This week's route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36571038
Target race is our Holiday Half on Dec 18th
Target races are the Bend and Vernonia Marathon on April 10th
We also divided the weekly workouts into our 4 color groups-
Purple: Walkers; Walk-Run; New Runners, who prefer to do TIME-based training (No GPS needed). Purple workouts are measured in TIME, not distance. All you need is a watch (preferably with a lap/timer function). This schedule has the lightest workload, so it’s a good option if you are coming back from an injury or extended time off also.
Red: Novice Runners (have run fewer than 2 (half-)marathons). Also appropriate for Intermediate or Experienced Runners returning from time off or injury. Later in the season, track workouts are distance-based, and are best done on a track or flat surface with a GPS watch.
Yellow: Intermediate Runners (have run 2-5 marathons before), with no recent injuries. The weekday runs are longer than Red, but shorter than Green. Track workouts are distance-based.
Green: Experienced Runners (5+ previous marathons), no recent injuries, and currently running at least 4 days a week. Saturday and weekday runs are longer than Yellow's. Track workouts are distance-based.
Weekly workout Glossary
Monday through Friday run is expressed in minutes.
Speed Work: "8x30-30" means "30 seconds fast, 30 seconds slow, eight times in a row."After a thorough warm-up, run for 30 seconds at about 90-95% intensity, then do a 30-second recovery jog. Make sure that you don't slow down during the workout, so you are running your last 30 seconds about as fast or even a little faster than your first 30 seconds. Run on a soft surface if you can, rather than on concrete or asphalt. When you are done, jog or walk slowly for a while to cool-down. Both the number of repeats, and the duration of the fast and slow intervals, will change from week to week.
Tempo: After a warm up for about 5 - 10 minutes, maintain a pace about 10 to 15 seconds per mile slower than 10-K race pace. The last 5 to 10 minutes should be a cool down period. Another way to gauge the pace of tempo runs: a pace about midway between short-interval training speed and your easy running pace.
Easy (e): A slow run done at a conversational pace.
Hillwork: Hills prepare the muscles for faster running without going anaerobic. Hill training will enable you to run better on all types of terrain. Find a hill with a moderate grade, about 10-15%. Run at about 85% effort and jog slowly down to recover. Start with about 4 hills and increase by 1 a week until you can run 8-12 hills.