My training calendar says that this was an “unstructured week” but in reality I had scheduled several “key” workouts. Tuesday, form work, Thursday, strength, and more form work on Saturday.
Additionally I had 2 longer runs scheduled on Wednesday and Sunday. In all, I logged 42 miles of running and got a tremendous core workout in on Thursday. Here’s a chart:
For more detail, read on…
Monday: Day off.
Tuesday: Form work. This was a 1 hour running workout where I did 1 minute long work intervals separated by 4 minute long recovery intervals. During the work portion of the interval, I focused exclusively on my foot strike mechanics: Rapid turnover, lift up not push off, forefoot strike, gentle landing. During each interval I counted each cycle, I was able to average about 93 cycles per minute or 186 footstrikes per minute. They say that the goal stride rate for minimal runners is 180 strikes/minute. So, I’ve obviously got to do more work here. Heart Rate was not used as an indicator for this workout, but I did record the effort.
Distance: 6.95 miles; Time: 1h,4m,41s
Average Heart Rate: 164 bpm; Average Pace: 9:18/mile
Max Heart Rate: 177 bpm.
Wednesday: Long run. Very easy, heart rate guided run. My goal in this one was simple keep my Heart Rate below 155 beats per minute and run for 1.5 hours. I was on a positive split for the second half of my out and back so the final .5 miles I ran a bit more briskly.
Distance: 9.12 miles; Time: 1h,30m,4s
Average Heart Rate: 152 bpm; Average Pace: 9:53/mile
Max Heart Rate: 180 bpm.
Thursday: Strength. So running specific strength work is kind of difficult to come by where I live. I do run through quite a lot of sand, and that has obvious strengthening benefits, but the hills are mediocre at best. I didn’t really want to hit the hills anyway so I went out for a Tempo run and then turned over the compost pile.
Turning a compost pile, now that’s a workout. I had soreness in my back, abs and arms through Saturday. I ran for 35 minutes and whacked a big pile of (almost) dirt with a hoe for another hour plus.
(Run info)
Distance: 4.43 miles; Time: 35m,38s
Average Heart Rate: 164 bpm; Average Pace: 8:02/mile
Max Heart Rate: 179 bpm.
Friday: Recovery. Short, Slow, Easy. Goal: Keep heart rate below 155.
Distance: 4.33 miles; Time: 45m,47s
Average Heart Rate: 145 bpm; Average Pace: 10:34/mile
Max Heart Rate: 157 bpm.
Saturday: Form Work. Similar workout to Tuesday except slightly longer. 1 Hour 15 minutes. This time I was able to get up to 100 cycles per minute. This felt like the absolute limit of my cadence. I’ll continue these workouts because I think I can see their worth. They really get my hip flexors firing (lift up not push off). The tail end of this workout I decided to run fast. So, in the final 5 minutes I ripped off .8 miles. My average pace on that portion of the run was 6 minutes 15 seconds per mile. I think that is about my 2 mile race pace. Not super fast, but I think it’s faster than last year. Whatever…
Distance: 8.17 miles; Time: 1h,15m,46s
Average Heart Rate: 150 bpm; Average Pace: 9:16/mile
Max Heart Rate: 187 bpm.
Sunday: Long run. Identical to Wednesday, except I went slightly farther under similar conditions. At my midway turnaround a dude was having trouble with his car (battery probably) and I gave him a push and he fired right back up. It was kind of weird, he was having trouble at my precise turnaround. I ran up to him, gave him a push and headed back the way I had come. Like I meant to do it.
Distance: 9.4 miles; Time: 1h,29m,36s
Average Heart Rate: 148 bpm; Average Pace: 9:32/mile
Max Heart Rate: 162 bpm.
Anyway, thanks for reading and be safe out there.
J
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