Winter 2019/20 Training Program
Click on each photo to enlarge it and make it readable!
I know some of you are sitting here like “Celestina, winter hasn’t even started yet, and it certainly doesn’t go until April!”
To that I say: it snowed yesterday. And it will continue snowing well into April. Welcome to Canada.
In any case, this is the perfect block, as it goes from now until the start of my four-month training block to qualify for Boston once again. With the -20 to -30 Celsius weather demanding a change in running and training technique, it will definitely differ quite a bit from the summer I have planned, so we will call this winter.
A little intro to my colour coding and organizing!
Green indicates a rest day. No strenuous activity, just the usual walking I need to do plus some additional stretching and rolling as my mileage increases.
Blue indicates any steady or tempo run below 15 km.
Pink indicates any cross-training activity. In the winter, that will mostly be indoor bouldering and climbing, indoor swimming, and cross-country and downhill skiing.
Yellow indicates interval training, whether it is speedwork, hills, or longer pacing intervals.
The lighter red indicates long runs, anything above 16 km.
The bright red indicates races.
Bolded words indicate a change to my usual programming, typically vacation.
The two empty columns to the right are to record my mileage and any skipped workouts!
Trail Tours: this is the trail running night that I lead once a week! I usually go out for a speedy scouting run right before to make sure the trails are nice and tacky, then lead the actual group run at a slower pace. It’s definitely been a good way of adding in some extra miles and will help with getting me out in the cold come winter time.
Most of my training from now until January will be in preparation for the Winter River Valley Revenge 25 km, which is an all trail race in the dead of winter. It will be cold and icy, and almost entirely on single tracks, so my training is focusing a lot more on technical runs and elevation training.
Shortly after that, I have the Hypothermic Half-Marathon, for which I will be volunteering as a pace bunny. It’s a short bounce back, but pace bunny races usually feel a great deal less demanding, and I’ll have a long break to look forward to after that!
I’ll be rounding out the cold weather with another half-marathon… right before heading out on my Coeur d’Alene/West Yellowstone road trip with my parents and starting marathon training. But let’s save those details for another post.
I have an ambitious winter ahead of me for sure! 2 half-marathons, my first time doing a winter trail race, and high hopes of incorporating more vigorous cross-training than usual. The easy part will be keeping up with all of my workouts (perks of being a student and constantly being on campus). The hard part will be all mental–convincing myself that every workout, from the worst to the best, is better than none at all.
What are your fall/winter/spring running goals? Or if you have horrible winters like me, your winter running goals? Anyone else have big races coming up? Anyone else as in love with spreadsheets as I am?
