Running Around 7-18-09

We have been working on base mileage for 8 weeks, and now it's time to get back to work. This marks the first week in our fall training cycle. As usual, we will train to peak for the Autumnfest 8k on Thanksgiving day. If you are targeting a different race, don't worry. The workouts should have you running fast in late October and throughout November.

There's no better way to kick off our training than ..... hills! The key is to work on good form and run a hard, steady pace throughout each repeat. Run these at the intensity you would run 200m or 400m repeats on the track -- 90-95% effort.

The hill workouts are run on the top section of Cherokee Blvd at Kingston Pike. Start at the iron & stone gate and run down to the where the path is broken the 2nd time for turning cars. Downhill is the recovery, uphill is the hard running. See http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=9492 ... It's about 0.3 miles.

To warmup, we run from the track over to Cherokee Blvd via the greenway (3 miles) or Kingston Pike (2 miles). Here is the 2-mile warmup http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=28366 . If you want to run a shorter warmup, you can park at the church on Kingston Pike and run on either the greenway or Cherokee. We usually make it out there at about 6:00.

When Herb is in town, he brings water. I'm not sure if he will be back this week or not, so bring your own if you think you'll need it. There is also a drinking fountain in the church parking lot.

Week 1 of training for Autumnfest 8k.... Now for the workout summary:

1. 4-12 x Hill repeats @R-intensity. Jog down the hill for recovery. Total distance for the uphill running should be about 5% of your weekly mileage.

2. Striders: 4-6 x 100m

Use a recent race to get your training paces here:
http://www.panix.com/%7Eelflord/vdot.html
-or-
http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/rp.php