Blog comeback: Still Running

We moved to Boise, Idaho in November of 2021. Immediately, I began to run the roads of the Treasure Valley. Through the process, I have found beautiful landscapes to explore. Many miles on the iconic Greenbelt path, running next to the Boise River. We are fortunate to have the mountains a hop, skip and a jog away. We have trails all around us that provide serenity and peace along a gorgeous track, only a few minutes from downtown Boise. Having a plethora of running paths and roads to peruse keeps running fun and interesting. I can, literally, run any direction.

The past few months (June-September), I have averaged 40-55 miles of running per week. A majority of my miles are easy effort runs, between 8:30-10:30 min/mile. These are the "base" miles. These are also good runs for stress management and where I do all of my pondering. These types of runs will accumulate over time, which will improve endurance physiology. I will become better at circulating oxygen, supplying the muscles and tissues adequate fuel to become more efficient. This is the key to endurance activity. From there, I add in a few specific interval workouts throughout the week. The type of session depends on what I am training for and trying to accomplish. Sometimes, I just enjoy crushing some 400s on a track or hill repeats on a beautiful hill.

Recently, I trained for and raced in the FitOne Half Marathon in Boise. (September 24th, 2022)

It was a 12-week training block leading into the race. I had a substantial base coming into the 12-week cycle, as I have been running since moving to Boise, so I had confidence coming into this training block.

Here were a couple workouts that I completed leading into this event...
(remember, many of my miles are easy runs; I am just showing a few workouts for reading purposes)

August 23rd, 8x3 minutes @ half-marathon pace
After warming up, the goal was to run these intervals starting at half marathon pace and depending on how I felt, push the last few.
This is a good workout to improve and work on building your Vo2 Max. Vo2 Max is how much oxygen you take in during exercise. If we build our aerobic engine and then perform these types of controlled intervals, we will improve our longer distance work capacity.

I started conservative and ran 7:10 min/mile pace for the first of 8x 3 minute intervals. Then I progressively increased my pace throughout the set. 7:10, 6:59, 6:52, 6:38, 6:27, 6:13, 6:10, 6:13.

August 26th, 75 minute Tempo Progressive Run
These types of runs are in the schedule 4-5 per month.
The goal for this session was to start off slow and build into half marathon pace for the last hour. I went 8:52, 8:03, 7:48, 7:25, 7:16, 7:01, 7:01, 6:55, 7:00, 6:42. I did this run on tired legs but overall, it was a good session.

September 10th, 20x800s
On paper this workout looks audacious. But as I wrapped my head around the objective, I knew it was a good training day 2 weeks out from my half marathon. The goal was to run these 800s at half marathon pace (6:55-6:30), jog a 200 and repeat for 20 reps. This was acting as my "long run" for the week so my mileage would accumulate. After a 25 minute warm up with drills and striders to prep the legs, I gradually got into this workout. I have learned over the years to be conservative on these longer bouts of intervals. Start out too fast and risk blowing up or getting injured. So I stuck to the plan and started nailing my efforts. The first 5 800s were controlled pacing, 6:42, 6:37, 6:31, 6:33, 6:30. I knew I could handle this pace and repeat the efforts. Now the goal turns to consistency. The next 5 800s were 6:39, 6:30, 6:31, 6:30, 6:29.

At the half way point of this workout, I knew it was going to be a strong session. I kept my head down and ran the next 10 800s between 6:35-6:15 pace, running the last two at 6:08 and 5:52 pace respectively. This workout gave me confidence heading into the final two weeks before the race.

During my 12-week training block, once a week I cross trained utilizing the ski erg, rower and assault bike. This gave my legs a break from running, while still working my aerobic system. I would perform intervals between 1-5 minutes at a time as I circulated between the three modalities. I really have learned to enjoy this workout and appreciate the decrease in load on my body.

Here is what a normal training week consists of...
Monday: Easy run and Core work
Tuesday: Trail Run or Intervals and functional strength work
Wednesday: Cross Train and Mobility work
Thursday: Aerobic run
Friday: Aerobic Run
Saturday: Track workout or Tempo Run
Sunday Tempo Run or Long run


Well now that you made it this far, first of all thank you. Second of all, I am bringing back a blog. This will act as a journal of sort. Sometimes I will write on fitness and performance related subjects, and other times I will just do a brain dump and relieve the mental chatter. Read and follow if you'd like.

PS...I ended up running a 1:23:45 for the half marathon. I executed my race and nutrition plan and all the training paid off. On to the next...

Cheers



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