A Simple Outdoor Run Series to Build Awareness
December 13th 2020
Written by J.P. Lemire
Maintaining a consistent outdoor run series continues to be a healthy and effective way to keep your body strong throughout the pandemic. In dining and recreation, alfresco is the go-to method in supporting a healthy routine. We’ll use outdoor running as our prime focus but this protocol can be adapted to countless other indoor and outdoor activities.
Cardiovascular exercise can be defined as any activity that keeps your large muscle groups moving in a rhythmic fashion. A consistent cardio schedule can build a stronger heart, significantly improve mental health and provide new structure to your weekly home workouts. Programming ahead and tracking progress builds awareness by finding what works well and what doesn’t. You’re bound to improve if met with consistency.
The overarching idea is to maintain a plan and measure progress in a simple way. Why commit to something if you can't see how awesome you are by the end of it?
Let's get into specifics:
If you're hitting the pavement with the desire to improve, tracking is necessary. Time, distance, and exertion (a fancy word to describe how you feel) are all important variables to track.
Today we’ll focus on time and exertion with distance as an obvious outcome.
Three Crucial Steps:
Pick a time frame to work in.
Pick a route that is easily repeatable and safe.
Understand the continuum that is your rate of perceived exertion (RPE).
A popular method for knowing your intensities is in the “talk test.”
RPE of 1-5: You’re speaking with no interruption. You have full control of the conversation similar to a monologue or speech. You can do this all day.
RPE of 5-7: Your speech is broken into an active conversation. You need to take pauses to listen and catch your breath. Your speech is broken up into sentence fragments and you have to listen. It is common that this is your go-to pace and your default “I’m going to workout” mindset.
RPE of 7-10: your conversation turns into listening mode. You have no room to speak while focusing on your breath and stride. You can only do this 5-10 times in short explosive moments of your day.
Knowing your limits and thresholds in each zone can help guide decision making by using this conversation analogy. This helps you add different intensities based on how you feel which is needed for a balanced running series. This is also helpful to choose the right running buddy to help you pace.
The Workouts:
Pick a 30-45min time block that works well in your schedule and follow the template below. Add 10-15minutes to each workout for your warm-up: movement you've learned from a coach or a simple walk/jog combination to get your mind right.
A. Feel Good:
30minutes - RPE 5-7
As recreational athletes, we like to live in this intensity all the time. This is known as your "default" pace which your body loves to maintain. This may be a brisk walk for some. This may also be the jog you always go to when the feeling is right
B. Quick and Dirty:
20-30minutes - RPE: 7-10
Intense repeats that last 30-60 seconds, you’ll be able to hit that 7-10 quicker if you’re more fit. Your recovery is no more than two minutes. Intervals teach your body how to recover. If you’re finishing an interval and your heart rate doesn’t come down in the 2 minute recovery time, you’re done. Count how many rounds you do and cool down with a ten minute walk or jog. This works well on a park track or any road with geographical markers to help frame your working sets. If you're in NYC, you can use light posts around the reservoir in Central Park or benches along the Hudson.
C. Recovery:
30minutes - RPE 1-5
This is your long hike. This is your walk in the park. If you’re hitting a solid 5 on the scale, you’re flirting with cardiac output training. This is a This activity is important to not only change the intensity but pose as your go-to strategy for recovering from a high-intensity workouts.
Day 1, Week 1 will be a baseline by recording your time and distance. Week 6, Day 2, you'll have the opportunity to reassess to see an improvement in speed, distance, or more ease in accomplishing the same task.
A Four Week Plan:
Week 1: A, C
Week 2: A, A
Week 3: A, B
Week 4: B, B
Week 5: C, A
Week 6: B, A
These three approaches are integral in building a well-rounded cardio program and the specifics are left to you and your road ahead. As your coach, I'm looking for how you finished your last workout compared to the first. I'd also note how many rounds in workout B you did in week 2, compared to week 6.
If you need more guidance on what is best for you, feel free to reach me at @jplemirenyc on Instagram or follow me on Strava at https://www.strava.com/athletes/52586589 .