Storm's Brewin'...

Sheesh, still going with the melodrama. I should've learned my lesson a long time ago. Alas...

I'm going to have to redesign the Boston plan I had made back around Halloween, seeing as I'm far, far behind where I wanted to be. So I have a few questions regarding how to redesign said plan.

In short, I was going to go for this:
Mon - easy/recovery
Tues - fartlek early, mile repeats/tempo mid, hills @ MP late
Wed - easy
Thurs - mid-week sorta long, various hills/trails/whatever
Fri - off
Sat - easy/GA, slightly longer than M/W
Sun - long

Pretty basic, really, just building my mileage and focusing heavily on tempo and hills with some MP for confidence. Now, questions:

1. Which day(s) would be best for core work? Hoping for 2-3/week.
2. Which day(s) would be best for a moderate strength-training session on the legs?
3. Which day(s) would be best for capoeira? This is a whole-body strength workout with anaerobic cardio and a ton of focus on the legs.

Lastly, I need a confidence boost. I'm currently running between 20-30 minutes at 9:00-9:30 pace. Any faster and my knee starts to complain (not like the runner's knee I had experienced before, just general niggles that I don't want to aggravate). I can tell my legs are way out of shape, as they're pretty sore after a couple days in a row, and I think the knee will come around as the muscles come back.
Three months ago I was running 100 mile weeks. How long can I expect it to take for me to get some semblance of training back? Be honest.

I don't know how long it'll take you to build back, but how high do you want to get? Sorry for not keeping up very well with anything on this site lately, but have you been to a PT or MD or anything for your knee? I think your first priority needs to remain healing up that knee because a knife in your knee during Boston is going to hurt you more than just taking it easy as long as you need to. I know it's tough resting and letting injuries heal but play it on the cautious side. I know you've been doing a good job with it, but don't get ahead of yourself and just try to get completely healed.

Honestly, I would move away from trail running until your knee is 100%. You need mileage. Not speed and not the uneven surfaces and additional side-to-side stresses of trail work. My recommendation to you is that I would run as slow as necessary but every day and I would not do any workouts whatsoever (nothing under 8:00 pace) until you had a pain free and mileage heavy (over 50, for sure) week. Then you can think about moving back into fast stuff and trails.

Chris M wrote:Honestly, I would move away from trail running until your knee is 100%. You need mileage. Not speed and not the uneven surfaces and additional side-to-side stresses of trail work. My recommendation to you is that I would run as slow as necessary but every day and I would not do any workouts whatsoever (nothing under 8:00 pace) until you had a pain free and mileage heavy (over 50, for sure) week. Then you can think about moving back into fast stuff and trails.

I agree with what Chris said above.

As far as your questions:

Mon - easy/recovery
Tues - fartlek early, mile repeats/tempo mid, hills @ MP late
Wed - easy
Thurs - mid-week sorta long, various hills/trails/whatever
Fri - off
Sat - easy/GA, slightly longer than M/W
Sun - long

1. Which day(s) would be best for core work? Hoping for 2-3/week. I would do core work Mon, Wed, and either Fri or Sat. That way you will give your core a day of rest in between.
2. Which day(s) would be best for a moderate strength-training session on the legs? I would do strength training on Wed and either Fri or Sat.
3. Which day(s) would be best for capoeira? This is a whole-body strength workout with anaerobic cardio and a ton of focus on the legs. Wednesday would probably be the best day for this.

Chris M wrote:Honestly, I would move away from trail running until your knee is 100%. You need mileage. Not speed and not the uneven surfaces and additional side-to-side stresses of trail work. My recommendation to you is that I would run as slow as necessary but every day and I would not do any workouts whatsoever (nothing under 8:00 pace) until you had a pain free and mileage heavy (over 50, for sure) week. Then you can think about moving back into fast stuff and trails.

+1,
Mike, you need to know when to say when. You will never be 100% if you don't heal.

I've become a firm believer in cross training in the off season. So, I will only speak to that component. This past Spring, I started doing crossfit 2-3 times a week until September, when the mileage was getting higher. I had started the latest marathon training cycle in July. I was also doing yoga once a week.

The result was no soreness after a long run. None. In prior training cycles, I would have quad soreness after long runs. Now, because the whole body had been worked, instead of running muscles, the other body muscles are doing a great job of supporting my frame and quads.

After a couple of months of being away, on Tuesday I plan on returning to CrossFit because I'll be in my tapering period and I'll have time to do it for 2 weeks.

Running is a total body activity and I'm finally treating it like it's one. Good luck on your journey.

Chris - That was very much along the lines of what I was thinking. Of course, the ideal situation is that with a month or two of consistency, everything comes back and I run a really nice Boston. The reality is more likely that I'll be running it as a "victory lap," far below the fitness I could've brought to the course.

Fortunately, we've got a very flat - for real - 5 mile loop that starts and ends at my school up north, so that'll be perfect for my Mon/Wed (I have class those days). The other days will be harder to find flat(ter) ground, but nothing a short drive won't fix.

Planning on seeing a doc after New Year's. No time before then.

I do core and strength work in the same workout and I tend to do them on easy days which for me is usually Tues and Thurs. and Sun (when I often do not run or I xtrain). Being a bit older, I do find that as I pack on the mileage, I need to cut back on the core work and weights sometimes, but I still do a nightly routine which consists of stretching, hamstring curls with the exercise ball, crunches on the ball, 60s plank, and walking lunges. It takes me about 30 min and I do it while watching TV so I never notice the time.

Back to you though, first and foremost, like everyone has already said - you need to let that knee heal. You are young and will bounce back quick long before you need to worry about Boston. Shoot you'll be miles ahead of me even with 6 wks of training.

+1 on Chris' response

+2 on what Chris said.

Picked up cards for a few sports med doctors at the local running shop today. Calling around tomorrow to set an appointment up ASAP. You all win.

Mike, you're half my age and much faster than I am, but I know a thing or two about knee issues. And whenever my knee is acting up, running hills and/or trails always makes it worse.

I absolutely LOVE to run trails here, but anytime my knee is acting up, I stick with flat ground and have no issues.