Tag Archives: training plan

Running: Month 3 of the 5k Training Plan for Time Scrooges

May 29, 2015 By in Running Tags: , Leave a comment
Scrooge says his 5k PR is faster than Jean-Luc's.

Scrooge says his 5k PR is faster than Jean-Luc’s.

Halfway through the program is a great point to take stick and make sure things are going well. Do you have any little injuries that refuse to go away? If so, how are you managing them? Do you feel weak in a particular phase of racing, maybe in the hills or the last mile? Don’t get me wrong – you can take stock on a daily basis, it’s just that after two months you actually have some data to work from: two races, 16 total quality sessions, and eight long runs. Not bad.

This month, we’re going to extend the intervals to 1200s (3/4 of  mile), while tempo runs will stay pretty constant and long runs will lengthen slightly. Some might wonder why I’ve structured the program in such a rote fashion, and the answer is brilliance in the basics. The workouts are repetitive so you can 1) build a sense of pacing and 2) easily track your progress and 3) remember your workout even if you only have 40 minutes on a lunch break to sneak it in. This program isn’t quite the lipstick and eyeshadow of Jogger’s World (“train for your marathon on ten minutes a week!”) but it also isn’t Jack Daniels (some of his marathon workouts have left me in an existential crisis).

1) 1200m Intervals. The pacing is going to be weird the first time, but you’ll get used to it. Once again the track is preferable but a verified distance of flat ground also works. Week 1: 3-4 x 1200m at 5k pace with 2:00 rest. Add one more repeat each week until you have a max total of 4 miles in total interval distance.

2) Tempo Runs. Continue with a weekly 20-30 minute tempo with the pace changes as noted last month.

3) Long Runs. Week 1: 65 minutes. Week 2: 80 minutes. Week 3: 85 minutes. Week 4: 85 minutes.

4) Racing. If you haven’t raced yet for whatever reason, now would be a really good time to log a 5k race and see where your fitness resides.

Running: 1st Month of The 5k Training Plan for Time Misers

May 15, 2015 By in Reflections on Training, Running Tags: , , 1 Comment
Marine Corps Marathon 2013: On my way to a PR of 2:44. Feels like forever ago.

No chafing here. 

I’m so out of shape, my thighs chafed during my last long run. Yeah. That was humbling. But you gotta start somewhere, and if you buy that, then here’s the start of a simple four month plan for the time-constrained.  We baselined some things last post: time available, setting goals, etc. so I won’t rehash. But not because they’re not important. So make sure you figure those things out before chasing a fast 5k.

CAVEAT: This plan assumes you’re healthy. Fit bill of health and all that. And that you have the sense to dial things back if injuries arise. Alright, enough said, here’s the plan:

1) Enter the next 5k you can find and race your ass off. Even if you’re coming off the couch, it will tell you exactly how long you were there. Race again, once a month. Try to space the races out 3-4 weeks. Note your improvements.

2) Month 1 Quality Workouts (aka “speed work” or “sprints” if you’re an endurance noob) will consist of one of the following. A) 400m repeats, preferably on the track. First week, six repeats with 45s rest (read: light jog) at current 5k pace (not a sprint obviously.) Second week, eight repeats. Third week, ten. Fourth week, twelve. If you miss a week, don’t skip forward. B) One week, 20:00 tempo (add about 15-20s to your 5k pace per mile, should be hard but not killer). Next week, hills of 30s/45s/60s duration with a walk down recovery. Do four sets, and try to extend the distance you cover each set. What that means is that the 30s you run on the last set should cover more ground than on the one prior. Same for the 45 and 60s repeats. *Notice I don’t tell you how to warm up or cool down. In general, warm ups should elevate your heart rate. Cool downs should decrease it. You will figure out what works for you. Some people run 3-5 miles before a track session. Some folks do some push-ups and call it good.

3) Long Run: a lot depends on how fit you start. I’m assuming you’re capable of running a 5k without walking, in 20:00-30:00 minutes. But being able to run 45:00 – 60:00 continuously would be about right for the end of the first month. If you’re coming off the couch, then maybe keep it on the low end. General rule of thumb: 10% increase in distance, per week.

4) What to do with time windfalls: mobility, strength, recovery runs. In that order. I’ll answer any questions in the comments. The focus of this first month is building your work capacity and sense of pacing. If you’re wondering about periodization, we will get to my philosophy on that later.

7 for 7: Training

December 4, 2010 By in Reflections on Training Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Ahhhh. The training. I love it, I hate it, I love it and hate it all at the same time. I love it for what it provides, but I hate it for the suffering it inflicts.

My take on training starts pretty simply: do it. Training is what gets us from here to there. It’s the one thing you can control in the process, really. You can’t control how you feel, your luck, or the genetic coding your parents passed along. Training is the one thing that not doing guarantees failure.

My second foundation for training is consistency. In his classic novel Once A Runner, John L. Parker Jr’s character Quenton Cassidy talks about a concept called “The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials.” I think it accurately depicts the concept and importance of consistency. The miles required to achieve the goal, the sum itself is a challenge and opportunity for victory. In the same way, each one of those miles is its own little challenge and victory once completed. It’s a day in/day out  commitment to put numbers in the mileage box of your training log, and watch as those numbers add up over weeks, months, even years depending on what you are trying to achieve.

Consistency is also perhaps the most difficult aspect of training to achieve, especially with life’s standard infringements. Work demands are my primary enemy when it comes to consistency. Having spent about six of the past twelve months on the road, I understand first hand the difficulty of staying on schedule.

My last, equally important approach to training is the importance of quality work. Quality work is what you might think of as “sprints,” but you might want to re-categorize as “anything harder than just going out for a jog/run.” This, combined with regular old running is what makes a program, and achieving goals requires both. Track intervals, fartleks, hill repeats, sustained moderate/hard runs…it’s all deadly.

Beyond the foundational tenets of doing the training, doing it consistently, and doing the quality work, there is the issue of methodology. I think of methodology as how you put it all together into a cohesive training program. There are many, many ways to train. From the ubiquitous cookie-cutter programs available on any online running website, to systems devised and led by individual coaches; there are simply a ton of options. I can find it a bit overwhelming, to tell you the truth.

I currently train predominantly off Coach Jack Daniels’ (I know, cool name, right?) methods. His book, Daniels Running Formula, 

 (http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-2nd-Jack/dp/0736054928/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291475471&sr=1-1)

 is starting to fall apart from me paging through it constantly. It’s in-depth as well as simple, and includes recommended training plans for runners of all abilities and distances. I also inject some of Michele’s workouts, which she took from Alan Storey. Unfortunately I don’t have any resources for him, which is unfortunate due to the fact that he’s got some killer hard workouts.

 There are several others out there I trust. Mark Twight’s stuff on www.gymjones.com is pretty much my sole resource for strength these days.

Chatting with Coach Jay at the 2010 Chicago Marathon Expo

He tells me that he’s working a research project on strength for endurance athletes, which I eagerly await. Additionally, Coach Jay Johnson, www.coachjayjohnson.com, has some wonderful stuff both on his website and in the podcast videos on www.runningtimes.com with regards to building a strong body capable of handling the toll running can take.

Lest I totally geek out, I’m not going to get into the details of my training right now, since I could go on forever. I will say that I’m currently focusing on trying to run 16:30 for 5k by the end of Jan. As such, my training is focused heavily on shorter, faster intervals with some sprinklings of the moderate sustained work. I will also say that I stay very flexible due to my travel schedule.

Here’s a depiction of the four weeks of training done prior to this week:

Training Snapshot for 1 Nov - 28 Nov

As you can see, I do 2-3 quality sessions a week, usually Tue/Thu/Sat in order to give me some recovery in between. I’m running higher mileage volume and long runs than is typical for most 5k programs, but I’m doing that to see how I react to sustained higher mileage.

Alright, that’s it for today. Like I said, if I get going into the science stuff, you’ll be here (and bored) all day. Check out some of the links for more information if you’re interested. Hope you found all this informative…in the future I will probably post some of my own recommended training plans.