I'm returning from two concurrent stress fractures, and have no near term race goals. Probably won't race at all til the Spring. As such, I'm building back up to running 1-2 hours a day, anywhere from "easy" to "steady", depending on feel. (Not here to debate non/linear periodization, this is just how I want to approach things.) In such a plan, which lacks any real workouts, how often should I include strides/hill sprints? Daily? Every other?
If you're just getting back into it, a few strides when you feel good on easy days won't do any harm. Hill Sprints should be considered as a workout with a good warm-up and cool-down. Start with only a few reps of 10-12 seconds and work your way up. Do a set every 7-10 days starting out, and as you build you can work your way up to every 7 days or so.
Thanks. It probably was a mistake to consider the two things equivalent.
lfk wrote:
how often should I include strides/hill sprints? Daily? Every other?
Either/or.
I think the best runners these days regularly do some fast stuff. The only time not to do this is when your legs are sore. But regular fast stuff makes general mileage go more smoothly instead of just plodding.
I used hills as a way to get back into shape after a long lay off due to injury.
I was doing them 2x week. It was a safe way to get some intensity. Also it kept me from plodding very- slow -miles every-single- day. I looked forward to my hill workouts.
Why are you in such a rush to give yourself another stress fracture? There's no reason to do any speed work of any kind if you're recovering from an injury and have no race goals. Easy, aerobic miles are the thing for you. Go slower so you can run more. Run more so you can get faster.
When you're up to a good mileage base of easy miles that you've maintained for at least 4 weeks, then mix in some strides once a week.
Be careful with this. Don't sabotage your running career because you feel pressured to do some workouts you don't actually need to be doing right now.
I completely disagree. It is much more likely that the OP got a stress fracture from doing too much of the same thing.
Regular strides and hills give more stimulus to all phases of training.
To be clear, my stress fractures were the likely result of a now-fixed Vitamin D deficiency. My training beforehand was typically "mixed", easy miles with one track day, one tempo, one long, etc. 99.9% on pavement, which I'm also working to fix.