Turkey Trot 5 Mile Training- Week 5

Workout intensity (keep it varied)

Welcome back to the Westfield Turkey Trot training blog! Hope you had a good training week.

By now, you know how important being consistent and overloading your system are so your training is as effective as it could be. Today we will focus on intensity and the need to mix it up. I will keep it short because I know you are more worried about Sandy than anything else this week, but if you have any questions, drop me a line.

What do I mean with mixing up the intensity? What I'm saying here is that you don't have to be running hard all the time. If you are a beginner you might be thinking: - "Running equals hard!" - "How do I run easy!" -"That makes no sense!" And you will be right.

At the beginning running is ALWAYS hard! I've been there too. So how do you make it easier? Well, if you are healthy and you have been running consistently, running eventually will become easier. In the meantime, jog at an easier pace or pepper the runs with walking if you can't find that easier pace. Now if you can run and find a comfortable pace, then run some days of the week at that easy pace and others at a more intense pace, alternating hard and easy runs. This Hard/Easy is another of the variables of training, and will add at your consistency and overloading ones that you are already applying to it (right?;-). Your long runs are going to be hard, then the next run should be easier, after that you can do a short run at a higher intensity pace and then an easy run again, and so on. Running hard all the time can lead to injury, and running always easy won't make you better either.

Mix it up! Give your system a shock and then let it recover, that's the best way to an effective training program.

As you can see I left Tues and Weds free. We might have to do some cross training those days. Last year Irene brought me a swimming pool. Let's see what Sandy brings us now.

Stay safe, go to the gym tomorrow and pick up the training when you can and it is safe to run outdoors.

By the way, on Sat Nov 10th, the organizers of the WTT are holding a 4m training run for the race. They will have water and bagels at the end, so go check them out and RSVP if you are planning to go. I will schedule it on that week’s training.

8 Week Training Schedule for the Westfield Turkey Trot 5m - 2012

Week

M

T

W

Th

F

Sa

Su

5

40

off

x

35

35

X

60

The numbers are minutes of walk/jog, jog, or run at a pace that will allow you to have a conversation (see why I want you to have a buddy? ;-).

The X means that if you have been racing during the summer, you should do some kind of cross-training exercises, such as swimming, biking, elliptical machine, etc. If you are a complete beginner, you can take those (X) days off.

If you do strength training (ST) exercises and you just started running, do the ST exercises on non-running days.

For more info, check out my book: "RUNNING For Girls Like Us" 

Happy training and see you next Sunday, Nov 4 (I’ll be tired after running NYC marathon, but I’ll be here!!) 

Next week’s topic: Nutrition