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