Today is the official start of my Marathon Training for Richmond (November 9th). On Today’s plate is a nice 3 mile jaunt providing that it is not super hot and humid outside.
Typical marathon training programs consist of 5 types of runs (Rest, Easy, Tempo, Interval and Long). most of my friends think that I do long runs all the time, which is not the case. Long runs are the staple of any training program, as they teach the body how to deal with lactic acid build up in the muscles. Lactic Acid is the by product of the body creating energy and is a component on what is lovingly called as “hitting the wall”. Easy runs are just what they sound like, head out the door and run at a comfortable pace. Tempo runs are faster but are less than a running pace you would do during a race. Interval training is the beast of them all. Interval training consist of running intervals of fast pace for a short distance and then a short recovery run then repeat as necessary. The goal is to run longer intervals with shorter recovery run, this is basis on how to run faster longer. I don’t have to worry about training for hills, because everywhere in Knoxville is a hill.
For myself, I am planning on running 4-6 days a week with at least one Long run, one day of rest and two easy days. The other days will be filled with cross training, tempo and interval depending on my schedule. I usually count soccer as a short interval (speed) training though it would be ideal to do intervals on a track. I plan on running a few races over the course of the training months, they count as interval as well, but I won’t be doing very many of them because of shortage of extra cash since I am going back to school. I am planning on doing the 2nd Mr. Arfns Run in October in case anyone is interested.
