June 23, 2020 – Do Other Stuff

Hey Everyone!

What I’ve been thinking about this week is the importance of “other stuff”. I was listening to a podcast where they were talking about Alan Webb (American Olympian and record holder in the mile). They talked about how little mileage he did relative to his competitors. But then added how much “other stuff” he did (weights, plyometrics, x-training). His overall load was high, but he didn’t have to count it all in mileage. Everything he did made him strong, and fit, and a better runner.

I also think about Malindi Elmore, our current Canadian women’s marathon record holder. She came to the marathon ‘fresh’ after years of training as an Ironman triathlete. She had a huge base of training, with lots of room left to focus more on running when she wanted to.

Summer is the perfect time to focus more on that other stuff. And I don’t mean add it in to your running training. Substitute some running for it. If you’re not training for a specific race right now, you will likely benefit more and preserve your running freshness by mixing it up. Good options: swimming, water running, SUP or other forms of paddling (kayaking), strength training, cycling. The key with these, since most of us will be novices at most of them, is to go by effort. You can push yourself pretty hard in areas that aren’t running, and still gain fitness but really avoid burnout and staleness in running. So get your heads around not counting mileage and be ok with building strength and versatility in different areas. It will make us better, happier runners in the fall when our options start to dwindle back to just running.

Workout Options for this week:

Pottery Rd Hills (if you’ve accidentally forgotten about them for a while)
4×4 min with 1:30 rest at 20 sec per K faster than tempo, 4min rest, 4-6×2 min with 1:30 rest at 25 sec per K faster than tempo
1 x mile, 2 x 800, 4 x 400, 2-3 x 200 – 2 min between sets, 90 secs between reps
Tempo: 3 x 10-12 min w 3 min easy
8×1:30 with1 rest at 25 sec per K faster than tempo, 5 min rest, 4-6×30 sec with 1 rest think of these like 200s but not all out 200s more like long strides

I know some people have been meeting up for the odd workout. We’re not officially able to get together in big groups yet, but I think groups of 5-6 is reasonable.

Let’s coordinate on a spreadsheet so people have options to join where they want. Once a spot and time has about 5-6 people, consider starting a different one. And by no means do you need to commit – this is just if you want workout company.

Looking forward to seeing one or two of you!

Seanna