Spring Training

It's time to get back in gear and ramp up my training for the spring/summer season.  To start out the season I signed up to run the Boulder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day and joined a women's mountain biking group that starts next month. I am super excited but also know that I need to get serious about my training so I have come up with a plan.   I have decided that in addition to running and biking I am going to add in a few days of Insanity to help strengthen my core and possibly start climbing at a gym once a week.  I have modified Hal Higdon's Advanced training program for the 10K to suit my needs.  I would arrange my schedule differently if Abby were in school everyday but as it stands the only days I am able to run are the days she is in school (M,W,F) and on Saturdays.   Although Hal suggests running 5-7 days a week I have found that the secret to running success is with 3-4 solid runs per week.  By solid runs I mean a speed day, tempo day, long run day, and possibly a hill workout.  Most runners tend to run too slowly to get faster or too fast to recover and get stronger.  They don't improve and they don't recover.  My motto is if you want to run fast, train fast.  Running 3-4 meaningful workouts gives me time to recover and then run hard again.  I proved this theory correct when I trained for and PR'd in my last 10K back in November 2012 with a time of 40:49.   Even with a hilly course I was prepared and beat my previous time on that course by over a minute.  So, with that in mind here is my general 8 week plan.  I will post every week exactly how fast and far I go with each workout.

OVERALL EXERCISE PLAN

Monday       
Insanity
Speed work on the bike trainer or 30-40 minutes fast on the trails

Tuesday       
Tempo Run
Mountain biking on the trails (April)

Wednesday  
Insanity

Thursday    
Long Run
Group bike ride (May)                

Friday        
Hill repeats, easy run or REST
Insanity Cardio Abs

Saturday    
Track workout
                 
Sunday        
REST


8 WEEK RUNNING PLAN


                                       Tues                             Thu                           Fri                              Sat          

Week 1             30 min tempo, 2 pace         6 m long run                 3 m easy            6 x 400 mile pace

Week 2             40 min tempo, 2 pace         7 m long run                 hill repeats        7 x 400 mile pace

Week 3             50 min tempo, 3 pace         8 m long run (3/1)        hill repeats        8 x 400 mile pace

Week 4             30 min tempo, 2 pace         9 x 400 mile pace         REST                   5 K Race                

Week 5             50 min tempo, 3 pace         8 m long run (3/1)        hill repeats        10 x 400 mile pace

Week 6             30 min tempo, 2 pace         11 x 400 mile pace       REST                   8 K Race

Week 7             60 min tempo, 3 pace         10 m long run (3/1)      hill repeats        12 x 400 mile pace  

Week 8             30 min tempo, 2 pace         6 x 400 mile pace         3 m easy            RACE            



(3/1) - run the first 3/4 of the distance at a comfortable pace, then accelerate to near race pace for the last 1/4 of the distance.

2 and 3 pace - Run 2 or 3 miles at or near 10 K race pace