This time around, I'm trying something new. Training-wise, that is. I figure I'm going to train for a fall marathon, either Chicago, Columbus, or Detroit; I haven't decided which yet.
But this time I'm really gung-ho about putting together my own workout calendar. Being the huge nerd that I am, it's a lot of fun researching and writing up workouts to try out. I could definitely use some help from more experienced people than me, but there's something empowering and motivating in writing your own workouts.
I can't slack off, because, well...they're my workouts. I put them together. Cool, huh?
And so, since I'm not accountable to anyone but myself, I'm experimenting with the training regimen. Not necessarily trying out new workouts (which I am doing, but I figure I'll blog on those as I get to them). What I'm experimenting with is the order in which I'm doing them all.
Conventional training wisdom says that you start with longer and slower work, and as the training schedule progresses you transition more and more to shorter, faster work. That's the way oversimplified Spark Notes version. For example, in a marathon build up you might have a period of base mileage, then aerobic/marathon pace work, then some lactate/tempo work, then a V02max period, and then maybe some pure speed. Again, way oversimplified, but the general principle is: longer and slower workouts ---> shorter and faster workouts.
Well, I'm not doing that.
Here's the experiment. I'm flipping the order around a little. Goal race is in October sometime. That gives me four solid months of training, plus a few weeks' taper. Instead of starting long and working down to shorter, quicker stuff, I'm going to try the opposite. So for June and July, I'm going to focus on V02max and lactate/tempo workouts -- a lot of stuff faster than marathon pace. Then in August and September, I'm going to transition into more marathon pace-based workouts. If I can figure out a way to transfer Microsoft Word files onto here, then I'll post my calendars online.
Here's my logic behind this approach: 1) I've already done plenty of aerobic pace work from the lead-up to the Pig. And since I dropped out early and have hopped back into training sort of quick, I don't think I've lost much of that fitness. 2) I didn't do much lactate/V02max work for the Pig. So there I am lacking fitness, as evidenced by the Lou Cox 5k. 3) By doing #2 and then marathon pace-based workouts, I'm hoping that that marathon pace will be much easier for my legs, body, and mind to handle -- so I can do better and maybe faster work. And 4) by doing marathon pace work closer to the actual race, it'll be better ingrained in my muscle memory than it has in the past...again, so it's easier to handle for 26.2 and so I'm not starting out too fast.
So that's my logic for this little experiment. I know there are plenty of physiological flaws with this approach, and you can probably point them out better than I can. But hey, nothing risked is nothing gained. Let's see how this little experiment turns out.
But this time I'm really gung-ho about putting together my own workout calendar. Being the huge nerd that I am, it's a lot of fun researching and writing up workouts to try out. I could definitely use some help from more experienced people than me, but there's something empowering and motivating in writing your own workouts.
I can't slack off, because, well...they're my workouts. I put them together. Cool, huh?
And so, since I'm not accountable to anyone but myself, I'm experimenting with the training regimen. Not necessarily trying out new workouts (which I am doing, but I figure I'll blog on those as I get to them). What I'm experimenting with is the order in which I'm doing them all.
Conventional training wisdom says that you start with longer and slower work, and as the training schedule progresses you transition more and more to shorter, faster work. That's the way oversimplified Spark Notes version. For example, in a marathon build up you might have a period of base mileage, then aerobic/marathon pace work, then some lactate/tempo work, then a V02max period, and then maybe some pure speed. Again, way oversimplified, but the general principle is: longer and slower workouts ---> shorter and faster workouts.
Well, I'm not doing that.
Here's the experiment. I'm flipping the order around a little. Goal race is in October sometime. That gives me four solid months of training, plus a few weeks' taper. Instead of starting long and working down to shorter, quicker stuff, I'm going to try the opposite. So for June and July, I'm going to focus on V02max and lactate/tempo workouts -- a lot of stuff faster than marathon pace. Then in August and September, I'm going to transition into more marathon pace-based workouts. If I can figure out a way to transfer Microsoft Word files onto here, then I'll post my calendars online.
Here's my logic behind this approach: 1) I've already done plenty of aerobic pace work from the lead-up to the Pig. And since I dropped out early and have hopped back into training sort of quick, I don't think I've lost much of that fitness. 2) I didn't do much lactate/V02max work for the Pig. So there I am lacking fitness, as evidenced by the Lou Cox 5k. 3) By doing #2 and then marathon pace-based workouts, I'm hoping that that marathon pace will be much easier for my legs, body, and mind to handle -- so I can do better and maybe faster work. And 4) by doing marathon pace work closer to the actual race, it'll be better ingrained in my muscle memory than it has in the past...again, so it's easier to handle for 26.2 and so I'm not starting out too fast.
So that's my logic for this little experiment. I know there are plenty of physiological flaws with this approach, and you can probably point them out better than I can. But hey, nothing risked is nothing gained. Let's see how this little experiment turns out.
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