I’m going to start putting up my own training on a more month-to-month basis with less details. Aside from not boring you to tears, I want to focus on the big picture and see how I’m progressing on a more macro scale.
I recently emphasized that I am focusing on long term results and weekly mileage is less important than monthly and annual volume. This is a critical training concept to grasp and vital for long term improvement. Slight to moderate weekly gains, while not as impressive as a 90 or 100 mile week, can mean enormous annual gains.
You’ll see that I took two weeks of recovery followed by more structured training. This was on purpose as I was due for a break and I was excessively sore from burning the candle at both ends. I had no important races and the break worked out perfectly. Here we go…
3.29 – 4.4: Complete rest. No running, cycling, or strength work. I took it easy and tried to sleep a lot to aid recovery.
4.5 – 4.11: I ran two easy 5 mile runs to keep my legs under me. The weather was fantastic and I couldn’t help myself. I also got on the bike twice for two short rides between 50 – 60 minutes.
4.12 – 4.18: Started to get back into the swing of things with 5 days of running for 33 miles. My longest run was 9 miles and I did plenty of dynamic flexibility and core exercises. I rode one day for 47 minutes.
4.19 – 4.25: This week was much more consistent with 50 miles. I ran 6 days with my longest run being 13 miles. No workouts yet except for 4×8″ hill sprints. I rode three times for about 50 minutes each.
4.26 – 5.2: I ran all 7 days this week and hit 60 miles with a 15 mile long run. I did my first workout back, a short 2 loop tempo at my workout course in 14:41 (too fast…). I increased the hill sprints to 4×10″ and rode once for 73 minutes.
As you can see, I took some time coming back. I was in really good shape before my break so I knew that would transfer well into this block of training.
Mileage Progression:
0 10 33 50 60Some readers may wonder why my weekly mileage made such dramatic leaps. Let me fill everyone in on a little secret: the 10% rule is bogus! For those who don’t know, the 10% rule states that you should only increase weekly mileage by 10% every week. I’m going to address this in a future post, but for somebody like me who can comfortably run 60-70 miles per week, I can get back up to that mileage very quickly with no problems. It’s at 75-80 where I have to take more precautions.
This training block was a good introduction back to running and also to cycling. I’m doing a sprint triathlon during Memorial Day weekend so I want to get a little riding experience. I have no goals for the race and I’m not going to train for the swim at all (I hate swimming). I just want to have fun and see how quick I can come back in the 5k.
