The Lab Rats are alive

So late last year I announced the creation of the Fleet Feet Lab Rats Program. This is a small group of runners that I am personally coaching in exchange for a stash of Red Bull.

My plan was to work them hard and to make them stronger runners. They had no idea what I was going to do or if it would work but so far they are all still alive and training hard.

I'm real excited that so far it appears they are all taking to the training real well. Some are running faster then they ever have and others are getting there. Every two weeks I have been sending them their workouts and they have been diving right in and doing them. In the very least I am sure they are all getting mentally stronger.

While they are doing some pretty hard workouts I think the reason most of them are getting stronger is that I am actually making them take easy days out there. I find that too many runners are always running too fast. This makes their easy days too hard and then their hard days are not hard enough. Essentially all their runs are the same. With the Lab Rats when they have to run easy they run easy, and when they have to run hard they can run real hard.

Pretty simple really, you might want to try it.

Here's a little sample of a Lab Rat week.

2/16
OFF
Or 40 minutes easy (70/75% of Max Heart rate) nice easy run after Sundays long run

2/17
FF Hills w/ a new twist
Run to the hills, Do the complete “Y” as normal (up at 85% down easy. For the next one go at 80% up the hill and then continue all the way around the res. at 80% then down the other hill and then up to the top at 85%. Now jog down nice and slow and do another normal “Y”. Then do the complete around the res loop like before. Run back to the store nice and easy. Kinda confusing so if you need clarification let me know This ended up being really pretty hard

Or 10:00 up, 10 x 2:00 at 85% w/ 1:00 recovery between each, then 5 x 1:00 at 90%, 10:00 down fairly tough option but not as bad as above

2/18
10:00 up, Snow Cheap plus after finishing 6 x 1:15 at 85 – 90 % ON THE GRASS, 10 down
Or 10:00 up, 20:00 at 85%, 2:00 @ 90%, 2:00 easy, 5:00 @ 85%, 2:00 @ 90%, 2:00 easy, 2:00 @ 90%, 10:00 down Snow Cheap was about 2.5 miles long on tough trails and then the 6x made for a fun but hard night. The second option workout was tougher. Back to back hard days is never easy either way

2/19
OFF
Or 50 minutes easy (70-75% of Max HR) Recovery

2/20
45 – 60 minutes easy (70-75% of Max HR) Recovery

2/21
Meet me at FF for an 8 am surprise run. Bring you’re A game. Don’t be late They have no idea what they are in for on this one
OR 10:00 up, 10:00 @ 80%, 10:00 @ 85%, 5:00 @ 90%ish. 5:00 rest, 10:00 @ 85%, 5:00 @ 90%ish, 2:00 @ all out, 10:00 down This option is pretty nasty but we'll see which option ends up tougher

2/22
90 – 120 minute easy long run (70/75% of max) Nice easy long run

So there you go, a sample of a tough week. Run real hard, run real easy, take some days off if needed. Not rocket science but too many runners appear to mess it up.

Good luck