Monday, July 25, 2005

This Tuesday's Training Session

Skipping, Hills and Trails or Skipping the hills and trails?

Marathon and Half marathon training update:

This weekend we had the two most challenging runs yet! From the super hilly backcountry behind Dagmar to the long rolling hills of the Las Vegas North Half Marathon route, if you can run these you can run anything! Congrats to all those who made it out both days. We are sure to do each of these routes again.

Week 6 is upon us and we are half way to our goal race. What this also means is that we are done with the base-building portion of the training and are going to start the strength portion of the workouts. We are going to incorporate skipping rope, resistance training and the dreaded hill repeat to our schedule. I have a few other surprises that I am sure you all will enjoy.

What also comes along with this part of the program are the aches and pains of overtraining and overuse. Some of us should be looking at new shoes, some should be seeking professional help for our problems (running and otherwise). Most of us should just be following the sound advice of "Train hard, Rest harder". Maybe we just need some rest from training and to check back in with those people we call our families.

I have lots of things planned for the next couple of weeks of training. I would also love to hear what you think about the clinic and if there is anything else you would like to do in the next 6 weeks.

If you have any questions about this clinic or about future clinics with "Ken", don't hesitate to drop me a line at hittheroadwithKen@gmail.com



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I look forward to the trail run waypoints and elevation profile every week. It is quite neat to see.
Thanks.

Ken said...

Look at that elevation change! See that steep incline towards the end of the graph? That's "the hill" that only a brave few ventured up. Keep up the good work, you awesome athletes!

princessriffraff said...

I have to be honest – I was a bit apprehensive about taking this elite clinic but week by week I have enjoyed it more and more and even though we have (multiple) teacher’s pets pitted against the hecklers - the clinic nights are always fun vs. competitive. There’s an awesome camaraderie among everyone (at least I think there is – aside from certain people trying to steal other people’s boyfriends :).

Each week we are doing some new and crazy thing – skipping (yes this is in fact a real skill), killer hills, lunges (yuck), the knee-up things (double yuck) – although if people were inclined to do so, there’s always a way to cheat (not that I would know).

One of the best things out of this so far has been…one day I was running on my own and I could actually feel that I was stronger (or it was the heat and I was hallucinating) and that was exciting. I remember looking down at my legs and thinking oh my becky where did they come from – it was awesome. And it’s easy to get caught up in the schedule and try to beat that person ahead of you (this part I’m just guessing at since I wouldn’t know) but for me its all about making it fun and I’ve come to really enjoy the clinic vs. being fearful of coming to clinic nights.

As much as I like to heckle Coach Ken – I do have to say that I can’t imagine it being this much fun if you weren’t our fearless leader (stop rolling your eyes at me everyone).

Okay I’m done.