Spring Training

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I’ve been trying to focus around spring and putting a plan into place. For me, not having a plan means not doing much to work out.  Whether or not I follow my plan is a different story.  I should work on mental training/willpower.  Anyway, spring training for me has a few focus areas:

  1. Base training in preparation for Chicago – get a consistent base mileage before official marathon training start
  2. Speed training – work towards PRs at the 8 & 10K distances this spring.
  3. Train for the MC 200 Ragnar Relay.

Training for a relay race is a completely new thing for me.  In short, this is  a race that you run w/ 11 other people, and each person runs 3 segments of 3-9 miles each, totalling 200 miles overall for the group.  I will likely be running 18-20 miles over my three legs.

Did I mention that you’re running these segments (or legs) within a 36 hour window, and after being cooped up in a van?  You may be running at night, or after not sleeping, and eating what you can keep in the van.  You will be sweaty, and most likely not shower in between.

So clearly there’s more than just training for “ideal conditions.” I run best in the early morning, after a good night’s sleep.  In addition to mileage & speed, I also need to practice running with little rest, or multiple runs in a short time frame. 

Feb – April – speed training:

  • 8K PR – 48:00. March 25 – Shamrock Shuffle, Chi-Town Classic 10K.
  • 48:00 = 9:39 pace. 9:30 pace = 47:13.
  • 10K at 9:30 Pace = 58:53
  • Get back on my tempo plan. 4 miles – middle 2 @ 9:30 each, then add another mile in (slow-fast-slow-fast-slow), then for 5: slow-fast-fast-fast-slow.
  • Get my fastest mile possible time.
  • Begin doing some strides after my easier runs.
  • Short Intervals: 800’s at Oz Park.
    • ~2 miles to Oz Park. Then run 4-6 800’s (about half a mile).
    • Full Recovery – recover same time as your first 800.
  • Intervals: at race pace: 9:30 min/mi.
    • Route: Loop out to the lakefront path (~6 miles total)
    • LONG INTERVALS (GOOD FOR 10K-above training): Warm-up for one mile. Run hard one mile. Easy one mile. One mile hard (along lakefront). Run two miles easy back home.

May-June Ragnar Relay Training:

  • Work up to a weekday 6-7 mile run (hopefully I will work up to this sooner rather than waiting until May). 
  • Run 1 day per week in the evening.
  • Complete a double-day of running once a week
  • Work up to a triple (AM-PM-AM) w/ race distances

Does anyone have any tips/suggestions for mental training?

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