This Week's Running

Okay great job last week! Saturday's long run was very successfully done!

Here’s our running schedule for the week…

Monday: Monday is a cross training day. If you’re signed up for Adventure Boot Camp, make sure you’re in camp on 2 of the cross training days (M-W-F). In order for us to succeed at the Pig, we need to train. Training is when you follow a schedule, like our 18 week one, where each day has a purpose. If the weather is bad, we still run. If you have important business and cannot make the group runs or boot camp, we simply find another time to get your workout in. Why? Because the accumulation of our workouts over a period of a 18 weeks will make you a better runner.

Tuesday: On Tuesday we’ll do a run of 4 miles at a comfortable or easy pace, the same as last week. This workout shouldn't take very long and it’s critically important in the process of oxygenating your cells and muscles in a manner that will help you recover from last week’s training. The most important thing, though, go easy on Tuesday.

Wednesday: Cross training again. If you’re not in boot camp, do some strength training, focusing on all of your muscles. But make sure you’re working your legs to give you the support you need to long distance running.

Thursday: We do our first of 5 Yasso training runs on a track. I heard a lot of grumbling about how the running group didn’t like the track work we did last fall. Hey, we only have 5 sessions out of 54 running workouts that we need to be on a track. Suck it up!! ;) It’s actually a great way to discover your pace for the marathon (over the 5 sessions) and it’s a great workout too. If you want to run a 4:00 marathon, train to run a session of 800 intervals (twice around the track) in 4 minutes for each. Between the 800 intervals, jog for the same number of minutes it took you to run your repeats. This method holds for all speeds whether you are 2:30 or a 5:30 marathoner. Again, the 800 paces that you are able to complete is a good predictor of your marathon time. 4 minute 800s equals a 4:00 marathon; 5:30 800s equals 5 hours and 30 minutes for the marathon. Our first Yasso training on Thursday will include 6 intervals of 800 meters.

Friday: Cross training again. Keep your muscles strong and your body healthy for all the accumulated mileage.

Saturday: Today is long-run day, and we’re adding one mile to last week’s long run for 15 miles. Next week we’ll taper back to 9 miles to allow our body some recovery before going a bit longer the following 2 weeks. One mistake you want to avoid is running these long runs too fast. We did a great job this past Saturday with our pace – although long, it didn’t feel overwhelming (especially thanks to Rob’s great story telling). Just remember, we never want to do our long runs faster than about 90 seconds per mile slower than our marathon pace. Running too fast on the long days creates too much stress, coupled with your other training, making it difficult for the body to recover.

Sunday: A well earned day of rest.

The running schedule is here!

See you tomorrow!

Your friend in fitness! Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105 www.CincinnatiFitness.com