So I’ve decided to give Brad Hudson’s program a shot after checking his book out from the library. He also has a website and there’s a Running Times article on him here.He talks a lot about adaptive training and constantly evaluating how things are going and making changes along the way. To me it sounds a lot like Double’s comments about running hard when you feel good and backing off when you don’t. He also has some interesting thoughts on building muscular strength through short intense hill sprints. For example, yesterday’s 6 mile run included 2 x 8 seconds up the steepest hill I could find. That’s it for the first workout. Of course, the number of reps will increase weekly.
There are some other concepts that I found interesting too. I’m sure you’ll be hearing about them in the near future. Right now I’m on week #1 with the plan to run Whistlestop in the fall.
Quote of the Day;
"One of the things I’m sure of in training is to always change your stimulus. We’re always trying to throw things at the nervous system: Even on a long run, we’ll do a minute on, minute off, running harder at the end, we do tempo runs uphill. . . . Too often people are just doing the same training all the time." – Brad Hudson
I have no idea what sprinting has done for my distance running performance, but it has taken my overall fitness level to new levels. I believe it's one of the single best exercises you can do. I'll do a sprint workout once a week and try to mix it up every time...sometimes hills, sometimes combined with other exercises, etc.
ReplyDeleteI have incorporated the hill sprints he talks about in his book. I feel that it has helped me develop more strength. At first I thought it was crazy to do hill sprints on the easy day (Mon) following a long run and before the speedwork day (Tues). I later realized that it doesn't take a whole lot out of the body since it is short hill sprints. If anything, I think it helps.
ReplyDeleteThose hill sprints sound relatively easy to incorporate in to training. I may give that a try.
ReplyDeleteI know 2 others trying Hudson's training plans for Fall marathons. I'll be interested to see how it works out for each of you.
Doing the sprints sounds really interesting and fun. It looks like others have done it with success. I'll have to think about incorporating some into my workouts. Let us know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI bought this book a few months ago and have been reading it slowly... very slowly, as I continue with my normal habits to follow Pfitz. Interested to see what you think...
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion going on here. If need be, feel free to ask Brad questions over in our forum that just re-opened up. We'd love for it to go back to being a location for other runners using the book to collaborate. We'll be answering questions as they are posted too. marathonperformance.com/forum
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