Smart strides

by Arve
(Norway)

Hi Marius,

I am in my 2nd week on the 3:30 schedule, and I really must say that I find the whole schedule very refreshing and exciting. Thanks!

I have some confusion on the smart strides/cooling down part, though. I hope you can tell me if I'm on the right track, if this is how I practice it on the threadmill (which is where I do most of my hard runs).

From reading your schedule, and your answers in the faq, I wonder if this would be a correct understanding when finishing after hard sessions with smart strides:

After finishing a session, I cool down by walking for 3-5 minutes?

Then I should do the smart strides, and add 3-4 of them, since I am on the mill?

I also, being on the mill, should add 30 sec break in stead of 20 between every stride?

In the breaks, is it ok that I stand on the sides of the mill?

I am a bit confused if the pace should be 90% or 1-3 km/hr faster than session speed. If these don't correspond, which one should I prioritate?

After the smart strides, should I do a cool down jog in marathon tempo for some minutes?

Thanks a lot!

Best wishes"

Hi Arve and thanks for your question.

To put things simple - this isn't very complicated. A few strides of 20 seconds with anything from 30 sec to 1 min min break - after a few minutes cooldown is perfect. After those, a few min cooldown again works well. The pace about 90 % - but you can also go a bit faster if you feel like it as long as the length is about 20 secs.

I wish you all the best,
Marius