Stephanie Marie

February: Quality Training!


February training is in full swing and I’m so excited to share the adventure with you! How did your January training go? The purpose of January, for me, was to get myself into the best shape possible to start racing– my plan was to race four weekends in a row (this upcoming weekend will be race no. 3) and give the final race, in Iowa on Feb 15, my all and make it my best indoor track race to date. So what does that mean for February? This month is all about quality and recovery.

Each week, I do 2-3 workouts– one serious one, one “threshold,” and one “hype”. Then I race. The entire month, my volume (mileage) is lower and the name of the game is recovery. I need to be able to recovery as quickly as I can in order to race the best I can come the weekend! And yet, my workouts during the week need to be high quality because my REAL goal for the year is to race to my potential during May – August; I can’t afford to just jog all month and race hard, because that could lead to fast injury and less fitness when I need to be at my best!

If you were able to get on the exercise train (and stay on it) during January, February is your time to reward yourself! (PS. In March we get back to serious training, so take advantage of less volume now! February is a short month anyway…) Let’s dedicate February to high quality workouts, while making sure we recover fully, put less volume on our bodies, and have confidence that this work will pay off later!

This is what my typical week looks like:

Monday: High quality, low volume track workout

Tuesday: Easy double run, light strength work

Wednesday: High quality, low volume threshold workout

Thursday: Hype– very light, very fast workout

Friday: Pre-race run

Saturday: Race!

Sunday: Super easy post-race run

And here’s how we can translate that to YOUR training. Just because we’re going low volume this month doesn’t mean you should take every other day off! Try to get something in every day– just mix it up and either try new forms of exercise or do very low intensity workouts!

Monday: High quality aerobic workout– running or biking. Keep it on the short – medium side!

Tuesday: Easy day. If you can “double” (go for a short walk in the morning and swim in the evening or do an easy bike ride in the morning and a low-intensity yoga class in the evening), do it!

Wednesday: Threshold day. Go out for a run and keep the pace steady– no stopping to walk and do more than an easy jog. But keep it short!

Thursday: High intensity day! Make this a very short workout, but do something that really gets your heart rate up– Crossfit or spin class?

Friday: Easy day or day off!

Saturday: This is the day to really challenge yourself. Try out a new challenging class this month, try a new form of exercise you’ve always been curious about but too nervous to try, or push yourself to your limit (in a safe way!) by running, biking, swimming, doing anything aerobic for a longer distance or a faster speed than you’ve ever done it!

Sunday: Easy day. Try not to take this day off– it’s better to get in something really easy, slow, and short to shake out the lactic acid from Saturday than to just sit around all day!

What are your goals for February? What kinds of exercise can you do to get in some quality training, but not add a ton of volume to your body?

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