recovery week review - taper importance
I finished last week feeling good about what I accomplished in the workouts. The weekly volume was up around the highest levels and I had a decent 10k towards the end of the week. Taking the time to review this last period (phase 3) of training has allowed me to see a couple things:
1. Don't schedule back-to-back "stress" days or "breakthrough" workouts. (depending on your preferred terminology)
The 10k on Saturday was scheduled to be a training run that would help us determine pacing issues for the marathon and allow us to analyze our fitness levels. The race was used for both those purposes, but even though it was beneficial for those reasons, it still turned into a pretty tough workout.
I will still schedule races in future training plans, but how they fit into the overall program might change. It would be nice if the races were a little further out from the marathon. And I will be more thoughtful about the next days workout. A race would fit better into a weekend that is a back-to-back long weekend, not a single long run weekend. (I've already altered the workouts leading up to and the day after the 10 mile Papa Johns race that takes place 2 weeks before the marathon.)
2. I was on the razor's edge of overtraining on Monday. This is most likely due to the first observation. The benefical part of our current program is that this week is a recovery week. On the Tuesday run, I ran at the back of the group and tried to keep myself content with running slower. This wasn't too difficult because I was so tired, but to turn your typically fastest run of the week into an easy run can be difficult.
I may have been better off running by myself and skipping the group run that day.
Taking Monday off along with running easy on Tuesday and Wednesday left me almost back to normal when I woke up today. The recovery shined through on today's run. We started out at an easy pace (8:00 to 8:30) and gradually built the run throughout. The last couple miles we went sub 7:00 (6:2x to 6:4x). The best observation is that I didn't really noticed the increased pace.
Tom and John can be pretty entertaining. I'm not quite witty enough yet.
This reinforces the confidence that I have in starting a taper. Our taper will include 2 solid weeks of decreased volume along with a third week of decreasing volume (approximately 70% of max volume). The last 10 days will include one threshold type run and then a couple runs that include a few strides, with very little volume.
A taper like this should leave my legs completely rested and ready to go. It should also leave my mind a little edgey and dying to run the marathon.
During last night's run, Nikki and I began talking about race pacing and strategy. The taper will be a good time to get all the last mental aspects taken care of. As my body becomes rested and my vigor increases, I anticipate a need for as many relaxation techniques as I can practice.
1. Don't schedule back-to-back "stress" days or "breakthrough" workouts. (depending on your preferred terminology)
The 10k on Saturday was scheduled to be a training run that would help us determine pacing issues for the marathon and allow us to analyze our fitness levels. The race was used for both those purposes, but even though it was beneficial for those reasons, it still turned into a pretty tough workout.
I will still schedule races in future training plans, but how they fit into the overall program might change. It would be nice if the races were a little further out from the marathon. And I will be more thoughtful about the next days workout. A race would fit better into a weekend that is a back-to-back long weekend, not a single long run weekend. (I've already altered the workouts leading up to and the day after the 10 mile Papa Johns race that takes place 2 weeks before the marathon.)
2. I was on the razor's edge of overtraining on Monday. This is most likely due to the first observation. The benefical part of our current program is that this week is a recovery week. On the Tuesday run, I ran at the back of the group and tried to keep myself content with running slower. This wasn't too difficult because I was so tired, but to turn your typically fastest run of the week into an easy run can be difficult.
I may have been better off running by myself and skipping the group run that day.
Taking Monday off along with running easy on Tuesday and Wednesday left me almost back to normal when I woke up today. The recovery shined through on today's run. We started out at an easy pace (8:00 to 8:30) and gradually built the run throughout. The last couple miles we went sub 7:00 (6:2x to 6:4x). The best observation is that I didn't really noticed the increased pace.
Tom and John can be pretty entertaining. I'm not quite witty enough yet.
This reinforces the confidence that I have in starting a taper. Our taper will include 2 solid weeks of decreased volume along with a third week of decreasing volume (approximately 70% of max volume). The last 10 days will include one threshold type run and then a couple runs that include a few strides, with very little volume.
A taper like this should leave my legs completely rested and ready to go. It should also leave my mind a little edgey and dying to run the marathon.
During last night's run, Nikki and I began talking about race pacing and strategy. The taper will be a good time to get all the last mental aspects taken care of. As my body becomes rested and my vigor increases, I anticipate a need for as many relaxation techniques as I can practice.
posted by gary at 9:19 AM
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