Have you been wondering why “The Running Couple” is all of a sudden going “paleo” and talking a lot more about CrossFit on Twitter? We know some of you are because it has sparked a lot of conversation lately around how we are training for the 2010 Chicago Marathon. We will be training a little bit different than most this year and will be sharing our training at the start of every week so you can get a peek at what we are doing.
As you may have read, Lee just received his CrossFit Endurance certification a couple of weeks ago. We are both intrigued by this method and are going to utilize it to get ready for the Chicago Marathon. If you are unfamiliar with CrossFit Endurance, you should check out their main site…pretty interesting stuff. In short, CFE utilizes CrossFit and high-intensity interval/tempo/time trial runs (none longer than 13.1 miles) to prepare you for the marathon. How can you be ready for a marathon without a 20-miler in your back pocket? Well…we’re going to show you.
*Disclaimer: This week is our first week of training but we have ran 4 half marathons this year and run/cross train frequently.
This week we will be trying to hit at least 4 CrossFit workouts. At the beginning of the week we are going to focus on strength and finish it out with a benchmark WOD (workout of the day). Throughout our training we will be monitoring our progress in both strength and running performance very carefully. If we hit a point where we are not improving, we will take a step back and re-evaluate our program. Over the next three weeks, we are going to get our max weights for our shoulder press, deadlift, and back squats. These will be key numbers that we will track throughout the training.
Now its not all about pumping iron…we are The Running Couple for crying out loud! We will be doing three running workouts this week that include two interval workouts and a short time trial run. Since we do hit the trails with running groups pretty often, we will be putting on some additional miles throughout the week. These runs are always done at a very easy pace and we will not be tracking the mileage for those.
We have included our workouts below. Most of our paces are calculated for a 4:10 marathon time. A great resource for target split times is the McMillan Running Calculator.
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 3x(200m + 400m + 600m) Rest the exact time it takes you to complete each interval in each set. i.e. 200m run in 45 sec, rest 45 sec, 400m run, rest 400m run time, etc. (morning) 1-rep max Shoulder Press followed by 21-15-9 of 24″ box jump, KB Swing (1.5/1) SDHP (95#/65#) (evening)
Wednesday: 5-5-5-5-5 Back Squat with 30 sec Handstand hold after each set
Thursday: 5k Time Trial
Friday: Cindy WOD – 20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 5 Pull-ups, 10 Push-ups, 15 Squats
Saturday: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of Dumbell “Full” Clean & Jerk (45 lbs) & Burpees (morning) 12×30 sec Hill Sprints – 10 x 30-sec hill sprints, all out efforts, with 30 sec rest at top before descending. Rest 1-min at bottom before next sprint. (evening)
Sunday: Rest/Slow Run (< 6 miles)
