It seems that every week that goes by, I am learning something new, or, at a minimum, proving out some of the endless training theories I have read over the months! This week I proved that Rest Does A Body Good!
Let me back-track a bit….last weekend I ran a total of 8.5 miles and did an hour & ½ of fairly intense cross training. Monday evening I did some strength and core work on the balance ball. Tuesday evening, I was tired but managed to eek out a 40 minute run, but because I was pressed for time I could not do all 4 miles. And, because I was ‘pressed for time’, I ran harder than I should have (trying to clock those 4 miles) which basically caught up with me through the week. I was quite frustrated by this.
Wednesday, I was feeling tired and ‘crabby’, and a little sore. I ended up deciding to take a rest day instead of doing the scheduled cross training. This bummed me out but I managed to convince myself that I was listening well to my body and it was OK to skip cross training, at least I wasn’t skipping a run, right?
Yesterday was a true, scheduled *rest day* and I was so so tempted to squeeze in my skipped cross training from Wednesday, but believe it or not, I was still feeling a little fatigued and decided to stick with the plan to rest. Again, by yesterday I was getting a little pissed at myself and antsy and feeling like I ‘should’ be doing this or that, NOT resting…that’s how I roll…. High expectations for myself and a low tolerance for doing ‘less’. I know this about myself, but it’s a hard piece of my nature to change.
So needless to say, I was a little wary about this morning’s run, coming off two days of doing nothing. But at 5am I parked my sleepy-head self on the treadmill and ended up with a sweet 40 minute run, covering 3.6 miles – and that my friends, would be about an 11:11 pace. Again, you all know that for ME, this is quite an improvement over my usual 12:00 – 13:00+ pace.
Lesson learned (again)….Rest Does A Body Good! It was a great run and I felt awesome when I was finished ~ energized, not spent, as I have been lately. The ‘plan’ called for 4 miles today, but I did 40 minutes instead, and here is why:
Effort Based Training
Yet another ‘tweak’ in my training plan. ;-)
My trainer suggested that I read the book ‘Marathoning For Mortals’ (John Bingham) for *homework*. (I’m sure I’m the last mortal runner in Blogland to read this book) While the Hal Higdon novice plan that I am following is great, the plan in Bingham’s book is very similar, and I believe will work even better for me.
Both plans follow a weekly rotation of 2 days on, 1 day rest, 3 days on, 1 day rest. (running and XT)
Bingham emphasizes that the plan is structured this way to maximize effort and then recovery from that effort. Basically he says that if you miss a workout, that workout is gone forever – don’t try to ‘make it up’ or add it in to another workout. Stick with the schedule. This is why I decided not to workout last night and stuck to the scheduled *rest* day.
The main difference between the two plans is that the Bingham plan follows ‘effort based’ training with one long endurance run by miles on the weekend. For example, the Bingham plan at this stage of the plan has 40 minute runs at 65%-75% MHR, with a 6 mile long run this weekend at 60% - 70% MHR.
The Higdon plan has 4 mile runs during the week at this point in the schedule, and that continues through to the end of training (up to 5 miles on some days).
I think the Higdon plan assumes that one is running at least 10 minute miles, which I’m not yet. Therefore, when I have a 4-5 mile run, it takes a good chunk of time, not to mention that the run itself feels more like a ‘long’ run for me considering that it takes me over an hour to run 5 miles still. So I sometimes feel like I have 3 “Long Runs’ a week, and then add in two cross training sessions and I am working pretty hard.
If don’t switch to ‘effort based’ training now, I will burn out quickly (as I started feeling this week), or worse, get injured. So my two runs during the week will now be 40 minute runs (or 50 when the schedule calls for it) at 65% -75% MHR, which for me now is 135-147 bpm.
Over the weeks I will likely start covering more ground in 40-50 minutes – like I did today for example. I stopped at 40 minutes, and even though I didn’t quite cover 4 miles, I knew based on my average heart rate that I had a good run with a good sustained effort that is building my aerobic base. The main thing is that there should be a distinct difference between training runs during the week, and the endurance run on the weekend. That line has gotten a little blurry for me lately.
This weekend I have a 6 mile run at 60-70% MHR, so it will be a true SLOW endurance run for me – not my ‘third-run–of- the-week- that- is- over- one- hour- long’.
The biggest point that Bingham drives home in his training philosophy is that it doesn’t really matter how many miles you cover in training for a half/marathon, as long as the effort relative to *YOU* is there, and of course, you include the gradually increasing long endurance run once a week. I never really understood or bought in to this theory until this week. I have been determined to cover the miles that the ‘plan’ says I should run, but really, the focus should be on the effort and efficiency of my runs – training my heart to get me through the distance on race day. And then of course, one day a week I will train my mind and legs to get me through those miles on race day too.
So this week I have learned (again) that rest is good and leads to better runs, and also, I finally understand what effort based training is all about and why that makes more sense for me right now.
Happy Weekend to all, and to all good long runs! ;-)
Let me back-track a bit….last weekend I ran a total of 8.5 miles and did an hour & ½ of fairly intense cross training. Monday evening I did some strength and core work on the balance ball. Tuesday evening, I was tired but managed to eek out a 40 minute run, but because I was pressed for time I could not do all 4 miles. And, because I was ‘pressed for time’, I ran harder than I should have (trying to clock those 4 miles) which basically caught up with me through the week. I was quite frustrated by this.
Wednesday, I was feeling tired and ‘crabby’, and a little sore. I ended up deciding to take a rest day instead of doing the scheduled cross training. This bummed me out but I managed to convince myself that I was listening well to my body and it was OK to skip cross training, at least I wasn’t skipping a run, right?
Yesterday was a true, scheduled *rest day* and I was so so tempted to squeeze in my skipped cross training from Wednesday, but believe it or not, I was still feeling a little fatigued and decided to stick with the plan to rest. Again, by yesterday I was getting a little pissed at myself and antsy and feeling like I ‘should’ be doing this or that, NOT resting…that’s how I roll…. High expectations for myself and a low tolerance for doing ‘less’. I know this about myself, but it’s a hard piece of my nature to change.
So needless to say, I was a little wary about this morning’s run, coming off two days of doing nothing. But at 5am I parked my sleepy-head self on the treadmill and ended up with a sweet 40 minute run, covering 3.6 miles – and that my friends, would be about an 11:11 pace. Again, you all know that for ME, this is quite an improvement over my usual 12:00 – 13:00+ pace.
Lesson learned (again)….Rest Does A Body Good! It was a great run and I felt awesome when I was finished ~ energized, not spent, as I have been lately. The ‘plan’ called for 4 miles today, but I did 40 minutes instead, and here is why:
Effort Based Training
Yet another ‘tweak’ in my training plan. ;-)
My trainer suggested that I read the book ‘Marathoning For Mortals’ (John Bingham) for *homework*. (I’m sure I’m the last mortal runner in Blogland to read this book) While the Hal Higdon novice plan that I am following is great, the plan in Bingham’s book is very similar, and I believe will work even better for me.
Both plans follow a weekly rotation of 2 days on, 1 day rest, 3 days on, 1 day rest. (running and XT)
Bingham emphasizes that the plan is structured this way to maximize effort and then recovery from that effort. Basically he says that if you miss a workout, that workout is gone forever – don’t try to ‘make it up’ or add it in to another workout. Stick with the schedule. This is why I decided not to workout last night and stuck to the scheduled *rest* day.
The main difference between the two plans is that the Bingham plan follows ‘effort based’ training with one long endurance run by miles on the weekend. For example, the Bingham plan at this stage of the plan has 40 minute runs at 65%-75% MHR, with a 6 mile long run this weekend at 60% - 70% MHR.
The Higdon plan has 4 mile runs during the week at this point in the schedule, and that continues through to the end of training (up to 5 miles on some days).
I think the Higdon plan assumes that one is running at least 10 minute miles, which I’m not yet. Therefore, when I have a 4-5 mile run, it takes a good chunk of time, not to mention that the run itself feels more like a ‘long’ run for me considering that it takes me over an hour to run 5 miles still. So I sometimes feel like I have 3 “Long Runs’ a week, and then add in two cross training sessions and I am working pretty hard.
If don’t switch to ‘effort based’ training now, I will burn out quickly (as I started feeling this week), or worse, get injured. So my two runs during the week will now be 40 minute runs (or 50 when the schedule calls for it) at 65% -75% MHR, which for me now is 135-147 bpm.
Over the weeks I will likely start covering more ground in 40-50 minutes – like I did today for example. I stopped at 40 minutes, and even though I didn’t quite cover 4 miles, I knew based on my average heart rate that I had a good run with a good sustained effort that is building my aerobic base. The main thing is that there should be a distinct difference between training runs during the week, and the endurance run on the weekend. That line has gotten a little blurry for me lately.
This weekend I have a 6 mile run at 60-70% MHR, so it will be a true SLOW endurance run for me – not my ‘third-run–of- the-week- that- is- over- one- hour- long’.
The biggest point that Bingham drives home in his training philosophy is that it doesn’t really matter how many miles you cover in training for a half/marathon, as long as the effort relative to *YOU* is there, and of course, you include the gradually increasing long endurance run once a week. I never really understood or bought in to this theory until this week. I have been determined to cover the miles that the ‘plan’ says I should run, but really, the focus should be on the effort and efficiency of my runs – training my heart to get me through the distance on race day. And then of course, one day a week I will train my mind and legs to get me through those miles on race day too.
So this week I have learned (again) that rest is good and leads to better runs, and also, I finally understand what effort based training is all about and why that makes more sense for me right now.
Happy Weekend to all, and to all good long runs! ;-)
5 comments:
I definitely listen to my body and take rest days if I need to. Sometimes I feel super guilty but I know my body appreciates it. I also LOVE the scheduled rest days :)
I'm glad you listened to your body. You should get the book run less, run fast. Ive read maybe 10 pages and its hands down AWESOME.
Ive been off since i got home from vacation. So rest days have been more than normal. I'm hoping to get back into it this next week. I'm dieing with out routine.
Congratulations. You have learned quite a bit this week. There are "experienced" runners/athletes out there that still don't get the "rest when you need it" philosophy.
When you truly listen to your body and it tells you to stay the hell in bed, it's best to listen and NOT feel guilty.
I'm glad you found effort based training. I have been doing that for the past several years. All of my workouts are based upon time and effort, no mileage except for pool yards. Getting the body ready for the effort of a long event is most important.
Your heart and legs will be fine. Help the mind prepare by thinking of how well the training is going, the progress you have been making and put a positive image in your brain for race day. think about crossing the finish line with your arms raised up and a smile on your face.
Believe, Try, Achieve.
IMO rest makes EVERYTHING better huh?
It's baffling to me how I can seem to entirely plateau and for some reason MORE seems as tho it should be the answer but LESS---a few days OFF---makes me STRONGER and faster.
Miz.
Cyndi, does the Marathoning for Mortals book tell you how to calculate your max heart rate? I have Running for Mortals but I'm not sure if he actually tells you how to calculate it. This sounds really interesting and something I might want to pursue. Please post on how this approach is working for you.
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