This post was supposed to go up yesterday, but for some reason last night around 9:00 my post disappeared. Instead of trying to put it back together so close to bed time, I re-did it to go up Friday. Sorry about the delay!
This week my training plan took me from a speed workouts to strength workouts. The goal of strength workouts is to shift the focus from improving VO2 max to maintaining your Vo2 max and preparing your body to handle the fatigue that comes with marathon running.
So what is the idea behind strength workouts?
The main benefits of strength workouts are:
- Improved lactate clearance
- Improved lactate tolerance
- Improved endurance at faster paces
- Improved O2 delivery
- Improved running economy
The goal is that overtime your body will begin to tolerate higher levels of lactic acid and will being to produce less of it at higher intensities. It teaches your body to work through the discomfort of lactic acid accumulation. This is a key to marathon training and helps you greatly come race day.
What do strength workouts look like?
In Hanson’s plan speed workouts were roughly 3 miles and had moderate recovery in between. When doing strength workouts your running distance double (usually around 6 miles) and your recovery time decrease in comparison.
The workouts themselves are supposed to be run at around 60 to 80% of VO2 max. For the purposes of Hanson’s training, these are run 10 minutes quicker than marathon pace. In terms of my training, I run each of these at a 7:50 pace.
Tuesday morning I woke up and ran my first strength workout. It ended up raining in the morning, so I stuck to the treadmill for what was the second day in a row.
My first strength workout called for:
6 x 1 mile repeats with 400 meter recovery between each.
Overall the workout went well. I wouldn’t say it was “easy” but I was able to keep my breathing calm and relaxed for most of the run. Even though it still felt like work, I was much more comfortable doing it. I can really see the improvement that is coming from this training.
This week my mileage has really picked up, which has meant even earlier mornings than most.
This was pretty much my alarm for the entire week. Thursday was even earlier since I had a tempo run (more on that later). Getting out of bed is the hardest part, once I get going I feel great!
I have had to force myself to go to bed most nights between 9:30-9:45. I really should go to bed earlier, but I would get nothing done if that was the case.
I have had to give myself a pep talk each morning to make it happen.
Here are my other two early week runs:
8 miles easy on Monday. I woke up to pouring rain which wasn’t exactly how I wanted to start the week but I worked with what I had. I kept it on a 9:15 pace or so and just ran slow and easy. It felt like an eternity, but I got it done.
Wednesday morning I was finally able to get back outside and enjoyed an easy recovery 7 miles outside.
This was such a welcomed and relaxing run. I was so happy to be back outside, some days it really makes all the difference.
Does your training go through phases?
What is your favorite type of running during your training?
I am up with you at 4:30am everyday too to start my workouts! But I couldn’t stay up as late! I need to be asleep earlier than 9!
I wish I could get to bed before then! Glad to know someone else is up with me that early 🙂 It often seems like the whole world is asleep!
Great job! Glad to see that you are progressing nicely on your training plan.
Thanks for the Strength workout re-cap. I start that stage next week and was going to re-read that section to understand the goals of this type of workout.
It cooled off a bit in Dallas, and I slept in a couple of days this week and ran at night – It helped me with recovery 🙂 At 4:30 AM, I keep saying to myself “suck it up buttercup!”, but sometimes I ignore my inner voice and go back to sleep…
-Run with joy!
It always is so nice to get off work and come home and know that my workout or run is done with, but sometimes all I want to do is curl back up in bed and RELAX!
Good luck on your strength workouts next week and your runs this weekend!
Your marathon training is inspirational! Thanks for sharing your strength training with us too. I have a good feeling you are going to rock your race!
Thanks Julie 🙂 We will see! I hope so!
You are doing so well with keeping up with your training! Not easy when you just started a new job. That is too bad about the post! Computers are so frustrating sometimes. Happy Friday!
Yes they are! Thank you so much Lauren 🙂 Every week is different, but keep working at it!
When I work with athletes we go through 5 main phases:
Introductory: After a break, goal is to get back into the habit of training.
Fundamental: Build to an upper tolerable limit of volume with a gradual increase of “non ez runs”
Special: Focuses on increasing speed & endurance, biomechanical & metabolic support.
Specific: Focus is on goal pace, high contrast between hard and easy days.
Peak: High overall intensity but lower volume taper.
It’s all a processes and each phase melds into the next. Ultimate goal is to become as comfortable as possible at goal pace 🙂
So true Kyle! Thanks for sharing your view on training. Sounds like you have some great training plans!
No plans, that’s just an outline. The “plan” is developed weekly – monthly based on the athlete’s training 🙂
Sounds like a GREAT approach!
Love the strength phase!