Post-Ultra Maintenance

One of the best parts of finishing a race is recovering, healing any aches and pains, and then holding on to that fitness base. When I first started running, I would train hard for a race but then ultimately take so much time off afterwards that I would lose most of my fitness. When the next training cycle came along, I would have to start from square one. Over the years I have perfected my art of maintenance between training cycles. I absolutely enjoy taking time off and focusing on other non-running activities, but I also like being able to utilize my fitness base when starting to train for a specific race.

You may recall that I used Hansons 8 week maintenance plan after the Chicago Marathon. This plan helped keep me running through the winter and when it came time to run the F^3 Lake Half Marathon, I felt more than ready. I have a month or so before having to train for the Chicago Marathon again, and this time I chose the Jack Daniels Blue plan. As much as I enjoyed the Hansons plan, I am not sure if I will be using that method for the marathon. I wanted to get a sense of what the Daniels plan was all about, and after reading the book and reviewing the plans as well as my personal goals, the Blue Plan seemed to fit what I need right now perfectly.

One goal I have before heading into marathon training is speed. After running a 50k, I know that distance is something I can handle well. On the other hand, my speed slowed quite a bit with all the long slow runs I did on the trails when training. Daniels is known as the man to help with speed, and with two speed workouts a week, I can understand why.

Here is how my first week went:

Sunday: 60 min easy

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 10 min Easy, 8 X 400m R pace with 400m recovery, cooldown, Jasyoga - 5 min hamstring reset

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 10 min Easy, 4 X 4 min hard with 4 min recovery, cool down, Jasyoga - Quick hip reset

Friday: 30-45 min Easy 30 min cross-training

Saturday: 60-90 min long (I did 75 minutes)

Overall, I enjoyed the first week. Two days of speedwork is hard on my hamstrings, hence the Jasyoga after both my speed runs. I found the runs challenging, but doable. It didn't help that the weather was really hot, so not only was I running hard, but running hard in the heat. 

speedwork in the heat

Daniels' has specific pace charts based upon a VDOT value, and that is what I followed for what is considered "hard" and "R" pace. This is based upon what will ultimately be my marathon goal time. 

I also chose to supplement the easy workout on Friday with some cross training. Besides the fact that I was looking to keep my mileage increase for the week minimal to avoid over training, I also wanted to keep up with my core and strength workouts from ultra training. I really found this beneficial for improvement in my posture and running form, so I chose to replace the easy run with strength training.

I enjoyed the two rest days, which is not something that Hansons maintenance plan had, and found this more manageable with my work schedule. I also enjoyed the flexibility to move the runs around based upon the time I had, as long as I was not doing the speedwork two days in a row. I like that this plan allows you to spread runs or "time" over whatever days work so that you can achieve the mileage you are looking for. The focus on time vs miles is also interesting and one that I find has more flexibility than other plans. While I expect the runs to get more challenging over the next few weeks, I already like where this is going.