3 weeks to go… 2 more “working it”, then a week of recovery/taper, and Good Life awaits!
Week 9, Day 1: working on “race pace”
This one ideally is done at a track – Memorial Field track is open to public if you’re nearby. You can also set your Garmin to track the distance if that’s not an option.
- warm up: 3 laps
- 2 laps of walking the curves, pick up the pace (run or walk) on the straights – we call these strides. We’re starting to get some intensity, so this helps you get ready. When you start the straight, easy pace, then begin to increase pace to about 80% at 60y (look at football field markers), then slow down over the next 20y.
- Main Set: 2-3x 1000m running (2.5 laps), walk the 200 (.5 lap) back to the start as recovery. Goal: Same pace throughout. The first one you’re still fresh, so keep it easy. You want to be able to repeat the same time each rep.
- cool down: 1-2 laps easy
This is a great one to build as a workout in Garmin, so your splits stay exact. Helps keep you on target too.
Day 2: Longer intervals
- 10-15 min walk/easy jog as warm up
- Main Set: 3x 10 min at a “natural” pace, 2 min recovery walk in between. How’d last week go? Use that to judge pace here. If you managed 8 minutes, go a little slower if it was challenging, go about the same if it was good, or a little faster if it was too easy.
- 3-5 min cool down
- Stretch afterwards
Day 3: Endurance day
1 hour of movement, somewhere in between leisure & Z2. Please include 2-3 passes on Dellinger. If you were running before the start of this program, warm up 10-15 minutes, then run 25 min Z2, then power walk the rest.
I would like you to start thinking about your goal(s) for GoodLife 5k. They can be basic, as in “I would like to jog/run the whole way”, or specific to pace (run at a 10′ pace) or time (complete in under 40 min), or a combination of these. Some people will perform better at an event than in training, and even if you haven’t run the whole distance yet, it’s entirely possible you CAN do it on event day. If you have a time goal, what pace would you need to run?
- Mine: Complete in 40 minutes or less (12:52 pace). While I’d like to say run the whole thing, I also want to give myself permission to walk…new knees & all. So, if I walk, 1 minutes max before I need to be running again. If I pace myself well, that’s a totally doable break.
Feel free to send me your goal – this program is about accountability, after all! I’m also happy to talk with you about it if needed.
Week 10, Day 1
10-15 min walk/easy jog as warm up
Main Set: objective is to get faster as your time running gets shorter. This time we’ve got a shorter break in between, mimicking our event a little more.
- 5 min run, 1 min recovery
- 4 min run, 1 min recovery
- 3 min run, 1 min recovery
- 2 min run, 1 min recovery
- 1 min run, 1 min recovery
3-5 min cool down easy jog/walk.
What’s your plan?
- If you are planning to come to track on Tuesday only, please do Day 2 on your own.
- If you are planning to come to track on Thursday only, please do Day 2 on your own.
- If you’re coming to both days of track. please do Day 3 on your own.
- If you’re coming to neither track days, please do the whole thing, or as we’ve discussed.
Remember, running = power walking for some of you.