I'm three quarters of the way through my planned month of recovery following my ultra marathon adventure in May.
I'm enjoying the slow and steady return to running.
This week, using time normally devoted to running, I've been reading about running instead, learning all about the concept of 80/20 running and managing the amount of time running at high, medium and low intensity (see Matt Fitzgerald's book 80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster by Training Slower for more information).
The key to this is the concept of the ventilatory threshold, the tipping point when you can no longer run and talk in complete sentences. Essentially, according to the theory of 80/20 running, 80 per cent of your running should be run below the ventilatory threshold, at a pace slow enough to hold a conversation.
As running theories go, this is music to my ears!
I love a chatty run.
It seems for almost as long as I have been running and blogging, the chatty run has been an ever-present theme, especially in relation to parkrun and my Friday Five runs with Liz, and this week was no exception.
The chatty theme has continued over the weekend, with an excellent run/walk at Sandwell Valley Country Park yesterday afternoon, catching up with parkrun friends and ambassador colleagues, and a lovely chatty run with Katie this morning.
All runs completed below the ventilatory threshold; running at low intensity throughout, probably with a couple of exceptions running up the hills at Hanley and completing a couple of hill reps on Ivy House Road as part of Tuesday's club run.
I've not got as far as the technical parts of the book yet, I'm still reading the preliminary chapters about why this concept is such a good idea and makes sense physiologically and to maximise training benefits.
As I head into the final week of my recovery plan and start planning my next phase of training, I might need to do a bit more reading to fully embrace 80/20 as a training guide.
After all, whilst chatty runs might be my specialty, I need to think about the other 20 per cent too.
I'm enjoying the slow and steady return to running.
This week, using time normally devoted to running, I've been reading about running instead, learning all about the concept of 80/20 running and managing the amount of time running at high, medium and low intensity (see Matt Fitzgerald's book 80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster by Training Slower for more information).
As running theories go, this is music to my ears!
I love a chatty run.
It seems for almost as long as I have been running and blogging, the chatty run has been an ever-present theme, especially in relation to parkrun and my Friday Five runs with Liz, and this week was no exception.
The chatty theme has continued over the weekend, with an excellent run/walk at Sandwell Valley Country Park yesterday afternoon, catching up with parkrun friends and ambassador colleagues, and a lovely chatty run with Katie this morning.
All runs completed below the ventilatory threshold; running at low intensity throughout, probably with a couple of exceptions running up the hills at Hanley and completing a couple of hill reps on Ivy House Road as part of Tuesday's club run.
I've not got as far as the technical parts of the book yet, I'm still reading the preliminary chapters about why this concept is such a good idea and makes sense physiologically and to maximise training benefits.
As I head into the final week of my recovery plan and start planning my next phase of training, I might need to do a bit more reading to fully embrace 80/20 as a training guide.
After all, whilst chatty runs might be my specialty, I need to think about the other 20 per cent too.
Great, Liz, from "Walk and Talk" to "Chatty Runs" to improve our physical and mental health 😊
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