by ·Comments Off on Getting Faster: All Out 8 Times in 30 Minutes
All Out 8 Drill

All Out 8 Drill

Since starting this drill to help me get faster, I’ve pulled back on some of my running.  Although this might work well for younger folks, I think it doesn’t work well for me, and probably others who are in my age group (50 plus).  Read on if you want to know more and how I’ve modified it to help reduce strains and injuries during training.

When I started this, I was following this training regimen:

  • Monday:  Rest day
  • Tuesday:  Ride stationary bike for 30 minutes.  The first 10 minutes is at an easy warm up phase.  The next 2o minutes is where I apply the all out 8 drill; by 30 minutes my legs are tired, and sometimes I would have difficulty standing for the first few seconds immediately after finishing.
  • Thursday or Friday:  Run for about 30 minutes.  Use the same time and work out pattern as the stationary bike work out.
  • Sunday:  Do long run (anywhere from 6 to 20 miles); apply the all out drill on the last 30 minutes of the run.
  • During weeknights I cross train  by doing Taekwondo (a Korean Martial Art)

On my second week of doing this, I felt my plantar fasciitis flaring up as well as some right hip pain.  Note that I’ve been training in my minimalist shoes (the Five Finger Bikila LS).  This is probably the root cause of this.  The hip pain, which I haven’t felt since 2 years ago when training for my first marathon, is back.  I think the heavy impact of intense running did my hip in.

To modify my training regimen, I’m only going to apply the all out 8 drill to my stationary bike workout.  I will not do it for the short 30 minute run.  For the long run, I will do 4 repetitions of  gradual accelerations at the end of the run to help my end of run kick.

I will keep you posted on my progress on this, and post my race times to see if this truly helps with getting faster.

by ·Comments Off on Long runs: What not to do

Last week was an easy week for me from the perspective of running.  From my last long run last week to this weekend’s long run, I didn’t run at all.  And guess what happened?

I basically took a week off, not because I really wanted to, but it was a necessity.  Remember, in order for me to get runs in, I have to wake up early.  Last week, I’ve been sleeping late which make it extremely difficult to wake up early.

So, in order to get enough sleep, I had to forgo running for a few days.

Then last Sunday, I did a long run—about 16 miles.  It wasn’t a bad run, until I got to around 12 miles.  At around that point, I started feeling soreness on my left calf.

I continued running through the pain to completion of the run.  A few hours after the run, my left calf was really sore, to the point that I dare not put pressure on it.

Anyway, I decided to rest my legs for a couple of days.  This morning, I did my interval training, and I was OK for a bit, but I could still feel the soreness on my left calf…not good.

The moral of the story are…

  1. On long runs, gradually build up distance again, after a one week or greater break.  Rushing to longer distance faster than recommended can actually slow your progress as a result of injury.
  2. Make sure to get enough sleep.  It is hard to get motivated when you are sleepy.