Running Around 9-17-07

Hope everyone had a great race at Wears Valley. The weather was perfect for fast times and a nice relief from the 90-100 degree days we've had during the summer.

With 9 weeks until Autumnfest, we'll shift our focus a little and do some workouts to improve VO2 max - a measure of your body's ability to get oxygen to the muscles for maximum power output. These types of workouts typically range from 800-1600m and have a rest interval that is equal in time to the work part of the interval.

If you're tired and/or sore from the race on Sunday, you can substitute the #2 workout or do a road run on the greenways. Striders are a good way to work out some of the kinks and get back on track following a hard race.

Now for the workouts ... 9 weeks until Autumnfest 8k:

1. 4-10x800@I pace with 400m jog recovery. Volume of the I running should be 7-8% of your weekly mileage.

2. 2-6 x 2000 @T pace with 90 seconds recovery + 2x200m @R with equal distance jog recovery. The volume of the T running should be around 10% of your weekly mileage.

3. Striders. 4-6x100m twice this week.

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