Strides after long sessions?

by Knut
(Norway/Bergen)

A few thoughts on the smart strides in the 100 day marathon plan.

"Hi Marius

First of all, for the moment I am in week 9, in the 2:45 schedule, and everything is going just perfect.

In chapter 13 you are talking about SS*, that when its placed in the schedule, its extremely important to follow this type of work.

My personal opinion is that, this is just great type of work, and my legs are feeling lighter and different after these runs, in a positiv way.

Can you go al ittle deeper into why this is so important? And why could we not take SS* runs after all the long easy runs over 2-3 hours, and maybe all runs?

And the last question, is there any logic explanation where all these SS* are placed in the 100 day plan.

Knut"

Answer: The reason for doing these strides is to help flush the muscles after the hard workouts and bring back some elasticity in them.

This decreases recovery time.

You only want to do these after hard workouts - as the effect after easy runs will be the complete opposite : these days, the day after hard workouts, your muscular system will be worn down from the hard work and therefore it will just add to this post-workouts stress ("post-proned muscle stress"). You may feel better from it on easy days also, right there, but the accumulative effect is usually negative, having tried this myself on numerous occations.

In the 100 day plan you can pretty much do SS* after all the hard runs - this is up to you, but at least at the times when it is noted SS*. The reason is : when I've marked this, a faster recovery from these core sessions is usually needed to keep up with the schedule in general.

best of luck,
Marius

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Shorts Strides

Short stride and running.

"Hi Marius,

I have been training using 100 day before marathon that I recently purchased.

My question is, how would I be able to achieve my chosen goal if I have short strides (5'0)?

I tried already run 4 hrs (70% run, 30% walk) and finished at 20:26 miles. My heart rate is pretty fast. Like E1 is walking to me. So, I ended up running E3 in my heart monitor. I couldn't slowed down my heart rate at like 165 bpm.

What can you say about this?

Thank you very much!

VChin"

Answer A short stride is no limitation to running fast. The Olympic Champion in the marathon of 1996 was your height, one of the smallest in the field, so no worries at all.

You probably need some time to get in better fitness before. I've written a few posts about it - where I basically say that for some parts of the schedule - early on before your fitness is good enough if you are not an experienced runner, you can allow yourself to stretch Effort 1 going into Effort 2. You may also want to double check if your maximum heart rate is higher than what you may think it is. I've sen this in many cases before, some have a naturally higher maximum heart rate and you want to take this into consideration.

I wish you all the best with your training,

regards,
Marius

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How fast to run the special strides after workouts

by Vidar Dvergedal
(Kjeller, Norway)

How fast to run the Special Strides after workouts

"How fast do i run the SS?

Vidar Dvergedal"

Answer:Hi Vidar, good question.

You want to start real easy on these and end at about your 3k pace or maybe 1500 pace, no faster !

That means about 90-93 % speed ; so no sprinting at the end of those. And do them progresive, meaning you start a bit slowly and get into a good rythm but never into sprinting.

That way you bring back the elasticity in your legs which is the main aim of these - for faster recovery between sessions.

all the best,
Marius

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