Running when tired

by Scot
(Rollo, IL,USA)

How to deal with periods of hard outside work - running when tired and how to pace oneself. "

Hi Marius,
I've thuroughly enjoyed your "Crazy Norweigen Plan" I'm 51 yrs old and running Chicago again this year after running 3:03 last year,but I feel like I'm flying blind on were my fittness is. Hard to gauge because of enviornmental factors (heat/humid/dust/mold), and pysical (6-9 hrs/day x 5days/week of shoveling grain). I was forced to cut a couple workouts short exp:40-40-20, and had a tough time meeting some target paces of others.
Question is... How should have adjusted the workouts during the periods of high outside work demands and be confident of building fittness with out over doing it. Better yet, any good paying office jobs outside the Chicago area out there?!!
Thanks for the great service you provide!
-Scot
ps:I'm half norsk "

AnswerHi Scot, good to hear that you're enjoying the plan.

To your two questions :

1) as for pacing, to get this right you HAVE to use the races in there and adjust the schedule accordingly, especially the 10k and half marathon in there. This will give you an accurate number on your fitness and allow you to adjust the schedule you are training on if needed. So throw in a race in there to see where you're at!

2) when it comes to heavy phycial work I can see that being a challenge. What you may try and do in some periods (this is an exception due to the workload you have) is to run hard workouts Saturday and Sunday (two in a row) and then one mid-week. The rest of the days, the regular easy runs. In most cases I never recommend two hard workouts in a row, but in your special case - especially when work is hard, this may be the best option. OR even do two hard workout in a row (morning and afternoon) on Saturday and then only one hard workout mid-week. This should also work well - test it out and see :)

I wish you all the best with your training,

regards,
Marius

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