The plan, continued - Training Objectives

Okay, so the "plan" officially starts on Monday. As a reminder, I will be using this training plan. I do, however, have a couple of minor tweaks. First of all, I'm usually busy on Tuesday nights, while Mondays are most often free, so I typically make Monday my interval day and Tuesday my early week rest day, so I'm not rushing around trying to get workout in on Tuesdays. This works well, since Sunday is a very light day anyhow. In addition, as I mentioned in a previous post, I plan to do my intervals with only 200m (roughly) in between, as opposed to 400m.

So, here are my stated training goals for each type of training, based on a combination of what various running sites say I should be able to do based on my current fitness level, and my own prior experiences. Sunday recovery jogs are not included here.

Intervals
Starting objective: All intervals under 1:30
Ending objective: All intervals under 1:25

The difference between starting and ending times on this is merely an acknowledgment that I'm going in a bit out of shape - I'm not really training to make these faster, though if it happens, I won't complain. As you'll notice from the training plan, the goal over the course of the plan is to add intervals, going from 3 in week 1 to 6 in week 7. Before I fell of my training schedule, I pretty easily did 5 in under 1:25, of course, that was with 400m recovery in between. This was also before every other interval was uphill. Anyhow, I went out and did three intervals on Monday - the downhill ones were both under 1:25, the uphill was right at 1:30. This is probably the least ambitious of my training time objectives, and it's by design. I HATE intervals, and they are workout most likely to drive me off my schedule. My pacing is already good for my longer term goals, so rather than kill myself trying to go faster, the focus will simply be on adding intervals. In fact, when I start over after the first race, I will probably start at 6 intervals and look to increase to 8, rather than going back to 3 and looking for a faster time. We'll see.

Midweek 2/3 mile runs
Starting objective: 8:45/mile pace
Ending objective: 8:30/mile pace

Oddly enough, despite being by far the easiest workout (aside from Sunday's easy jog), this one has the most potential to screw up my training, in my opinion. These are not speed workouts, just nice, easy mid-week runs. While I'm very good about starting slow when I'm going 5 miles and beyond, I found during my first run of training that when I'm only going 2 or 3 miles, I want to go. I could absolutely run these workouts faster right now, but I need to discipline myself to maintain pacing, because if I go too fast in these workouts, it will hurt my tempo runs the next day, where I am trying to build speed/stamina.

Tempo Runs
Starting objective: 7:30/mile pace
Ending objective: 7:15/mile pace

Tempo runs are supposed to be "comfortably hard". These workouts will give my best sense of where I'm at in terms of racing goals. By the end of the training plan, my tempo runs should include 20 minutes at the stated pace. A 7:15/mile pace is about 10 seconds/mile over what I would need to run to break 22 minutes. Last time I did a tempo run (2 weeks ago), I was roughly at a 7:30/mile pace for 15 minutes, so I'm feeling good about the starting point - we'll see where it winds up.

Long Runs:
Starting object: 9:00/mile pace
Ending objective: 8:40/mile pace

My best run before my training broke down was 6 miles at about an 8:45/mile pace. I did 4.5 this morning at right at a 9:00 mile pace. This seems pretty realistic to me.

I have... (oh God!) a plan!

*with a nod to Perfect Strangers for the title inspiration*

Well, spring may not officially be here for a couple more days, but it seems to have gotten to Central PA a little early this year. Blue skies, 60 degree temperatures, and warm breezes have characterized this week, all but eradicating memories of the winter horror that was February. And with the dawning of spring comes the disappearance of my last excuse for not fully getting back into my running training, as the weather is now a reason in favor of going outside for a run, not a strike against.

My basic thought when I took up running backing in the late fall was that if I could survive the winter, I would then really evaluate what I wanted to do going forward. Well, I mostly survived the winter, and was starting to crawl back into my routine last week, so the time had come to really evaluate whether I was just going to be a very casual runner, or whether I was going to have goals and a plan. I have decided on the latter, and so here it is...

This most recent stretch has made it clear to me if I am to maintain any kind of serious training, that I need to be training FOR something. It was just too easy for me to let things go without a stated objective or deadline. So, I've decided to plan for some races, of the 5k variety. When I was sticking to my schedule, I was using this training plan. I really liked it, both in terms of the fact that it seemed appropriate challenging, and presented a good variety so it wasn't boring. I also didn't feel like I was over-training, and I stayed injury-free, which is an obvious plus. This is the plan I intend to use for the forseeable future, and it's an 8 week plan, so that puts my first race in the mid-late May timeframe. I have my eye on a race on May 15th, but I may hold off and look for something over the Memorial Day weekend. It will depend on how my first week goes and whether I think I can step right into the plan. I'm easing back in a bit this week, and early returns are positive, so we'll see.

After I complete the first race, I'll use the results to re-evaluate my fitness level and reset my training paces for another 8 week cycle, which would result in a 2nd race in the late July, early August time frame. After that, I will rinse and repeat, with the intention of running in the Falcon Fun Run at Messiah's homecoming in mid-October. After that, I may look for something in late November/early December time frame, and then slip into a more casual running routine over the winter.

As far as time goals go, it's a little hard to gauge them yet, since I haven't actually run a race. The primary goal for the first race will obviously be to finish, but I have no doubt I can do that unless I do something crazy with my early pacing. Last week I ran a mile (roughly) time-trial in about 6:25, which, according to sites that calculate such things, suggests that with proper training, I ought to be able to run a 5k in roughly 22 minutes. That seems reasonable to me based on where I was before my layoff, but we'll see. My major longer term goal is to eventually go sub 20, but that's definitely a down the road thing.

So, there's the plan. We'll see how long it lasts ;-)

Training secrets: Lessons in what NOT to do

So, I learned a few things today, some things I thought I would share with you all - some great tips for fitness training.

#1 - Lesson #1: Do not take 10 full days off from running after a couple weeks where you were already running less than your training plan.

Okay, this one is just flat out common sense, and it wasn't my intention at all. However, the weather initially knocked me off my rhythem. The last weekend of January was bitter cold, like 15 for highs, and I know some people wouldn't be deterred by that, but I'm not going to spend almost an hour out in that to run 6 miles. So, I missed my first long run. Then, the following weekend, we got 18 inches of snow, which ruled out running for that weekend. Then, we got another 18 inches of snow from Tuesday night through Wednesday. So, I was officially knocked off of my rhythm, and over a couple weeks went from running 4 or 5 times a week, to maybe 2. So, then, the combination of more weather, schedules, etc led to a 10 day hiatus.

#2 - Lesson #2: If you fail to heed lesson #1, do not resume training with speed work the first day.

Okay, this is a little less obvious, but I probably could have figured it out. After all, my last entry over a month ago documented my hatred of speedwork - what did I really expect to be like when I had allowed my fitness level to dip? And really, I was very, very close to not doing the speedwork today. However, I had really determined that I needed to get back on my schedule this week, and Mondays are speed work. I told myself it would be okay, because due to my decline and then full layoff, I had decided to reset to the beginning of my training plan, which meant I would only run 3 intervals (1/4 mile each), as opposed to the 5 I was doing before the break. Of course, I had decided to go from 1/4 mile of jogging between intervals to 1/8 of a mile, so that was probably a wash, at best, but I convinced myself otherwise.

#3 - Should you stubbornly ignore lesson #2, do not run a time at or near your personal best on your first interval.

Okay, this was a total accident. It had been a couple weeks since I ran intervals, so my sense of pacing was off. I was obviously quite well rested, so I felt very, very good. I didn't check my time at any real midpoints, and since I don't pay that much attention to any kind of mid-splits when doing intervals, I probably wouldn't have realized what it meant anyhow. When I looked down at my watch as I was getting close to the finish, I realized I was going to run my best split ever. This is not a good plan for the first interval under ideal circumstances, but really, really bad when you've been out of the game for a bit. My plan had been to run splits a good 10 seconds above (roughly 10-15% slower than) the time I was now heading for. I coasted to the finish and still ended up just above my best. Uh oh...

#4 - Upon failing to acknowledge the wisdom of lesson #4, consider modifying your plan of attack so that the 2nd interval doesn't finish on an uphill slope.

This was just an oversight on my part. My typical plan of attack on intervals has been simple - run the 1/4 of a mile out, and then jog back in. However, to cut down to 1/8 of a mile in between intervals, the plan was 1/4 mile out, quick little 1/8 mile loop, 1/4 mile back in, 1/8 mile loop, 1/4 mile back out, jog home. With the typical plan of attack, the full out run starts out going slightly down hill for maybe 1/3 of the distance, then flattens out, and when I loop back around, I'm jogging, so I don't really notice the incline that much. Let's just say I noticed it coming back this time. Had I thought things all the way through, I would have abandoned my original plan and just stuck with 1/4 mile rest in between intervals after I ran that blistered first split, but I figured, no worries, I'll just dial this one back a little. Yeah, that didn't go so well. This incline is not severe at all, I actually use it as the finishing stretch for my laps when I'm doing longer runs, and I like how it works. However, when you're running full out and already really feeling it, any incline kills.

So, having ignored all 4 of these lessons, I was left to run an absolutely horrid 3rd interval, feel like death at the end of it, and to walk most of the way home rather than jog. But, on the bright side, I did get back out there, and I learned all these valuable lessons, which I shall heed the next time... probably.