So most of you guys that see this, probably already see that I'm spamming your wall with a multitude of nike running updates. Which begs the question why am I doing this, and how do I drag my lazy sleepy ass out of bed to go and do it. Well I'm doing it because I want to target a PR time at this marathon, we'll keep that underwraps for now but I have to be a little bit more.... realistic with it now things didn't quite turn out how I wanted them to. As for how? Well read on....
On a completely unrelated side note, it's really cool to meet the people who I have been spamming with updates and actually read my little two cents and ramblings. So without further ado, to this weekspost is about making a plan and maybe even sticking withit.
There's a lot of parallels between this (running) and cycling, but because I'm not a good cyclist, I'll just talk about running, I'm alright at it.
How often have you just gone out to do a run, and you just kinda did whatever you wanted, and did it completely by feel. You didn't pick a pace that you were going to do it at, and just kinda ran by feel. While there is a place and time for that such as when you're in a rut, and it might work for you, chances are you'll probably get slightly better results with going in with a plan. That's not to say you can't become an amazing runner just by doing whatever you want, you'll just probably be more likely to get good at it. A plan should hopefully motivate you, give you some structure, plan your rest time, and prevent you from getting horribly ruined (Read: injury).
What?
So what should a plan include for running? Well you've got your typical long run to help build basic endurance, hills for giving you strength to run up a hill quicker, speed workouts if you want to run quicker (this is optional though) and an easy run that you just do for fun.
When?
Every other day is usually a pretty good rule of thumb because you've got a rest day every other day to let your body heal up and recover. Long runs usually go on the weekend because you have more time. Spread the rest of your workouts on the weekday. Quick note, don't run the day after a speed workout, just stay off your feet and let your body mend itself.
No rest for the wicked?
A lot of people give me funny looks when I tell them on my rest days (wednesday) I'll usually go into the gym and do a core and strength workout. While you don't need/have to go in and do something, you can go work on some core, shoulder strength work which is great for preventing injuries. Just do something that won't work your calves, quads or stuff that's related to running, defeats the purpose of a rest day otherwise.
Running is boring
I'm not going to lie, I used to think running you need music, and I've slowly started going more and more just kinda running and listening to music once in a while. There's a few ways to make your runs more interesting, especially now that you can run outside. Vary your routes because new sights = less boring. Change up who you run with or run with someone else if you don't right now. Try to keep what you're doing like kinds of runs structured, because that's the whole idea of the plan, but you can vary it within there.
Random Facts
We're all inevitably going to have days where you really don't want to do the scheduled run, I dread the long days, but you want to make sure you're still doing something, exerting about as much effort. But try to stick to the plan we all have slipups, just get back to it after
What you do before your workout can affect the workout, and what you do during and after workout can affect recovery. When you have long runs, hard days, intervals, after you're done running, stay off your feet, they hurt already, let them rest. Drink lots of waters because chances are probably good that you're dehydrated. Eat some protein, and eat well after. Before you start running, if you have an idea of how you're going to do your run, chances are your body will expect that and you'll do fine. So if you're running a long run, and you expect long runs are going to hurt, chances are your body will probably be expecting it and cope better.
Some people skip rest days, sometimes when you've had a bad week (like you skipped workouts) go do a short run if you want, but just remember that the point of the rest day is to rest and recover.
With that, I shall leave you to planning and going out and running.
~Cheers
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