Monday, November 7, 2011

Consistency

Things have been going well. I'm increasing my work load gradually and I have a schedule to which I've been able to adhere. Here are some things that have been keys for my return:


  • Rest - I take a nap after work,before my workout.
  • Walking at lunch
  • Stay hydrated - The trick I use is to drink plenty of non-caffeinated tea, like mint tea, ginger tea, rooibos tea.
  • Consistency - I don't change much from one week to the next.
  • Don't get exhausted - I used to have practice sessions which I would characterize as RTF - Run To Failure. Not anymore. Now I stay within myself.
  • Don't worry much about miles. Don't worry about missing a workout now and then. If I miss a workout, I don't try to make it up.
  • Don't stress out
  • Warmup - My warmup on Tuesday and Saturday is 2 miles. This starts pretty slowly.
  • Stretching - I'm trying to incorporate stretching AFTER workouts into my routine.
    Soleus, Gastrocnemius, touch toes, quad, IT, piriformis
  • Schedule - I took a schedule from a book on Kenyan running and modified it a little to work around my schedule. The result is
    • Monday - Easy (2 miles) plus pushups, situps and pullups.
    • Tuesday - 5x2km intervals. Will eventually change to shorter intervals but I'm in no rush.
    • Wednesday - Long run, currently on the road. This is the workout I'm increasing at the moment (by 2 miles per week). Once I get this to 18 miles, I may run it on the track at times.
    • Thursday - Easy plus pushups, situps and pullups
    • Friday - Easy
    • Saturday - 4 mile tempo
    • Sunday - Long trail (mountain or hills), currently 14 miles

    So two sets of a more intense session followed by a longer session, separated by about 2 rest days.


Things I'm not doing

  • A lot of exercises like core, med ball, etc. I was lifting but that's not a priority now.
  • Hard stretches. I'm leaving hurdle stretches out for now.
  • Yoga. Not my thing.
  • Sprints or dragging the tire. I did some earlier and it seemed to bother my heart.
  • Two a days - I'm already getting up at 4:40 on weekdays. It's too much stress to get up earlier. I haven't bothered running in the afternoon on weekends.

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