Cold, rainy, and snowy morning, and so passed another boring TM run. (Especially boring as I purposely didn't do any speed or hill workouts this week, opting instead to do 4 mildly aerobic runs in a row.) Did a lot of thinking about how I should plan my training runs for the coming weeks, though.
Speedwork - running 1/4-1/2-3/4 mile repeats is great training. But tempo runs are good speed workouts, too. Hillwork - I usually run with a hard effort at 5-7% incline for a 1/4 mile, then do a slow jog recovery at a lower incline. This is great for strengthening my legs. But it might be nice to sometimes do hill workouts that more closely simulate outdoor races; and in races you don't run really hard up a hill, only to start jogging slowly once you've reached the top and are on flat ground again! I would like to try a "hilly tempo" workout where I run a comfortably hard pace for a while on a "flat" incline, then increase the incline 3-7% while simultaneously slowing down a little to keep the "effort level" constant, then after a while reduce the incline but speed up again, etc., repeating a few times over varying distances. (This type of "hilly tempo" running would be great to do on the Bonneville Shoreline trail - if it ever dries out that is!)
Realistically I can't fit in two speed workouts, two hill workouts, 1-2 recovery runs, and a long run into each week (my body needs longer to recovery after hard workouts than it used to, and it seems to max out at 4-5 runs per week!). So I think I'll start alternating speed workouts and hill workouts each week. For example, if I run repeats for a speed workout, then I'll incorporate a "hilly tempo" run later that week. The following week I'll do a tempo run for my speed workout, and run "hill repeats" later in the week.
I'll try this plan for a couple weeks, and see how I like it. (Will probably need to be somewhat flexible.)
Hope everybody is having a good Earth Day 2010! | 
