Brent Lineberry

Brent Lineberry

Web and app developer. Coffee, beer, and running, in any order.

Running Update (November 2024)

This week starts Phase II of my training cycle targeting the Jerome Scales Southside 5 Miler in February. The focus will be on anaerobic R-pace work.

This week starts Phase II of my training cycle targeting the Jerome Scales Southside 5 Miler in February. I’m adapting Jack Daniels’ 800-meter plan for this training cycle. The focus of this phase will be on anaerobic R-pace work.

Reviewing Phase I

Phase I was all easy running except for an M-pace run on the last day. Usually Phase I feels like a bit of a break to me with only easy running, but this training cycle I’m also emphasizing strength training during Phase I.

I had intended to do three weeks (one being before the start of this training cycle) of Starting Strength’s Novice Linear Progression (NLP) and then two weeks of Texas Method. The big difference being NLP increases weight every workout while the Texas Method increases weight once a week. However some lifts started needing adjustments before the last two weeks of Phase I, so I moved lifts as needed through Advanced NLP and kept adding weight every session instead of moving to the Texas Method. First the bench moved to three sets of three, then the squat to top + backoff sets, then the overhead press moved to three sets of three. Right as Phase I wrapped up it seemed like I was going to need to make additional adjustments.

Upcoming Phase II

The running focus during Phase II will be on R-paced workouts. I haven’t done anaerobic workouts since 2022, and I’m excited to do some top-end speed work. I’m increasing my longer Saturday run from 50 minutes to 55 minutes. This will be my only volume increase of the training cycle.

The next three weeks will look something like this:

  1. Week 1
    1. Monday: 10 minute warmup + 6 x 200m R-pace with 200m recovery + 10 minute cooldown
    2. Tuesday: 30 minutes Easy + 7 strides
    3. Wednesday: 30 minutes Easy + 7 strides
    4. Thursday: Turkey Strut 5k race
    5. Friday: 30 minutes Easy + 6 strides
    6. Saturday: 55 minutes Easy
  2. Week 2
    1. Monday: 10 minute warmup + 4 x 200m R-pace with 200m recoveries + 2 x 400m R-pace with 400m recoveries + 5 minute cooldown
    2. Tuesday: 30 minutes Easy + 7 strides
    3. Wednesday: 10 minute warmup + 8 x 200m R-pace with 200m recoveries + 10 minute cooldown
    4. Thursday: 30 minutes Easy + 7 strides
    5. Friday: 30 minutes Easy + 6 strides
    6. Saturday: 55 minutes Easy
  3. Week 3
    1. Monday: 10 minute warmup + 4 x 400m R-pace with 400m recoveries + 5 minute cooldown
    2. Tuesday: 30 minutes Easy + 7 strides
    3. Wednesday: 10 minute warmup + 4 x 200m R-pace with 200m recoveries + 10 minutes Easy + 4 x 200m R-pace with 200m recoveries + walking cooldown
    4. Thursday: 30 minutes Easy + 7 strides
    5. Friday: 30 minutes Easy + 6 strides
    6. Saturday: 55 minutes Easy

The strength training will shift to a weekly weight increase as I try to eke out a little more strength gain before backing off for my running. I plan to do weekly dynamic effort, recovery, and intensity sessions. I haven’t done dynamic effort sets before, but I’m hopeful they’ll help my feel “springier” and more powerful on my runs. They’re about 10 light sets of 2–3 reps with a focus on fast bar speed with minimal recovery time.

Races

As noted on the training plan, I have a race the first week of this phase, the Turkey Strut. Since I have positively split my recent 5ks, my plan is to keep my first mile at 8 minutes and then try to speed up each subsequent mile.