I was a little nervous about this week of training, because this week my mileage jumps from 24 to 39 miles. That is much more than the 10% rule. Try somewhere between 62 and 63%. So far things have been going well. My legs felt pretty fatigued on this morning’s easy run, but that’s all part of the Hansons plan. More on that in a minute.

I had an easy run on Monday, my first doozy of a track workout on Tuesday, and then took a rest day on Wednesday. One thing that was pointed out to me by Jeano (a Hansons veteran) was that my track workout was coming at the end of six days in a row of running. That’s the way it’ll be throughout the training program. I knew that already, but forgot about it on Tuesday. Probably a good thing, as I have no idea what my mind would have done with that information as I chipped away at 12 x 400m.

After my rest day on Wednesday (my only rest day each week of training) I had my first tempo run on Thursday. Tempo means something a bit different to the Hansons, though. Traditionally a tempo run is a faster-paced run where you hold a “comfortably-hard” pace. But for the Hansons “tempo” and “marathon pace” are synonymous. So a tempo run for them is a marathon pace run. From my understanding, their tempo runs are also longer the traditional type.

For my first one, I had 5 miles at 10:18/mile pace, sandwiched between a 1 mile warm up and cool down. I was short on time in the evening so I ran with Sven (the treadmill). Pretty easy to nail your pace when all you have to do is set the speed and go. The next two weeks will also include 5 mile tempo runs, and over the course of training I’ll build up to a 10 mile tempo.

This morning I had a 4 mile easy run on tap. No biggie, right? Baby miles. But once I got out there (on my old high school stomping grounds, no less) I found that my legs were actually very fatigued. That’s to be expected, as I just wrapped up my first week of running six days per week (something new for me).

This morning’s run gave me a little taste of what the Hansons refer to as “cumulative fatigue.” Cumulative fatigue basically means never feeling fresh for any workout, and learning to push through even when your legs are tired. I suppose you could say it’s one of the pillars of the Hanson program.

I’ve got 16 more miles to go before I wrap up my 39 mile week, with an 8 mile easy run on both Saturday and Sunday. I’m definitely fatigued, but *knock on wood* nothing is feeling injured. Maybe I am cut out for this type of training after all?

Do you stick to the 10% rule in running?
What is the highest weekly mileage you’ve ever done (running, biking, etc.)?