Running Around 3-24-08

Marathon week is here. Good luck to all who are running any of the events. If you're not running and can lend a hand, I'm sure they can still use volunteers. See the following site for more information on volunteering:
http://www.knoxvillemarathon.com/Volunteer/VolunteerOpportunities.cfm

For marathoners and 1/2 marathoners, I have a sharpening workout that should get you ready to run well on Sunday while keeping the legs fresh. See workout 1b listed below. I also strongly recommend doing some striders on Thursday and/or Friday to keep sharp.

For everyone else, we're moving into the next phase of training that focuses on improving VO2 max. That's simply your ability to use oxygen efficiently. These are typically the most strenuous workouts in the training cycle. The most important part of this week's workout is to be vigilant about your recovery time. It should be less than or equal to the time you spend on the hard stuff. So, if you run 1000m in 4:45, your recovery jog should be limited to 4:45 or less.

For those doing 2 workouts per week, the second one our bread & butter tempo workout. We'll probably do hills next week.


Now for the workout summary ... 9 weeks until Expo 10k & 5k:

1a. 4-8x1000m @I-pace with 400m jog recovery. Hard running should be 7-8% of your weekly mileage. Keep the jog less than or equal to the time spent running the 1000s.

1b. 2-3x1200m @T-pace w/1 min rest + 4-6 x 200m @R-pace w/200m jog recovery. For marathoners and 1/2 marathoners.

2. 3-6x1600m @T-pace w/1 min rest. About 10% of weekly mileage.

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