Jim

Training Plan #2

Running

The problem with “all” plans written for 10k, half-marathons, full marathons, ultramarathons is that they usually assume you live in a city, with pavement, on rolling terrain where you only do hills if you want to. But for me, my training routes are anything but normal. I live in on the side of a mountain. There are flattish places up on the ridge-line but I still have to run up there to reach them.

So, that is why I can’t really follow a traditional training plan, as much as I want to. But with all my reading, this might work out best anyway. Some of the ultra/trail running plans I saw, always had some hill sprints to build power, speed and endurance. I’ve cut them back a bunch but still have them increasing as the training schedule progresses.

All the other runs will be “easy/recovery” runs. Since this is my first ultra, I’m not interested in speed – I just want to finish. So nothing in my schedule that might lead me to get injured (a real possibility in a 6-month schedule).

Because I don’t know when the race is exactly (I’ll update everything once I know), hopefully my schedule will allow for some flexibility with a couple extra weeks, I hope.

As you can see, this is training plan #2. I have decided to keep the ‘hill sprints’ more reasonable and made Wednesdays an optional run day. Hopefully this will work out well for me.

I’ll be updating this blog every week of training – showing you what was planned and what actually happened and how I adjusted the plan for life’s little bumps. So, keep coming back to see more.

Exercise

When I started running ten years ago, I mostly just ran. And that continued. I tried doing other workouts like P90X, TRX, Insanity, and Freeletics, but they just didn’t go with me. I always wanted to be outside instead of inside.

But now that I’m older (and supposedly wiser), I can see the need for building not only my strength, but agility and balance too.

Bodyweight Workouts

I’ve been a big fan of bodyweight workouts for a long time. And there are almost too many on YouTube to choose. But I do have a few favorites these days:

Dumbbell Workouts

If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m kind of remote enough that there isn’t a gym or even a place to get even simple equipment like dumbbells. But that isn’t going to stop me.

What I do have access to, are ‘bricks’. I weighed one the other day and it’s 3.5kgs/7.7lbs. It’s not much but it’s better than nothing. And I might even try putting 2 or 3 of them together to make a DIY kettlebell.

Stretching & Meditation

Stretching

I have been doing a stretching routine for many, many years, even before I started running. And as I get older, I think it’s even more important because when you’re tight, it messes with everything, especially balance and coordination. So, to me it’s important no matter what I’m doing. And these days it is always something I do in the morning and in the evening if I remember to squeeze it in.

My general routine goes like this (30-sec for each position):

  • supine butterfly stretch
  • butterfly situp (x1 30-sec hold)
  • supine butterfly stretch
  • supine cross-legged spinal twist
  • supine spinal twist
  • sitting butterfly stretch
  • seated torso twist stretch (each side)
  • seated adductor stretch (center)
  • seated adductor stretch (right side)
  • seated adductor stretch (left side)
  • seated forward fold
  • seated hamstring stretch (each side)
  • downward facing dog
  • upward facing dog
  • child’s pose
  • downward facing dog
  • half-kneeling hip stretch
  • kneeling hamstring stretch
  • standing forward fold

Meditation

Life can be stressful. Running and other physical activity can help with that, but sometimes, you need something ‘mental’ to really take the edge off. And for me, that’s meditation. Not some ‘religious’ experience – just a good ol’ just sit down and ‘shut up’ kind of meditation.

I sit crosslegged, say a short motivation and then I just count my breaths to 10. That’s it. But it’s a lot harder than it sounds, trust me. I use an app call Insight Timer if you want to try it.

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