There is always
a next great adventure. Whether
it’s a new job, moving to a new place, a new relationship, there’s always
something new. The day in and day
out will change at some point, and it’s always healthy to shake the dust off of
a routine and try something new.
Soon after my
Army Ten Miler, Sarah said that she had wanted to experiment with something new
to my training routine. It wasn’t
going to be a part of my fall season race schedule, but in between the fall and
spring seasons. This was particularly
because I’ve gone almost two years now with no ITBS problems – I had built up a
lot more strength in my legs. Last
year, the Thanksgiving-New Year running was very much ad hoc – run or swim as I
felt, but no speed, and no reason to get in more than 30-35 miles per
week. But now, we were going to
experiment and do something that she has done between training seasons...
High
mileage. She said that I’d quickly
get up to 70-75 miles per week. I
looked pretty startled, and told her the most I’d ever run was 60 mpw, and that
as during marathon training. Sarah
said that it’s actually not that shocking to do a “strength segment” like
this. How can you get in that kind
of volume without injuries? You
take out the speed component. So
normally, I run about 40 mpw, with 2 speed workouts thrown in a week. There won’t be any speed, just high
mileage. Apparently, you can do
one (speed or strength) but not both, at least not for a while, because that’s
when injuries are most likely to occur.
So, I am diving into a very high mileage segment.
There will be lots of double days, when I’ll run in the morning and at
night. She said that the first two
weeks are quite an adjustment “And you just feel like crap, but you’ll get past
that.” Ultimately, the point of
doing this (other than clearly not having to worry about holiday pounds –
right?) is to really build up strength during the “off season” and when I come
back to the more cyclical training in the New Year, I’ll be read to switch
gears and add back in the speed.
Sure, I needed a
little convincing, but really, I think it’s going to be very cool. This is what I love to do, and a lot of
times, I divide my cross training days into two workouts (swim in the morning,
lift/core work at night) to simiulate that feeling. May as well make it a reality!
Plus, there is
something about going into the unknown – in this case, ramping up my
mileage. I have dreams someday of
running 100 mpw training for a marathon.
The only way to get to that point is to start on a smaller scale for
shorter-distance training.
Today was day 1 of mega mileage. 8 miles in the morning, 4 miles in the afternoon for 12 miles for the day. So excited. Felt like a champ suiting up twice today. I'll get up to 65 miles this week: half done in DC, half done in NY (going home for Thanksgiving!). It's a good way to change things up, and I am looking forward to seeing how things pan out in this segment.
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