Project 3:30
Working out with Runna has really brought back my level of enjoyment of running and also a new sense of commitment to consistent training. I finished up week 3 of a 12 week maintenance plan today with a 16km run.
Today's workout was supposed to be 12km, with 4km at conversational pace, 4km at 4:40/km and 4km at conversational pace. The guys in my crew were doing 16km, so I extended as well with an additional 4km at easy pace.
Running to a Plan
It's been quite a while since I've run anything like the structured program Runna has laid out for me. Back in my more serious marathoning days, I did faster tempo sessions on Tuesday and hills or speed work on Wednesdays. But those workouts were never really all that complicated.
Tempo runs were just 6-8km at a faster pace. Hills were just a 1km warmup, some number of 400m hills, and a cooldown. Speed work, if I did it, was just a run with a few faster kilometres here and there.
Runna has a nice variety of workouts from 3-2-1 tempo runs where you run escalating pace over 3km, 2km and 1km segments. Intervals of 800m at what I would consider a fast, hard pace, and easy runs at easy pace. Even the Sunday long run today had a 4km segment in the middle at tempo pace which added a level of fun and variety to what is normally a pretty tame run.
I've gone from being a one-pace runner throughout the week to having a wide range of different workouts. Add in strength sessions on Mondays and mobility on Fridays in the form of a yoga workout, and I really feel like I'm doing the right things for maybe the first time ever?
Plans the First Half of 2025
I'm going to continue with this 12 week maintenance program which takes me to the third week of January. That's pretty much the perfect time to roll right into a marathon plan for a spring marathon.
Did I just say that out loud? I think I did. I haven't fully committed to a spring race yet, but I would like to see if doing a Runna program will result in a better performance on race day. I have to think it would.
I've run a 3:35 marathon, and also a 3:31 marathon. The latter was a virtual race during COVID that I ran around Toronto. Most of it my friend Miguel ran with me and I tacked 7.8km on the end to hit 50km on the day after my 50th birthday. It's probably the best 42.2km effort I've ever done.
With a proper structured plan, some strength and mobility work, and some focus on diet and nutrition, I believe I can still go sub-3:30 for 42.2km. So that's my goal for 2025. I'm going to call it Project 3:30 and we'll see where it takes me.