all runners to add to there program right now short hills would be it. They improve your basic speed, improve your efficiency and strengthen your heart and if you do them once or twice a week your body won't be any more tired or worse for the wear. It’s a win win situation. I am convinced that these, progression runs and the use of circuit training are the biggest reasons the Kenyans are so far beyond us here in the US. That said I believe we are starting to look to their training and we are closing the gap rapidly. So add progression runs and short hills to your routine and join the charge for world class running in the US, or at least a new pr.