Going With The Flow

Do you think it is safe to increase both mileage and speed in one week? Just curious :)

Oh and NO-UNSTOKE!

Probably a little too much this week. Hindsight is always 20/8. Step it back a notch, adapt, come back stronger. We just need to find the right recipe for you... and for homemade fro-yo.

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“People conceptualize conditioning in different ways,” he said. “Some think it’s a ladder straight up. Others see plateaus, blockages, ceilings. I see it as a geometric spiraling upward, with each spin of the circle taking you a different distance upward. Some spins may even take you downward, just gathering momentum for the next upswing. Sometimes you will work your fanny off and see very little gain; other times you will amaze yourself and not really know why. Training is training, it all seems to blend together after a while. What is going on inside is just a big puzzle.

That's a tough question. Nothing wrong with increasing mileage and speed in one week - I have to start from somewhere). BUT the amount of increasing is definitely more important. At the level I am at right now, this week was probably too much.

The reason why I wanted to do some faster stuff is because of the neuromuscular benefit and it can help correct problems like overstriding, bad form, etc.

Now, were the workouts that I did the "most ideal"? Maybe not, especially with how close they were together. I probably should have started with 100m accelerations twice a week. But could there be a benefit in running a mile at a relatively hard pace? I don't know, but I do know that I feel better afterwards.

I'm thinking for next week to keep the mileage around 25 miles and doing a scaled back version of this week - 10 x 100m strides and 2 x 1 mile with 2-3 days in between "workouts" instead of only one.

Agree. Strides early in the week (ideally with more recovery, WALKING) in between. And a portion of allie's workout later in the week.

I am obviously up for suggestions/thoughts regarding how to progress, aiming for "real" training by November/December.

Too bad I didn't use the heart rate monitor for the workout yesterday...it probably would've been in the 190s :)

I'm not sure there is necessarily a right way to comeback. I think you've been really diligent and intuitive through the process so far and I definitely think your on the right track. You've had a really good week so try not to get too discouraged about todays setback.

Hey Andrea!!

Here is something I have been brainstorming to use myself. Maybe it would be something you would like to implement as well.

Okay ... so are you familiar with the stress/strain curve? Why not use it for injury prevention? I am presently trying to come up with the right numbers for myself. Where I would use pace for my stress and mileage for my strain.

For example:

STRESS RATES:

VOâ‚‚ or faster = 10

10K pace = 8

HM pace = 6

MP = 4

MP + 1 min = 3

MP + 2 min = 2

MP + > 2 min = 1

Hills = ??? (perhaps assign by effort)

Total = Stress number x mileage

Then I allot myself so many points to start with (for example, maybe if I am coming off of an injury and I start with 10-15 points). Then, I safely increase my training by allotting myself 10-15% more points per week. I get to use them how I wish. I plan out a couple of key workouts, see how many points that uses up, and then make do with whatever points I have left. So if I am doing faster runs and/or hills a couple of times then I am likely going to be running very slowly the rest of the week.

Like I said, I am fine-tuning this but I think it would work.

Thoughts?

I like the idea Teena, but the stress strain curve describes how much an object deforms (strain) when subjected to a force (stress). They are not independent variables.

Fiddy,

Exactly: Before a breaking point. I guess I should have used a mechanical fatigue curve if you wanted to look at independent variables (like load vs repetition). :)

(Fiddy, thanks for pointing that out! Now I was able to fix it on my blog before anyone noticed! Ha!! :))

Nice week, Andrea! You are improving!