The Training Crucible

This week I wrapped up my first week of speed work training.  Overall it has been a great week.  The daily regime of P90X has gotten me ready for running everyday (with one day of rest each week).  So here are the details from this past week of training:

Monday: 3 Mile Run: 8:44 pace. This is suppose to be an easy run, the purpose is just to build up miles.
Tuesday: 3 X Hill: I picked out a quarter mile section of a hill near my house.  Running up the hill my average pace was 7:00/mile.  I jogged back down the hill and then repeated. I did a total of 3 miles on this day becasue there was about a 1 mile warm up and then another mile for cool down.
Wednesday: 3 Miles: 8:12 pace. One hour of strentgh training.  For my Wednesday strength training sessions throughout the period of training I'll be using the P90X Core Synergistics DVD.  This gives me a near full body workout that focuses on my upper thighs to my lower chest. I have talked about the impotance of a strong core and now I'm applying it.
Thursday: Rest. I think we all understand this one.
Friday: 30 Minute Tempo. The first time I have prepared a tempo run before. After a 10 minute warm up at an easy pace I did a steady build up to a 7:45/mile pace over 10 minutes.  The wrapped up with a 10 minute cooldown, dropping my pace back to 8:45/mile.
Saturday: 6 Mile Run. The plan was to make this an easy run.  The first 4 miles were easy, and then I realized it was like 95 out and I had no water. Not a great combo, so rather than risk injury I slowed down. The pace over the total 6 was 9:49, but the first 4 was at 8:45.
Sunday: 3 Miles, 8:57 pace. One hour of strength training. I did another full body workout, this time with weights. Moves included incline press, leg press,donkey calf raises, hammer curls and standing row. I wish I had kept a more detailed log on the excerises and weights that I used, but I missed it this time.
I'll repeat the same schedule agian this week, except the Saturday run will be 7 miles, and I'll be sure to have water this time (as well as running earlier in the day).

This week I have a started a new training program focused on speed work. Making this changes now does mean that I have only completed 60 days of the P90X challenge, however it also means that I can get in 16 weeks of work before I start my mileage build up for the St. Jude's Marathon in December.
The main reason for the switch is quite simple: I want to run faster! I basic common sense, if you want to run faster, then you must run faster.  While more running will improve your conditioning and allow you to run longer and harder, focused training on speed work can provide better results.
As I did with the marathon training last year, I've started with a plan from Hal Higdon. My plan is modeled after the Intermediate Spring Training Plan.  The changes I am making include increasing the plan from 12 weeks to 16. First, let me explain the core components of the schedule and then I tell you how and why I am making the changes.
Core Components of Hal Higdon's Speed Work:
1. During weeks 1-6 the focus is on hill work.  Running hills can be draining. It will drain in during your race, so running them in training is a necessity.
2. During weeks 7-12 the focus switches to repeats of 200 meters and 400 meters on a track.
3. Two days a week you run 3 miles and then focus on strength training (here is where I can add in some moves for P90X).
4. Two days with easy runs, one about 25% longer than the other. This simply helps you get more miles in without wearing yourself out.
5. One day each week alternates from week to week with tempo runs and fartleks.
6. A day of rest. You need it if you run hard.

The Changes
Really the only change that I am making is increasing the number of weeks from 12 to 16. One reason why is I want to focus more time on the hill work.  My next scheduled race is the Soaring Wings Half Marathon which has a lot of hills on it, a couple of which really took it out of me last year.  The additional weeks will also give me the opportunity to use two different hills.  In explaining the hill work Higdon says, "Select a hill about a quarter-mile long, but don't worry about pitch or the exact distance." I have several hills near my house, one which is a steady increase, but rather low pitch and another that I call a "soul sucker", because you are exhausted by the time you get to the top of it. They are both about the same distance, but the pitch (elevation change) is dramatically different.  My thinking is, I'll encounter both types of hills on the course, so try for what I'll race.  The additional weeks will allow me to run one hill one week, and then another hill the next.  The extra weeks on the hills will also give me more opportunities to compare my running stats from week to week.
As far as the strength training goes, I'll be working on a plan tonight to figure out what exercises I'll be doing to help me maintain the work I have already done as well as help me improve my speed.

How have you used speed work in training?
Do you feel like focused speed work has helped or do you prefer to simply log more miles?


[image by netdogg1103]

Tonight Meg (my wife) and I registered for our first half-marathon. It's goes along with the path we are taking in order to run our first marathon by the end of the year (the plan, by the way is to run the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis). But this is more than a half-marathon, here are some interesting details that will make this special:

1. The event falls on Meg's birthday. It would be right to tell you how young she'll be, but I simply love the fact that we will be out there running in the same event on her birthday!
2. The Soaring Wings Half-Marathon in Conway, AR is for a great cause. Soaring Wings Ranch is a Christ-centered ranch for abused and neglected children. For more information about the ranch you can read their mission statement or check out there homepage. If you will be in the area on October 24, you can register for the event here.
3. This event will also be amazingly fun because several people from our church's running club are already signed up and several more have given some type of verbal commitment to participating in the event. Running is so much better when you have a great support team!
4. This event also falls perfectly in line with Hal Higdon's training program that I am using to get ready for the marathon in December. Since this will be the first time for me to run either of the distances in a race, it should give me a better idea of how I hope to finish in December.

I hope you'll join us for what should be a great event!