Weekly Routine in a Nutshell ...
This BLOG is LOOOOOOOOONG overdue. Many of you have asked me if I would post my daily runs and weekly workouts on this site. I hesitate to do this for a few different reasons. The main reason for this is that I already host all of my training, complete with footnotes, feel, etc. on flotrackr.com. Many of you know this website, but many of you still do not. I highly recommend you check it out.
One of a runner's best used tools should be his/her training logs. You've all seen them. They can be found in any Barnes and Nobles, Borders, or other book store and are basically a calendar with Running-Related entry blanks. The only problem with these traditional logs is that after a few years of running, they begin to pile up and storage space is not always plentiful, hence, many people simply throw away or do not keep, in the first place, these very important records.
The importance of these logs are two-fold. They help you understand what worked and, more importantly, what didn't. You can see patterns in them leading up to great races and PR's or (on the other side) to injury and defeat. These logs can help you refrain from repeating the latter.
But I digress. Flotrackr.com is an online running log that you can sign up for, for FREE (and none of this "free, but read the small print" business either ... actually free). This is a service started by a friend and ex-teammate of mine and is entrepreneurial ingenuity. This online log is only an added bonus to the great site they have created, and which has revolutionized and made more accessible the sport of track and field to the people who wish to follow it.
I keep all my daily runs/weekly workouts on my flotrack account, and by adding me as a contact on flotrack, you will gain access into my day to day training. I do need to log more about the ancillary training I do, but when it comes to running, you'll find it all right there. All you will need to sign up for your own account is a creative username and password ... that's it! So if you would like to get an idea of what it is I do on the roads/track/trail from day-to-day, sign up, get on board, and take a look.
For those of you who don't wish to do this, what I will offer to you is a brief synopsis of my weekly routine listed by day below (Understand that this is only one period of my training however and that it varies as you cross into different times during the season. I will post what a typical base/interval period of training would look like for now.)
Monday -
a.m. 60-70 min run (10-11 mi) / strength session / training room & hot-cold contrast bath
p.m. drills & stretch,15 min warm-up, speed development, 10-15 min cool down / core session and hurdle mobility / training room & ice-bath
Tuesday -
a.m. 20 min shakeout
p.m. drills & stretch, 20 min warm-up, intervals or hills or mix, 30 min cool down / core session and sand / training room & ice-bath
Wednesday -
a.m. up tempo 15% of total weekly volume (90-95 min/15 mi) / strength session / training room & ice-bath
Thursday -
recovery day
a.m. easy 45-60 min (7-9 mi) / training room & ice-bath
p.m. optional easy 20 min shakeout
Friday -
a.m. drills and stretch, 20 min warm-up, threshold run, 5 min jog, short intervals, 30 min cool down / strength session / training room & ice-bath
p.m. easy 20 min shakeout / core session
Saturday -
recovery day
a.m. easy 45-60 min
Sunday -
a.m. 20% of total weekly volume (2 hrs/20 mi) / training room & ice-bath
I hope everybody finds this overview insightful and helpful. Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions you may have regarding this training at darrenbrown@darrenbrownrunning.com
One of a runner's best used tools should be his/her training logs. You've all seen them. They can be found in any Barnes and Nobles, Borders, or other book store and are basically a calendar with Running-Related entry blanks. The only problem with these traditional logs is that after a few years of running, they begin to pile up and storage space is not always plentiful, hence, many people simply throw away or do not keep, in the first place, these very important records.
The importance of these logs are two-fold. They help you understand what worked and, more importantly, what didn't. You can see patterns in them leading up to great races and PR's or (on the other side) to injury and defeat. These logs can help you refrain from repeating the latter.
But I digress. Flotrackr.com is an online running log that you can sign up for, for FREE (and none of this "free, but read the small print" business either ... actually free). This is a service started by a friend and ex-teammate of mine and is entrepreneurial ingenuity. This online log is only an added bonus to the great site they have created, and which has revolutionized and made more accessible the sport of track and field to the people who wish to follow it.
I keep all my daily runs/weekly workouts on my flotrack account, and by adding me as a contact on flotrack, you will gain access into my day to day training. I do need to log more about the ancillary training I do, but when it comes to running, you'll find it all right there. All you will need to sign up for your own account is a creative username and password ... that's it! So if you would like to get an idea of what it is I do on the roads/track/trail from day-to-day, sign up, get on board, and take a look.
For those of you who don't wish to do this, what I will offer to you is a brief synopsis of my weekly routine listed by day below (Understand that this is only one period of my training however and that it varies as you cross into different times during the season. I will post what a typical base/interval period of training would look like for now.)
Monday -
a.m. 60-70 min run (10-11 mi) / strength session / training room & hot-cold contrast bath
p.m. drills & stretch,15 min warm-up, speed development, 10-15 min cool down / core session and hurdle mobility / training room & ice-bath
Tuesday -
a.m. 20 min shakeout
p.m. drills & stretch, 20 min warm-up, intervals or hills or mix, 30 min cool down / core session and sand / training room & ice-bath
Wednesday -
a.m. up tempo 15% of total weekly volume (90-95 min/15 mi) / strength session / training room & ice-bath
Thursday -
recovery day
a.m. easy 45-60 min (7-9 mi) / training room & ice-bath
p.m. optional easy 20 min shakeout
Friday -
a.m. drills and stretch, 20 min warm-up, threshold run, 5 min jog, short intervals, 30 min cool down / strength session / training room & ice-bath
p.m. easy 20 min shakeout / core session
Saturday -
recovery day
a.m. easy 45-60 min
Sunday -
a.m. 20% of total weekly volume (2 hrs/20 mi) / training room & ice-bath
I hope everybody finds this overview insightful and helpful. Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions you may have regarding this training at darrenbrown@darrenbrownrunning.com
Hi, Darren! I read your article in Runner's World and thought about contacting you. My dad also committed suicide. It was December 18, 2002. I am now the race director for the Palo Duro Hot Dog 15K and 3-person relay. This is our second year to have it and we are still really small, but the goal is to donate the proceeds to the National Alliance on Mental Illness and to raise awareness for suicide victims and families as well. I would like for this to grow to a big race eventually because the course is so beautiful and it is extremely challenging as well. Runner's World is one of our sponsors so our race is listed on their online race calendar. I live in Amarillo, TX and our race goes Palo Duro Canyon. I would love for you to come and run our race as well as share your story and inspire our runners. We have no corporate sponsors so we have a small budget and I am trying to find a way to get more money to make this an event that elite runners want to come to. I would love to hear back from you! Thanks for sharing your story-- there aren't many people who are brave enough to talk about suicide and those who are afraid of the stigma that suicide carries with it.
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Your workouts seem very intense and long. Are you training for marathons? You run a very fast mile dude, and I think doing runs of 2 hours or more is taking away from your speed development. The best 5000m runner in the U.S. runs only 60miles per week on average and works more toward speed development. Your a miler like me. With your times that you've ran you could be a 13:00 5000m runner. I guess I just don't understand why you're puting in so much mileage to run races 800m through 10k.
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hello my name is brian hannold also.
i am in the navy reserve and i run for
fitness as well. i have allways been a sprinter but i have worked up to 1.5 miles and 5k runs. i too believe in speed over all else. i have to run 1.5 miles in under 15:45 for my age group.
my best time was 8:27 now i am around 11:00 . i know you have to have the endurance for the distance but i belive
the more miles you run at a time lowers
your overall speed. thanks brian
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Hey Brian,
It has been studied that you can lose your Fast-Twitch muscle fibers by transforming them or replacing them with Slow-Twitch fibers. However, running high mileage weeks for aerobic and strength purposes will not diminish this as long as you continue to perform speed maintenance during this critical high mileage base phase. One of the best ways to do this without even having to get on a track during this off-season/fall training cycle is through drills, strides, fartleks, and most of all, hills (on top of the weekly mileage). Frank Shorter, one of the greatest of all time, once said that hills are speed-work in disguise. At the level I am striving for, having a solid mileage base is essential to success. Once the quality increases, that base of miles drops slightly and then even more towards your peak/the end of your season. To learn more about this, I encourage you both, and everybody actually, to read any book on a man named Arthur Lydiard. He is one of the foremost respected coaches of all time and is responsible for giving us the Lydiard System, a training system I believe in personally and that is used by the majority of Elite distance runners in the US and abroad.
Thanks for the input and all the best to you and yours.
db
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Brian, Thanks again for the comment and the huge vote of confidence. I am in fact a Miler/3K Steepler/5K runner. The training I do is based off of the Lydiard Training Method which emphasizes a large aerobic base and strength-work (hills) that is supplemented with speed maintenance/development. Then, as you prepare to peak for races, you do more event specific and race-pace work. That being said, even the 60 mile per week athlete you speak of averages that for an entire year. This means there are points in time when training is at a much higher level (during base phase) and other points when training is much lower (during peaking). If you study some more about our elite runners, you will also find that all coaches agree that every runner is different and each has to find the training that works best for them. Good luck and all the best.
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