Tuesday, December 17, 2024 – Minimal effective dose

Hi Everyone!

No races that I know of this past weekend. Coming up there is the Boxing Day 10 miler in Hamilton, and the Hair of the Dog 9K in the beach which I know some in this group have done before. The former actually gets some competitive runners out. The latter is more of a celebration for being out there.

I don’t have a lot to say this week. That’s because it’s that time of year when we focus on winding down for a bit. I think this is important – whether you’ve run a key race or not. Allowing our minds and bodies and central nervous systems to come down and rest is the only way we can build back stronger. Oddly this seems to be the hardest part for some people. Just go easy on yourselves in these next two weeks. We’re encountering the shortest days of the year, lots of expectations, more social gatherings than we’re used to, … These stresses are real and if we just put our heads down and plough through, we might find ourselves on the other side even more exhausted. So for everyone who wants to kick it into gear and start training in January, I suggest taking this time to charge your batteries, get more sleep, get in some social runs, but just lay off the expectations for a second. I like the term “minimal effective dose”. That is the minimum we can do that will have a positive effect.That could be a 30 min easy jog or a few sets of weights. For me it means training intuitively, not with a plan, and actually stopping when I feel like stopping. These things will keep us in shape and not going through withdrawal, but allow us to recharge and rebuild while focusing on other areas of life for a bit. I’m guessing if we do this well, then January will feel exciting and we’ll be raring to go.

On that note, we still have workout this week! Lakeshore and Leslie – 6:05 drills, 6:15 GO!

How about a mélange of intervals:

(800-200-600)-(400-200-200-800)-(600-200-400-200-200)

Take 90 seconds after everything. I’ve put brackets around the miles so you can read it that way. This is designed so you can tap into how you feel and pick a pace that feels good on this day. If they’re all the same pace, great. If you feel like going a little speedier on some of the 200’s, have fun! This will still give us 3 miles of faster paced running.

I’ll be there jogging and cheering. I’ll also write this down and tape it somewhere like swim workouts cause I get that it will be impossible to remember!

See you in the am!

P.S. This Friday is our Kringlewood run! Meet at the Rooster coffee shop at 6:30 am for an easy paced social festive run 🙂

xo

Seanna