okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Looooooong runs
Sometimes it is fun to do really long, but easy, training sessions.
Check out the heart rate curve for Pasi Ikonen's (2001 world short champ) 3+ hour O' training session. Pasi spent 3+ hours running and hiking in the snow. He spent nearly all of the session at a low intensity.
I've experimented a bit with very long sessions. Typically, I'd do them in the summer (in KC we can't really run in the forest in the summer). I'd mix easy running with walking. Often I'd stick to a schedule, for example, running 12 or 13 minutes, then walking for 2 minutes.
By mixing in walks, you can go for much longer than you could otherwise. You also recover quickly.
Long session like this can be a lot of fun. You've got plenty of time to explore, plenty of time to think and let your mind wander....
"My competitors can't be training as much as I am today..."
"What am I on? What am I on? I'm on my feet, running for 3 hours a day. What are you on?"
If you're not training for a rogaine or an ultrarun, this sort of long session probably isn't especially useful (or a very good use of your time). I have noticed that when I've done regular runs of 2:30 or more, I feel slightly slower but I also recover after races a bit quicker.
posted by Michael |
8:30 PM
