A Look At My 2007 Training

Below is the month by month breakdown of my training for 2007.

January: I did mostly ski training this month with some scattered ANT work, but a lot of base building to rebuild after cross country and before the high point of ski racing. Most weeks included a long workout, and one ANT workout. Total hours: 57 1/2 Total miles ran: 219

February: I added morning runs and core workouts almost every morning to my training this month. I continued with ANT work with 5x5’s and other long duration reps, and also added some light race pace workouts as well. This month the ANT and race pace workouts shifted from skiing to running to prep for the UMAC indoor conference meet and the outdoor season as well. At the indoor conference meet I raced the 5000m to a commanding win. Total hours: 36 1/2 Total miles ran: 154

March: Continued with tempo workouts at the beginning of the month, and moved to base building in the third and fourth weeks to maintain my base and build endurance for the outdoor season. My weekly mileage averaged 75 this month. Total hours: 41 Total miles run: 298

April: The base building and endurance work continued the first week of April. In the following weeks I began to rebuild my speed by racing shorter races (1500m and 800m). These races would allow me to continue to build endurance during the week, and use races as primary speed workouts for the week. Average mileage remains at about 75 miles a week. Total hours: 42 1/2 Total miles ran: 271 1/2

May: In prep for the approaching UMAC conference meet I began to add more short speed workout to my plan including 400m and 200m strides. At the outdoor conference meet I placed second in the 5000m and helped my team clinch the team title. After the conference meet I immediately began training for fall cross country with recovery/base rebuilding. I did no workouts above DE zone (the developmental endurance zone, which for me was about 168 to 175 BPM) for the rest of the month. Total hours: 37 Total miles ran: 251

June: I continued base work with BE-1 and 2 runs. In the second week of June I added some long (2 mile) DE zone reps. In the last week of June I did one low end ANT zone workout. I also did one of my three major races of the summer in the middle of this month – the Gary Bjorklund half marathon. I PR’d with a 1:17. Good for doing no workouts above DE zone before the race. Total hours: 48 1/2 Total miles: 309

July: ANT work was added to my plan in July with ANT zone mile and half mile reps on the roads near my home training grounds. My half mile ANT rep workouts (I did three this month I think) were good. I did sessions of as many as 8 in a 2:12 to 2:18 range feeling strong the entire time. The third week of June was a rebuilding and recovery week with no speed workouts and long base mileage. This month also featured my second major race of the summer with the Park Point 5 miler where I placed 5th and ran a 27:27. Very good for this time of the summer. This seems to be suggestive of things to come. The end of the month had a return to long mid to high end ANT reps of a mile or two in length. Total hours: 40 Total miles: 241

August: The beginning of the month served as the bridge between summer training and the cross country season. I began the month with a recovery week after the long ANT rep filled month of July. In the second week I dove back into high end ANT mile reps which now felt like a breeze. The cross season was quickly approaching now! The best workout of the month came in the third week – at cross country camp - where I did 10x1 mile ANT zone reps in an average of 5:19. I felt great! Total hours: 54 Total miles run: 302

September: The theme of long ANT reps continued with several workouts of 4 to 6x10 minute ANT reps. But by the third week of September I had moved down to 4 minute ANT and race pace sessions Including workouts of 6x4 minutes at race pace. Total hours: 35 1/2 Total miles run: 266

October: With the end of cross country season approaching quickly my speed workout moved into VO2 max zone with the well known 400’s to build upper end speed and that ‘extra gear’. The third week saw me inject one more workout of mile ANT reps., partly because I like those workouts so much, and partly because I felt that I was peaking too soon. I worked, because this month I moved into second place on the CSS XC all time performance list with a 26:50 and became the first CSS runner to win the UMAC conference cross country individual title! Total hours: 28 1/2 Total miles run: 231.

November: After the cross country season I took the first three weeks of the month, the weeks before the trip to the Nordic skiing training camp at West Yellowstone, as recovery and rebuilding time. During these weeks I averaged only 50 miles a week run and 6 to 8 hours of training. Although I might not have liked taking this time to recover, it is vital to fully recovering from a peaking cycle. Without this time an athlete could never fully take advantage of the gains they make in a training season. Total hours: 50 Total miles run: 189.

December: Now being recovered from the cross country season and with the nordic ski season getting under way I began to once again do ANT zone work, by now almost all on skis. In the last week of December I added race pace zone work to prep for the US national championships for which I had qualified. I did not do nearly as much ANT zone work for ski season as I did for cross season because even though I had peaked, most of the gains I had made were still there. Essentially, I was able to start from a higher rung on the fitness ladder and go right into focusing on the higher end race pace zone that I was working on at the end of cross. Total hours: 37 Total miles ran: 113

Year total hours: 508 Hours
Year total miles run: 2844.5 Miles
PR’s: Half Marathon = 1:17 and 8K (5 Mile) 26:53