The road to Amsterdam

Counting down to Amsterdam marathon... 

For the last four months I have been getting used to street running again, very slowly increasing distance and trying to pick up speed. Most of this time I have just been running flat, sometimes trying to hang on to my faster friends, sometimes long and slow, sometimes just going with the feeling.  A few weeks ago I decided that it was time to go back to regular interval training. I am very used to interval sessions with my running groups in Bergen, but they are less common among my friends in Istanbul.

 

There is some debate about whether or not interval training is really necessary. Can you not achieve form improvement with just long and fast runs? I have been reading a lot about this, and my conclusion is that interval training is not a must, but it is a better way of improving your form because you do not wear out your body. One can get the same improvement with less running and less damage on the body with short and intensive intervals compared to longer fast runs. 

It's still more a hope than a goal, but I signed up for full marathon in Amsterdam in October, and most of my training until then is geared towards it. A couple of months ago I got hold of a booklet that Oslo marathon has printed for preparing for that marathon in September. It has two training schemes, one for novices and one for advanced athletes, and for both it definitely advises interval sessions every week.

Adjusting the instructions of the booklet to my level and daily life, I set up the following weekly plan for my next couple of months:

Monday: 12-14 km tempo run in the morning, Pilates in the afternoon
Tuesday. Uphill intervals in the morning, Pilates in the afternoon
Wednesday: Strength training for the legs including HSR
Thursday: 10-12 km easy run, Pilates in the afternoon
Friday: Flat intervals possibly on treadmill followed by strength training
Saturday: Long run, slowly increasing distance to 25 and then to 30 km.
Sunday: Rest

It doesn't really require too much change from what I have been doing so far, except that I have been swimming on Wednesdays and resting on Fridays. Although I set up the above scheme a couple of weeks ago, I haven't been able to implement it fully yet. First I was recovering from Bergen City half marathon, and now I have to start tapering for Ulriken Opp in 6 days and Bergen Fjellmaraton in about 11 days... But I have started interval training! I have already had two uphill and four flat interval sessions.

The road to Amsterdam is long, and I know that it will be hard to follow my schedule tightly. In July I will be on holidays at a much warmer place, and I will have to replace some of the running and all the Pilates sessions with swimming. In August and September, just when I should be concentrating on the last phase preparations for the race in October, there are all sorts of other races to keep me occupied: Skåla Opp, Os Triathlon, and Stoltzekleiven Opp. Every race takes its own preparations and there is the rest period before and after, that messes up with the training plan. On the other hand, these races will force me to train in alternative ways, which I think will be useful in hopefully keeping me out of injury.

 

 

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going...