The Week of January 28-February 3, 2008
February 4, 2008 by Bryon Powell · 4 Comments
Synopsis of Week’s Training:
Now THAT’s what I’m talking about! Six days of running this week with a 10 mile weekday run, a 16+ mile run on the weekend and feeling fresh when the whole thing is done. As a bonus, I ran in shorts more often than not.
Monday, I ran an easy 5 miles for recovery and Tuesday I ran home from work for 6 miles. It was quite a nice run, as I wrote about here. Wednesday morning I got up before the crack of dawn to run down to meet a former training at that Iwo Jima Memorial by 6:30. After a nice run down towards the Potomac, GM and I ran an old training loop while catching up, and then I finished up by running commuting to the office. Thursday was another easy run before I took Friday off in favor of a relaxing night at home.
I started the weekend off right with another run with an out of town friend. This time it was an easy 5. Sunday morning I ran 16+ with Sean Meissner. We ran 3 miles out to Potomac Overlook Park, headed through the park, and then ran north out the Potomac Heritage trail. While I’d run all of the components, I’d never run from my house out to the Potomac Heritage Trail. It was great having company for a long run. This run also marked the first time this year that I affirmatively good. Whereas I was dragging at mile 9 last week, I still had pep in my step this week. I had a desire to run further and faster. What a great way to end the week!
OH wait, I ended the week mixing nuun with alcoholic beverages… but more on that later! ;-)
By The Numbers:
Monday – 5. Easy.
Tuesday – 6.5. Feelin good.
Wednesday – 10.5 Morning “long” run fun.
Thursday – 5. Easy.
Friday – 0. Rest.
Saturday – 5. Easy.
Sunday – 16.5. “Long”.
Weekly Mileage: 48
Year-to-Date Mileage: 197
Three Week Moving Average: 41.7
Year-to-Date Weekly Average: 40.8
Upcoming Training Goals:
Make it out at least six days. Increase the distance of everyday runs until 6, though 5 is a ok if I need a true rest day. Shoot for one or two runs that are longer, faster, or hillier than standard training runs. I also need to try and build on this weeks 16 miler with something in the 18-20 mile range.
Related articles:
- The Week of January 14-20, 2008 Synopsis of Week’s Training:I came into this week having run 13 straight days, including my YTD longest run of 8 mile the preceding Sunday. On Monday, my legs felt tired....
- The Week of January 21-27, 2008 Synopsis of Week’s Training:After two back-to-back harder efforts, my legs were a bit tired on Monday. I headed out planning on run 8 to 12 miles, but bagged that idea...
- The Week of May 5-11, 2008 After a long break, I hope to start posting weekly training updates for the foreseeable future. I had stopped when my training took a serious downturn in early March and...
Filed under Bryon ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
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When you are building mileage, do you base whether to increase your next week’s long run by they way you are feeling (i.e., feeling strong or weak), or by a predetermined schedule? Like for me, I did a 12 miler last Friday, and now I’m thinking of doing a 14 miler 2 weeks from now, letting my body go down in mileage this week to “recover”. But I am feeling strong this week, so should I increase the mileage this week rather than next? Curious about your thoughts on this in general…
Great job !
Charlie,
I definitely don’t use a predetermined schedule to increase my long run. For instance, this go ’round, after two weeks with 8-9 miles as my long run I went to 16+ the next two weeks. Over the coming weeks I hope to get closer to 20 miles or even longer for my long run.
Off the top of my head I can think of three reasons that I’m willing to build up my long run as it comes:
(1) Even though I haven’t trained a ton of late, I have a significant history of long runs. With this experience I feel comfortable taking some leaps up in long run distance.
(2) Schedule or not, I have a sense of how quickly I am and should be lengthening my long run.
(3) I know my body pretty well and with no pressing training obligations, am willing to nix a long run if I feel myself getting hurt, injured, or burnt out.
On the other hand, I think there are a couple good reasons why one would want to more or less stick to a predetermined schedule for long runs:
(1) You are newer to running and the schedule provides you with reasonable guidance on how quickly to increase your long runs and how often you should rest.
(2) You are training with extreme focus on a particular race. It’s not just beginners that use a schedule – even stud ultrarunners use training schedules. A frequent reference of mine (because he’s a great runner and I often read his blog), Andy Jones-Wilkins posted his schedule for Western States 2008. Low and behold, it includes the length of his long runs.
(3) You need a schedule. Some folks might need a schedule so they are able to break away from work or family or life to train for a couple hours. Others may need a schedule to provide motivation – a reason to work towards the future. Lastly, there are folks that need to be held accountable and a schedule is a great way to get your butt out of bed and onto the road on a cold rainy Saturday morning. :-)
The primary caution I’d give to folks following a schedule, particular less experienced runners is to listen to your body..and your other needs and to shift your schedule accordingly. Coaches, clubmates, mentors, or running friends are good folks to talk about if you think you need to modify a predetermined schedule. Even though I don’t have a preset schedule, I use my running network to keep myself in check!
Wow – that’s a long comment. Even so, it’s off the top of my head and I’ll give it some more thought. Great question! You can expect to see a full post on this subject in the not to distant future. For now, go out there and go for 14 this weekend if you feel like it.
Mmmmmm, nuun and alcohol…mmmmm…