Project GetYerFatAssInGear: Week #3

WARNING: This is a looong ass post since I've got so much of that uselessness stored up in me. Want a TL;DR? RUN.

So, I'm almost at my pre-injury numbers. WooHOO! I admit, (can you hear the world's smallest violin playing?) the 5 months of rest/torture/stuff got me into a funk and lost motivation. The past 3 weeks of getting back into it have not been easy. If anything, I can pour out and dissipate my crazies to the interwebs.

On to the silly stuff. I'm in the process of training to train. Meaning, I'm training now to get into shape for the winter marathon season. Sound stupid crazy? Blame my friends (I actually thank them all the time for getting me into this fine mess.).

I do feel lucky. Along with the running group I try to keep up with, the awesome person helping me out is Flaco Mendoza. He's pretty much the "coach" for that circle. His plan: Long heavy miles (26+ in the mountains) on Saturday. Quick 1/2 marathon on Sunday. 1 speed workout during the week. The rest, maintenance.

My additions:

(1) Road is for races. Every workout is either on compact dirt, trail, track, or treadmill.

(2) If you're on the treadmill and you can still walk immediately after the workout, you can go faster or longer on the next workout.

(3) No matter how tired or how busy you are, you WILL find the time and the energy if you want it bad enough.

So what's my pre-training plan? Easy (or hard, depending on how you look at it):

Start Times:

Weekdays: AM: 5 - 6AM, PM: 5:30PM, PM2: 10:30PM

Weekends: 4:30AM - 5AM

(Just want to show, it CAN be done!)

Monday:

• AM: 1 to 2 Mile Treadmill Hill Work
• PM: 5 Mile trail run at work - easy pace
• PM2: 2 to 4 Miles Treadmill Hill Work

Tuesday:

• AM: 2 to 3 Mile Treadmill Hill Work
• PM: n x800m Intervals on trail (n = start at 5, +1 when you're strong until 10 to 12 - Yasso 800's)

Wednesday:

• AM: 2 to 3 Mile Treadmill Hill Work
• PM: 5 Mile trail naked (uhh, no stopwatch! The other meaning HURTS!)
• PM2: 2 to 4 Mile Treadmill Hill Work

Thursday

• AM: 2 to 3 Mile Treadmill Hill Work
• PM: n x1600m tempo - 800m jog then 800m 10k Pace

Friday

• Rest

NOEXCUSESATURDAY

• AM: 26+ mile trail run in the mountains

Sunday

• AM: 13 mile tempo - mix the tempo types

Add in there upperbody and core workouts every other day.

Hills:

Can you tell I love hills? At the tail end of a 50miler, I absolutely do not. So I'm forcing myself to embrace them.. so I can kill them.

Because of time issues (long distance runs are just that, loooong) I don't have the time to really workout on a proper hill, so I came up with a simple treadmill program:

Incline setting: 10 (or whatever MAX your treadmill can handle)

Warmup: 800m or 1/4mi at talking pace

Workout: 400m or 1/8mi at fast walking pace: 400m at marathon pace

Repeat for 4 laps (1mile) and you've burned 300 calories.

Cooldown: Collapse in a heap, or walk for 5 mins.

That's it! Simple. Notice how I don't mention anything about diet? My mantra there is also easy, eat what you want when you're hungry. STOP when you're full. Yes, the eat only when you're hungry and the STOP part is the fucking hardest thing to do.

This is the third week since the start of Project GYFAIG and I'm pretty happy with the current stats:

July 24 - Infamous Pacing at AC, or the rebirth of the end:
Weight: 143
Prior week running miles: 4
800m interval time: 4:00
1/2 marathon time: 2:15

August 14
Weight: 128
Prior week running miles: 59
5 x800m average interval time: 3:25
1/2 marathon time: 1:50

GOAL Pre-Injury stats:

Weight: 124

Prior week running miles: 60

10 x800m average interval time: 3:20

1/2 marathon time: 1:41