All things training. Mostly advice and tips but maybe questions, general comments, or who knows what else.
We all (hopefully) know that both your hard workouts and your easy runs/rest matter. The hard days are the stimulus for improvement but recovery is when the improvements happen so you need to make sure you’re recovering adequately. Not to mention, if you don’t recover adequately, you’ll eventually break down and either get burned out or injured.
But what classifies as rest? Well, that’s a difficult question.
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As this posts, I’m preparing for what should be a very fun trip.
That’s right, it’s vacation time for me! Don’t worry, I brought my running gear.
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We’ve all experienced those days. A workout or long run is in the plan but we’re just not feeling it. What do you do in those situations?
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In the spring of 1996, I lowered my 5K PR from 17:06 to 16:08 in two races. Afterward, I could consistently run in the low 16s. However, lowering that PR just wasn’t happening for the remainder of that track season or the 1997 season.
Then, after a year away from track for reasons that had nothing to do with running, I returned in the spring of 1999 and progressively worked my PR down to 15:43. Sub-16 became routine. I took my 10K PR from 34:12 to 32:57 in a single race. A mid-33, a short time earlier over 30 seconds faster than my PR, would now be a bad race.
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For as long as HillRunner.com has been around, I’ve been asked why there are no training plans posted on the site. You know the type people are asking about, your “12 weeks to a 5K” plan that you can find in many books and on many websites. My usual answer is “Cookie cutter plans work for cookie cutter people and I have yet to meet a cookie cutter person.”
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