At work or amongst friends, I’m occasionally bombarded with questions about running, cycling or weight management. Most of the time it has to do with, “how do I approach…” or “I have this pain” or “why can’t I…”. Like most long term athletes we tend to learn and give advice on our personal experiences. Usually, I will tell people that they should see a professional (doctor, weight management specialist or someone of the like), but having said that I will tell people of my thoughts and my personal experiences.
As of late though, I’ve found that I need to start to listen to my own words. I tell people how to workout but then I haven’t been following my own advice for my own personal workouts. Then when I get injured or frustrated, I think to myself, why can’t I follow my own advice?!?!
The other day, I decided that I’ve lost enough weight that I could go for a run. However, I made a promise to myself that I needed to run slow and my goal for the workout was just to relax and work into my run. My goal was to do 10-minutes per mile pace. However; when I looked down at my heart-rate-monitor, I was running 8:30-minutes per mile pace! Oddly enough though, I felt relaxed and I was enjoying my run. My point was that my mind was thinking that the 10-min/mile was going to be relaxing for me but my body was telling me otherwise. I went by how I felt and it reminds me of how many times I’ve told people to go by how you feel. Everyone’s pace will be different according to feeling. That was one of the best runs I’ve had in a long time and it reminded me how much I enjoyed running.
The problem with workouts that I have now a days is that I think that every workout has to be “hard” when in fact that’s quite the opposite. Workouts need to be efficient but effective to an overall goal. Most of the racing season is now over and it’s time to put the body into a different mode. Workouts should not be as intense but they should have a purpose… a goal. So if you’re going for a long run or ride, keep the heart rate lower and there’s no need to be training at “race pace”. So set your daily goals (if you have any) and remember to “enjoy” your workouts versus “laboring” over them.
Monday: Medium
Tuesday: Easy
Wednesday: Medium: Today is a fun-run for you. Do your most favorite workout. The only stipulation is that you need to run for the duration listed below. Good luck and have fun. Oh… if you have to walk for a little bit out there, go ahead, but don’t overdue the walk though. Pace should be around 6.5/10 effort. So as far as pace, it should be easy, but not at conversational pace.
Beginner: Warm-up; 40 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate: Warm-up; 40 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance: Warm-up; 60 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite: Warm-up; 40 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternate: Bike – 10 minute warmup; spin for 60 minutes; cool down for 10 minutes; stretch
Thursday: Easy
Friday: Hard
Saturday: Easy
Sunday: Medium
Monday: Medium: Today should be at a good clip (pace) without over doing it. Remeber to relax and concentrate on your running form. Remind yourself to relax your hands, shoulders and stride. Today’s effort should be around 6.5-7.0/10.
Beginner: Warm-up; 30 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate: Warm-up; 35 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance: Warm-up; 40minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite: Warm-up; 35 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternate: Bike – 10 minute warmup; spin for 60 minutes; cool down for 10 minutes; stretch
Tuesday: Easy
Wednesday: Medium:
Thursday: Easy
Friday: Hard
Saturday: Easy
Sunday: Medium
Monday – Medium
Tuesday – Easy
Wednesday – Medium
Thursday – Medium
Friday – Easy: Conversational pace. Be sure to do your strides. The purpose of the strides are to help with flexibility and strength. Your stride should be longer than your normal stride and should be at race pace.
Beginner: Warmup; 20 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate: Warmup; 20 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance: Warmup; 30 minute run; cool down; stretch
Elite: Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternative: Spin on the bike for 30 minutes with a 10 minute warmup
Saturday – Hard
Sunday – Easy
Monday – Medium
Tuesday – Easy
Wednesday – Medium
Thursday – Medium: Similar to yesterday, but today will be a negative split. So for the first half of the workout, run at conversational pace. For the second half of the run, run at tempo pace or just a tad faster or at race pace.
Beginner: Warmup; 25 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate: Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance: Warmup; 35 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite: Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternative: Spin on the bike for 30 minutes with a 10 minute warmup
Friday – Easy
Saturday – Hard
Sunday – Easy
Monday – Medium
Tuesday – Easy: Today’s run should be at conversational pace. By now you should know what that means. Go out and enjoy the day, rain, sun shine, snow, windy, etc.
Beginner: Warmup; 25 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermediate: Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance: Warmup; 35 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite: Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternative: Spin on the bike for 30 minutes with a 10 minute warmup
Wednesday – Medium
Thursday – Medium
Friday – Easy
Saturday – Hard
Sunday – Easy
Monday – Medium: Today, run some hills with spirts of 45 seconds to 90 seconds. Your rest should be at least 2 minutes between each surge. Get at least 5 of each. (45-90-45-90-45-90-45-90-45-90)
Beginner: Warmup; 30 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Intermedieate: Warmup; 40 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Distance: Warmup; 50 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Elite: Warmup; 40 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; cool down; stretch
Alternative: Warmup; Spin on the bike for 60 minutes with the above workout in mind. Rest by spinning; cool down; stretch
Tuesday – Easy
Wednesday – Medium
Thursday – Medium
Friday – Easy
Saturday – Hard
Sunday – Easy
Monday – Medium
Tuesday – Medium
Wednesday – Easy
Thursday – Hard
Friday – Easy
Saturday – Easy
Sunday – Medium: Some distance with effort. You should have at least 5 x 60 sec. accelerations that lead to race pace durring this run. Today you should put out an effort of 65-70% of max.
Beginner: Warmup; 40 minute run; 3 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Intermediate: Warmup; 40 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Distance: Warmup; 60 minute run; 5 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Elite: Warmup; 40 minute run; 10 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Alternate: Spin for 60 minutes in the big ring. After 10 minute warmup do 5 x 2 minutes at race pace with 5 minutes rest between.
Monday – Medium
Tuesday – Medium
Wednesday – Easy
Thursday – Hard
Friday – Easy
Saturday – Easy: Same workout as yesterday but a little longer. Today you can either rest completely or if you must run, do a short run at conversational pace.
Beginner: Warmup; 30 minute run; 3 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Intermediate: Warmup; 30 minute run; 3 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Distance: Warmup; 35 minute run; 4 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Elite: Warmup; 30 minute run; 3 x 100 meter strides; stretch
Alternate: Spin for 45 minutes in an easy gear at 55% of max
Sunday – Medium
