New Year, New Challenge

Coming off a batch of three marathons in a six month period, I think it is time for a bit of a break from the marathon distance. Especially in light of the problems I had with the last one. Even without those challenges though, switching things up and training/running a different distance would be a good idea for me based on all the research I've been doing. This will give me a chance to work on some different muscles and demands on my body. Which in turn, should help when I do return to marathon training for a late year marathon (actual event still to be determined). After searching around, I've decided to try the Growler Gallop Gibbs 10K in late August.

To make things really interesting, I have set a goal of running the 10K in 45 minutes. That translates to an average pace of 7:14 per mile, which I'm really not even sure I can make that for a single mile. My best time for a 10K unofficially is 50:02 or 8:03 per mile. I did that during a speedwork training run for the last marathon I did. The last official time for a 10K is 01:10:20 when I ran one back in March 2016. That was really my first running event on this health journey I am on.


Next week I'll start on the training plan I developed in hopes of achieving the gains I need to reach to hit the goal. I am expecting the workouts to be quite intense even though my mileage will be lower than what I might be used to. I am planning to average about 40 miles per week though. One change the new plan brings with it is running virtually every day as the plan calls for running 6 days each week. On the "off" days I'll still be doing mostly easy 5 mile runs and each week I will take Monday as a rest day. Sundays will still be long run days, but those will cap out at only 11 miles.

The speedwork days will primarily be on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Thursday will have a little bit of speedwork involved as the runs will end with a bout of "strides" where I'll basically do a sprint for 30 seconds with a 60-second recovery. In looking over the workouts, it seems like the Tuesday workouts are focused more on developing pure speed as they tend to be several intervals of short, fast sections with recovery periods in between. For the Saturday runs, the intervals are not quite as fast, but they progress until the final intervals are at a good 10K clip.

One of the changes that I did have to do some research on is how to handle the recovery periods. During my marathon training, when I did do workouts with recovery periods, I would usually continue to run at a very easy pace during the recovery periods. With the paces I'll need to hit for this 10K plan, I expect I'll be completely winded at the end of the running portions, so I think I'll be walking during the recovery for the most part - some I may still jog.

Depending on how things progress (assuming they do) I may also have to concentrate on really making sure I run at the target easy pace during my easy runs. Based on some of the podcasts I've listened to, not throttling back for easy runs is a common problem for runners and I am certainly guilty of it myself. To really get into peak mode to hit this 45-minute target though, I think I am going to have to be super diligent about following the plan.

Oh, and if you are wondering why I say "new year" - with one exception, every job I have ever worked at has been on a June 30 fiscal year-end. Which means June 30 always ends up being "New Year's Eve" and July 1st is the start of a new year.

Below is some information on the workouts I have planned.

Easy	0:08:50	A
Aerobic	0:08:30	B
HM Pace	0:07:30	C
10K Pace	0:07:10	D
5K Pace	0:06:50	E

Week 1	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Jul 3	Monday	Rest
	Jul 4	Tuesday	1 @ A, 3x{1 @ D, 2 min, .5 @ E 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Jul 5	Wednesday	5 @ A
	Jul 6	Thursday	6 @ B, 8x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Jul 7	Friday	5 @ A
	Jul 8	Saturday	1 @ A, 4 @ C, 3 min, 1 @ D, ! @ A
	Jul 9	Sunday	10 @ A
		Total	39.5+
Week 2	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Jul 10	Monday	Rest
	Jul 11	Tuesday	1 @ A, 4x{.5 @ D, 3 min}, 8x{.25 @ E, 90 sec}, 1 @ A
	Jul 12	Wednesday	5 @ A
	Jul 13	Thursday	6 @ B, 8x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Jul 14	Friday	5 @ A
	Jul 15	Saturday	1 @ A, 2 @ C, 2 min, 1 @ D, 3 min, 2 @ C, 2 min, 1 @ D, 3 min, 1 @ A
	Jul 16	Sunday	10 @ A
		Total	40+
Week 3	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Jul 17	Monday	Rest
	Jul 18	Tuesday	1 @ A, 3x{1 @ D, 2 min, .5 @ E 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Jul 19	Wednesday	6 @ A
	Jul 20	Thursday	6 @ B, 8x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Jul 21	Friday	5 @ A
	Jul 22	Saturday	1 @ A, 5 @ C, 3 min, 1 @ D, 1 @ A
	Jul 23	Sunday	11 @ A
		Total	42.5+
Week 4	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Jul 24	Monday	Rest
	Jul 25	Tuesday	1 @ A, 6x{.5 @ E, 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Jul 26	Wednesday	5 @ A
	Jul 27	Thursday	6 @ B, 8x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Jul 28	Friday	5 @ A
	Jul 29	Saturday	1 @ A, 2 @ B, 2 min, 2 @ C, 3 min, 2x{1 @ D, 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Jul 30	Sunday	11 @ A
		Total	40+
Week 5	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Jul 31	Monday	Rest
	Aug 1	Tuesday	1 @ A, 3x{1 @ D, 2 min, .5 @ E 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Aug 2	Wednesday	5 @ A
	Aug 3	Thursday	6 @ B, 8x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Aug 4	Friday	5 @ A
	Aug 5	Saturday	1 @ A, 1 @ B, 2 min, 3 @ C, 3 min, 2x{1 @ D, 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Aug 6	Sunday	11 @ A
		Total	41.5+
Week 6	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Aug 7	Monday	Rest
	Aug 8	Tuesday	1 @ A, 3x{1 @ D, 2 min, .5 @ E 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Aug 9	Wednesday	5 @ A
	Aug 10	Thursday	6 @ B, 8x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Aug 11	Friday	5 @ A
	Aug 12	Saturday	1 @ A, 5 @ C, 3 min, 1 @ D, 1 @ A
	Aug 13	Sunday	11 @ A
		Total	41.5+
Week 7	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Aug 14	Monday	Rest
	Aug 15	Tuesday	1 @ A, 5x{0.621 @ E, 3 min}, 1 @ A
	Aug 16	Wednesday	5 @ A
	Aug 17	Thursday	5 @ B, 6x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Aug 18	Friday	4 @ A
	Aug 19	Saturday	1 @ A, 2 @ C, 3 min, 2 @ D, 4 min, 1 @ E, 3 min, 1 @ A
	Aug 20	Sunday	8 @ A
		Total	34+
Week 8	Date	Day	Workout			Pace
	Aug 21	Monday	Rest
	Aug 22	Tuesday	1 @ A, 2 @ C, 3 min, 8x{.25 @ E, 90 sec}, 1 @ A
	Aug 23	Wednesday	4 @ A
	Aug 24	Thursday	4 @ A, 4x{30 sec @ D, 60 sec}
	Aug 25	Friday	Rest
	Aug 26	Saturday	2 @ A
	Aug 27	Sunday	RACE DAY
		Total