Plow Through
The Season
The best way to run strong
in the spring is to keep running through the winter. Here's how:
By Ed Eyestone
If you're looking for a way to keep
your training consistent when the snow
starts to fly, do what I did one record-setting bitter winter: Move
to Mexico. If moving south of the border isn't an option, you still
can maintain a high level of training throughout the winter months-without
saying good-bye to
speedwork, tempo runs, or long runs. You just need to be a little
more flexible and creative with your running regimen.
Speedwork, for example, doesn't
strictly mean a track workout. You can take some of your favorite
track workouts on the road. In general, this means running for time
instead of distance. Yes, this will only approximate the length
of your repeats, but you'll still strengthen your aerobic and anaerobic
systems, not to mention your legs.
Hard-core winter runners also have
to become weather watchers and build flexibility into their training
schedules. If a storm front looks to be rolling in on the weekend,
get your long run done on Friday. An unexpected break in the weather
might mean scheduling that hard workout today rather than the day
after tomorrow. And any time you're running outdoors during these
messy gray winter months, assume you're invisible to traffic. Dress
like a Christmas tree, wearing as much reflective gear and as many
light-producing products as possible. Always run against traffic,
and constantly think about what you'll do if an oncoming car suddenly
loses control and starts sliding toward you.
Once you've hit upon a good-weather
day and strapped on your holiday light show, try any of the following
winter variations on three classic workouts.
Mile Repeats: Take
your mile repeats to a stretch of road where the traffic is light
and the turns are infrequent. Start your watch and run the time
it takes to normally complete a mile at your 5-K or 10-K pace. Run
4 or 5 of these repeats, taking 4 to 5 minutes recovery between
them. Do this workout once a week, or alternate it with the mile
breakdown every other week throughout the winter.
Mile Breakdown:
A classic breakdown workout on the track might look like this: mile
(1600), 1200, 1000, 800, 400, picking up the pace with each interval.
For the off-track version, run hard for 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3
minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute, and gradually pick up the pace
with each drop in time. Take a one-to-one recovery (jog easy for
the same length of time as the speed segment) after each repetition,
and make sure you're running close to top speed on the final 1-minute
burst.
Long Run: Combine
a moderately long outdoor run with a moderately long treadmill run.
Start outdoors by running for 75 to 90 minutes on an out-and-back
or loop course. When you finish the outdoor leg, rehydrate, dry
off, change all of your running clothes (even your shoes if they're
wet), and hop on the treadmill for another 60 to 75 minutes. I like
to keep the treadmill at 0-percent grade on these long runs to avoid
aggravating the Achilles tendons. If you're running early in the
morning, you could do the treadmill segment first so that you get
the indoor portion done during the darkness and then hit the road
once the sun has risen. But it's hard to pull on layers of running
clothes even after drying off from your indoor workout. And beware
that the winter air may seem much colder to you when you first head
out after your treadmill session.
