[Dane]

Went out today with the best of intentions to do some Z4 intervals but since I struggled to get up to my AeT just in the warmup I decided to just continue at an easy pace for an hour and make it a recovery/Z1 run with a few random pickups whenever I felt like it. I can’t remember if I read it in TftUA or on the website but I have it in my head that intervals should be spaced out from the long runs by 72 hours. That makes Wed the only day I can do them since my long runs are on the weekends. My plan was to do hill sprints tomorrow and then a shorter run Friday before my back to back long runs on the weekend. Should I just scrap the intervals for the week or is there a way I could restructure the rest of what I need and still fit them in? I’m about five and a half weeks out from my race at this point.

Thanks,
Dane

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 13, 2020 at 10:05 am #38122

The important thing is to be recovered for key workouts. It sounds like you weren’t, so you made the right decision. (I probably would have also skipped the pick-ups though.)

If recovery between key sessions is taking longer than planned and interfering with your progression, then reduce the load. That could mean making the long runs shorter and/or the high-intensity sessions lower volume (shorter or fewer intervals).

As you train year after year, you’ll be able to tolerate more, and your recovery will improve.

[Dane]

Dane on February 13, 2020 at 2:44 pm #38134

Thanks Scott. That’s kind of what I was thinking but it’s nice to get some confirmation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 14, 2020 at 1:25 pm #38190

One more thought on weekly periodization. It’s a good idea to have an easy day before high-intensity sessions but you don’t always need one before long, easy sessions. For example, you could have your higher intensity days on Tuesday and Friday if your longest session were on Saturday.

Unless there’s muscle soreness, the long Saturday session probably won’t suffer from Fridays’ effort. (But the opposite is not true.)

[Dane]

Dane on February 14, 2020 at 3:12 pm #38201

Thanks for the info Scott, that helps me put this all together. This is the stuff that’s making me really look forward to getting a coach for the summer.