Terrian choices

Pace, distance, time, intensity; few of us would begin a workout without knowing exactly how these terms should impact our day.  Prior to today’s run, I put some serious thought into terrain, an extremely important and possibly overlooked variable.  Each Thursday I alternate between my long run, and a long tempo run.  This week called for the long tempo.  I knew the legs were a bit tired so I wanted to keep things on the flatter side.  Hills can be a great resource for developing strength and speed and should be included in any serious training program  today however, a hilly course would have destroyed my objective; spending an hour at tempo pace (slightly under threshold).  With tired legs, the hills would have quickly forced me above threshold simply because the strength wasn’t there, so today’s course was relatively flat with some small rollers.  By making a wise terrain decision before stepping out the door, I was able to maintain an even tempo and meet the run’s objective.  When incorporated wisely, terrain choices can enhance our workouts allowing us to develop the strength and speed needed to be successful.

Leaving the house, today’s objective was to run for 1 hour and 45 minutes with 1 hour at tempo pace.  I ran an easy 15 min. warm up, followed by 45 minutes of tempo.  At this point, the tired legs that I mentioned earlier started to kick in; I decided to run a nice flat section easy which took about 7 minutes.  After that bit of recovery, I finished with another 8 minutes of tempo followed by just under 30 minutes easy back to the house.  Totals for the run: distance 14 miles, time 1:44:30 with 53 minutes of tempo.    

 Tomorrow will be an easy ride, followed by the PA Warrior Sprint triathlon on Saturday.      by Ashley