Running Around 1-8-07

First, I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to my Christmas present ... Thank you!

We've had a solid 6 weeks of pure base training, and now it's time to get a little more structured. We'll be doing a mix of tempo and progression runs over the next few weeks to gradually re-introduce some speed. I'll give you the option of selecting tempo (track) or progression (road) this week. I guess you could run a progression run on the track if you want. Or you could get creative and use the warmup as the easy part of the progression run and finish on the track with the faster stuff.

Why progression runs? They teach us how to change gears and overcome general fatigue (physical and mental). These are important in races because holding an even pace will require increasingly greater focus and energy as the race progresses. Also, they allow us to train more than one energy system during a workout while providing some variety.

Now for the workouts ... 20 weeks until Expo 10k, and 12 weeks until the Knoxville Marathon:

Expo runners: Choose one from (1A, 1B, 2 )
Knoxville marathon or half: Choose two of the three (1A, 1B, 2 ). You could include 4-5 miles @MP as part of your long run as an alternative to a separate progression run.

1A. Progression run: 1 hour total with 25 minutes easy, 30 minutes at marathon pace (MP), 5 minutes easy at the end (as a cooldown). You can extend this to as long as 10 miles with at least 30 minutes hard at the end. Remember MP is just a pace relative to your current fitness level. Whether you're training for a marathon or not is irrelevant.

1B. 3-4 x 1600m @T pace with 1 minute rest

2. Hills: 5-10 x hills. Usually we run these on Cherokee Blvd, but you could pick a hill somewhere else that is 200-400m in length.

3. Striders 4-6 x 100m twice this week.

Get your paces here: http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html -or- http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/rp.php