Running Around 1-31-11

I hope everyone is enjoying the January thaw we've been having! This week we'll go back to the track for tempo miles. This is a bread & butter workout that is particularly good preparation for the longer races we have on the schedule between now and the Knoxville Marathon.

As many of us are increasing our mileage and/or long runs in preparation for the longer Spring races, I want to remind you to keep the pace of your long runs under control. It's a long training run not a race. Don't get caught up in running a particular pace unless you've decided ahead of time to make it a workout. You may feel good during the run, but will pay for an over-ambitious effort if you're not careful. Training is not about running fast on a particular day - that's racing. When you push it too hard one day, your next run will likely be a bit compromised. That's OK if you're ready for it and if it's part of your training plan.

I speak from experience. Saturday morning was a great, fun run with the marathon training group. I was cruising along, clicking off miles at a pace that was 15-25 seconds per miles faster than I should have been running. Sunday was payday. My legs were heavy and sluggish. I was 30-40 seconds per mile slower than my regular daily training run pace. Not a fun run.

So keep it under control. Find the balance of pushing the pace a little without going overboard.



Week 3 of Spring 2011 training. Now for the workout summary.
 
1.  3-6 x 1600m @T pace with 60 seconds rest. Volume should be 10% of your weekly mileage.

2. Striders at least once this week 4-6x 100m.

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