Training for a back to back
Now that it is December, training is going to start coming in full force. I planned all of my races from here on out to be as hard as I can to prepare for the summer and the end of the school year. After a disappointing drop to a 50k at my Batona Trail race I decided to try some new things, work on what I struggle with, and go back to some old favorites to help push my abilities to the next level.
The New
Something new that I am pairing with my running is going to be this new process of Flow workouts. In short, it just means to have more fun and more focus with the activities I will be doing with my lifting. I have always though that lifting does help my legs and my running, but this method I feel like would help anyone. I hope I explain the workouts well enough, but if I don’t I will upload the video of it being explained in the video section of my blog page. The basic premise of the flow activity is to not go hard each and every day at the gym. He describes it as someone that goes to hard can maybe do 30 pull-ups in their gym session. After that gym session, your arms will be sore and you won’t be able to do pull-ups for a few days because of the pain you might feel for going so hard, you being lethargic, not willing to go to the gym. When using the flow model, do 5-10 in one gym session and be done, then come back throughout the week, doing 5-10 each day that you go back. The total amount of pull-ups you are able to do in a week would be roughly 70 pulls if you go 7 days, that’s 40 more than a onetime session and you don’t feel as worn out. I connect this with my gym sessions after I run 5-10 miles. My main focus when I go to the gym is running or hill repeats. Essentially, I will continue to run at the gym, with a bit less intensity, and get a short 10-15 lifting session in afterwards. The lifting session needs to be a focused lift with maybe one to two different machines or weights and be done.
I am not too sure about the idea behind this process, but I think I am going to give it a try over Christmas break. I will spend roughly one to two hours in the gym, the main focus of my time spent will be running with a break, then a very short lifting session. If I am able to get out on the trail, then I will gladly run there instead. I think the process will be different for me, I usually don’t have a lot of gym time, so I take it very seriously.
I am very interested to see how it works. I will probably post the exact workouts I am doing when I start Christmas running crunch.
The Old
In this section I wanted to address something I am very excited about. I am calling it the old section because it is something I have worked on before, but I have added something NEW to it. There’s a group of athletes that work under the guidance of Yancy Culp. I have worked with this group of individuals before when I was training for my Ultra Beast in Vermont. I am not sugar coating it, without working with them, I wouldn’t have been able to finish that impossible race. The program focuses on strength of mind, body, and a comprehensive look at leg muscles. I learned so much from Yancy and Miguel that I finished the hardest Spartan race with time to spare. (You get to pick which Spartan you want to follow…Miguel has always been friendly to me, so I wanted to support him and get support from him.)
I decided I wanted to work on the whole picture of running; top down, so I chose Miguel again, but this time I also chose Richard Diaz. For those of you that don’t know he’s a running guru. I listen to his running podcast whenever I am out on the road for long periods of time. He interviews OCR athletes, ultra-distance athletes, and runners. The “Natural Running Network” is a great place to go to hear about training methods for runners alike. When I noticed he was on Yancy I had to have him too. I am excited to learn from the man himself.
Added: I have already started the running workouts from Diaz. They are incredible. The one had me running at a tempo run for over an hour. Five minutes at a low pace(155) and two minutes sped up out of comfort (165). After roughly 30 minutes of pushing myself I had to raise my own heart rate standards and it ended up being a tempo run of 175-185. Like I said, I loved it. Even though I talked about doing a workout that was less of a push and more fun, I felt like after this one was done I could have continued on pushing and going father. Also, side note, wear the right gear, I ripped my nipples open at the YMCA.
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The Struggle
Between failing the 50miles and having less and less time because of kids sports, it has been hard really getting back into the swing of running full time. I have been trying to find a way to get myself up and moving to the gym or to a trail/road for some mileage. Some of you know the struggle of being on a treadmill for hours on end with relatively nothing to look at. It gets harder and harder when you have watched all the longest movies on Netflix or Hulu.
1.) Whenever my wife gets home (3:30 am) from work, I just get up and run or lift. I’ve done this a few times over break and well, by 12 I am so spent that I can’t do anything but close my eyes and want to take a nap. I feel absolutely fantastic in the morning leading up to 12, but as soon as lunch hits and I have ANYTHING to eat, its crash city. This happens each time and I haven’t been eating poorly to blame it on the food.
2.) Directly after work head to my favorite 6 mile trail and floor it, “beat the sun.” I try my best to run fast and furiously so I don’t get left out in the woods without a headlamp. This is all well and good, a fast 6 miles never hurt anyone, but after that day I need a break from running. The fast pounding on hard trail hurts a little bit and I like to listen to my body.
3.) Weekends are days for long runs. Throughout the week I try to do at least 21 miles and then hammer it pretty hard on Saturday with a short run on Sunday. So far, this has worked the best. I have made a 50mile training planning that basically puts each week into either a short mileage run week or a long mileage run week. Three weekdays I push my mileage to roughly 5-8 miles a day, with 13 miles or more on Saturday and a day to have a recoup run on Sunday of 4-7. (Sunday is also the day I work on my heart rate, it’s not about the mileage per say, it is about just seeing how to control my heart rate from the week that has just passed.
The struggle is just that, a struggle. It should never define you. It is something that everyone needs to figure out. The lessons we learn in life are what mold us, create a better us’s. Work on the struggle and the things you need the most work on, make them stronger, and become a better you.
@Yancycamp
@Spartanrace