The big idea (strategy)
Be ready for an October marathon
One common question I get about running is whether I’m ever going to run a marathon. My response up until the start of this year has always been ‘definitely not’. This was mostly because of my general disinterest in the event (and partly due to a notion that my ‘roll out of bed and run’ philosophy would eventually see me accidentally run twenty-six or so miles on some random Tuesday morning).
The mentality change I described in the fifth dynasty has altered my thinking and I suspect I will run a marathon sometime in the next decade. For now, I’m tailoring my running year toward a potential October marathon. This means my weekly mileage totals should progress steadily upward to the summit of a twenty-mile run sometime in mid September. If I can complete that distance without major setbacks, I’ll be marathon ready for October regardless of whether I’m scheduled for a race.
The rules of thumb (tactics)
The loose target of being ‘marathon ready’ in October helped me make certain otherwise arbitrary decisions about my workout plan. I’ve organized those thoughts into the following guidelines to help me recognize when I’m risking either stagnation or injury with my workout decisions.
Never do hard workouts on consecutive days
I determined that - elite athletes excluded - there is no need to run hard on consecutive days. My current weekly plan has three hard workouts, three easy workouts, and a full day off.
A hard workout means at least five miles of running, a ‘sprinterval’, or a basketball game
Let’s cover just the first portion for now – for me, any run shorter than five miles isn’t long enough to fatigue me but is a little too long for me to complete the run at a quickened pace. This puts me in a tough spot the next day because I feel good enough to run again yet know from experience that another similar run increases my risk of injury. I avoid this problem by making sure that I run far enough on the days I’ve scheduled for a hard workout.
‘Sprintervals’ – one per week
This is a combination of the word ‘sprint’ and ‘interval’. It refers to a workout I do once a week along the Charles River. I run a two and a half mile course, alternating slow jogging with bursts of speed. How fast is a burst of speed? I basically run just hard enough so that I lose my steady breathing rhythm – I then jog until I have my breathing settled again. It’s a good balance with my long runs because these workouts challenge a different set of muscles.
An easy workout means a bike ride, strength training, or a recovery run
First, I should note that these workouts are easy for me because of the intensity level. For another person, these might represent the bulk of the week’s exertions.
I'll explain the first portion now (the explanations for the other two are below). I consider bike rides an easy workout because I never pedal at top speed and never bike further than a few miles. I usually bike in the context of getting around for around fifteen to twenty minutes at a time and this simply isn’t enough work to tire me out. If I were interested in biking as a hard workout, I might bike for over two hours or find some way to pedal at near top speed (perhaps in a fashion similar to the ‘sprinterval’ described earlier).
Don’t force strength training
My basic strength workout involves only my body weight for resistance, takes about fifteen minutes to complete, and doesn’t require me to leave my apartment. Those factors all make it seem like I should do this routine as often as possible. However, since the workout targets specific areas where I’ve struggled in the past with pain or injury, I usually skip the workout on days when I feel fatigue, soreness, or tightness in those areas. It’s not a perfect solution because the workout is vital for injury prevention but my concern for elevating an ache or pain up to the level of an injury overrides the potential benefit.
Here's the current workout:
- Single leg calf raises (fifteen times on each leg)
- Slower on the descent
- Push-ups (between eight and ten)
- Regular grip, not too fast
- Squats (two sets of ten)
- First set with feet shoulder width apart, knee to ninety degrees
- Second set with ankles almost touching, full flexion
- Single leg calf raises (fifteen times on each leg)
- Push-ups (between eight and ten)
- Knuckle grip, not too fast
- Lunges (between eight and twelve on each leg)
- Step backward at forty-five degrees, bring rear knee up to opposite elbow
- Single leg deadlift (between eight and twelve on each leg)
- Move slowly, remember to hinge at the hip
- Plank (hold for about a minute)
- Alternate feet, suck in the stomach just above the belly button
- Glute bridge (between eight and twelve on each leg)
- Hold for a few seconds, then switch legs
Ideally, I do all nine exercises in a row, but I generally take a couple minutes break after doing three exercises (two total breaks during the workout).
What is a recovery run?
This is a short run at a very slow pace that happens around 12 to 24 hours after a hard workout. I usually do this run on the same 2.5-mile loop I use for the ‘sprinterval’ and, although I don’t calculate my pace, feel like I run at least a minute or two per mile slower than I do on my longer runs. The recovery run’s purported benefits include adding extra mileage to the week, helping improve efficiency by refining technique, and training the body to run in a fatigued state. The concept sounds dubious enough to me on its own but I gave it a try thanks to its popularity among elite runners. So far, I’ve really enjoyed the results, and I consider this to be the most important workout in my plan.
Ten percent over ten days
This math keeps my mileage growth rate in check by measuring my totals in ten-day chunks and limiting increases within a ten percent range. The catch is that I still measure everything in terms of weeks to help organize around the reality of my schedule. This means if I run twenty-one miles per week in the first ten days of a month (three miles per day over ten days) then ten days later I would aim for just over twenty-three miles per week (three and three-tenths miles per day over ten days).
I use ten days rather than one week because I know from experience that I’m more susceptible to injury than the average runner.
One mile or ten percent over max
This rule governs my longest run of the week – whatever the longest run I’ve done so far in the year, I don’t run any further than an extra mile or an additional ten percent. Again, this is due to learning from experience that larger increases elevate my risk for injury.
Biking and basketball count
I calculate rough ‘running equivalents’ for bike rides and basketball games. I use these equivalents to help me with the previous guidelines by estimating the toll these activities take on my legs. Ideally, this information will point out when I am at an elevated injury risk due to recent surges in activity and I can use the knowledge accordingly to plan an upcoming workout.
The specifics of these calculations differ by the activity. The bike rides are based on a strict formula – every twenty-eight minutes equals one mile of running (the formula being an educated guess I formed after reading up on various opinions about the matter and using some of my bike share data to determine how far and how fast I cycled for a given minute on a bike). The basketball equivalent is entirely based on feel – I simply assign three, four, or five miles to my log based on the intensity of the game and how fatigued I feel the next morning.
The Fibonacci rule
The Fibonacci sequence is a counting pattern where the previous two numbers are added together to determine the next number in the sequence. I use this as a rough guideline to limit my mileage when returning from short layoffs – the first ‘hard workout’ is two miles, the next one is three, the third is five, and so on until I’m back to my pre-layoff maximum. Again, although I may feel good enough to run ten miles after a few days off, I know from experience that a sudden return to big mileage puts me at risk of an injury.
Conclusion (outcome)
Although there is no such thing as an 'average week', here's one way all of the above comes together into a workout schedule:
- Sunday - recovery run
- Monday - OFF
- Tuesday - medium length run (hard workout)
- Wednesday - strength workout (plus one hour cycling)
- Thursday - sprinterval
- Friday - strength workout
- Saturday - long run
If I have a basketball game, it would usually fall on a Tuesday or Thursday. On these weeks, I skip the medium length run and do the sprinterval on the remaining open day. If I feel tired or sore on a strength workout day, I'll skip it, but I might compensate by doing the workout on Monday (assuming I feel fit for the workout on a Monday).
A final rule of thumb...
Take a break in January and February
My final thought brings together several factors to point out these winter months as a logical time for a short rest. The main concern is my feet as I’ve noticed in recent years that I am unable to keep them from freezing while running in Boston's coldest temperatures. In addition to being a significant health concern, it also takes the fun out of running. The unpredictable pattern of ice and snow also means weather can prevent me from running and, as you’ve seen above, scattered days off tend to disrupt my carefully planned workout schedule.
In recent years, this annual break has lasted for about two weeks. I’m looking to extend it to close to two months, however, just to give myself some time to possibly benefit from an extended period of time off. I’ll probably entertain myself throughout the break with some combination of basketball, swimming, and cold weather biking.
