Beware of Overtraining – For Runners

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

By Paul O. Scott

Overdoing it

To become a faster and stronger runner, you will have to train harder. As you start to reap the rewards of that training there is a temptation to train even harder still, but there is a fine line between training hard and overtraining.

The warning signs

One simple way to find out if you are overdoing it is to get into the habit of taking your pulse as soon as you wake up in the morning. A spike in your pulse rate at any point is an indication of a problem and a sign that you need to give yourself more rest.

35 Minute Tempo Run Kicked My Butt

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

The workout today was a 30 minute tempo run. I used the first 7 minutes for warmup and then maintained a tempo heart rate (86-92%) for almost 20 minutes and then did a 8 minute cooldown.

I was really feeling the pain during this tempo run, not sure why because it should have beena breeze, but I struggled through it.

Tmorrow’s workout calls for a speed workout with 6×400 meter intervals. Hopefully I get through this slump that I was in for the tempo run.

Killer Tempo Run

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Today’s workout was a 45 minute tempo run. As with all tempo runs, the total run time included a warmup and cooldown. My warmup was only 5 minutes and then went into the tempo portion of the run. The pace was 8.4 mph on the treadmill and that pace was maintained for 25 minutes and then did a cooldown to round out the rest of the workout.

Heart rate for the tempo run was between 86-92% MHR. This workout felt really good and I feel like it was really a breakthrough workout.

Terrible Tempo Run

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Today’s workout was a make up for the tempo run I missed on Thursday. Not sure what was going on, but my body was just terrible today. My legs felt like lead, my lungs seemed like they couldn’t getenough air, it was bad all around.

Total workout time was 45 minutes. Did the usual warmup, but it took about 7 minutes to get up to tempo heart rate (86-92% MHR). Started out at 6 mph and increased speed every 15 seconds by .1 unti lreaching tempo pace. Maintained tempo pace for 21 minutes, then backed down and started my cooldown for the last 15+ minutes of the run.

Interval Day Again, Good Times

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Woke up and was on the treadmill by 4:30am. I warmed up for 5 minutes then started the workout which was 9×200 meter intervals. Now on the treadmill what I do is .15 miles which is actually just over, but I need to compensate for the time it takes the treadmill to get up to speed.

I warmed up at 5mph and slowly increased to 6.5. Then at 5 minutes I started the intervals at 9.4mph. Between intervals I jogged at 6mph for 1 minute. I made sure my heart rate was always in or under the tempo range (86-92%) before starting another interval and it was always around 1 minute.