Brad Milosevic – Managing the weeks
After picking up a niggle less than a week into the 3 week training block at Falls Creek and fearing for the worst I was reminded that it’s better to have an easy day or two rather than keep pushing on. The Friday run at Falls starts with roughly a 10 minute climb before you head onto the flatter trails. Nursing a slightly sore achilles from the previous day it wasn’t the ideal start to a run. Five minutes in I turned back and headed for the flatter aqueduct to get some relief, stopping shortly after as I knew something wasn’t right. After chatting with my coach Ken Green, we agreed that I wouldn’t lose my fitness in a day and it would be best to miss the Saturday morning session and run easy in the afternoon (allowing a day and a half rest without missing a day of training) and see how things go. As painful as it was to watch everyone leave that morning and miss a session it turned out to be the best decision, allowing me to get through a solid week of training the following week with some small adjustments. Monday’s 10 mile was cut to 40min, Wednesday’s 90min run to one of the highest points in Falls was replaced by a flat road/aqueduct run and by dropping Saturdays second run it gave me a chance to get training done and not carry a niggle around for a second week.
The third and final week at Falls is as much about surviving and getting it done than smashing pbs every run. The body starts to get tired and fatigued with midday naps almost essential. With my foot better I focused on making the two remaining sessions good and run another steady week.
Travelling 8 hours home on Friday I ran a very easy 30minutes in the afternoon, 45min Saturday and cut Sundays normal 2hrs to 1hr45m to let the body get some rest and absorb the previous 20 days of pounding the trails. It’s too often overlooked the value of an easy day. It’s common to want to keep pushing on, but for me to have a few days of less volume I now feel fresh and ready to get back into the normal training routine as I prepare for the season ahead.
Mon 6th Jan: 40min
Tue: AM: 8x 1k (average 3:05)
PM: 8k
Wed: AM 90min (flat)
Thur: AM 8 x 400/200 float
PM: 8k
Fri: AM easy 50min
Sat: AM 10/5/10 (effort/float/effort
Sun 12th Jan: AM 2hrs
Total Week approx. 135k
Mon 13th Jan: Am Easy 40
Tue: AM Mona fartlek
PM: 8km
Wed: AM 75min
Thur: AM 8 x 400/200float
PM 8k
Fri: easy 30min
Sat: 45min
Sun 19th Jan: long run 1:45
Total week approx. 120km