IT'S "OFFICIAL"

Now that I have a new approach in place, I started looking at the 2012 racing calendar. I’m thinking about signing up for the MDRA Grand Prix. I won’t run every race on there, but I have my eyes on 9 or 10 of them. There are a few other races I like a lot (Human Race, Get in Gear, Victory), so I’ll try to run them too. Plus I want to enter a few of the classics that I’ve never run, like Raspberry Days, Firecracker, and maybe even some of the road miles.

Joe Rubio says that most runners tend to over-think their training. Basically, his plan for the Endless Season just alternates between the following 2 weeks;

Week #1

Sun: easy run - 50-60 minutes

Mon: maintenance run (slightly faster than easy) 50-60 minutes

Tues: short intervals like 8 x 400m @ 3K pace with 200m jog

Wed: progression run – 75-90 minutes

Thur: true recovery day – 0-30 minutes

Fri: tempo run – 2 mile w/up and cooldown with 4 miles at tempo

Sat: long run 90-100 minutes



Week #2

Everything is the same except for Tuesday

Tues: long intervals like 5 x 1 mile @ 10K pace with 800m jog

That’s it – pretty simple. He also mixes in strides and accelerations before the intervals and tempos. And if you’re racing on Saturday, you simply replace the tempo run with a maintenance run.

I mentioned that one of the key elements for this to work is running everything at the correct intensity. Rubio suggestions using something like Daniels’ book or McMillan’s site to determine your correct paces based on recent performances. Given that I haven’t raced lately, I (hope) am being conservative and going with a VDOT of 48. Based on Daniels’ charts that means I’m in about 20:30 5K shape and 42 minute 10K shape. That means my 3K pace is around 6:25, 10K pace is around 6:50 and tempo pace is around 7:00. The last two weeks I’ve run 3 mile tempos around 7-7:15 pace, so I think I’m in the ballpark.

The nice thing about being so slow is that I can even run my short intervals on a treadmill that only goes 10 MPH.

I’m “officially” starting this program today. Right now my plan is to focus on shorter races through July and then switch to a 10-11 week marathon cycle leading up to TCM. Of course, it’s only December, so this will likely change – especially once we get snow. But it’s where I’m at now.

Last week I ended up with 49 miles on the week.

Quote of the Day;

“Overall, I cannot believe I actually won and it shows how well I have progressed in a very short time under Coach [Dennis] Barker. I am very honored to be able to get my first USA win as a Team USA Minnesota athlete." – Jon Grey after winning the USATF club cross country championships