Struggling to follow the Pfitz plan (which served me well last time around)
The plan requires waking up early 4 times a week to do 1 faster workout, 2 medium long runs, and 1 long run. And presently work/life commitments do not provide such luxury….
My medium long runs are around 12k-15k at the moment versus 18-24km in the program. To do the latter I need an extra hour, which essentially means getting up around 4.30am. Tried to add some doubles (short 2nd run), but pretty sure the training effects is incrementally not as good as a longer medium run in singles.
Last 2 weeks of training did not resemble the program, but more akin to an impromptu one. I’ll decide which sessions to do on the fly, depending what time I get up or how much time I have…
Have missed 3 medium long runs + 1 long MP session in last 2 weeks... Perhaps need to think about other programs which put less emphasis on mileage/medium long runs (e.g. Marius B program, Canova 101 etc)
11 weeks to go to Osaka…needs to decide soonest whether should I stick or twist?
Week of 27 Aug – 2 Sep
Monday 8km easy on treadmill (av 5.30); very hazy from forest fire in Sumatera so decided to run indoor
Tuesday AM 3km warm up with drills/strides to the Canal, 7km continuous tempo in 27.45 (av 3.58), 3k back home, total distance 13km; cool but very humid, hamstring tight and sore but quite pleased to average below 4 min/km for the tempo.
PM 7km easy around marina (av 5.26);
Wednesday 8km easy around Labrador (av 5.27), hamstring felt looser today
Thursday 12km easy on treadmill (av 5.15)
Friday 5k warm up to Gardens by The Bay, then 3*4k tempo with 7mins recovery in between – splits 16.15 (tailwind), 16.40, 16.56 (headwind, downpour), 15mins wait for the heavy rain to subside, 8k back home, total distance 27km; the slowing tempo splits were indicator that my fitness is still not there yet…
Saturday 6km very easy around the river (av 5.27); posterior tibia was sore
Sunday 19km medium long run (av 4.53), of which 12k was run circling 750m grass field, ran the last couple miles at 90% MP
Total 100km for the week
Week of 3-9 Sep
Monday 10km easy around Labrador (av 5.10), incl 6*20secs hill sprints
Tuesday 3k warm up with drills/strides to the Canal, 5*1k interval (av 3.48) with 90secs rec, 4k cool down, total distance 13km; pretty spent
Wednesday AM 15km easy (av 5.05), of which half was done on grass; couldn’t wake up early enough to do medium length run
PM 10mins weights + 25mins very easy on treadmill (5.48); tried to make up a bit of mileage
Thursday 7.5km easy on treadmill (av 5.35)
Friday 25km easy around District 9 (av 5.15); planned for 32k but too tired
Saturday & Sunday – off (travel)
Total 75km for the week
2 comments:
As the Pfitz plan worked so well I reckon you should try not to vary too much from that, even if it means getting up at 4.30. Didn't other plans lead to your calf problems?
The main thing is that you keep things ticking over. Its good to be flexible if something isnt working. Another option is to try and modify things to fit with where you are at, (which you have tried to do by doing an evening run but agreed it doesnt have the same training effect especially in that case) and the time you have.
I miss a lot of the sessions I have planned, so I either try to play catch up later in the week, or move on to the next week and focus on the following week.
I think its better to stick with one program all the way, but what I have done this time is combine the best elements of two good programs identify the key (most important sessions) and try and hit as many of the key sessions as I can, or try to rearrange my training to try and get a simiiar outcome to what I guess the program is trying to achieve at that stage of the month. For example if I am base building and I miss a long run, I might do a back to back long run the following week (e.g. 20k medium run saturday, 30k long run sunday), so I get the benefit of the medium run on saturday, and the long run on tired legs sunday, which makes it feel like 50k cos legs only have 24 hours to recover from the 20k...so get a similiar training effect to doing a 3 sessions in the week, with just 2 sessions on the weekend, as often can't find time to get sessions done during the week... Sorry this is so longwinded but its hard to describe. I have also thought about getting up at 0330 and doing a an 0430 start to get a medium run done with streetlights/headlamp, but its risky injurywise, and hard to get going for. (I am working 0700-1730) All the best with keeping the training momentum going and hope the progression keeps buulding and you find a mix that works best for you.
Post a Comment