How to prepare for the next few weeks of training…
Preparing for this Saturday's training run in Golden and the next three weeks of building mileage:
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as we prepare for the next few weeks. FIRST: If you ran at race pace on Saturday, you put approximately 30% more pounding on your legs than during your training pace! (If you took a more conservative approach and ran Saturday at goal pace or training pace, you will not feel as much soreness and should rebound faster.) SECOND: As I mentioned above, because Georgetown is a downhill grade, that means your legs sustained even more pounding than on a flat (or uphill) course, which will lead to more soreness too. On Friday I ran 17 downhill miles (in prep for the St. George Marathon), and I can tell you that I was a bit more sore than after a “normal” 17 mile run. The physics of downhill running mean that if your stride is a certain length (say, length of "x"), then by adding a decline to the road (say, a drop in length of "y"), then your actual stride length is really "x + y" which means that you had more of a "fall" from one foot strike to the next. (I’m not a physics major and it’s not automatically that simple, but you get the picture.) That also means that with that added distance you also added more pounding on your body. Yes, downhill running produces faster times but also can produce more soreness!
So prepare accordingly this week to fight the "DOMS" (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). Get plenty of rest, follow your training schedules as closely as possible, hydrate and eat well, don't forget your stretching routines (twice a day if need be), and also consider getting a massage. (But no massages on Friday as that will make you MORE sore for Saturday.) This weekend, most of you are going long, so that you can continue to build endurance. But that also means there is a premium on nutrition, hydration, rest, sleep, etc... And make sure that you’re putting a premium on recovering from your runs and cross-training workouts as we will have three “On” weeks before another Recovery week. So make sure to treat this Saturday’s group run seriously, leave your egos at home and keep it SLOW. Because for many of you, this Saturday will be the longest training run of the session. I will be preaching it big-time this week that everyone needs to take the next two long runs nice and easy, and really just focus on training slow and building endurance! (And if you didn’t run Georgetown-Idaho Springs, you’ll still want to use the same preparation and pacing strategies to advance your training!)
Have a great week, and we'll see you all Saturday morning in Golden for our long run, which is another “Rocky Mountain Ice Bath” run as we’ll be Starting/Finishing right along the Clear Creek (river), where you can have a nice post-run soak! :-)
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as we prepare for the next few weeks. FIRST: If you ran at race pace on Saturday, you put approximately 30% more pounding on your legs than during your training pace! (If you took a more conservative approach and ran Saturday at goal pace or training pace, you will not feel as much soreness and should rebound faster.) SECOND: As I mentioned above, because Georgetown is a downhill grade, that means your legs sustained even more pounding than on a flat (or uphill) course, which will lead to more soreness too. On Friday I ran 17 downhill miles (in prep for the St. George Marathon), and I can tell you that I was a bit more sore than after a “normal” 17 mile run. The physics of downhill running mean that if your stride is a certain length (say, length of "x"), then by adding a decline to the road (say, a drop in length of "y"), then your actual stride length is really "x + y" which means that you had more of a "fall" from one foot strike to the next. (I’m not a physics major and it’s not automatically that simple, but you get the picture.) That also means that with that added distance you also added more pounding on your body. Yes, downhill running produces faster times but also can produce more soreness!
So prepare accordingly this week to fight the "DOMS" (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). Get plenty of rest, follow your training schedules as closely as possible, hydrate and eat well, don't forget your stretching routines (twice a day if need be), and also consider getting a massage. (But no massages on Friday as that will make you MORE sore for Saturday.) This weekend, most of you are going long, so that you can continue to build endurance. But that also means there is a premium on nutrition, hydration, rest, sleep, etc... And make sure that you’re putting a premium on recovering from your runs and cross-training workouts as we will have three “On” weeks before another Recovery week. So make sure to treat this Saturday’s group run seriously, leave your egos at home and keep it SLOW. Because for many of you, this Saturday will be the longest training run of the session. I will be preaching it big-time this week that everyone needs to take the next two long runs nice and easy, and really just focus on training slow and building endurance! (And if you didn’t run Georgetown-Idaho Springs, you’ll still want to use the same preparation and pacing strategies to advance your training!)
Have a great week, and we'll see you all Saturday morning in Golden for our long run, which is another “Rocky Mountain Ice Bath” run as we’ll be Starting/Finishing right along the Clear Creek (river), where you can have a nice post-run soak! :-)
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