Hoka Cielo x1 3.0: A shoe that makes me want to run a Marathon (fast)
Self Reflection on a Flat Running Efficiency Focused Block
I’ve been feeling the need to reflect recently, and where else better to start reflecting than with the thing that takes up the majority of my free time. My running training.
For the past three to four months, I have been training to go sub-4 at the Black Canyons 50k race. With the race coming up next week, I figured it would be a good idea to look back at the first training blocks of the season with the spare taper time I have.
Where I'm Starting From
Some context to this block. From around May of last year, I had an awful IT band injury that I couldn’t shake. No one talks about the amount of focus and training it takes to truly recover from a bad injury, and by the time I had recovered, I didn’t have any motivation to train hard or put much time into my training. This resulted in my lowest training volume year since 2018 at 335 hours, with an average aerobic training volume of 20 hours from May to September. I knew I needed to create a goal and train differently to enjoy the process again. I decided to focus on my speed as a road runner over the winter and improve my flat running economy in hopes of making me a more rounded runner. In order to test the training, I picked a trail race that races more like a road marathon but with a bit more flair, Black Canyons 50k.
In order to get back in the swing of things, I focused on running with friends and not pressuring myself to run certain distances or days of the week. But eventually I found that itch coming back. I started running one workout a week with a friend, following her SWAP program. This started with about 3 weeks of short threshold intervals with followed by some longer time at tempo. Building turnover ability as well as fatigue resistance with the longer tempo efforts after speedier intervals.
The progression of this month was 12x75 seconds with 75 seconds rest. Followed by 2 miles (12:40 182bpm avg) threshold. Next week was 12x400 on the track in ~82 seconds with 200m (90sec) float. This was followed with 20min at tempo (175bpm). The continued progression in this block was 8x3min at threshold with 90-second float, followed by 20min at tempo (168bpm). The final week of this was a planned 6xmile at threshold. Looking back, this was too large of an intensity block, and I failed the workout, doing 5 of the 6 repeats at a much higher RPE than prescribed and slower than prescribed (6:12 at 182bpm). The importance of this month was that I had fun. I ran every workout with a friend and was enjoying pushing myself, and had no real pains.
The rest of the mileage consisted of a longer aerobic trail run on Tuesday (~10 miles) and a long easy trail run on the weekend (18-mile average), which an average weekly mileage of 43 miles (7 hours) over the 4 weeks.
The next week was a test and rest week. The goal was to cut down intensity this week and introduce the next block stimulus - muscular endurance. The first test was an aerobic threshold test using the heart rate drift method. I was able to nail this the first time and logged my aerobic threshold heart rate at 164bpm and at a track pace of 7:27min/mile. A few days later, I tested my Anaerobic threshold in an uphill 15min max effort, in which I averaged 181bpm putting my Anaerobic threshold at 181bpm.
Base Block with Muscular Endurance
Now that I had some fun workouts that got me psyched on training again, it was time to do the more boring base build phase. But this year, I was throwing a twist on it. Introducing ideas from Evoke, I started with muscular endurance workouts in weighted carries. This block was not the prettiest. But I also knew not to force it. I had just started enjoying this process again and knew not to overstrain it. My idea is always that training over longer periods of time is much more important than forcing training a lot now. The goal for this month was to include my weighted carry workout, two heavy lift leg days a week, and increasing mileage as possible.
The Weighted Carries averaged a 45-pound ruck on a 30% incline that takes 10minutes to ascend. The progression of this was 1x10 to 2x10 to 4x10. Looking back, I think the time of these should have increased, and also done a longer than 3-week block. But they aren’t the most exciting workout. November peaked with my longest week of the whole training block (my birthday week) at 72miles (14 hours).
I have not had much real rest yet in this block, so the next week was an important down week and also aligned with the removal of my wisdom teeth. I reintroduced some intensity this week with 5x5min uphill (for low impact) at tempo (172bpm avg), as well as 6x1:1min at 5k pace to get some turnover back in the legs. The following week included 3x10min at sweet spot (177bpm avg) on trail, followed by 12x(40/20) at 5k pace to continue the turnover progression.
Pre-Threshold V02 Block
The goal from here was to start a hard V02 block for 2 weeks. I had read literature (and seen Rod Farvard) about including V02 work while training for ultras, but introducing it early in the season. The opposite of the usual track style approach of doing it right before your A race. The structure of this was 2 V02 workouts a week, one uphill, one flat. Workout one was 4x3min uphill with equal rest followed by long rest, and then 12x(40/20) on the track. This introduced longer V02 intervals but kept the impact minimized by doing them uphill. The next workout was pure trackwork. 6x800m (2:40 avg) with even rest. Next was 3x5min uphill with 3 min rest. Followed by 12x(40/20) on the track. This last workout burnt me out. The plan was for one more day the following week, but I decided to end the block early as my heart rate was not responding quite the way I wanted it. I did not want to risk the injury and burnout from this not very important yet high-stressor block. The mileage of these V02 weeks included a large, very slow weekend adventure run averaging around 55 miles for the week.
From here, I knew I was very tired. With a week of visiting family coming up and the holidays, it was the perfect time to take a real down week. This week was 40 miles of pure easy flat mileage. 5 days of the same 8miles all at a 10min/mile shuffle. The month after this was where the real gains and push were to be made and I knew I needed to be fresh going into it.
Extending Threshold Time to Exhaustion and speed at threshold
The next block focused on time to exhaustion at threshold. Working on pacing and lactate flushing. The first workout was 40min at sweet spot (175bpm) 2x20min with 3min rest at 6:20 avg. Followed by 60min in 3x20min with 3min rest at 6:10 avg (175bpm). This was the first workout I started to really feel fit again. The next weeks aimed to push slightly faster, with 12x1km (3:42 at 181bpm) and also increasing overall workout day volume, including more easy mileage.
The final workout of this 4-week block was my first-ever double threshold. With these workouts topping out around 15 miles, I thought it was time to start splitting them up. The first workout of the day was 8x1mile with 30sec rest (6:35 avg 170 bpm). That evening I hit the track, completing 15x400m with 30sec rest. (84sec avg 178bpm avg)
Comparing this to the previous 400m workout roughly 12 weeks prior, the pace is slightly slower (10sec/mile) with less than half the recovery. This block also marked the beginning of pushing the long run paces again. No more walking (usually) and being mindful of carbs and effort, no less than 90g/hr. These efforts started around 17miles and maxed at 23. The 23-mile day included hard downhill pushes and a few 10- 15-minute uphill threshold fatigue sets. These weeks also included my peak weeks, 3x65miles - the most volume I have consistently trained at for running.
Taper
The next week I kept mileage high while giving the body some intensity rest. 60 miles with a 20-mile long run (went slightly south). This was the beginning of the taper. The following week, the real taper began. I completed one workout, 30 minutes at aerobic threshold. This also served as a test to see progression over the ~14 weeks. With the overarching goal of increased speed at aerobic threshold, this test was important to see if my training was working well. My speed at AeT went from a 7:25 to a 6:42, over a 10% increase in pace, showing something in this training block was working. This week I ran 30 miles, dropping over 50% of my mileage (probably too much), including a 15-mile long run on Saturday and 3 off days.
This final taper week, I will run 20 miles before race day, including 2 days of strides and one fartlek-style workout 5 days out. The idea is that this previous week has gotten me well rested, so this final next week I aim to prime the legs for going fast again while keeping fresh. Excited to put this training to the test come Sunday and leave it all out there for my goals.
Continous Improvement
Looking forward, the main gap I look to fill is to reintroduce muscular endurance work. My 3-week block may not have been sufficient. I also should not have stopped lifting. Reintroducing hard, heavy lifting and other ME workouts will be important for my build for Canyons in April. With the emphasis on Canyons being fast downhill running, building the quads to be bulletproof is important. Now that I have built the engine, I need to make sure it won’t fall apart at hour 8. Looking forward to attempting to solve this puzzle.
