Winding down the Big Day

What was once months then became weeks and has now become days.

The recognition of this fact now needs to be crystal clear in my training. Gone are the days of needing a 10 mile warm up before 10 miles hard. This also goes for the need for 3 x 3 mile repeats to crank the body through the most strenuous of workouts.

But it doesn't mean going soft. And by soft, I mean only doing easy runs.

Over the last 3 weeks, I keep the runs shorter and the tempo quicker but I don't do anything all out. Each workout is meant to remind the body of the hard work expected but not to tax it beyond more than day or two of recovery.

On the easy days, I finish off my workouts with a Tabata workout or some quick strides.

Strides are a perfect way to keep the legs turning over quickly without doing any major type of damage to the muscles. All that needs to be done is tack them on to the end of your regular run.

To do a stride find a 30 to 50 yd preferably straight, flat piece of ground or road. Then, accelerate up to race speed by the middle of the distance before decelerating over the last 20 yards or so. I like to do it about 8 to 10 times.

My legs usually feel better afterward and the stride leaves me feeling like I have some spring in my step.

This is just a suggestion for keeping the legs in the groove until the big day.

 

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner