Warming Up In January
Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I have been pretty used to the inconsistency of the weather in the winter. At the beginning of last week, there were more days where the wind chill was below 0 degrees than not. Now I'm gearing up for a 12 miler tomorrow where the high is predicted to be above 50 degrees. Unpredictability is not unusual; it's the norm. To work around the bitter cold in the beginning and middle of January, I moved over mainly to indoor workouts on indoor tracks and treadmills. I was never a believer of treadmills, but I will say, it has really grown on me quite a bit.
The obvious key to high volume training is a lot of mileage. Obviously high volume has a variety of meanings depending on who you are talking about. If you're a professional athlete, high volume means 110-120 miles a week. For a working parent with kids, high volume could be 25 miles. For me at this point in my life as a grad student early on in the path of a PhD, (safe) high volume ranges between 45-55 miles. If all goes well, this number might go up to 60-65 miles in the next couple of years. Nonetheless, when you're running for greater than 40 miles a week, a bulk of your miles are easy. I mean really easy. Conversational pace is key. Aside from lactate threshold efforts, tempos, or other interval training, running should be done at a pace casual enough to chat with a friend. It's these miles that are key to aerobic recovery while still building cardiovascular strength.
Sure, treadmills make it easy. There's no worry of impact. You're not really exposing your body to hard pavement. On the other hand, there's less worry of injury. Easy miles might not necessarily be better than taking a day off for full recovery, but I'd argue they're a lot better than getting x-rays taken at a doctor for fear of a stress fracture. Trust me. This past November, I was strewn out on a medical table getting X-rays done on my tibia. It's not fun.
I think a great advantage of indoor workouts in this frigid weather really is the ability of muscles to stay loose and warm from the start of a run. Granted, with enough clothes in subzero temperatures your unexposed body will warm up eventually. However, this comes at a cost of overheating. Nonetheless, training with an excess of layers can be advantageous for a spring goal race when shedding those extra layers will make you feel faster and cooler. Treadmills are great due to their ability to pace so evenly. Teaching your body the distinctions between 7:30, 7:00, and 6:30 pace are key for race day. Whether you're trying not to be overzealous after the gun at the start or whether you decide to spur past your goal pace group, it is critical to know your pace (even when running with a Garmin!).
Last week I hit 43+ miles, which was pretty good in my opinion. With 8 hour days in the lab and a pretty chill syllabus week, I can definitely manage 40+ miles a week. The week started with an easy 9 mile treadmill run to escape the -15 degree windchill. Within the week, there were pretty easy 30-40 minute treadmill runs intended for recovery. I performed a treadmill hill interval workout which consisted of 90 second spurts between 4-4.5% incline at the treadmill at even paces between 6:23 and 6:40 per mile. The incline feature of the treadmill is super useful when you live in a super flat place like Urbana!
This week has been pretty good. I am on pace for another 40+ mile week. Tomorrow, I'm shooting between 12 miles with a potential to go up to 14 depending on warmup and cooldown miles. I was very happy with my Wednesday workout which featured a 2x2 mile workout on the treadmill. Granted, I used to run pretty loose 2x3 mile runs in half marathon training, I'd say this 2x2 went very well. 1 mile warmup, 2 miles at 6:27, 1 mile rest, 2 miles at 6:22, and 1 mile cooldown. I know it's way off from what I should be able to do, but it's still very early in the season. I am only starting to get back into early form. In the future, I will potentially try 2x3 mile intervals or 3x2 mile intervals depending on how much time I had. I actually performed this workout at 6:30 in the morning before a full day of research and class!
The obvious key to high volume training is a lot of mileage. Obviously high volume has a variety of meanings depending on who you are talking about. If you're a professional athlete, high volume means 110-120 miles a week. For a working parent with kids, high volume could be 25 miles. For me at this point in my life as a grad student early on in the path of a PhD, (safe) high volume ranges between 45-55 miles. If all goes well, this number might go up to 60-65 miles in the next couple of years. Nonetheless, when you're running for greater than 40 miles a week, a bulk of your miles are easy. I mean really easy. Conversational pace is key. Aside from lactate threshold efforts, tempos, or other interval training, running should be done at a pace casual enough to chat with a friend. It's these miles that are key to aerobic recovery while still building cardiovascular strength.
First double of the year. 10 miles with 4 top layers in the morning. 3 shakeout miles in shorts in the afternoon. Only in Illinois...
Sure, treadmills make it easy. There's no worry of impact. You're not really exposing your body to hard pavement. On the other hand, there's less worry of injury. Easy miles might not necessarily be better than taking a day off for full recovery, but I'd argue they're a lot better than getting x-rays taken at a doctor for fear of a stress fracture. Trust me. This past November, I was strewn out on a medical table getting X-rays done on my tibia. It's not fun.
I think a great advantage of indoor workouts in this frigid weather really is the ability of muscles to stay loose and warm from the start of a run. Granted, with enough clothes in subzero temperatures your unexposed body will warm up eventually. However, this comes at a cost of overheating. Nonetheless, training with an excess of layers can be advantageous for a spring goal race when shedding those extra layers will make you feel faster and cooler. Treadmills are great due to their ability to pace so evenly. Teaching your body the distinctions between 7:30, 7:00, and 6:30 pace are key for race day. Whether you're trying not to be overzealous after the gun at the start or whether you decide to spur past your goal pace group, it is critical to know your pace (even when running with a Garmin!).
Been seeing a lot of these screens lately
This week has been pretty good. I am on pace for another 40+ mile week. Tomorrow, I'm shooting between 12 miles with a potential to go up to 14 depending on warmup and cooldown miles. I was very happy with my Wednesday workout which featured a 2x2 mile workout on the treadmill. Granted, I used to run pretty loose 2x3 mile runs in half marathon training, I'd say this 2x2 went very well. 1 mile warmup, 2 miles at 6:27, 1 mile rest, 2 miles at 6:22, and 1 mile cooldown. I know it's way off from what I should be able to do, but it's still very early in the season. I am only starting to get back into early form. In the future, I will potentially try 2x3 mile intervals or 3x2 mile intervals depending on how much time I had. I actually performed this workout at 6:30 in the morning before a full day of research and class!
As a distance runner with 118.32 miles logged in the new year despite food poisoning and frigid cold, I treat myself with good food. Cherry shake at Courier Cafe
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