At first I was afraid of running four days in a row. Since December I had been building from one day in a row, to two, to three and now to four. I wasn't sure how my body would handle it.
I came up with a plan at least for the first few weeks to get my body used to doing four workouts in a row.
Monday - morning run
Tuesday - morning run
Wednesday - morning or afternoon run
Thursday - afternoon run
By pushing the Wednesday and Thursday workouts to the afternoon I give myself a little bit more recovery time. That way my body can get used to the fourth tough workout and then enjoy my off day on Friday!
For this week I chose to run Wednesday afternoon on the treadmill. I used the treadmill to control my pace and force myself to run slower. I ran 2.5 miles at 9:00 pace and totally zoned out. I had planned to just run 2.25 miles but then I was watching TV and suddenly I was almost at 2.5 miles.
Thursday afternoon I headed to the gym again for another tempo workout.
1 mi Warm up
3x1000m at tempo pace with 4 min recovery
6x50m strides
800m Cool down
It was hard to judge what my tempo pace for 1000m repeats should be on the treadmill. I feel like my paces are so much slower on the treadmill than on the track outside. I ended up running all the repeat at 7:19 pace and then the strides at the same pace. Strides are tough to do the treadmill.
Workout done - totally sweat in the eyes kind of workout! I had a hard time taking this photo in the bathroom since it was 5:30pm and the gym was PACKED! Thankfully no one walked in on me taking pictures of myself in the mirror!
How many days do you run in a row? How do you make sure you run your recovery runs slow?
Happy "practically" Friday!!
17 comments:
Great idea to move Wednesday and Thursday to the afternoon. I'm planning my quality runs on Tue, Thu and SAT and have easy runs on WED and Sun. I never did more than 3 consecutive days. Good luck with your plan!!
Nice plan! Thats good thinking to do an afternoon run on Thursday, the extra recovery time will help. I have a hard time doing an afternoon workout and then a morning workout the next day. Good luck with your plan! I only take one day off a week, usually Friday. :)
I do three/four runs a week, with cross-training, but mostly not in a row. I like to stick the cross/rest days between the run days. Being "older" I want to avoid injury (though I'm currently on the injured list :)).
That's awesome! I usually do 2-3 days in a row per week...4 is pretty hardcore!
Great job!! I can relate to being intimidated by back to back runs. I am doing more 3 or 4 day in a row runs this year, and so far so good.
i do the extra recovery whenever i can too. i'm sure that it does something physical for me but it really REALLY helps mentally knowing that i can get 24+ hours between days.
i never make sure i run my recovery runs slow. sometimes they're too fast but mostly my body just doesn't let me go any faster!
Sometimes I run 4 days in a row, but any more than that is just too much. That being said, whatever feels right to your body is best. I know when I take a day off here and there, the runs the day after are much stronger.
Good job! Four runs in a row is tough, recovering or not. I usually run four times a week plus cross training, but I usually split my runs up.
I run 6 six days a week Tue - Sun but I've been running for many, many years. The key is just to build up slowly and have some easy days. I run according to how my body feels and never look at my watch or pace.
I usually run every other day- or something like it. It works out to like Tues, Thurs, Sat and sometimes Sunday and Monday. Just depends on when I bike and swim!
You are doing so awesome in 2011! Keep it up!
Great idea easing into the back to back to back days of workouts. I train Sat-Thu straight but Tue are cross training days so I really only ever run 3 days in a row. Keep up the good work girl!
I have been doing my Long Runs on Saturdays and a SLOW Recovery Medium Long run on Sundays and I love it!! Not sure I could do 4 days in a row.
Love the bright outfit!! You are CUTE!
It took me a while to adjust to running several consecutive days in a row and I'm sure you'll get used to it too! Switching from AM's to PM's should help with the transition.
Awesome job on the workout and love the pic!
You look so cute! Love that outfit!
Your idea for easing in to 4 days is good! I really try to run 1 day and take a rest day, but some weeks I run 2 or 3 days in a row. I think that will happen this week. I am just so scared of getting injured!
i've been doing the four days for awhile and really like having friday off before my long run, but it doesn't work for everyone. hope you like it and if not, thank goodness there are about a bajillion running plans
I like the idea of being flexible about morning or afternoon. that should really help keep things going great! cant wait to follow you and your training! :) that phone case is cute!
I'm always afraid of running lots of days in a row as well... specially because I do lots of kick-ass weight training and, when I do lower body, I can barely walk for the next 2 days, you can imagine how painful it is to run lol. Well, but I don't know, I think it depends on the person, the level, stuff like that... most of the runner's blogs I read around just sound like waaaaay too much exercise for me, but they seem to do just fine, so who knows lol
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