Free Training- How I now train.
By Lyndon Tudor Maisey (Age 39 and 11/12th's)
This is something I have been working properly towards for months now. Im sure many will not agree with some of my methods but we all have to find our own way of doing things as we are all different.
I hope that some aspects of what I now do may help you to find yours!
In the end we are a club and one big team in my opinion so sharing how we train and a bit of friendly competition should be what we are all about!
First of all in order to prioritise and plan out a system I asked myself what is the most important aspect of my training?
I thought is it consistency, developing speed, nutrition, recovery, pacing, stamina, injury prevention, planning, miles ran,avoiding illness,base fitness, speedwork,etc.
If I look at all of the aspects of my training there is one common denominator. One element that is cruicial so that everything else is working. So what is it?
What could I identify as my biggest running problem? What has held me back more than anything in my time running? (besides Lithium) Well that is easy, its Injury and illness!
What causes this and what can I do to prevent it?
For starters the first thing I looked at was my shedule. After careful consideration I decided that it needed a complete overhaul!
I needed some really sophisticated plan that meant I could react to any issues straight away and I could adapt to what was going on, day, to day, to day.
After much soul searching I worked out how to make it so accurate that it would get me doing the right things, at the right time, on the right day!
I was so thrilled about this idea and set to work modifying my shedule. I picked it up and planned out how I was going to acheive this end goal and the mechanics of how it would all work.
I only had to launch it about 4 feet to complete my task and it dropped neatly in to the bottom of the waste paper bin in my bedroom!
The next thing I needed to look at was my new plan. I needed some simple rule to work from. I needed to map out a route to success, and I came up with this.
Acronym......
MAP
It is mindfulness, awareness and prevention. Or MAP as I like to call it for short.
M-Mindfulness-This is to do with nourishing and maintaining the mind.
1.You need to be clear on what your goals are and why you are doing them.
2.You need to keep things fresh and interesting and know where you are heading.
3.When training you need to meditate and be at one with yourself and your plan.
4. You need to be the person who is going to acheive the goals you want, live, breathe and be that person! Visualise and imagine!
(A dog is a dog and a tree is a tree but as human beings we can be anything we want to be!)
Awareness- This is more to do with the physical attributes of the body.
1. You need to be in touch with your body and have an agressive, diciplined and proactive approach to injury prevention!
2. You also need to ditch your Garmin! Thats right bin it for at least most of your training!
You can use a watch and have a rough idea but you need to start to understand what your pace feels like!
If you are completely dependant on a watch how can you judge your pace properly in a race, its hard!
Garmins can lead you into a blind alley where you are cornered and mugged of your ambitions! (especially on shorter races!)
(They also help you see where finish lines are but thats another story!)
You need to go back to the old school and use your own judgement a bit!
Not only that but you cannot run flat out all of the time so you need to adjust your pace according to how you feel, release your shackles! (I am not 29 any more!)
That is why I call it Free Training. (Plus it sounds easier)
Ask yourself this, why were runners so much better in the 80's? Has the advent of the Garmin helped performance or made runners lazy?
Prevention- Recovery is King!!
1. Cross training ie Cycling aids recovery and helps build stamina!
2. By listening to your body and looking at what you have done over the last few days you can decide what you should be doing. Obviously make sure you are constantly adapting and recovering and dont do back to back hard sessions.
Why place miles and boundaries in a week? Why plan out miles weeks before?? How do you know its apropriate for you that week, that day, or that morning even?
You can have set races as points to plan things around. Things like tempo runs easy, steady, hills, etc.
3. When is the best time to decide to do these things? A month before in a shedule? The week before? A few days before? The same day? No, when you start to run! (in my opinion)
4. Have easy weeks when you feel you need them.
5. You can combine this with a morning heart rate check, it may help you decide.
I admit I have been going to the well far too often and racing far too much! It is mainly because I have been enjoyning it so much! I do intend to curb this now that I am old.
I have not had an illness or injury since the Castles!
Running is an art and a Science so you need to intergrate the two together.
You need to target doing the right things but there is no long term benefit to desperately trying to fit everything in a set week.
Mapping Targets
Of couse you need to plan, im just saying it needs to be flexible and you need to give yourself the freedom not to force injury upon yourself, balanced with acheiving your targets
Keep targets loose but ambitious! Dont set rigid times. Ie If your PB for 10 miles is 1 hour do not aim for 59.59, aim for 59.30 and if you don't hit it you have a better chance of a PB! Use your intervals to get the right speed don't hit and hope!
Know roughly what you need to do but it does not need to be set in stone. If you miss a session don't mile chase! You are running down a blind alley and into danger!
To do this you simply need to work out how fast your target interval pace needs to be in order to acheive your goals. You may need a Garmin to help with this or even a watch!
http://www.runnersworld....-target-pace/318948.htmlIts all about maximising quality and recovery whilst maintaining consistency.
REMEMBER WHEN TRAINING!
Speed breeds endurance but endurance does not breed speed!
Tempo Runs and speed work Increase Speed and Endurance!
Most importantly "Enjoy" it, do not let go of that!!! That is a bad sign on its own anyway!
Some may disagree with my methods which are an amalgamation of many others, but it is the best plan for ME. It has taken many years of trial and error but I have finally found something that works for me.
I have a long way to go yet but whats important is I can see a very solid improvment and I have total confidence in my plan. Im sure it will evolve alot more as time goes on!
Believe to acheive!
"Why not take a chance on faith? Not religion, but faith. Not hope, but faith. I don't believe in hope. Hope is a beggar. Hope walks through the fire and faith leaps over it."
Jim Carrey