Limited Focus

Thinking less about running is leading to more enjoyment and better training. The key to this is I think about running just before I head out the door, forget about it when I return home and only consider it again when deliberately sitting down to make plans. Having freed myself to just worrying about the main elements of the training and not be concerned with the little details has been a release. In reality the little details tend to take care of themselves anyway when you get the main stuff right.

Wide to Narrow

My original plan was to increase everything by a tiny bit every training cycle or second cycle. Hoping to develop all aspects of performance evenly then make adjustments as needed. Unfortunately everything felt flat, and I had nothing to really hold my focus each week. This is the area of training I have changed.

Deuces

The plan is now split into a non-racing week and a racing week. Each week I have only two key elements to focus on. Remember my week can be 7-9 days. The rest is just background, important, but not to be stressed over.

Non-Racing
  1. Long Run - starting at 2 hours at aerobic conditioning paces, increased by 10min only on the long run after a race.
  2. VO2 Intervals - starting at intervals totalling 9min, adding 3min each non-race week.

The above two runs I have to get in and these are the one I focus on getting right. These I really put in the effort and quality focus. The next two runs are:

  1. Speed - fast short intervals starting at 1000m, adding about 200m every second week.
  2. Threshold - starting as a continuous 15min, adding 2.5-5min every other week.

If the Speed and Threshold runs aren't up to par, then it doesn't matter. They are simply what they are and I'll move onto the next day. The rest is either aerobic conditioning or recovery as I feel and can fit in.

Racing

  1. Race - self explanatory really
  2. Long Run - add 10min, and run on feel with no heart rate guidelines

After a race I will drop the VO2 and Threshold sessions, fill with recovery and aerobic conditioning. If I recover well from the race and have got in a good long run and feel good then I'll perform a Speed session, not bigger in volume than the previous training week, but will deliberately change the format to something I am not used to.

The Picture

A long run.

A hard and fast run.

Maybe some moderate runs.

A few comfortable runs.

Simple.

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