My Winter/Spring Training Plan

Helllloooooooooooooooooooo! Happy Groundhog Day!

Before we get into this, I wanted to mention two things:

1) WMM2 recap is now up on the abs page! Congrats to everyone who participated. :)

2) I had no idea the nom, nom, nom was from the Cookie Monster!!! You learn something new everyday…

Now this juice is PINK!

The produce:

Love Juice

• 1/2 lemon
• 1/3 beet
• piece ginger
• 1 cuke
• 1 small carrot
• 1 grapefruit

It was TART!

I do not recommend this recipe if you don’t like tart/sour things. I have developed a taste for it over the past year and I actually enjoyed this one a lot. It is funny because I never used to like grapefruit, and ever since I started juicing with them, I love them and I often find myself peeling a segment and eating it whole. So not like me!

If there is one thing I love about juicing it is that I can pack in a ton of vegetables that I normally would not eat. More variety, more nutrients.

The only question I have now is what to do with the pulp…the grapefruit makes it tricky. I think more muffins might be in store…

My Winter/Spring Training Program

Doesn’t February just sound so much better than January?! I think so. :) There is something about February that is so exciting to me. Valentine’s Day is one of my favourite holidays. I start feeling that Spring is right around the corner in February! The days are getting LONGER!

I have my third half marathon coming up on May 30th. I am running the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon.

Normally, I am not a training plan kind of girl. I trained for my first two half marathons without any plan at all. I ran just 2-3 days a week, making sure to always have 1 long run a week. I prefer to run no more than 3 days a week because I am injury-prone. For recaps of all my races see here.

For me, the key to running less is to cross train more. Most training programs require you to run 5 days a week and that is not something that works for me. I prefer to run less and to cross train at high intensities, this keeps my endurance up and impact on my joints low.

I think the biggest mistake that many people make is feeling like their training plans cannot be changed. I found this training plan and modified it, like I was cooking a new recipe. The plans are by no means a one size fits all.

Because I loved Caitlin’s Google Spreadsheet Training Plan so much, I decided to use the same type of format to create my own. The best part about using the Google docs is that I can make it viewable to the public. I will be updating it each day to reflect the workout that I actually did and I have the link on my run page.

A few notes:

• I prefer to have my main rest day on Sunday instead of Monday so I switched that up
• I never run two days in a row, back to back. This was how I avoided injury for my races last year.
• I am all about giving my body the proper recovery it needs!
• I hope to be even stronger for my next race because I will be strength training on a regular basis, which is something I did not do last year during training.
• We will be vacationing in Florida at the end of March. I plan on sticking to my workout schedule whenever possible and I fully plan on taking advantage of the warmer weather to run outdoors! The great thing about my Booty Fitness DVD is that it requires no equipment and I can bring it with me on my trip.
• CORE WORK: The Booty Camp Fitness sessions have core work in them, and I will also be doing the full 20 min Ab-solute session from the DVD once per week. I am not going to lose all of this progress I have made! Plus, strong abs help running. :mrgreen:

What my training plan includes:

• Yoga: 1x per week
• Strength or Cross training: 3x per week
• Running: 3 x per week
• Rest/stretching days: 1-2x per week

What will I be using?

• Yoga will be mostly moves from 13 yoga poses for runners and Yoga Download.
• Strength training will be from my Booty Camp Fitness DVD
• Cross training can be anything low impact
• Rest days will involve being a sloth on the couch (joking…sort of) ;)

Why is my plan 17 weeks long?

• Most training plans are 12 weeks long. I want to make sure that I build up my running base very slowly because I took a 2.5 month break from running and don’t want to jump back into it too fast. Therefore, I am starting very early and I am starting my training very slow. I think my body will respond much better this way. Basically for the next 5 weeks, I am in, ‘Base training mode’. I am just building up my running base again and not pushing myself too hard. Week 6, is when my official 12-week plan would begin, so that is when my long runs and weekly mileage will increase each week.

Why is my weekly mileage so low compared to most plans?

• Yes, it is low…very low compared to every plan that I looked at. Most plans want you running 20-30 miles a week, and that is not something that I am going to do. I prefer quality over quantity. This may not work for everyone, but it is how I prefer to train in a way that is safe for me. You have to do what works for you! :)

This plan is by no means set in stone, it is basically a vision that I have for the next few months. It could change, I could toss it out the window, quit running & take up knitting, or stick with it…it all depends on how my body responds to the training. Basically, if it turns out that this plan is not for me, that is fine by me. I think being flexible really helps keep the exercise fun. We shall see how the next few months go.

Do you have any goals for the next few months…or for 2010? What are they?