“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius

This week we are moving to intervals by time.

The work:

WARM UP: 3 x standing lung, standing lung with side sway, standing lung with calf pump.

5 minutes like jog.

MAIN SET: 3 x 7 minutes zone 4-5. 3 minutes recovery interval walk/light jog back to zone 1.

COOL DOWN: Standing quad stretch. Standing runner hamstring stretch. relaxed squat stretch.

CORE: 3 x 50 seconds plank, 25 seconds left side plank, 25 seconds right side plank.

Hello BTC! May is amazing. My favorite month perhaps.

Today’s workout is a classic. Warm up of knee hugs, table tops, and scoops. Followed by 5-10 min light job at zone 2.

Mainset is 2-6 x 800 (1/2 mile). Zone 4-5 best pace you can hold. Rest is interval is 1/2 of work interval. For example if it takes you 4 minutes to do the 800, then light jog for 2 minutes.

Cool down is a series of stretches in the video. Also I am bringing back core! 1-3 sets of 20 leg lifts, Russian twists, and cobras.

Enjoy!

HELLO!!!!

For this weekend here is the workout.

Warm up: 3 x 30 seconds of : 1) a compound movement of stretch and drill. Knee hugs-toe push off and 2) lung with knee and elbow drive. Do 30 seconds light jog after each.

Warm up continues after that with 5-10 minutes zone 2 until you are nice and loose.

The main set is 12-16 x 100 meters ALL OUT SPRINT. Zone 5+. Top end speed work here. With a full 100m recovery. If this was on the track it would be sprint the straights, recovery on the corners. But its a great COVID workout because you just need to find 100m of space where others are not so this workout has a smaller foot print then most runs.

I really like this workout ow because its a chance to go very fast without peaking or burning yourself out.

Cool down is 5-10 minutes of easy running.

ENJOY!

SQUAD! Here we are, the first “track” workout of the speed workout. Why did it take 3 weeks? Because I wanted the first workouts to be primers to speed work. Speed work is like fire, a little can cook your food, too much can burn down your house. So with that in mind this is still an “early peak” workout. This should meet your needs as it will 1) keep you sharp if you are sharp already without burning you out (burning down your house) since most of the races are still a way off do to COVID. 2) Give you some early speed work if you are not yet sharp without getting you sick or injured.

So here is the workout:

Warm up the all lunges addition! 3 x 30 seconds of lunges, lunges with back twist, side lunges, backwards lunges with 30 seconds of light running after. You are welcome to mix and match the different warm ups movements.

Drills the knee addition! : 3 x 30 4 beat run drill, bounding, lateral cross overs with 30 seconds run between drills.

2 minutes easy jog to make sure you are loose.

Main set: 800 meters, 800 meters, 400 meters, 400 meters, 200 meters, 200 meters. This workout is with a rest interval as 1/2 of the work interval. So for example if it takes you 4 minutes to do the 800, then light jog recovery is 2 minutes. IF you need more recovery time that is fine.

Cool down: 5-10 minutes easy.

Here is why this workout is good for you right now: It put the hard work up front, so your less likely to totally blow up since second interval is a each step down to half the distance. Early in the year its very likely you don’t know how much fitness you have and this workout will limit the change you take it out way too hard since you just have to hold on as each interval gets better.

Effort should be best pace you can hold. This will be 85-95% of your max heart rate.

ALTERNATIVE WORKOUT: If you are not ready for speed work do the work intervals at 70% of your max heart rate. Do the rest of the workout at 65% of your max heart rate. ALSO don’t do too much if your not yet race fit and end the workout where you feel taxed.

This week we continue the early season type of speed work moving from short vo2 max work to hill repeats, which are often called “speed work in disguise.” You get all the extra effort, with none of the pounding and its also more of a strength session.