**In the past I would usually do 6 runs per week with one recovery day in there, unless I was into bigger mileage where I may have run all 7 days. Though, even my biggest 200+km and 230km running training weeks back in 2013, I was usually taking 1 day off per week.
I thought splitting 50km up between 6 days would be useless since it would mean running only 8 or so kilometers per day and I figured that roughly 30 minutes of running wouldn't be enough to really even get a true aerobic benefit - plus running less than double digits just didn't sound good. So I decided to split it up between 5 days. Throughout that training block, my tibia was still hurting on most days, but gradually I noticed even though I was now running more in a single session because it was 6 runs worth divided up between only 5 runs, having two off running days during the week gave the tibia more time to recover between the runs and it felt better and better as the block progressed. So the schedule would look like this:
Mon-Run
Tues- Run
Wed - OFF
Thurs - Run
Fri - Run
Sat - OFF
Sun - Run off the bike
On the OFF days of running I would simply devote more time to do a longer more intense bike sessions which I find has also helped me progress since it makes the other days sessions feels that much shorter and I can ramp the intensity even higher. As a result my biking has continued to see massive improvements holding power numbers I never would have imagined before. For example, a couple weeks ago, I remember my Dad coming downstairs and we starting chatting as I was on the bike, and I remarked to him that only a year before, the wattage that I was currently pedalling at was my FTP (threshold) and it was that 20 minute test that left me crying like a baby afterwards, and now here I was easily holding a discussion with him at that same wattage.
In addition to my biking getting better as a result of the extra day off, my running has improved dramatically. After the OFF day I feel like a new runner with brand new joints and bones, and my tibia hasn't been a major issue since. Yes it still has its days where it is painful, but not close to same degree or as regularly as it was earlier where every step I took was incredibly painful, and was enough to bring me to tears or a complete stop on some runs. My average pace on normal runs is way quicker than it was leading up to Miami, where every single run now is right around 4:00/km if not quicker, and my brick workouts have all had average paces into the 3:40s, and 3:30s. Just yesterday I was thinking to myself on my way home from an awesome swim workout that my running is feeling very similar to where it was at the beginning of 2013 where every single run was pretty quick and around this pace exactly. It's interesting because what I was doing in 2013 and am doing now is very different from what many books or training plans prescribe called a polarized training. Many prescribe that easy pace needs to be very easy, and when you go hard you go gut-wrenching hard. Throughout a program the typical training schedule would be broken up into very hard workout, very easy run, very hard workout, very easy run, and so fourth. Right now I am mostly training in the middle between the two extremes. I am not doing any true interval type workouts yet of say 1km repeats or mile repeats or 400s or whatever at roughly 3:00/km pace, but I am not going out and jogging around at 4:30 or 5 minute pace either. I am training in this middle area that some say useless because your not tapping into the true speed zone, but still going fast enough that your not really giving muscles a break either. However in 2013 this is where I spent the majority of my training time, and I went on to run for 11 months without a single major injury, raced regularly from February all the way to November, PB'ed every single distance, ran 5 half-marathons, 1 30km, a 10km in 32 minutes in the middle of a 160 km week, and a 2:34 marathon. Suffice to say it was an extremely successful year of running, and therefore I believe it is naive to think that this middle zone has no benefit. Aerobically you are working in the lower end of your "tempo zone" so your gradually growing your aerobic power, and your muscles/tendons are getting a good workout without going overboard and killing them. I also believe physiologically/structurally it is much easier to go from this type of running intensity into those more speedy workouts than to go from the classic base phase running intensity that running programs prescribe - long and very slow runs. To me it makes no sense that a runner can aerobically go from running 5:00/km pace daily for months to running 3:10 kilometre repeats. Just think about it from a heart rate perspective. If I go out and train for 2 months at 5:00/km pace and my heart rate never goes above 120 how on earth am I building my aerobic power to be able to handle my heart rate being high 180s, low 190s for interval repeats. At 120 bpm, am I stressing the system any way to force it to adapt, no of course not. Okay now take it one step further and look at it from a structural point of view. People say base phase is necessary to build up musculotendinous strength. But if we were to measure the power going through the achilles tendon at 5:00/km pace would it be comparable to the power at 3:10/km pace, heck no. So how would that minimal stress than prepare the tendon to take on the maximal stress of intervals. A different perspective if it makes more sense to you, how would riding for 2 months at 150W for countless hours prepare your legs to then go at 400W for multiple interval repeats. I believe that this middle zone is a far too neglected training zone because I believe as I mentioned you get both a true aerobic benefit and musculoskeletal benefit to prepare yourself for true speed work, without burying yourself.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, wait a minute this is a guy who has struggled mightily with both macrotraumatic injuries like two torn hip flexors, and microtraumatic injuries like numerous tibial stress fractures on and off for the last couple years. The fact is that the last couple years I believe it is because I slowly let my training drift into this extremely polarized type of training that caused me to get injured more frequently. Which is why I'm going back to training in this middle zone more regularly like I did in 2013 where I was seemingly indestructible. Why did my training shift away from the way I did in 2013. Well this may sound odd and counterintuitive, but I believe it was because I started doing a lot more research on training philosophies and workout regimens whether from numerous running videos that I would watch, or books that I started to read. I think I became so consumed with finding the perfect training regimen (or the so-called secret to getting to that next level) as employed by the world's best coaches, that I forgot about what seemed to work well for me, and my own theories. Having said all this, am I saying throw the slow recovery run out the window, no. It has its place every so often in a running schedule when say a day comes along where you are feeling a little sore or you had a number of big days in a row but you want to just "spin" the legs out so to speak. However, as a triathlete now, I am starting to realize with such a huge percentage of time taken up on the bike and in the pool you can't really afford to have numerous runs a week of garbage mileage (this very very ease pace or recovery runs).
Now, you may be saying to yourself, wait a minute this is a guy who has struggled mightily with both macrotraumatic injuries like two torn hip flexors, and microtraumatic injuries like numerous tibial stress fractures on and off for the last couple years. The fact is that the last couple years I believe it is because I slowly let my training drift into this extremely polarized type of training that caused me to get injured more frequently. Which is why I'm going back to training in this middle zone more regularly like I did in 2013 where I was seemingly indestructible. Why did my training shift away from the way I did in 2013. Well this may sound odd and counterintuitive, but I believe it was because I started doing a lot more research on training philosophies and workout regimens whether from numerous running videos that I would watch, or books that I started to read. I think I became so consumed with finding the perfect training regimen (or the so-called secret to getting to that next level) as employed by the world's best coaches, that I forgot about what seemed to work well for me, and my own theories. Having said all this, am I saying throw the slow recovery run out the window, no. It has its place every so often in a running schedule when say a day comes along where you are feeling a little sore or you had a number of big days in a row but you want to just "spin" the legs out so to speak. However, as a triathlete now, I am starting to realize with such a huge percentage of time taken up on the bike and in the pool you can't really afford to have numerous runs a week of garbage mileage (this very very ease pace or recovery runs).
So now, back to the training, for the last couple weeks now that the mileage is getting to higher levels the run schedule has been more like 15 km run, 20 km run, off, 15 km run, 19 km, off, 10 km off 2 hr + bike. Even though eventually at some point once the mileage gets to say the 130s, 140s if it ever does get there (or if I feel the need for it to get there - more on this later) I would likely have to go back to only one off day since the daily mileage would just be too high to be able to fit it quality biking and swimming to go along with the run session. For example in the 140s, if only split up between 5 days of running it would mean an average of 28 km per run session. That would mean approximately 2 hours right there, and if you add the bike and swim on top of that it is well over 5 hours of training per day (35 hours per week) which is more that the best triathletes in the world train in the heaviest parts of there season, and would be a sure fire way of burning out of getting injured.
The point about mileage getting into the 130s and 140s brings up a couple of thoughts. Just before I get into that though, why do I have this number of 130-140 and a benchmark for myself. Well because historically going back through years of training logs I have always ran my best half-marathons off of 130-140km weeks. However, now that in a race on-top of training for the run there is a 2-3km long open water swim, and a 90-120km bike ride, would I have the time to put in these types of weeks. Sure, they will be times throughout the year that I will probably be getting up to that mileage (especially before the world championships), but having said that I only want to get up to that type of mileage if it is mostly quality mileage. As I mentioned before, the recovery jogs, and garbage mileage is a waste of time that could be better spent refining technique in the pool, or aerodynamics on the bike. If I can only get up to stay at about 100-120km of high-quality mileage while continuing to getting stronger and better in the water and on the bike, so be it.
For now, I will continue to slowly build up my running in this middle zone, and when I feel ready to start putting some truly speedy stuff on top of it I will. But until then I know that the middle zone of training is helping me to progress, and get stronger, and keeping me healthy and injury free.
The point about mileage getting into the 130s and 140s brings up a couple of thoughts. Just before I get into that though, why do I have this number of 130-140 and a benchmark for myself. Well because historically going back through years of training logs I have always ran my best half-marathons off of 130-140km weeks. However, now that in a race on-top of training for the run there is a 2-3km long open water swim, and a 90-120km bike ride, would I have the time to put in these types of weeks. Sure, they will be times throughout the year that I will probably be getting up to that mileage (especially before the world championships), but having said that I only want to get up to that type of mileage if it is mostly quality mileage. As I mentioned before, the recovery jogs, and garbage mileage is a waste of time that could be better spent refining technique in the pool, or aerodynamics on the bike. If I can only get up to stay at about 100-120km of high-quality mileage while continuing to getting stronger and better in the water and on the bike, so be it.
For now, I will continue to slowly build up my running in this middle zone, and when I feel ready to start putting some truly speedy stuff on top of it I will. But until then I know that the middle zone of training is helping me to progress, and get stronger, and keeping me healthy and injury free.
