If you have not figured it out by now, I will let you in on a secret: runners are creatures of comfort. When one finds a series of workouts that give one success, many coaches and athletes stick with them. The sad thing is this, the body likes change, it thrives on new challenges.
Geoffrey Kamworor takes his second win in NYC in 4 starts, photo by Photorun
Look at the workouts over this past summer and fall. We have added miles, added workouts, quite judiciously. When we cut down intervals, when we cut down challenges in a fartlek, we expect you to compensate in speed, time and effort.
The same workout over 4 weeks, say a 30 minute fartlek run with 10 speed sections will show changes in speed, distance and effort.
Likewise, your easy day today is much faster than when you did same workout in July...
Week 20, Fall XC Training week 20, a time to really race
Monday: 50 - 60 minute park run, 4 x 150m strideouts
Tuesday: 30 minute run, 20 minute tempo run, pace is 30 seconds per mile above current 5k race pace, 4x 150m strideouts, 20 minute cooldown
Wednesday: 30-45 minute run, relaxed
Thursday: 20 minute warm up, 2 x mile, , jog 1/2 mile btw, 10 minute jog, 30 minute fartlek, 10 times 2 minute, 5k pace, 1 minute easy, 20 minute cooldown
Friday: 30-45 minute minute park run, relaxed
Saturday: warm up, 5k race, similar to league or conference race, jog ten minutes, then 8 x 150m strideouts, cooldown
Sunday: 85-90 minute long run
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