If you are reading this, you may be a remarkably busy person in your day-to-day life yet are persevering with your running goals! I want to commend you for your efforts and to let you know we are here to support you in your journey whether it be with training tips, articles, or customized training. Now, let us tuck in.
Examples of schedules or situations that require adjustments:
· Long workdays: 12-hour shifts or 48 hours on / 96 hours off
· Athletes who need more recovery time
· Folks who travel frequently or have long commutes
· Mental fatigue from long bouts of screen time or concentration
· Jet lag
· Weekend commitments
· Illness and weather
There are many runners out there who can have a stable “workout Wednesday” and “long run Sunday” but for folks who work a variable schedule (shift work) or have children who participate in weekend extracurricular activities, this may not be possible week in and week out. I work 12-hour shifts with one week being the “long work week” and the next week being the “short work week.” I adapt the strategy of holding what I have on the long work week and then extend the workout durations a bit on the short work weeks. Factory type work and first responders often have shifts structured this way. The key is not forcing workouts as soon as a day off comes because these longer shifts often bring shorter sleep sessions and that needs to be restored before productive training can safely happen. For example, if the last day of my long work week is Sunday, I have an easy run Monday with strides and I try to take a little nap during the day to help speed up recovery and then Tuesday, I work out!
My Week 1 (long work week) with rest days taken as needed:
· Monday – very easy (shift)
· Tuesday – easy again (shift)
· Wednesday – workout (modest goals since I am tired from two shifts)
· Thursday – easy long run
· Friday – easy (shift)
· Saturday – easy (shift)
· Sunday – easy with light fartlek (shift)
My Week 2 (short work week) with rest days taken as needed:
· Monday – easy (I am tired from the long work week, try for a nap)
· Tuesday – workout
· Wednesday – easy (shift)
· Thursday – easy (shift)
· Friday – easy with strides (again nap to recover from the low sleep)
· Saturday – long run with workout OR workout
· Sunday – easy OR easy long run if I worked out or raced on Saturday
The takeaway, be patient during those long work weeks. Just maintain and then use the shorter work weeks to push for those bigger sessions.
Examples from my athletes:
One of my athletes does most of her long runs on a Friday and that can leave her feeling a bit lonely. Her friend, often, can join her for part of the run and what we do to give her social time that fills her cup while building in the quality tempo is to split the long run into sections. She will cruise for 45-60min with her friend and after her friend splits off, she will grab her drink/gel and then settle into her tempo efforts. Often, of our long runs for half marathons and marathons involve considerable amount of tempo on tired legs so this is a perfect fit.
Another one of my athletes had a crazy June! She had to work in the office during the day while also working security detail for the FIFA world cup soccer matches. We absolutely had to structure very carefully. 16+ hour workdays into the early hours of the morning is brutal, hard stop!
Recovery needs can also extend/change our training week. It is perfectly fine to stretch a traditional seven-day block into a ten-day block to allow an extra day between hard sessions. Remember, recovery is part of the training process, and adaptations will have a greater impact on our goals.
Our main goal is to keep you happy and healthy during your training. If you get sick for a week, we monitor and pivot your training. If we find a way to optimize your training week to week, we will discuss and implement the changes.
Happy training!
Coach Rachael