One month of training complete already!! Starting a training plan can be daunting but it is also super exciting and motivating. A quick summary of the month: weather has been good for January and I am feeling stronger than I expected to after injuries and taking time off.
I made my training plan from a variety of plans I have used in the past or have had friends use. This year I wanted to increase my weekly mileage to improve my strength and endurance. With my work schedule I struggle getting in the classic 5-6 days a week that most programs recommend. I try to aim for 4-5 days a week.
Flexibility is the key to my running programs. I don’t get every weekend off and I work 12hour shifts; both of which make it challenging to fit runs in. I do my best to plan out the month/week based on my work schedule and previous commitments. The best way to put it is organized chaos. It doesn’t have to look like traditional plan to work. Just get the workouts in where you can.
The weekends that I work I run on Thursday’s, when I don’t work its either a Friday or Saturday depending on my running buddies.
The other workouts in the week include 10km easy pace, 12km steady pace, 12-16km race pace run and either a interval/hill workout. The goal is to get all 5 workouts in a week but I accept this will not always happen. When I can’t all 5 workouts in I focus on distance. At this point in my training I believe it’s more important to get the milage in rather than the speed. Closer to race day I will focus more on speed/race pace miles.
A quick refresher on pacing:
– steady pace run is comfortable consistent pace- about my half marathon pace
-race pace run- self explanatory. It is good to get your body and mind use to running the pace you want to race at
-long slow distance- approx. 30-60seconds slower than your race pace run
-easy run – between your steady state and long slow pace
– intervals/hills – 85% of your max effort: this one really depends on the type and length of intervals or hills that you are doing each workout, and can change depending on that.
Glad to see that we are leaving the deep freeze we have been subjected to this past week. The only thing I really say about that is all the layers and track/treadmill really isn’t that exciting…bearable, tolerable if I am being generous…better than hypothermia.
Goals for February:
Do my strength and stretching exercise for my knee to prevent injury.
Stay motivated – push to get all 5 runs in a week.
