I’d like to improve a bit at the run for the duathlon. I’m thinking about adding a second quality workout during the week and was curious how to fit it within the week, it seems like I keep ending up with too much quality back to back when I work it though. Currently, I’m doing a track workout with the local running club, pretty typical kind of stuff with a good progression. I do a tempo on the TT bike the day before and some TT bike intervals on the day after. On the day before, I’m thinking of adding a little run off the bike. I’m doing a lon run on the weekend, and if I’m not beat from racing I jog around in the woods on mondays for recovery.
So, if I wanted to put my already decent cycling on the back burner for a block of training, what would be the other quality run to add? Seems like a tempo or long intervals run and maybe scale back one of the quality rides during the week and try to sneak a little in during the long ride on the weekend or do some road racing on the bike to keep the speed in my legs. I’m just concerned that I’m going kind of hard tu-we-thu.
If it helps, I’m 45 and in about mid 18ish 5k shape. I was once a good runner, but my body seems to have forgotton the glory days.
You should be doing a tempo run 6-10 months out of the year…so yes.
Also, don’t be concerned about doing back to back workouts, as long as you keep in mind that you are doing them back to back. IE, don’t kill yourself on Tuesday if you have a hard workout planned for Wedensday.
In college we used to do a double on Thursdays (AM tempo, PM speed). Jack Daniels also recommends doing a track session on Tuesday and a tempo run on Wednesday.
Substitute you track interval workout for a tempo run during base. Then during build/pre-competition substitute the tempo workout for track and then instead of a long run do a long tempo run…45 to 55 minutes.
OK, good, I was thinking of doing maybe 80 minutes only for a long run, as my longest race will be 10 total miles of running, but then building the tempo block into the run, maybe do it part/all on trails to save my legs a little. I’m doing rep pace on the track now, I think we will go into the vo2 max next if I understand the daniels correctly.
So, I’d have the tempo + long run on the weekend, the track stuff during the week, the monday junk run in the woods–what would be a fourth day, another junk run after the three days of harder bike(plus brick run)-run-bike?
For my tuesday “brick” I was planning to hop off the bike and do about 5K “around the block” at whatever pace feels OK, do I need to really work the run or is it just to get used to the tired leg transition? I assume 5K is fine for this?
That’s all probably fine, but every workout has to have a point and if you find yourself running the junk too fast to really hit the intervals or bike sessions properly you’ll have to adjust.
The tempo run on the weekend should be difficult. First 35 minutes or so should be uncomfortable and the last 15 to 20 should feel like the hammer. Having said that, your pace should remain relatively consitent, the hammer is the cumulative effect of the difficult pace not the progression to 5K pace for instance.
If you’re running 80 minutes, then warm up, tempo, cool down should get you to 80+