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Week 2 - October 28th thru November 3rd

Monday 28th               No Run - Optional Cross Training Day

                                Do ONE of the Following after Warm Up:

                                Warm Up 10 minutes on the Stationary Bike - THEN

                                Lift Weights/Pilates (Mat or Reformer)/Yoga/Core Strength Work

                                Cool Down 5-10 minutes on Stationary Bike

Tuesday 29th              Easy/Light Run 35-40 minutes

                                Include 5-7 x 30 sec light strides/60 sec easy within run

Wednesday 30th         Light Fartlek Workout 

                                Meet @ East Boulder Rec - 6:30 am OR 5:30 pm

                                Warm Up 15-20 min/Stretch/4 x 25 sec strides

                                6 x 3 min with 90 sec easy to re-group

                                Run Pick-Ups Steady/Controlled @ 70-80% Effort of Max

                                Cool Down 5-10 minutes

Thursday 31st             Easy Recovery Run 35-40 minutes

Friday 1st                    No Run - Optional Cross Training Day

                                Do ONE of the Following after Warm Up:

                                Warm Up 10 minutes on the Stationary Bike - THEN

                                Lift Weights/Pilates (Mat or Reformer)/Yoga/Core Strength Work

                                Cool Down 5-10 minutes on Stationary Bike

Saturday 2nd               Light Tempo Workout - Meet @ Tom Watson Park - 7:30 am

                                Light Drills - 10 to 15 minutes

                                Warm Up 10-15 min/Stretch/4 x 25 sec strides

                                3 x 7 min with 3 min easy to re-group

                                Run Pick-Ups Steady/Controlled @ 70% Effort of Max

                                    Cool Down 5-10 minutes

Sunday 27th               Optional Easy Shake-Out Run 35-40 minutes

Easy/Light/Recovery Run - Conversational Pace/Time on Legs/Relaxed Effort

Fartlek/Tempo - Run between 70-80% effort of Max

Long Run – Between 60-90 sec slower than your half/full marathon goal pace

Meeting Places

East Boulder Rec - follow Baseline east to 55th St. Take a right on 55th and follow the road until the sharp left turn and go past the first parking lot and tennis courts towards the Rec Center. Park on the West Side of the Rec Center Parking Lot.

Tom Watson Park - follow the Diagonal Highway to 63rd St. Go north on 63rd for about a half mile and look for the sign saying Tom Watson Park on your right. Parking Lot is opposite Coot Lake on east side of 63rd. DO NOT park @ Coot Lake.

Coach's Notes

Runners Cross-Train to prevent injuries, so it's ironic, to get injured while cross-training. Pilates and Alternative forms of exercise can improve your fitness, prevent and re-habilitate injuries, promote recovery, and revive a stale routine. The trick is to approach them as a Runner.

Runners have their obvious strengths: power, endurance, tenacity, however, within those strengths lies the potential for weakness: quads that overpower the hamstrings, neglected upper bodies, and poor flexibility - qualities that could lead to injury. Understand the 3 most common problems runners experience, and you'll cross-train safer and gain benefit without incident.

Weak Hamstrings - the quads are larger and have more muscle than hamstrings, so generate more power. Running increases this imbalance because it's such a quad-dominated activity. You can't expect to get your hamstrings to 100 percent of the strength of your quads, so work to do 50 percent of what the quads do.

Weak Upper Body - a strong upper body helps process oxygen more efficiently, which allows you to run faster with less effort. Adding upper-body work to your routine will help maintain form in the later stages of a race when ones form tends to deteriorate. Runners new to strength training tend to get injured either from lifting too much or lifting with incorrect posture. Lift at 50-75 percent of your weight and do more reps.

Tight Legs - yoga and pilates build core strength, help with mental focus, balance, and flexibility. However, in an attempt to loosen ones hamstrings, calves, and hips, one may push too far and end up with a strained muscle or joint. Start with a Beginners Class and build from that.

Cross Training can BENEFIT and most definitely IMPROVE your Running!!!