Hello everyone...
Time for a run back in the southern part of the city. Let's meet at Loose Park (W. 51st Street & Wornall Road) at 8am on Sunday, August 18. The KCParks website says the path surrounding the perimeter of the park is 1.48 miles, so plan your run accordingly.
We can park in a decent-sized lot located near the northwest corner of the park, right where W. 51st Street cuts south. Here is a map of the lot, too:
This should be a great new location for one of our runs...hope to see you all there!
We'll keep it simple this week...finish a 5K (3.1 miles). If you can run the full distance straight through, great. If you need to take walk breaks, that's fine, too.
In fact, Jeff Galloway, a famed American runner and Olympian, is a strong advocate of taking frequent walk breaks, even for advanced runners.
As with my post a while back about intensity, USE YOUR HEAD! If a 5K is a long distance for you at this point, use common sense and break it up into manageable portions.
The 5K is a standard distance so be sure to record your time and track progress as time passes.
I can't seem to keep my recaps up-to-date...no frills this week:
Week 6 Recap
Total Mileage: 28 miles
Workouts:
- Interval run
- 4 x 1 mile (6:17/mile average pace)
- Seven-mile race pace run
- Five-mile maintenance run
- Twelve-mile endurance run
Week 7 Recap
Total Mileage: 30 miles
Workouts:
- Interval run
- 3 x 1 mile (6:17/mile average pace)
- Seven-mile race pace run
- AM run: 3 miles (6:48, 6:35, 6:23/mile pace)
- PM run: 4 miles (6:40/mile average pace)
- Six-mile maintenance run
- Fourteen-mile endurance run
Warm-up: 5 minute brisk walk or jog
Main set:
1 minute / 6% incline / intensity level 7
2 minutes / 4% incline / intensity level 4
1 minute / 6% incline / intensity level 7
2 minutes / 4% incline / intensity level 4
1 minute / 6% incline / intensity level 7
2 minutes / 4% incline / intensity level 4
1 minute / no incline / intensity level 2-3
Stop running and do the following based on your ability:
- 10 - 30 squats
- 10 - 30 push-ups
Do the following after the squats and push-ups:
1 minute / 6% incline / intensity level 7
2 minutes / 4% incline / intensity level 4
1 minute / 6% incline / intensity level 7
2 minutes / 4% incline / intensity level 4
1 minute / 6% incline / intensity level 7
2 minutes / 4% incline / intensity level 4
1 minute / no incline / intensity level 2-3
Cool down: 5 minute easy walk
I'll keep this recap short and sweet since it's so late...
I ended up taking an unintentional de-load week last week where I cut down the amount of runs more than usual. Hindsight being 20/20 I'm glad this happened, as I have been meaning to experiment with occasional de-loads during a marathon training program.
A de-load week is essentially a scaled-down taper. Tapering is very common for endurance events such as marathons and middle- to long-distance triathlons, occurring at the very end of one's training.
However, de-loading in the middle of a training program is more commonplace in the world of bodybuilding and weight lifting. I have been meaning to apply it to a marathon plan so we'll see if this accidental de-load week helps or hinders me in the long term.
Enough rambling, though...on with the details of Week 5:
Total Mileage: 21 1/2 miles
Workouts:
- Bicycle trainer workout
- Interval run
- 3 x 1 mile (6:17/mile average pace)
- 1 x 1/2 mile (5:56/mile average pace)
- Six-mile race pace run
- Twelve-mile endurance run
Hello everyone...here is this week's workout:
Warm-up: 5 minute brisk walk
Main set:
30 seconds work / 30 seconds recovery
1 minute work / 1 minute recovery
2 minutes work / 2 minutes recovery
4 minutes work / 4 minutes recovery
2 minutes work / 2 minutes recovery
1 minute work / 1 minute recovery
30 seconds work / 30 seconds recovery
Cool down: 5 minute easy walk
Keep your intensity high, about an 8 or 9 on a scale of 10, for the "work" portions. Slow down to an easy jog or even a walk for your recovery.
Another week of highs and lows. I was a bit disappointed with my race pace run this week since I was behind pace by a couple seconds per mile. That may not sound like much, but spread over the course of a marathon those seconds add up quickly.
I am learning I need to focus on better nutrition before my race pace runs, particularly when it comes to how much I am eating prior to these hard workouts. I don't run on an empty tank but I can tell I don't quite have enough to keep me going at the pace and distance required, so I need to adjust my food intake accordingly.
Thankfully, my long endurance run went very well this week. I used a hilly route and was able to finish within my required pace range, not to mention a solid final mile at close to race pace.
So overall not a bad week...just not quite where I wanted it to be.
Total Mileage: 30 miles
Workouts:
- Five-mile recovery run
- Interval run
- 2 x 1 mile (6:17/mile average pace)
- 2 x 1/2 mile (5:56/mile - 6:00/mile average pace)
- Six-mile race pace run
- Six-mile maintenance run
- Ten-mile endurance run
Let's meet at the downtown airport at 8am on Saturday, July 13 for our next run. As a reminder, the loop around the airport is approximately 3.6 miles.
Here is the info from the first blog post about running at the downtown airport, if needed.
See you all there!
Time for another Workout of the Week...
Warm-up: Five-minute brisk walk or jog.
Main set: Eleven-minute run at a moderate pace, followed up with a nine-minute run covering the exact same distance as the eleven-minute run. If you run one mile in eleven minutes, you'll have to push and run that same mile in nine minutes to finish the main set.
Cool-down: Five-minute walk.
This is a great workout to teach you to run intelligently and at different paces. It is therefore important to monitor not only how far you run during the eleven-minute interval, but your intensity, as well. Go out too hard too early and you may not have enough gas to finish the nine-minute portion.
Bit of an up-and-down week this week. Had some stubborn muscle tenderness in my left leg persist for a handful of days (still lingering, actually). Not enough to derail training, but noticeable, particularly after hard runs.
On that note, this week was my first week with a race pace tempo run. I survived, but it was challenging. My long run went very well, particularly since it was on a notably hilly route. I ran with a friend of mine, which made it more tolerable, and dare I say enjoyable, than if I ran alone.
I also had another unscheduled rest day, but given the problem in my left leg the extra day off is probably a blessing in disguise.
Here are the details for Week 3:
Total Mileage: 24 miles
Workouts:
- One bicycle trainer session
- Three-mile interval run
- 2 x 1 mile at 6:17/mile
- 2 x 1/2 mile at 6:00/mile
- Six-mile race pace tempo run
- Five-mile maintenance run
- Ten-mile endurance run
