Hawaii From Home: Run Workout #3
This long run build will be tough, but it will help you get ready for your iron-distance challenge.
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Join us for Hawaii From Home—one week, 140.6 miles. Swag, prizes, training tips from coaches, bragging rights. Get all of the details at triathlete.com/hawaiifromhome. Each week we’ll be providing four key workouts (one swim, one bike, one run, and one brick) that you can work into your overall training plan.
Before you head out to tackle the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run, from Oct. 5-11, Bolton has created a progressive plan that’ll identify one key run per week—alternating between one quality run and one purposeful long run. The long run on week five should be the last long run before attempting the challenge. Bolton prefers to use heart-rate zones for his run workouts, but feel free to use Rate of Perceived Exertion (on the below scale) if you don’t have a heart-rate monitor available. Each workout includes an option for a newer triathlete who has either never done a long-course event or is still building up mileage and an option for a more experienced triathlete who has a solid running mileage foundation already. Depending on the rest of your volume and where the session will fall in your training week, feel free to alternate between beginner and advanced.
The third week is a very challenging long run build that will really require some focus and strength. Be sure to adequately recover from this workout and either take the day off from swimming or plan a very light swim. The key here is making sure you don’t take the second loop so hard (remember it is 30 minutes of hard running or more) that you can’t increase the effort and pace in the third loop. A good tip is to ask yourself on the third loop, “Could I go faster than this for another 30 minutes?” If the answer is no, then you probably need to back off. This is also a good opportunity to work on your run nutrition as the distance is quite long AND you’ll be moving along at a hard pace that would expose any GI issues that could crop up from the nutrition you’ll be taking in on race day. While it’s not quite a race simulation, for long-course this is pretty close. Finally, be sure you keep an eye on your form in the final 20 minutes of the last loop. This is where fatigue will slowly creep in, and you’ll actually feel like it’s getting tougher, though it’s more likely that it just feels harder because your form is breaking down. Don’t let fatigue win!
Long Run: Three-Tiered Progression
Beginner: 1:50 total, three-loop (or three-sectioned) long run
Warm-up:
First loop – 35 minutes easy
Main Set:
Second loop – 35 minutes moderate steady in the high zone 2 to mid zone 3
Third loop – 35 minutes strong in the high zone 3 to zone 4, faster than Ironman race pace
Cool-down:
5 minutes easy walk
Advanced: 2:20 total, three-loop (or three-sectioned) long run
Warm-up:
First loop – 45 minutes easy
Main Set:
Second loop – 45 minutes moderate steady in the high zone 2 to mid zone 3
Third loop – 45 minutes strong in the high zone 3 to zone 4, faster than Ironman race pace
Cool-down:
5 minutes easy walk