The NEW training rules

"Running should be free, man" Cabello Blanco


The past couple of weeks I've been working on intelligently rebuilding my miles from that dusty pile of remains my once-spectacular running career had become. My problems stem mostly from anxiety. They range from the ever-present race anxiety to foot breaking anxiety. So I've been working on developing different systems and training methods that work for me but probably sound unheard of to most. Have fun!

Free Run
A free run means leaving your watch, your ipod, heart rate monitors, iphones, etc....at home and taking nothing with you but your shoes...if you aren't into the barefoot thing. When I get too absorbed by the community of racing and perfection and fastness I find it helpful not to know how far I've gone, not to know how fast, but instead to focus on how my feet sound on the trails, what my pace settles into instead of what it "should" be. It's nice, at least once a week or two to step back and just run until I'm good and ready to be done instead of when I'm supposed to be. What it helps me the most with is when that love of running is zonking out a little bit and I need to get it back. 


U-Pace Run
We've all heard of T-pace and I-pace, race pace, and easy pace. Let me introduce you to my newest philosophy in the bunch: U-Pace. As with the traditional grade school method of grading U-pace stands for "unsatisfactory" as in this pace is so dang slow and pathethic that it deserves a grade given to a second grader who isn't even trying to learn subtraction. It's unsatisfactory. That's how I feel. But really...the second meaning for U-pace is "ultra marathon pace" I'm not into taking days off of running. I feel really bad about myself when I do and I tend to feel worse the day after a day off. So instead of taking a day off in every 4 day cycle (I tend to work my schedule in 4 day increments unlike most people who work them in 1 week increments) I schedule 1 U-pace day. U-pace days are typically not allowed to be any longer than 30 minutes and (for me)  not any faster than 8 minute miles. I try to shoot for 9-10 minute pace usually though. From the second I step out the door until I stop my watch I am in the mindset that I must be running a pace that I could easily maintain for 100 miles. It is supposed to be painfully slow. this.is. recovery.

4 Day Cycles
As I mentioned above I gave up scheduling things in week-long incremnts. I still add up my mileage every week to see where I'm at, but in general I prefer to do my running schedule every 4 days instead of every 7. Before when I ran I was just trying to make it through a week: long run, easy, hard,easy, hard, easy, long. My whole week was centered around the mileage goal which I was always either trying to reach or trying not to go over. In addition my week also centered around those long runs making sure I didn't schedule hard and long too close together....there were too many touchy variables that I had to be careful of, too many goals to make. Maybe someday I can go back to that but right now my training flows around 4 main days.

Day 1. Long. Go as long as you feel comfortable (but no more than 10% longer than you went on your last long day) If you can't do more than 8 don't. If you feel ready to do 13 or 14 or build by 10% it's up to you.
Day 2. Drop your long run by about 20%. I typically follow a 20 minute rule though based on how I'm feeling. If I did 1 hour and 20 I usually run an hour. If I ran my long in an hour I usually do 40. This pace should be relatively easy. At the end 6-8 strides of 50-100 meters. (barefoot if you can)
Day 3. Tempo and speed. Minute-wise this run should be about the same as day 2. However, add in some sort of speed work. Right now, I'm staying away from intense track work so my Day 3's are based around heavily upon long tempo runs. For example: a warm up of 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes @ tempo (about 40 seconds slower than race pace) and a 10 minute cool down. OR a 3-5 mile progressive run (getting faster as you go.) OR a fartlek
Day 4. Rest, regroup, and re-evaluate. On the beginning of all day 4's I always take time to really pay attention to my body and what it may need and how it's feeling after the previous three days. What's sore? What needs extra stretching? If I'm really hurting somewhere and afraid of injury it's the day 4's that are the days off where I would hypothetically just swim or bike. Once the regrouping is good and I feel confident that I don't need a day off, this then is the day for U-pace so I set out of my house for 3-4 miles at a nice 8-10  minute per mile trot. Followed by 4-6 strides of 50-100 meters.

Katie Miles
I base all runs off of 7 minute pace (except U-pace obviously). This means that when I add up my mileage regardless of how fast it actually was I count it as 7 minute per mile pace. It's easier to keep track of mileage this way and bases training on effort instead of junk miles. So yeah...I lose sometimes when I have some soft of epic run that I do 6:45 pace for 12 miles. But it also allows me to have days where I do 7:30  pace for 8 miles if it's hot or I feel crappy. This system (based on 'badger miles' used at the program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) allows for the flexibility to base each run on how you're feeling and not what you "have" to do.

Equal Opportunity Cross Training
 Swimming is and 1:1 ratio. Minutes spent swimming=minutes spent running. It takes me about an hour to swim a 5k. This equals the effort that It would have taken me to run for an hour. I.E. it goes down in the log as a 3 mile swim and effort-wise is equal to about an 8 mile run. Biking is a 4:1 ratio. All biking miles must be divided by 4 and then logged. A 40 mile bike is equal to a 10 mile run. An 80 mile bike is technically equal to a 20 mile run. HOWEVER the wear and tear is much less SO if it's a U-pace day and I bike instead I am not limited to biking for only 16 miles to equal a 4 mile run. This system is set. No changes, ifs, ands, or buts.

and finally....
Zero Pressure Racing
Races in 2012 have a clause attached to them. I am required by myself to only tempo them. If I'm feeling awesome and not scared then O.K. I'm all over this whole racing thing, but for the time being there's no pressure to "win" and times? Times don't matter. I can run a 25 minute 5k for all I care as long as I don't get injured.

It's new and it's different but right now there are the things that are working for me. Hopefully they can start working for other people as well. It's not traditional at all, however "tradition" wasn't working for me. Right now I'm just enjoying the time where I get to run free and as fast...or slow ...as I want