Running Around 2-18-08

Now for the workout you've all been waiting for .... hill repeats! Yeah!

Hill workouts should be run at about the same intensity you run 400m repeats on the track (aka R-pace). Even though the intensity and effort are the same, don't expect to maintain the same pace. Remember to focus on good form and light, quick steps. Experiment a little to see what works best for you, but some suggestions for hill running include slightly shorter strides, leaning slightly forward, and slightly exaggerating your arm drive and knee lift. Note that I included "slightly" often. These are subtle not radical adjustments.

The hill route is at the Kingston Pike end of Cherokee Blvd. We start at the iron gate and jog down to where the path is interrupted by the road the second time. When you get to the bottom, turn around and run up. Jog back down for recovery. Since you finish at the top, there is no need to do a recovery jog after your last one. The hill is slightly over 400m. The route is here: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=9492.

There are two warmup options for the hill workouts. The first is to run the greenway (cross the Ag bridge) out to Cherokee Blvd. That route is about 3 miles. The second route is Kingston Pike to Cherokee Blvd. Conveniently, it's almost exactly 2 miles. I've mapped it out here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=28366 ... Start at the track. Cross the bridge to the Ag campus. Cross Neyland and pick up the greenway next to the river. Follow the greenway and then continue to the intersection of Neyland and Kingston Pike. Cross over to the North side of Kingston Pike to run on the sidewalk. Follow K.P. all the way to Cherokee Blvd. Since it will be getting dark, be extremely careful -- especially crossing K.P!!

I am not up to doing hills yet, but if you all need someone to show you the way, I'll do my road run in that direction this week.

Also, this is the point in training where I usually start doing a second workout each week. For those of you inclined to do so, I'll start listing a secondary workout. The #1 workout is always the preferred and recommended workout if you are only doing one each week.

Now for the workouts ... 14 weeks until Expo 10k & 5k:

1. 4-10 x Hills. Up hard, down easy. Volume should be 5% of weekly mileage. The hill is about 0.3 miles each direction. So ...
50+ mpw: 8-10 hills
45+ mpw: 7-8 hills
40+ mpw: 6-7 hills
35+ mpw: 5-6 hills
30+ mpw: 5 hills
25+ mpw: 4-5 hills
20 mpw: 4 hills

2. 3-5 x 2000m @T pace with 75 seconds rest. Volume should be 10% of weekly mileage. Drop down to 1600m or 1200m for the last one if you're in between.

3. Striders 4-6 x 100m.

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