My life for the past 12 months or so has been almost completely consumed by my first year as a high school biology teacher (with the remainder of my time mostly allotted to being a soccer dad). Though I love my new job, I’ve never worked so hard in my life (thank a teacher, please, it’s an incredibly demanding, yet incredibly rewarding job!), and all secondary pursuits necessarily took a back seat. Among those activities that took a hit was my running.

Since last summer, there have been many weeks were my mileage total was a big, fat zero. At first it was hard to come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t running much, but eventually I realized that I just needed to let go. I’d been a first year teacher before (at the college level), and I knew that things would get easier in subsequent years. The hiatus from my hobbies would be temporary, but necessary.

My approach could be summarized by the following:

1. Stop stressing about not running.

2. Run when I had the time, but always prioritize family time, grading, and prepping for school. Keep work stress manageable (top priority!), and use running as a release when possible.

3. Ignore pace and mileage. The slow, 2 mile run became a staple. Walking was employed frequently  – Northwood, NH is crazy hilly!

4. Take advantage of vacations and snow days – I ran a lot over school vacations, and snowshoeing on snow days (we had 5 this year…) was an opportunistic alternative to running.

What I discovered was that the break was a net positive. Sure I gained some weight (there will be no sub-20 5k’s for me for awhile…), but my fitness took less of a hit than I expected. For example, I celebrated the end of the school year by running over 20 miles in 36 hours at the Rock Lobster Relay in Maine (great relay, and some beautiful scenery on Mt. Desert Island!). My training for this was minimal – I hadn’t run 20 miles in a week since the previous summer – but my residual fitness, maintained in some form by the smattering of runs completed during the school year, was enough to get me through without any trouble. In fact, I managed to keep my total average pace under 9:00/mile, which I did not expect. The human body is pretty amazing, and the benefits gained from running are long-lasting.

Now, half-way through the summer, I feel like I’m clawing my fitness back. I ran 25 miles last week, and hopefully will get in a 30 mile week before school starts back up. I plan to run a half marathon this Fall, and get back to reviewing some shoes (on a smaller scale than in the past). I’ve come to realize that the extended hiatus has reignited my passion, and allowed me to develop a new relationship with the sport that I love. I’m excited to get back at it!

In my last post, I talked about the reasons why runners should vary their pacing from day to day. In this update, I’ll provide a simple way to think about structuring training weeks, so that you can apply pacing variation to get the most out of your body.

A Training “Week” Does Not Always Equal 7 Days

The first step in determining how to structure your training weeks is to figure out how much recovery time you need between hard workouts. This varies greatly from runner to runner, though there are a few general approaches that work quite well. Two of them use a traditional 7-day week, and the other uses 9 or 10 days per training “week.”

1. The Traditional Week: You’ll note that most “stock” training plans that you can download or purchase online feature 3 “quality” days per week (usually a workout on Tuesday, a workout on Thursday, and a long run over the weekend). This is the most common training week used by recreational runners, and for people with jobs and families, as well as for younger runners, this is the best fit. When using this approach, I only schedule 2 strenuous sessions and use the 3rd workout as a moderate/support day. If you use the traditional approach, either do (a) Hard workout Tuesday, moderate workout Thursday, long run with some speed mixed in; or (b) Hard workouts Tuesday and Thursday, steady SLOW long run. If you are using this approach and find that you feel flat or tired for your workouts, then switching to one of the other options can help you.

2. The Single Workout Week: Depending on the specifics of a cycle, I will mix in a 1-workout week for my runners, even if they are on a traditional schedule. In this approach, the long run stays on Saturday/Sunday, but the weekdays feature one hard session, usually on Wednesday. This allows you to run hard during your Wednesday workout, but still have time to recover before the weekend long run. I like this approach as a standard for many masters runners (who need more adaptation time in general), or for the later-cycle weeks in a race buildup where the workouts are taxing and specific (i.e. long tempo runs, long intervals, etc.).

3. The Expanded Week: Another approach that can be very successful, and one that you will see used more frequently by elite athletes that don’t need to fit in long runs on the same day each week, is the 9-day or 10-day training “week.” Within this block of days, three workouts are generally targeted (one of them being a long run). This allows for two or three days of adaptation between all hard efforts, in an effort to allow for better recovery and more leeway to attack workouts. This can also be a great approach for runners who require more recovery time in general (older runners, and beginners).

In general, the key is understanding that a training week can be different for various runners, or various training situations.

Most of Your Training Should Be Easy

Once you’ve determined the general structure for quality days, you are left with the majority of the week to fill with other training. This is usually the process I go through when planning a week for a client: Add key workouts first, then fill in the remainder with easy miles, cross-training, or rest.

It’s important to note that active recovery can come in the form of recovery/easy running, or cross training, and in both cases, you will be improving your general aerobic fitness. You can be a successful runner, depending on your experience and level, with anywhere from 3-7 days a week of running. On the other days, the focus should be very easy training, to maintain your base of fitness and encourage adaptation in between hard workouts.

Variability is the Key; One Week Should Not Look Like the Next

Your weekly plan should always be completed in the context of what came before, and what will come after. The main thing to remember is that your body adapts to new stimuli more effectively than it does to repeated stimuli. So, when you plan your workouts, make sure that you vary the approach. This means that you have to get away from the same distance intervals every Tuesday, and tempo run every Thursday. Instead, mix in strides, hills, fartlek, and other forms of quality. You will get more from each session, and also improve your adaptation rates by using your muscles in different ways from week to week.

Tie it All Back to Your Goals

Finally, ensure that your approach to any given training week is tied to your goals. If you are training for a specific race, each week should take you closer to that goal in the smallest and most manageable step possible to stay on track. If your goals are more general, like adding general speed or general endurance, you should look at what you accomplished the previous week and make things just a bit more challenging. Your workouts should target your goals, specifically, rather than just being chosen at random.

Don’t Forget the Step-back Weeks

We all want to make as much progress as possible, and that means that we both train hard AND allow for complete adaptation. As a general rule of thumb (which can vary from person to person), every fourth or fifth week should be used for recovery and adaptation. This means reducing mileage (by 10-20%), reducing intensity (less strenuous workouts), and reducing frequency (extra rest day, one less double-run day, etc.). It’s only when we train hard, with a smartly designed structure, and then adapt that we actually become faster.

Ask Coach Caleb is a monthly column on Runblogger.com. If you have a training question that you’ like to be considered for a future post, feel free to leave it in a comment!

Bloody Nipples via Red11 Sport

It happens every Spring almost without fail – I’ll be out for a run and I start to feel a bit of discomfort under my shirt and/or between my thighs. If I’m lucky it’ll happen on a short run and the damage will be limited. If I’m unlucky I’ll be 5 miles from home when the discomfort begins, and will have no choice but to suffer through the remainder of the run. The worst of the pain happens in the shower afterward – the combination of soap and hot water conspire to cause agony, and I need bite my tongue to choke back the screams

What’s this problem I speak of? Chafing. It’s something I never have to deal with in winter, but once the warmth returns and I start sweating, so returns the chafe. Chafing is a common problem for runners, and it seems that where chafing is localized varies from person to person. For me, chafing tends to strike in two places: my nipples and my inner thighs (no holding back here!).

Nipple Chafe

Nipple chafe is extremely common for guys in summer. Once our shirts get wet, the rubbing of fabric against bare nipple starts to do its damage. The damage starts as a sting as the skin gets rubbed raw, and can progress to bleeding if allowed to continue. If you’ve ever watched the finish line of a warm-weather marathon you have likely seen men who have attempted to run without protection. Tell-tale red circles over the nipples are a dead giveaway, often with bloody streaks extending down toward the waist line. I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid blood, but I’ve seen others in races who were not so lucky. I can only imagine the pain.

Fortunately, nipple chafe is actually very easy to avoid. I used to apply Body Glide prior to runs where I suspected nipple-chafe might be a problem, but stopped this practice when I realized that it was creating circular stains on my shirts that would not come out in the wash. I know some guys who use products like Nipguards or those little circular bandaids to protect their nipples. I’ve never used Nipguards, but they cost like $10 for 10 sets, and that can get costly. And I’ve found that circular bandaids are a bit too large and can thus stick to chest hair.

I’ve now adopted a far more effective method of protection – I cut up Band-Aids into little squares that are just about the size of my nipples. I prefer the Sport Strip style since they seem to stay put. This method is cheap, and it works very well. I can get 4 sets of nipple squares from one extra-large Band-Aid sport strip, and for a 30-count box that gives me 120 sets for about $3.50. I have not had them fall off on any run I have done so far.

As an added bonus, the Band-Aid trick is great for embarrassing your wife and kids. I’m sure they love it when I run to meet them at the pool in the summer and forget I’m wearing little square bandaids on my nipples when I jump in the water. People must think I’m nuts. But hey, my nipples don’t hurt!

Thigh Chafe

My other problem area is my inner thighs. Not the private areas, but lower down where my shorts rub between my legs with each step. I tend to have a narrow gait width and I think this is why I’m prone to this. Anyway, it only happens when my shorts are really sweaty and the salt in my sweat seems to be the culprit.

I’ve found two ways to combat thigh chafe. The first is to remove the liners from running shorts and substitute compression underwear that extends down the thigh instead. But sometimes even compression underwear can cause chafing.

The other approach is to use regular running shorts and apply some form of protective lubricant to the affected area. I used to use Body Glide, but lately have been having good success using samples of Hike-Goo and Red11 lubricants that were sent to me (Disclosure: both were free samples supplied for review purposes).

Hike-Goo in particular has been be very effective. It comes out of the tube as a sticky paste, but once applied seems to last a long time. It has prevented thigh chafe whenever I have used it. The one drawback is that it’s kind of messy and I feel like I waste a fair amount with each application since it’s easy to apply too much with the applicator mechanism that they use on their tubes. They also make a product called Run-Goo, not sure how that differs or why I was sent the Hike version. No matter, it works well.

Red11 is marketed for nipple protection, but I have not used it for that since I worry about staining shirts (and the band-aid trick works so well). It has also worked well for use on the thighs. On the plus side, since it is an almost solid paste and comes in a tin, it’s easier to take only the amount that you need as compared to the Hike-Goo.

Other Chafe-Prone Areas

Personally, the only other area I have had chafing issues is (on rare occasions) under the waistline of my shorts. I’m not sure why it happens when it does (I only experience it a few times each summer), and I almost never notice it while running – I know it has happened when I’m in the shower and water hits the chafed spots. Lubricant typically helps here as well, and I always lube my waistline before long races. (As an aside, if you ever have the opportunity to crew an ultra, you will see runners applying lube all over the place!). I used to lubricate my toes as well, but now that I tend to only wear shoes that allow toe wiggle on longer runs this has ceased to be an issue.

I’m sure there are other areas that are problem spots for other people, and I’m sure women have stories to tell that might differ slightly from those of men. If you have any advice that is not covered here, feel free to leave a comment!