It's no joke, 2013 will be a challenge, I've never ran this many events ever before, but I do believe the training I've put myself through for Comrades has me more than prepared for the tough challenges ahead!
People have recently asked me lots of questions about training and how to prepare for Back-to-Back races. I am by no means an expert (that crown belongs to Marathon Man!) but over time I have been fortunate enough to sap advice from various veterans in the sport and this has allowed me to manage myself fairly well so far (touch wood!!). The simplest way is to treat one of the races as a training run, and take it easy!
These are some rules-of-thumb that a lot of training programs follow:
- Never run two hard days in a row.
- Regularly schedule easy weeks into your program.
- Taper off the training prior to race day (despite my running friend George's habits, I do not believe in the 'reverse taper' theory).
That's pretty much the formula I follow. I like to swap out intervals or hill training for alternative cardio/strength sessions if I'm not in the mood or it doesn't fit my schedule.
This is an example of what a training month would look like for me at the moment
| Wk | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 1 | 6k easy | Intervals | REST | 14k easy | Intervals | REST | 28k LSD |
| 2 | REST | 8k Tempo | REST | 14k easy | Intervals | REST | 32k LSD |
| 3 | 8k easy | Long Intervals | REST | 16k easy | Hill Reps | REST | 34k LSD |
| 4 | 6k easy | Intervals | REST | 10k easy | Intervals | REST | 20k easy |
Preparation for Hobart has been a little more challenging as I have also been pushing my speed work hard to attempt a PB at the local Surf't'Surf 10km race the weekend prior. I think training with both races in mind means that I am probably going to be primed for a race distance somewhere in the middle, and not a PB at either event!!
This would probably explain my second best ever Half-Marathon time of 1:47 for the #VirtualHalfMary recently!
So what rules do you follow when building a training program?
What alternative suggestions do you have for cardio, flexibility or strength sessions?