A Deeper Look at Training

So that right hip thing turned into a good and proper injury.  I took almost a week off from running.  I looked at my Kindle copy of Hanson's Half-Marathon, and saw that this could potentially interfere with my ability to have a successful training cycle.  I started casting about for other, shorter training programs. 

Obviously Hal Higdon's web page came to mind.  It's a 12 week program, which would give me up to 2 weeks more of no to easy running.  That 2 week window shrunk as I tried to recover and get back into the Hanson's plan before it was too late.  I wasn't convinced the Higdon plan would work, simply because it looked too easy, and too simple.

I had just finished reading an inspirational running book: "Older, Faster, Stronger" - Margaret Webb.  A good read, but no training plans.  It gave me hope that I still could achieve some fairly significant improvements in my times, despite my advancing age.

In looking for another book, my eye was drawn to "You (Only Faster)" - Greg McMillan.  This was a pure training book, and one that tries to personalize training for you.  It had 12 week training programs.  It actually has 8 week training programs that you can tack onto 4 week modules.  With my 2 week window gone, and my hip just starting to feel like it could handle training again, I went with this program.

I finished Greg's book and I bought another running book: "The Science of Running" - Steve Magness.  Greg's book started me thinking about how to tinker with training.  Steve's book opens the mind to all types of new possibilities.  It made me want to find out what my Lactate threshold was, and I hate the idea of anything that draws blood.

I'm sticking with the somewhat generic training plan that Greg McMillan provides.  I now have an idea as to the "why" for each of the training exercises.  I'm definitely paying attention to what works for me, and what doesn't.  I'm pretty sure I'm a slow twitch type of runner, not a pure "endurance monster" as Greg labels them, but maybe a "Combo Endurance."  I won't know without that Lactate threshold test.

All this rain has been great.  I was so tired of living in a drought.  However, the wind and rain has played havoc with my outdoor training.  I began the first of my race specific training weeks, which included "cruise intervals."  I did these 10 x 1km repeats at a 7:20 pace, but it was on the treadmill.  Hopefully this type of pace will hold in the outside environment.

I gave up 2 a day runs.  Too many runs might be one of the reasons for my injury.  I really like that second cardio workout though.  So I bought a device to re-purpose my old off-road bike into an indoor trainer.  It needs to be indoors because of rain, wind, the speed needed achieve true cardio, and almost no bike paths in town.  So now I'm cross training.

It works great, and I can watch Netflix/Amazon while riding.