As the temperature rises to a tropical 4 or 5 degrees and my feet are not sodden at the end of every run, I am reminded that spring is upon us. According to science / legend, this is a time to phase out some of the winter / gym work and replace it with more specific training, namely ‘speed work’, ahead of summer competition. But historically, I have never had a period of gym work to phase out. Like many amateur endurance runners, I have doubted the importance of strength and conditioning and worried about the time I was spending not running. But increasing mileage brings only a diminishing return and, in my case, a chronic Achilles tendon injury! Perhaps most importantly though, there is now an abundance of literature suggesting that strength training reduces the oxygen cost of running at a given pace, which to an endurance runner, is like finding gold. So since late summer 2012 I have been attempting mine this pool of untapped potential.
But now March has arrived, I have to prepare for the possibility that I might be able to compete on the track this summer. Pregnant coach wife looks bemused when I mention the possibility of racing again this year. The schedule she has put together for me contains a long, extended break from all running from May onwards, when we will be expecting the arrival of our second child.
Even so, I heeded the advice of introducing speed work and could have been found at Stockwood Park in Luton on Thursday afternoon, running on an athletics track for the first time in 9 months. At 5 seconds a lap slower than my training times in 2010, my hopes of running 5,000m in under 16 minutes for the first time are faint. (Pregnant coach wife tells me my hopes of running 5,000m in over 16 minutes are equally faint). Yet undeterred, last week I continued with an easy day / hard day routine with S&C accompanying the easy runs, a routine suiting me quite well at present::
Monday: AM - S&C*; PM - 30' easy
Tuesday: Midday - 10' easy 2 x 10’ Kenyan Hills 10' easy
Wednesday: AM - S&C; PM - 53' easy
Thursday: Midday - 5 x 800m (avg. 2’40’’)
Friday: AM: Hit the snooze button so no S&C today. PM - 30' easy
Saturday: PM - 10' easy 20' (60'' hard / 60'' easy) 10'easy
Sunday: AM: 60' easy; PM - 2 hrs in the allotment
*SC:
Front Squat 3 x 5 (65kg)
Single SL Dead Lift (65kg)
Bent Over Row (55kg)
Chest Press (55kg)
Candlestick 2 x 3
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