by Larry Eder
Kellyn Taylor, on her long run, photo by HOKA ONE ONE NAZ Elite
All of us have challenges. Running is about the effort, over time, that you put into the activity. With core work, long runs, tempo runs, fartlek, hills, interval and repetition runs, a runner is very similar to a fine painter. Your workout variations are your palette. How you choose to paint your subject, how you choose to build the color, or build your workouts, is up to you and your coach.
There was an Olympic champion who had achilles problems every time he ran on the track. His coach had him running on gentle trails for his long runs and moderate runs. For speed work, he did 800 meter hill repeats. To fine tune, he raced a variety of distances, seldom his prime distance, plus his coach fined tuned him on a soccer pitch. He ran a 5,000m around the sides of the soccer pitch. He side, he sprinted half, jogged half. In his first Olympics, he ran the 5000m in 14 minutes. He won 2 Olympic gold medals. Four years later, the athlete was concerned about his racing fitness. So the coach gave him the soccer pitch drill again. This time he ran the 5000m in 13:32 around the pitch, changing his speed every 50-60 meters for 5000 meters! He came into the event confident and won both races once again.
Long runs are your life blood if you are a distance runner. They are physically transformative, and psychologically as well.
Sunday-warm up, 55 minutes, cooldown
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Week 3, 2019 Track buildup-nothing in spikes, flats all week
Monday-warm up, 45 minute run, 10 x 200 meters, at good effort, core training, cooldown
Tuesday-warm up, 20 minute temp run, run at 30 second per mile above your 5k current race pace, 4 x 150m stride outs, cooldown
Wednesday-warm up, 50 minute run, 4 x 150m, core training, cooldown
Thursday-warm up, 20 minute run, 8 x 300 m, good pace, 100m jog, 20 minute run, 8 x 300m, good pace, 100m jog, 20 minute run, 8 x300m, good pace, 100m jog, 1 mile easy, then cooldown.
Friday-warm up, 50 minute run, 4 x 150m, core training, cooldown
Saturday-warm up, race 800m, 1000m or 3200m, cooldown. Or, run 45 minutes easy.
Sunday-warm up, 55 minutes, cooldown
