There comes a time when your goal races have been run and you must get back into base training, giving the body time to recover from the stresses of racing, building more strength and endurance back into your body, and shifting the focus away from speed.
That time is now.
As you saw in yesterday's post, I have a plan to do just that. But what is your plan?
Here are a few tips.
Have a plan you know you can follow. One which is achievable, but stretches you to do something a little different, something a little more.
If you haven't been doing much up until now, start by establishing your long days, and as the weeks pass by, add your recovery days, then add your speed days, then lengthen your long days. From week to week add no more than 10% to your distance run compared with the previous week, or 5k whichever is greater. And some weeks, plan to drop back in distance, don't wait until you "need to".
Be patient. The longer it takes, the better the foundation for future improvement, in fitness, in health, and in race performances later on.
Slow down so that you can run further. You won't lose your speed, in fact it may improve. But don't push it. While you build up distance, your racing distance added to your speedwork distance in training should never exceed 20% of the weekly total, and should generally be around 10-15%.
Remember the three C's. Committment, Consistency, Common Sense.
In ten weeks a 50 km a week runner can become a 100 km a week runner by gradual controlled planned faithful attention to a sensible increase in distance each week. Don't rush it and it will seem easy.
Happy Parkrunners
Running is meant to be enjoyable. If it isn't, you are doing something wrong!
That time is now.
As you saw in yesterday's post, I have a plan to do just that. But what is your plan?
Here are a few tips.
Have a plan you know you can follow. One which is achievable, but stretches you to do something a little different, something a little more.
If you haven't been doing much up until now, start by establishing your long days, and as the weeks pass by, add your recovery days, then add your speed days, then lengthen your long days. From week to week add no more than 10% to your distance run compared with the previous week, or 5k whichever is greater. And some weeks, plan to drop back in distance, don't wait until you "need to".
Be patient. The longer it takes, the better the foundation for future improvement, in fitness, in health, and in race performances later on.
Slow down so that you can run further. You won't lose your speed, in fact it may improve. But don't push it. While you build up distance, your racing distance added to your speedwork distance in training should never exceed 20% of the weekly total, and should generally be around 10-15%.
Remember the three C's. Committment, Consistency, Common Sense.
In ten weeks a 50 km a week runner can become a 100 km a week runner by gradual controlled planned faithful attention to a sensible increase in distance each week. Don't rush it and it will seem easy.
Happy Parkrunners
