Pre-Covid training update

Note: This is a long overdue, pre-Covid training post. It was tempting to abandon the post, in light of everything going on. But, it's a part of my learning process, and I realize my learning process might be helpful to other masters runners figuring out their own training puzzles. A post-Covid training update will follow.

I'm happy to report that, at the beginning of 2020, I had ten weeks of the most solid training I've had since 2015. My focus for this block was mechanics, overall strength, and mileage. I wanted to put together a really strong foundation for my goal races in July and August, and I also wanted to be running well. In other words, no slogging, no aches and pains, and running fast should feel good.

After a couple of weeks getting back to running every day and doing a couple of speed/strength workouts per week, I shifted into a 2 week training cycle. The two weeks are not vastly different from each other, but different enough to allow me to get in a great mix of workouts and also to keep making small increases to my overall mileage. 

Week 1: 

M - medium-long easy run (7 miles, increasing to 11 miles in 1/2 mile increments per week)

T - speed at the track (full warmup, moderate strides, drills w/ fast strides, 1 mile or less of work at ~800m pace, a few 200m extensive reps, then a few strength/plyo exercises)

W - easy run (7 miles early, increased gradually to 8 miles)

T - medium-long easy run w/ 2-3 miles of MP effort towards the end (note "effort", no watch on this)

F - easy run w/ a little bit of stair bounding towards the end (7 miles early, increased to 8 miles)

S - long run w/ moderate progression in pace by feel (gradually worked up to 14 miles & stayed there)

S - 2 mile jog around the neighborhood, followed by pre-hab strength

Week 2:

M - medium-long easy run (same as Week 1)

T - easy run (7 miles early, increased gradually to 8 miles)

W - "normal" track workout - continuous workout (on efforts w/ float recoveries) in sets, alternating weeks at 10k, 5k and 3k efforts, with a little bit of plyometric and strength work afterwards

T - easy run (7 miles early, increased gradually to 8 miles)

F - easy run (same as Week 1)

S - long run (same as Week 1)

S - 2 mile jog around the neighborhood, followed by pre-hab strength (same as Week 1)

Mileage progression over 10 weeks: 47 miles to 62 miles (mostly in 6 days)

While I never had eye-popping workouts, I also never really started to feel run down. There were some tired days, for sure, but my overall trend was feeling stronger each week. After 5 or 6 weeks, my long runs started to feel downright enjoyable. Running ~60 miles in singles over 6 days is not something I've done before. In the past, when I've wanted to average more than 7-8 miles per day, I've switched over to adding short morning runs. Doing increased mileage in singles turned out to be very enjoyable. I keep coming back to how strong I felt. I'd go out for an 11 mile run on a Monday, and it would just go by, even at a leisurely pace. It became my new normal.

As a result of all this great training, I was really looking forward to getting into a race. With my previous goals, and the fact that I was in such a solid training groove, I decided to pass on February races and target mid-March. (Oh, hindsight, you're a devil.)

My first race was supposed to be the Teddy Opener at Roosevelt on March 7th. I was going to get in an early season 2k steeple, and I was really looking forward to it. But then some last minute work travel came up, leaving a few hours before the meet, and of course, by the time I got back, the world was a different place.

Coming next: training in the Covid world.