If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Right? So what's the first step? Give each run a purpose.
I find my biggest motivation/success comes from developing a training schedule that works for me. I like to pick a spring and fall half marathon when I can and then develop a 12-16 week schedule depending on the time frame I have. I actually type it out with charts on word and print it off. Then I highlight each day as I complete it. It's actually so much fun to watch the entire chart get slowly coloured it. It is such a feeling of accomplishment.
Each week it's important to integrate the following:
CROSS TRAINING: This can come in SO many different formats. Basically do an exercise that isn't running. Most exercises will naturally compliment and improve your running as all muscles are at play during running, so improving them is always good. For me this comes as a weekly women's bootcamp class in which we do a range of different whole body, core exercises and different cardio/strength training. You could also swim, bike, walk, ski, rollerblade, take a class at your local gym: yoga? pilates? Aerial silks? (seriously, so much fun). Find something you enjoy and drag a friend along. This also allows some tired running-muscles a break.
REST: For some taking a rest day is more painful than a challenging run. I am not one of those people. I take full advantage of a rest day, but sometimes avoid taking them when it's one of those days that I NEEEEEED a run. This is dumb. It's also super important that you listen to your body. There will be days when it screams GIVE ME A REST and we have to listen. Injury is no fun.
EASY RUN: It's important to have an easy run once a week. An easy run should feel just that, easy. This is a pace that is comfortable to run at and carry on a conversation. Some call this a "jog". I detest the word jog as to me it seems to dismiss the action all together. A runner is a runner no matter the pace. It's all individual. These runs are important as they allow you to get your legs out and about without over taxing them. It's important to have these between more challenging runs (see SPEEDWORK and LONG RUNS). I personally have a challenge with the easy run as I always want to push myself. As a result I purposefully schedule in group runs or runs with friends in which we naturally converse and I am less apt to look at my watch and think *oh my goodness. look how slooooow I am going*.
TEMPO RUN: This one can be put in or taken out depending on how many runs you have time for/want to do a week. A tempo run is basically just above an easy run. You aren't all out running (and out of breath) but it's faster than an easy run. This run is just beyond what's comfortable, in order to push your body further, longer. You should be able to say one or two words but that's all.
SPEED WORK: This one can come in so many different forms, but if your goal is to get faster and stronger, this one is crucial. This one I also find most intimidating as there are one million and nine different examples online which include way more math than my oxygen deprived brain can handle. I like to keep my speed work simple. I like the following:
- Fartleks. Mainly because the word sounds like when you trust a fart and you shouldn't have. It basically just means speed work but can make you sound like a super smart runner when you drop the term. I will run a km or two and then do mailbox or laneway or telephone pole fartleks by running hard from one mailbox (or laneway or pole) to the next, and then slowing my pace to something more manageable to the next mailbox and then I repeat for as many as I can. Super easy and always surprising how much your body can handle.
-Hill repeats. Run a km or two warm up, find a hill and charge up it, then easy run back down and repeat. Start with 3 or 4 and each week increase your repeats. Then a km or 2 cool down. Sometimes you can even reverse this by running fast down the hill and easy up. This works on different muscles (more stabilizers) and though I've yet to try it I've always wanted to. I've always found I am able to ride a downhill fairly successfully and tend to pass people on a downhill so it's not an area I've felt I need to work on.
LONG RUN: Long runs are challenging but so rewarding. After you run a long run you feel like you could take on the world and eat your entire house. Every time I finish a long run (no matter the distance) I feel like a super woman and want to tell the whole world (so I post on instagram :)). The important thing to know about long runs is to keep a rest day or easy run the day before and you need to increase your distance very slowly (a km or 2 tops per week) and each long run should be at a very easy to manage pace as you are teaching your body to handle the stress of distance. I read once it should be 60-90 seconds per km slower than your regular pace. I find this a bit extreme but I try to keep my pacing at least 30 seconds/km slower and will often do the talking test by saying out loud a general sentence to keep myself in check. If I can't say a full sentence without getting winded, I am going too fast. Sometimes your legs just want to go and you need to restrain or else the second half of that long run is going to suck even more than it just already might.
SO! Look at your week and try to figure out what will fit best. It's like a fun running puzzle. If you are a ridiculously busy person assess your #1 running goal. If it's getting faster, then speed work is key to integrate every week. If it's a longer goal race (anything longer than a 10k), then you cannot avoid that long run. Giving purpose to each and every run can allow you to keep your fast runs fast and your easy runs easy. It's also important to remain flexible with life and what your body is telling you. I often trade different pieces throughout the week when I've had a tough bootcamp class and my legs are dead I'll trade the next day's speed work for an easy run or a rest day. You need to be able to differentiate between sore/tired muscles that are growing and improving and exhaustion/pain that means injury. It is good to be uncomfortable sometimes, this can mean you are just improving yourself. Just try to find balance between easy runs, speed work, long runs, cross training, tempo runs and rest days.
My typical week looks like this:
Monday: CT(cross train)- ladies bootcamp.
Tuesday: either a tempo run or speed work
Wednesday: easy run, I run with friends in a run clinic
Thursday: tempo run or speed work (whatever I didn't do tuesday)
Friday: rest day. I love friday rest days. so relaxing after a tough week teaching!
Saturday: long run! First thing in the morning, a great way to start the weekend
Sunday: recovery run (easy run!) to shake out the soreness in my legs after a long run. I try to keep this short (about 5km) and get it in before church.
Of course, things can change but it gives you an idea. Keeping a fairly regular schedule means being less likely to skip a run when you'd rather binge watch Netflix or eat an entire chocolate cake, just because.
So to RECAP:
Give each run a purpose
Find a balance
Collect running friends- this one is important because it's nice to have someone to run with for the long runs and the easy runs, it's nice to have someone to ask questions of and brag to when you accomplish something new or something you never thought you could accomplish as a runner. P.S. I am more than happy to be one of those friends :)
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