Saturday, February 1, 2014

New Training Plan: Lots of Aerobic Miles + Dash of Speed

Don't want to jinx anything, but I think I'm back on track after getting injured early last week. Speed did me in! Guess I'm not ready for 6:05 pace. That's fine since my (hopeful) marathon pace is 7:49. The last week I've been doing all aerobic runs--keeping heart rate under 65% HRR (heart rate reserve). Seemed to heal my injury. My plan for all of February is to switch from the FIRST system of 3 runs/week (fast repeats, tempo, and long run) to something like 6 runs/week (4 easy aerobic, one progressive tempo run, and one long). I seem capable of 8:00 pace at about 70% HRR. According to most coaches, anything under 75% HRR is considered easy aerobic running. I basically follow Arthur Lydiard and Roy Benson (they have a ton of overlap). Here are Benson's zones (HRs are based on my resting=50, max=190):

Max Recovery= 60-65% = 134-141
Jogging Fat Burning = 65-70% = 141-148
Long Endurance = 60-75% = 134-155
Stamina = 75-80% = 155-162
Tempo AT = 80-85% = 162-169
VO2 Max = 90-95% = 176-183

I plan on keeping most runs under 70% HRR, the progressive tempo effort will start around 60% and move toward 85%. The weekly long run will still be easy, but with a bit of cardiac drift, I'll allow up to 75% HRR. Hope to have one full rest day. Maybe two. Not sure this will get me to Boston, but it should develop my aerobic capacity and keep me injury-free. That'll be fine for February. One month at a time!

Two Coach Roy Benson books I like:

Coach Benson's Secret Workouts: Coachly Wisdom for Runners About Effort-Based Training

at

2 comments:

  1. jeffFebruary 2, 2014 at 5:38 AM

    statisticly the best runners do about 20% of there miles within 90% of MP to 110% so your faster paces are 8:36 pace (90%) down to 7:00 (110%) at the faster. at 30 miles a week = 6 miles fast....this could be your range for the progressive run that fits within your HR goals.
    2 M at 90% 8:36
    1 M at 100% 7:48 x 2
    1/2 M at 105% 7:25 x 2
    1 min runs at 7:00 x 7

    sorry chris, could not resist with the detail...nothing else to do at tommy's house at 5am!!
    jeff

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris ⓋFebruary 2, 2014 at 12:35 PM

    30 miles per week? I'm shooting for 100 mile weeks! Guess that means 20 miles "fast."

    ReplyDelete