Adjusting to Adjustments

Five weeks in, I finally feel in sync with my training plan. Making changes to my established marathon plan was difficult in a number of ways, but I’m convinced it will ultimately pay off.

For the last two marathons I’ve run, I followed Matt Fitzgerald’s (Brain Training) Plans. I used his Intermediate Plan for Buffalo, then moved up to the Advanced Plan for Charlotte. Both plans were 24 weeks long, with step back weeks culminating in a race every 4 weeks. Each of these training cycles produced PR’s for me in the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon distances. That’s pretty successful by anyone’s standards. So, why change?

First, in both training cycles, I felt like I peaked too soon. I felt as if I’d peaked 4 weeks too early in the Buffalo Marathon. For Charlotte’s Thunder Road last month, it was even worse. I felt like I had peaked right after my 10K race in October- nearly 2 months before the marathon! Also, my experience in Charlotte suggested that I need either 1) more miles at tempo and marathon pace, or 2) the same amount, but to reduce the amount of speed work I’m doing at the point where I feel the quality of the longer marathon pace workouts slipping.

My new plan is a Brad Hudson hybrid plan. Originally, 12 weeks long, I’ve extended it to 16 weeks by repeating the first 4 weeks. Running Drills have been added and 10 x 100 Striders replace the Mixed Interval sessions. There are other differences, too.

Instead of running easy following a key workout, you run at steady training pace. (The idea being that Tempo and MP runs shouldn’t feel so hard that you need drastic amounts of recovery from a few miles of it).

As the workouts get easier to do, you increase the pace of the recovery effort, not the pace of the MP sections.

As the hard days get harder and longer, you ease back on the pace of your other runs.


So basically, my running week now looks like this:

Sunday - Long Run (Progression, MP, or Steady)
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Strength Training (a.m.)/ Drills + EZ Run 20-50 min. (p.m.)
Wednesday - Base Run (6-10 mi.)
Thursday - Intervals or Tempo Run (HM pace or M pace)
Friday - Strength Training (a.m.)/ Base Run (6-10 mi.) p.m.+ 10 x 100 Striders
Saturday - EZ Run (walk-run with kids training for the HM)

I may further tweak this Plan and use it for either the next marathon or my attempt at 50K. I would somehow like to re-incorporate (is that even a word?) the 4-week cycles that culminate in a step-down week and race: Running shorter races that you feel you've peaked for is just too much fun to give up.

[ORN: Obligatory Running Note] 6 mile base pace run last night in 57:00 (9:31 pace). I felt especially strong last night. Not so much "strong" as efficient- running faster using less effort. It was very enjoyable. I left the iPod at home, and I noticed how much more I tuned in to my running. I felt like I was making constant small adjustments to pace and body carriage yesterday. (Perhaps the iPod prevents making these constant refinements..?)

Out With Some Old. In With Some New. Save The Good Stuff.

As 2009 wraps up, some of us are busy reflecting on all that 2009 brought, others are busy making New Year's resolutions, and all of us are bracing ourselves for the sudden influx of exercise newbies that are about to descend on our gyms, interrupting our well-established routines. (Don't worry. They will disappear again, just as suddenly and mysteriously as they arrived, leaving nothing more than a few humorous Gym Carny* posts in their wake).

But even if you're not the "Year-In-Review" or "New Year's Resolution" type, you have to admit that a new year is sort of a handy milestone. And 2010 isn't just any new year- it's the start of a whole new decade. So it seems as good a time as any to stop and reflect on our commitment to living healthy lives, to formulate and/or refine our goals, and to reacquaint ourselves with those basic truths that we may "know" but that we tend to forget.

In that spirit, for the last couple of weeks I've been focused on what did and didn't work well for me in my last training cycle, and making the appropriate adjustments for 2010.


Out With Some Old (Kind of)

24 Week Training Cycles
I firmly believe (a la Jack Daniels) that 24 weeks is the optimal length training cycle for any distance race (5K - Marathon). Having said that, I've learned first hand that the higher the level your fitness is coming into a training plan, the shorter the training cycle should be. This year, I plan on maintaining a high level of aerobic fitness and leg speed year-round, so that 12-16 weeks should be the maximum length of time I need to prepare for a marathon.


In With Some New (An Experiment of One)

Strides
Perhaps it's age, but I've found that towards the end of my marathon program, when the tempo and marathon pace runs get longer and longer, I just don't recover sufficiently. Intuition tells me that doing a Mixed Interval track workout, along with a long tempo run (9 miles) and a long MP run (13-14 miles) in the peak weeks of training leaves me with not enough recovery in between to maximize the results of each workout type. Obviously, each type of workout is valuable, but if I had to give one up, I'd say that tempo and MP runs win out over mixed intervals. For my next marathon, I'm adopting a (Brad Hudson) plan that focuses on 2 key workouts a week (2 types of long runs and tempo runs) instead of 3 and incorporates 10 x 100 meter strides after an easier run each week.


50K
I've decided to enter the world of Ultra's this year.. by running my first 50K race.


Keep The Good Stuff (Duh!)

The Fundamentals
This falls into the category of "basic truths we know but tend to forget". As I tweak my training to meet my next goal, every change I make will be evaluated against the "fundamentals" standard.


Volume
I still believe that overall training volume is the best predictor of performance. More important than the length of the longest run you do or even the amount of high intensity training you do is the total amount of time you spend training week in and week out. Towards that end, I will continue to push my peak weekly mileage number upwards.


Racing Weight
Even though endurance training promotes leanness, the modern lifestyle (inactivity and diet)works against it. Since my best performance will come when I am both my fittest and leanest, I will continue to work towards bringing my overall lifestyle into alignment with my training goals. More precisely, I will become a lean, mean racing machine.


Recovery Runs
Recovery runs must be the best thing I learned about and implemented this year. I will spare you the details (for now) but recovery runs are the runner's best kept secret.


Running Specific Strength Training
This is a must-do, if you want to stay injury free. With increased mileage comes increased risk of injury, so working to correct muscle imbalances and improving the stability of your joints is kind of like injury insurance. Only better.

* = Gym carnies is an irregular series about the curious characters and intriguing individuals that people sRod's gym.