SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 WOMENSRUNNING.COM 25
WHAT NOW?! TRAININGand gently build back some fitness
while you readapt,” Kann explains.
Continue to check in with your body
(and your PT if necessary) and if you
feel healthy, gradually add in more
time on your feet by about three to
five minutes at a time. “Running for
time rather than mileage will help
you curb the urge to compare your
current self to your pre-injury self,”
says Kann.
Most important, resist the urge to
“make up for missed miles” to catch
up to your plan. “This strategy usu-
ally backfires,” says Kann. Instead,
continue bumping up your weekly
run time and don’t worry if you don’t
make it to that “holy grail” 20-miler.
“I’ve seen marathoners have suc-
cess with as low as a 16-mile-long
run (three to four weeks pre-race),
but I urge those runners to rethink
their goal and to focus on finishing
safely rather than go for a specific
time,” says Kann.
THE SCENARIO
That 5K you were trying to PR at snuck up
on you—it’s next weekend
and you’ve been running
sporadically a few miles at a
time the past several weeks.
Don’t worry, it’s not
as bad as you think. You
can optimize your body
in the little pre-race time
you have. “During race
week, a few easy runs
with some strides (10- to
15-second-long bursts of
speed done as gradual
accelerations and decel-
erations) at the end will
help sharpen the legs up
a bit and help you stay
loose,” says Kann. That
being said, consider an
alternate definition of
what success might look
like this time around.
“With a week to go till
race day, you will want
to set a new time-free ob-
jective; maybe you can pace a friend
who is a little slower than you and
focus on their PR instead.”THE SCENARIO
Your friend got hurt and gave you her
bib for a half marathon—but it’s in six
weeks and the longest you’ve run lately
is five miles.
“Most half-marathon plans are
around 10 weeks long, so while you’ll
be a little behind, you can safely
train up for the event, as long as you
are 100 percent healthy and aren’t
nursing any injuries,” says Kann.
(And keep in mind: Some races have
rules about swapping bibs!) For any
long-distance event, the long runis the cornerstone of your training,
so that needs to take priority over
all other runs. This means that you
may want to take it a little easier on
the speed work or cut out a midweek
tempo run altogether so you can put
your full effort and more mileage in
on the long run.
And if you need to walk some of
the miles, go for it: “Walking miles are
worth just as much as running miles.”
As long as you check a 9-miler off your
plan two to three weeks before race
day, you should be good to hit 13.1.THE SCENARIO
You’re going on an end-of-summer two-
week vacation (lucky you!) and you’re
worried you won’t be able to
run as much as you’d like to.
“Remember that any
running or physical activity
while you’re away is a de-
posit in the ‘fitness bank’,”
says Kann. Runners often
discredit the activity they
wind up doing when travel-
ling because it might not be
equivalent to their effort at
home, but even short, easy
runs or long walks every
day will keep your body on
track.
Plus, a little downtime
can do your body good.
With the lack of stress,
true regeneration can
happen, helping you to
come back even stronger.
Kann says every runner
should repeat this man-
tra: “You can only train as
well as you can recover.”If your training plan got off track for a different
reason, you may benefit from some personalized
advice. Consider signing up for a dynamic plan
like the NYRR Virtual Trainer.
virtualtrainer.nyrr.org