Training Update: Hills, Hills and more Hills
For the first time, I'm following the training advice from a coach. Up until now I've been completely self coached, but in October I started to rely on the advice of the coach who runs my running club's track workouts to chart my training. I finished up an eight week base-building phase two weeks ago and entered into a four week phase with workouts designed to build leg strength. I'm running lower mileage (about 30-35 miles a week), but each workout is more intense and is basically a crash course for my calves on how to run "up on my toes." I'm running three hill workouts each week, a track workout of short intense bursts of speed and several easy runs that are followed by 100m strides. The hills and the short speed work are designed to help build leg strength, increase my turnover rate and overall help my body become stronger while running "up on my toes" or in an up and forward motion. On the hills and in the short speed distances my stride shortens up, I land more on the forefoot, and lean further up and forward, giving my body the forward trajectory that should come with good running form.
hill repeats runfargirl
Two weeks in and my calves are SORE. Clearly my body is not used to this, but the goal is to spend four weeks building up the muscles that will allow me to maintain this up/forward form in a race. Ultimately as you become fatigued in a race your form breaks down, causing you to slow down because you become less efficient. So my goal is to lay a foundation of strength in this "racing form" so that I don't break down as quickly come race day.
My training week looks something like this:
Monday: 30 minutes easy and 8x100 with 100 jog recovery
Tuesday: Mountain run (at least 20 minutes of climbing)
Wednesday: Indoor Track (shorter intervals with form as the focus)
Thursday: Mountain run (at least 20 minutes of climbing)
Friday: Rest or 20 min easy (You'd think that after a week of less mileage I'd be game for 20 minutes. But honestly my legs feel trashed by Friday and I NEED the rest)
Saturday: 1 mile warm up with 10x hill repeats (I've been doing the repeats on a 1/4 mile long hill, this is twice as long as recommended but we don't have short hills around here)
Sunday: Long run 1:30-2 hours (easy pace)
Cross Training
After the Jingle Bell Half Marathon I noticed that my high hamstring was quite tight. I had a recent visit to the PT about a month ago to assess it and she said I seemed to have strained my pelvic floor while coughing when I had that bout of bronchitis. She gave me a few exercises that mostly involve diaphragmatic breathing. I've been pretty lazy about including those in my cross training...and pretty lazy about cross training in general. I recommitted myself to it last week and got in three solid sessions mostly focused on glute and hip strength, especially on my left side. Just with that I've noticed more glute activation and my hamstring hasn't been cranky at all.
Here's my go-to routine:
2 rounds, 30 reps
Clamshells
Backward Lunge
Single Leg Running Man
Coffee Table
Hamstring Cross-Over Reach
Lateral Side step with band
Prone Leg Raise
runfargirl
There's part of me that has a hard time trusting that the plan my coach is putting together will get me where I want to be. Partly because it is so different from any other training plan I've ever put together for myself. But he's been coaching longer than I've been alive, so I'm pretty sure he knows what he is doing. So I'm just going to follow the plan, do the work and see what happens.
--Sarah