Thanks for coming back for more and great job for finishing week 5 of the running training program. Hopefully the speed workout and longer interval session went well and that you are learning to gauge your paces. An important thing to remember is that as with any kind of sport or regular workout routine you always want to be stressing different energy systems and then challenge yourself to improve. Along with that there are many things you can incorporate into your program that while they may not be running they will translate over into faster times and better performances. This includes weight training, dynamic drills, stretching, plyometics, flexibility drills, form work, and core work. That may seem like a lot to digest, but those are just some examples of the many different training techniques that you could sprinkle in throughout your training weeks and months. Yet at the same time you don't want to add in everything all at once, and there's no need to necessarily add in all of those things and it depends on your own unique goals that you can then pick and choose what is most important and what you have time for.

The goal of this week is to integrate a weight lifting routine that will hit every major muscle group in your body. This will increase overall fitness, get you leaner and meaner, but in terms of running it will give you more power. You will want to do this routine twice this week and eventually we will increase that to three times a week. This week will still have a speed workout day and another day geared towards building your endurance.

Monday: Strength training routine with a five minute cardio warm-up
Tuesday: Speed workout for a total of 35-50 minutes (start with a warm-up and then you will do sets of one minutes hard, one minute easy, 30 seconds hard, one minute easy; you will do a total of three to four sets and then finish the run as a cool-down)
Wednesday: Easy run for 35-50 minutes
Thursday: Strength training routine with five minute cardio warm-up
Friday: Easy run or cross-train for 35-50 minutes
Saturday: Longer workout for a total of 35-50 minutes (start with a warm-up and then between three and four sets of 5 minutes hard followed by three minutes recovery jog; finish the run as a cool-down)
Sunday: Long run for 40-70 minutes (go very easy)

We have changed the amount of times for the intervals to get you used to going at different paces. For the speed session really work on blasting the shorter 30 second intervals and on the longer day aim to work on being able to still start out at a level 8 in terms of effort (from one to ten) but as you progress try to pick up the pace so you finish faster than you started. Finally, we will keep the length of the long run the same this week and be sure to take it easy so that you recover from the hard workout the day before. Get after it and be sure to check back for more updates throughout the week!

Week 7