New Schedule
Well, its been a while, and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and adapting of my training schedule - and its only reasonable that I share it with y’all. Basically, I’m going to be simplifying it quite a bit. Every weekday will be exactly the same from one week to the next, with the only differences being in the lengths of my weekend runs as I’m still building up speed and stamina.
The biggest change is that I’m adding some formal elliptical training to help me with my aerobic threashold problems. I think that this will provide the best HR improvement without affecting my running form too badly. My easy runs during the week will be done at around a 9:00 pace, but that’s allowed to vary somewhat based on how I feel on any particular day. I’m going to try to always go out slowly for the first mile - 9:45 or so, and to do the final mile at about an 8:00.
I’ve also added one more spin class into the mix. These two, and the speedwork on Thursday, should help me move my VO2max upwards. The long runs and elliptical workouts are for aerobic endurance, and the other runs are for form - and, frankly, for pure enjoyment as well. If I didn’t like running, I wouldn’t do so much of it. Thursdays speedwork is intentionally left vague - it might be fartleks, a tempo run, a hill workout, or intervals. I’m not going to stress this as much as I was previously.
| Monday: | 3 mile easy run, spin class |
| Tuesday: | 7 mile easy run, lower body gym |
| Wednesday: | 90 minute elliptical |
| Thursday: | 7 mile speedwork |
| Friday: | 90 minute elliptical, spin class, bodypump class |
| Saturday: | 9:30 pace long run |
| Sunday: | 8:15 race pace run |
My weekend runs continue to increase in distance - races are in highlighted:
| 11/6 | 11/13 | 11/20 | 11/27 | 12/4 | 12/11 | 12/18 | 12/25 | 1/1 | 1/8 | 1/15 | 1/22 | 1/29 | 2/5 | 2/12 | |
| Saturday: | 13 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 20 | 12 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Sunday: | 6 | 7 | 13.1 | 8 | 12.4 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 18.6 | 6 | 13.1 | 4 | 26.2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total: | 36 | 36 | 40 | 41 | 36 | 39 | 45 | 47 | 35 | 47 | 42 | 35 | 34 | 25 | 37 |
So that’s it. I’ll keep you updated - as always - about my progress.
Popularity: 4%
Oct 27th 2004
12:44 PM
Looks like you have a pretty well rounded schedule. I see you are trying to increase your lactate threshold. A couple of things I found really great for that was yasoo 800’s (at the track) and as you have built in, the tempo runs. The reading I have done states that to increase lactate threshold you must be excercising at a heart rate just slightly higher than you lactate threshold(duh) for about 25 to 30 min. Is that what you have read on as well??
Oct 27th 2004
1:41 PM
Actually, one of the big theories is that to increase LT you should exercise /below/ your threshold - at about 70% HRmax - for 60-90 minutes. That’s what I’m going to be doing with the elliptical workouts: a continuous 70% push with no breaks.
Oct 27th 2004
2:33 PM
I didn’t see any scheduled rest. I’d add that in for injury prevention. It will also allow you to really ramp up the intensity of the other workouts as you’ll be more rested than otherwise. Otherwise, it looks like you will see some great improvement! Good luck! -Andrew
Oct 27th 2004
2:45 PM
Thanks, Andrew - I had given that some thought. Wednesday and Friday are both non-running days, and the elliptical workouts are going to be done at about 135bpm so they shouldn’t be terribly exhausting. I’ve also cut my total mileage goals slightly overall. If it starts becoming an issue though, I’ll adjust again.
Oct 27th 2004
8:50 PM
I am surprised you’d do 7 miles of speedwork? Usually speedwork I would do with a 4 or at most a 6 mile run (if it was a tempo run) and most training guides seem to indicate that as well. 7 miles is a pretty long way to do intervals especially! You might be able to do higher sprint effort if it wasn’t so long.
Oct 27th 2004
9:31 PM
Thanks for your question Alicia: that’s seven miles total. Take Yasso 800s as an example. Ten 800s is about five miles. Add in a mile of warmup and a mile of cooldown, and you’re right at seven. I often do more like 1.5 miles of warmup/cooldown running, which brings the speed portion down to just four miles.