Basecamp: Week 8

HOUSEKEEPING

• FINDING YOUr GROUND - As of the publishing of this week we have seen our whole world get upended & impacted by COVID-19. I mention this because the impact of this on your life is unavoidable. This is a scary time in the world & it must be recognized. I hope everyone who is on Week 7 beginning March 23rd has held onto their training. Being consistent with your running in times of stress is the most important thing you can do. Of course, some of you are in places where you are on lockdown. I hope you have access to some form of physical exercise. If you have a treadmill, all these sessions are easily adapted. I am here to help make adjustments to the program for anyone who needs special instructions. Send me an email at [email protected]. 
• LET STRESS DICTATE YOUR TRAINING- I know for some of you the stress of the last two weeks has been really challenging. While I know you are safe to do these sessions from a health perspective, you are encouraged to just run easy for the coming weeks if doing quality workouts is untenable. Hills can easily just turn into an easy run. Or you can do them as described below or you can repeat any workout from the first 7 weeks of the program is that works better for you. JUST KEEP RUNNING IF YOU CAN!!! It is so important to use running as a stress release. 
• If there is enough interest, I would be happy to have a video call for this group in the coming week or two. If you are interested, post on the FB page & I’ll work on finding a day & time for that. 

WEEKLY TRAINING DETAILS

QUALITY
Hill Repeats - We did our first session of hill repeats in Week 4. HERE IS A LINK TO THE WORKSHEET & PODCAST EPISODE for your review. You can return to the same hill that you used in that session, or choose a new hill. You can also set up a hill on a treadmill. If anyone needs help in determining how to do this, post on the FB page & I’ll make recommendations. 
We are doing hill repeats. That means you are running to the top of the hill & then walking or jogging back down the hill to do a few repetitions. You simply run to the top of the hill & then walk or jog back down. Simple, but not easy! Do a warm-up up of 1-2 miles before you get to your hill & a 1-2 mile cool-down after. 
A reminder on how to run the hill: 

• Relax
• Keep running but slow down!
• If you can’t keep running, walk to the top. 
• Did I say, Relax ?!?!
• We are not trying to run fast up the hill. We are simply running up it. 
• Try to keep as loose & smooth as you can. Don't lean forward or back. Just try to keep you normal running mechanics.  

You want to run a total of 2-3 miles of total up & down. So that will be about 1-1.5 miles of up & 1-1.5 miles of down total. 
In Week 4 we just ran up these hills, now you are ready to run harder up them. Be sure you relax your face, neck & shoulders, just as we do on the strides & speed economy sessions. You should be able to get adequately recovered on your easy walk or jog back down the hill. If not, then take 2-3 minutes of standing rest before you start another repetition.  

Please post your experience of doing this session for the 2nd time on the FB page so we can compare notes. 

SPEED ECONOMY

6 x 100m BUILDS w/ easy 300m jog

This is the same SE session as in Week 5 except we are extending the reps from 4 to 6. 

A “build” is just another way to run a stride. The focus on this kind of stride is getting fast throughout the whole 100m distance. So you start off easy & quickly begin to ratchet up the speed as you progress through the stride. Building...building...building...building...until you get to about 90% of full/all-out effort. Keep your face, neck & shoulders relaxed. 
Take a full 300m easy jog. This is a great session to do on the track but it can be done on the roads. If you are stuck on a treadmill, skip the Speed Economy this week. 

LONG RUN

Everyone is up to 10 miles!!! Congratulations! Getting into the double digits is a huge accomplishment. If you can run 10M, you are in a very elite club. 

FUNDAMENTAL TOPIC 

WEEKLY MILEAGE

Listen to the podcast episode.