Supplemental/Ancillary work

Another way to maintain your year round fitness and health (prevent injuries) is to do supplemental or ancillary exercises in addition to your running. I do mine on the same days that I do harder training runs and long runs. Why? So that on rest and recovery days my body can truly rest and recover. I do the ancillary stuff in the late afternoon or in the evening before bed and it really helps to loosen up the gunk in my legs and body, the same way a shake out run would.

The exercises I do are core strengtheners, stretching (like Yoga), and drills (like hurdle drills, speed form drills, hill drills at the rain basin). I also do balancing work every other day! Anything to keep my ankles strong and to keep my core strong.

The diet is going well. I'm not really on a diet, but I'm eating in moderation. I still have pounds to lose, but they'll come off with all the activity. Patience, patience, patience.

Year Round Fitness - Part Two - Examples of Key Workouts

Per Coach Joe Rubio, here are some examples of the key runs he recommends for year round fitness.

Longer, Stronger Runs:
1. 60-70 minutes in the hills. Work up-hill at a strong effort, run last few miles back to the barn at a progressively faster pace.
2. Negative split runs. Out 30 min. easy, back at progressively faster pace each mile.


Tempo Runs:
1. 5 mile continuous run w/ 3 miles at tempo effort, then 1 mile 20 seconds slower than tempo, then last mile hard.
2. 2 x 800 at 5K effort, 3-4 miles at tempo, 2 x 800 at 5K all with 400 jog recoveries (also between the 800-tempo-800 sections).
3. 4 mile tempo + 6 x 200 cutdowns starting at 5K effort and making each successive 200 1 second faster than the previous, all w/ 200 jog recoveries.
4. 6-8 miles alternating 1600 @ 10K, 1600 @ 60 seconds slower than 10K.


3-5 min. intervals:
1. 6-8 x 3 min. on/3 min. off
2. 4-5 x 5 min. on/5 min. off
3. 1/2/3/4/5/4/3/2/1 min. on/off
4. 4 x 1600 @ 10k w/ 400 jog
5. 6 x 1K @ 10K w/ 400 jog
6. 6 x 800 @ 5K w/ 400 jog


30-60 sec. intervals:
1. 200-300 m hill reps w/ jog down recoveries
2. 8-10 x 200 @ 1500 effort w/ 200 jog
3. 6-8 x 400 @ 3K w/ 200 jog
4. 3 x 3x300 w/ 100 jog btw each, 5 min btw sets
5. 16 x 200 @ 3K w/ 100 jog btw each or 16 x 30 sec on/off
6. 8-12 x 60 sec on/off @ 3K effort

Have fun!!!

Year Round Fitness - Part One

Hi everyone! I found a great resource for training information, especially for Masters runners. His name is Joe Rubio and he coaches the Asics Aggies Running Club in Northern and Central California. The club has very good post collegiate, national class and Olympic Trials runners, as well as some very exceptional Masters runners.

He recommends this "skeleton" plan for year round fitness. Let me preface this by saying it's just another option if you're looking for something different. Of course each runner should determine how many miles they'd like to average each week, and the quality workout paces should be determined from current fitness levels (i.e.: a recent race result). You know the drill.

The Basics:

In no particular order, the runs that make up most of the weeks are:

1. The Long Run. Easy run (not super slow) of 60-120 minutes, a good 20-40 minutes longer than the rest of the runs during the week. By "easy" he means you should finish feeling "pleasantly tired."
2. The Longer, Stronger Run. Kind of run that isn't easy but NOT a race. An effort, for sure, but tends to be the kind of run you start slow and finish at a stronger pace. Length of the run is usually the 2nd longest run of the week. Tends to be longer than the Maintenance Run.
3. The Maintenance Run. Easy run (see "pleasantly tired" description under The Long Run) of 30-60 minutes. Your normal shoot the breeze, social run with friends.
4. The Easy JOG. Recovery run that is butt slow!


In no particular order, these are the key workouts to throw into the schedule consistently:

1. Tempo Run: 20 minutes or so at a pace not quite as fast as 10K, but close. Can add some faster running before and after to liven things up. Obviously the stronger a runner you are, the longer the Tempo you can do.
2. 3-5 minute intervals with the same length of recovery @ 5K-10K race effort. 10-20 minutes of total time at that effort, for Masters. 15-25 minutes total time for younger runners.
3. 30-60 second intervals with the same length of recoveries at slightly faster than the 3-5 min. intervals above 4-8 minutestotal time at that effort, for Masters. 6-12 minutes total time for younger runners.

Coach Rubio encourages racing once every 2-4 weeks (obviously shorter distances due to recovery needs for Masters). And of course this is only if you LIKE to race.

If you want to incorporate Double Days, do so first and foremost on the quality workout days to get the best benefits... and keep the 2nd run short and easy (or even at the butt slow recovery pace if done in the PM). This is to shake out any gunk that has accumulated as a result of the harder workout.

For those in their late 30's and older (ahem, i.e.: me), recovery and staying away from getting broken are the key, so days off or easy jogs make up more of the week. This being the case, Coach Rubio tends to advise Masters get all the elements done in 14 days rather than 7.

The 14 days (for Masters) looks like this:

Week #1:

Sun: Long run easy
Mon: Easy recovery jog
Tue: Quality workout #1 - (either a tempo run, OR 3-5 minute intervals @ 5K-10K effort with equal 'active' recoveries, OR 30-60 second intervals @ slightly faster than the 3-5 minute intervals with equal 'active' recoveries).
Wed: Maintenance Run
Thu: Easy jog or Do Not Run (aka DNR)
Fri: Quality workout #2 - (tempo run OR 3-5 minute intervals OR 30-60 second intervals). Be sure to pick something different than the first quality workout, but that goes without saying.
Sat: Easy Jog


Week #2:

Sun: Longer Stronger Run
Mon: Easy Jog
Tue: Quality workout #1 (tempo OR 3-5 min. intervals OR 30-60 second intervals)
Wed: Maintenance Run
Thu: Easy jog or DNR
Fri: Quality workout #2 (tempo OR 3-5 min intervals OR 30-60 second intervals)
Sat: Easy Jog

On weeks with a race just toss out the 2nd quality workout for the week, or switch it up to a light short interval workout such as 30-40 minutes easy run + 3-4 x 300 at race effort w/ 100 meter jogs in between.

PERSONAL NOTE: Again, this is just another option of doing things and not the end all-be all. I hope you don't mind me sharing it. After getting injured and being out of the game for a couple of months, I realized that my body IS older and needs to run differently than I did just a short year ago.

Part Two coming soon! This is examples/ideas of the Longer Stronger Run, the Tempo Run, the 3-5 minute intervals and the 30-60 second intervals.

Thanks for reading.


P.S. A sample week for younger runners (aka Not Masters) looks like this:

Sun: Long run easy
Mon: Maintenance Run
Tue: Quality Workout #1 (tempo OR 3-5 minute intervals OR 30-60 second intervals)
Wed: Longer Stronger Run
Thu: Easy butt slow recovery jog or other aerobic activity
Fri: Quality Workout #2 (tempo OR 3-5 min. intervals OR 30-60 second intervals)
Sat: Maintenance Run

Letting It Ride

Another running friend of mine, Jonathon Gunderson, wished me well for 2009 and hoped that I got healthy enough so that I could just 'let it ride' at some races this year. That was the perfect way to say it and that's how I want to look at the races I run in 2009. For the past two years I have been so hung up on training goals and race goals and PRs and age group wins and/or placements. I got in over my head, big time. In hindsight I believe it was my anal retentiveness about all those things that led to my overtraining, injury and then subsequent setbacks. I got greedy and wanted it all... too much too soon.

I am regaining control of my old self by relinquishing control of my old self. This goes back to my "Back to Basics" post a couple of weeks ago. No more racing the workouts and no more beating myself up if I miss a workout. I love to train hard and I love to race, but STRESSING over those things defeats the purpose of running for me. So I am not going to stress over my running anymore. I am going to run, train, race and "LET IT RIDE." Thanks Jonathon!!!

A quick report on my first organized run of 2009: The California 10 in Stockton.

Gorgeous morning, about 35-degrees at the start (0900) and super foggy. The fog stuck to our eye lashes and made us all look like we had white lashes. Did not warm up much on purpose, so that I wouldn't attempt to race.

Met Layla at the start. She also posts on the Runner's World Forums. She set a new PR and got an age group award. Yaaay!

My plan was to run the first 3 miles at 8:00-8:10 pace, then 1-1/2 miles of fartlek (:30 hard/:30 easy), then 1/2 mile recovery, then the next 4 miles at 7:30-ish, then cool down for the last mile (10 miles total). Plan was executed perfectly! I slowed just a tad in the last mile before the cool down, but I'm fine with that.

I felt really good throughout the run, was pleasantly tired at the end, not exhausted. My foot felt a teeny bit sore in the last two miles, but not painful. My new way of thinking is if I feel that sharp pain again, I'm stopping immediately!

I met Allie after I finished. She's another RWOL forum user, and talk about modest! She ran sub 1:05 and she's just a tad younger than me. She won our age group. Superb!

Had a quick post race brunch which was actually soup & salad (so yes, I was starving by the time I left the parking lot a half hour later).

All in all a fun day. EXCELLENT organization and volunteers were plentiful throughout the course. The roads are open to drivers, but they all seemed very courteous to us runners. Two aid stations with water only which is perfect for a 10-miler. I think I'll make it an annual early winter run.

Layla later told me that she heard my name called for an age group award. Apparently I took third in my age group. Fun times!

Thanks for reading!

Back to basics

Happy New Year! I weighed myself today and it was not pretty. I'm the heaviest I've been in almost two years! 138 pounds. My goal is to be down to 120 by the end of June (when I turn 40).

I have to admit that in the last month or more, I've been eating a lot without any thought behind it. When I do that AND I don't exercise or run like I used to, I obviously gain a lot of weight. It was just two months ago that I weighed 130. Oh well, I'm not going to worry because I know when I am back to running regularly for at least 45 minutes a day, the weight will come off rather quickly. It always does. I'm also tracking what I eat and limiting my calorie consumption to what my body needs based on my current activity level. Before I get into full swing marathon training, I only need about 2000/day to lose a pound a week. When I get heavy into training, I can eat about 2200-2300 calories per day and still lose a pound a week (if not more, depending on how hard I train).

I went for a wonderful, glorious run today. 45:30. I'm running based on TIME alone for the next 10 days, and then I will start paying attention to actual miles covered. Today's run was just a quick jaunt over to the nearby rain basin which is very deep and has great grass to run on. When I got there I ran up and down the sides of the basin for 25 minutes, charging up the 'hills' (about 9 seconds long) and then jogging back down. Before running home I did 25 pull ups (combined jumping with kipping), 40 push ups and then 50 steps for each foot of the following:
heel walks with toes out to sides, exaggerated pronation walks on insides of feet, exaggerated supination walks on outsides of feet, and heel walks with toes straight up.

I felt so strong on the run today, something about running on grass and up and down the little hills. My feet were soaking wet by the time I got home. Even now, several hours later, my piriformis is NOT bothering me, nor are my feet, or my back.

I will be running some kind of hills (even on a treadmill if I have to) at least three times per week during this easy base building phase. I will also throw in one session of short tempo running (no more than 20 minutes at a time), and probably strides once a week (like 6 x 100 meters). I will also do a medium long run during the week and a long run on the weekends, not to exceed 30K until I'm in actual marathon training.

I just want to have fun and get the joy of running back. No pressure, just freedom! I want to feel good again and not beat up. I will get my strength back and when I do, look out, because that's when I'll be racing again. I can practically taste it right now and I can't wait! But I will be patient, smart and not put undue pressure on myself.

Miguel is giving me a base building schedule that includes all the things I just typed. I'm looking forward to working with him again!