Ask any dedicated runner how they stay听motivated to voluntarily subject themselves听to varying levels of discomfort, and they鈥檒l likely tell you that it helps to have a race on the calendar. Those torturous mile repeats and 5 A.M.听long runs are more bearable when there鈥檚 a target somewhere in the not too distant future.听
Now, however, in the wake of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, we find ourselves in the unprecedented situation of not knowing when racing will resume again. It could be a matter of months. It could take more than a year. In a sport where success depends on peaking at the right moment, navigating such extended periods of downtime can pose a dilemma: you don鈥檛 want to do too much too soon, since race-day fitness can鈥檛 be sustained indefinitely. Then again, if you don鈥檛 attempt听any harder-effort running for months on end, you might find yourself in too deep of a fitness hole when it comes time to get back at it.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 not that you shouldn鈥檛 do any workouts, it鈥檚 just that the workouts need to be the type of thing that you could do all year long and not get particularly tired or peak鈥攖hese are efforts that you can sustain,鈥 says Ben Rosario, who coaches the Northern Arizona Elite running team in Flagstaff. Aliphine Tuliamuk, one of Rosario鈥檚 star athletes, won the women鈥檚 marathon race at the U.S. Olympic Trials听in late February. Less than a month later, she learned (along with the rest of the world) that the Games would be postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. For Tuliamuk, like thousands of other runners of every ability level, training for the time being is about staying in fitness cruise control.听
Fortunately, one of the most effective ways to do this is ridiculously simple: 鈥淵ou really just want to be doing scaled-down versions of the workouts that you know are your toughest workouts,鈥 Rosario says.听
鈥淔or example, if a four-mile tempo run at a six-minute pace is a staple of your training, then you鈥檝e got a couple of options: you could do a shorter version of that at the same pace, or you could do a four-mile tempo听but at a 6:15 pace,鈥 Rosario says. 鈥淭he idea is to stay in your normal rhythm, while asking yourself if you could do these workouts for four or five months and not really get terribly worn down. If the answer is yes,听then you鈥檙e doing it right.鈥澨
Ben Rosario鈥檚 Maintenance Workout for Runners听
鈥淗ere鈥檚 a session that incorporates a number of training zones into one workout, but in a way that is very doable,鈥 Rosario says. 鈥淥verall, you鈥檒l get 4.5 miles of hard work. So it鈥檚 not easy, but it鈥檚 not terribly hard either. As your fitness progresses and you get closer to racing season, you can make this session harder by either adding volume to it听or by making the paces faster.鈥澨
- One to two miles of easy running to warm up
- A one-mile tempo听at your current half-marathon race pace
- Five minutes听jogging rest听
- 4 x 800 meters at your current 15K听race pace (think: slower than a 10K but faster than a half-marathon听pace), with two minutes of rest between reps
- 4 x 400 meters at your current 10K听race pace, with a one-minute rest between reps
- 4 x 200 meters run slightly slower听than your current mile race pace, with 45 seconds between reps
Overcoming听the Mental Struggle
Of course, the physical side of managing an extended period of uncertainty is only half the battle. Mentally, runners should motivate themselves听with听prospective races, Rosario says鈥攅ven when those races might not ultimately end up happening.听
鈥淢y philosophy is to allow myself to get excited about the fall racing season,鈥 Rosario says. 鈥淚f this thing goes on longer than we want it to, or longer than expected, and those races end up getting pushed back as well鈥攁t least I got what I needed out of those races in terms of excitement level now. Because I鈥檇 rather be disappointed later听than lethargic now. So听picture fall races happening, and let yourself get excited about those races, let that excitement help get you out the door and accomplish your workouts. We鈥檒l deal with the fall when it gets here.鈥澨