thenext.run - Just a little more “training” each day

A training plan blog - look out for the inspirational quote!

Last week I wrote about my rush of blood in signing up for the last man standing event - USWA’s Birdy’s Backyard Ultra. I also promised some insight into my training plan.

The great thing about training plans is the spreadsheet, the bad thing about training plans is the spreadsheet.

Good because it allows you to very elegantly communicate what needs to be done. Bad because you can see how much needs to be done. Including my goal kilometers from the event I’m aiming to average 119kms per week over the next 11 weeks.

As a 4 day a week runner who on good week pushes 80kms but consistantly hits 55kms, this is a big step up. It also begs the question if I am already running 4 days a week where am I going to fit in the addtional kms to a schedule that includes kids, dogs, work, and study?

My first trick that I noted last week was to turn my nightly dog walks into a 6.7km run @ 6m30s/km pace. This is my target pace for Big Birdy’s and also very achieveable regardless of what has been done during the day. Adding this little run only 3 times a week gives me an extra 20kms.

Not the usual GPX file for a run

Next I also convert what would normally be a short distance commute to a friend house, one suburb over to a short run aswell. 4kms there and 4kms back home again, twice a week and hey presto! That’s an extra 16kms.

Sunday runs are going to need to be pimped out as well. For that I am relying on the ever dependable peer pressure.

Shaun from Tribe and Trail, and USWA has kindly scheduled 6 runs of ever increasing distances with a locomotive theme. We’ll be running the length of all 6 railways on the Perth Metro system. This “Railway Collective” will peak with a 75km Saturday timed perfectly just before Birdy’s Backyard Ultra.

I’ve clicked “Going” on all 6 Facebook events so it must be happening. Get “on board” for the first event here.

The night running is something I also plan to address. The Week 5 Sunday run I plan to convert into a Saturday night event following the run on the hour, every hour format of the race. A dry run to see if I can keep on schedule.

The plan - Green for peer pressure runs, Yellow for Last Man Standing Dry Run, Blue for Race Day

So that’s my plan - no massive changes - just a little bit more - consistantly. A mantra for sure.

Maybe you’ve heard it before. The people’s champ Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson once said

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work gains success. Greatness will come.”

So maybe for this week, when’s your next run?