A Peek Inside The Training and Mindset of a 13:30 5k Runner

Finn Melanson [00:00:10]: Hello, fellow runners. I'm your host, Finn Milanson, and this is the Run to the Top podcast, the podcast dedicated to making you a better runner. With each and every episode, we are created and produced by the expert team of coaches@runnersconnect.net, where you can find the best running information on the Internet, as well as training plans to fit every runner in every budget. Have you ever wanted to peek inside the training and the mind of an elite runner? What does their training look like? Do they have the same ups and downs? What goes through their mind during workouts.

Finn Melanson [00:00:51]: And throughout the week?

Finn Melanson [00:00:52]: This week, our very own coach, Alex Ostberg, peels back the curtain on his most recent week of training. In addition to getting the details in the why of his workouts, you'll also hear him discuss the challenges he faced and the lessons he learned throughout the week, including how to swallow your pride and adapt to your workouts, standardizing pre workout routines to make race days less nerve wracking, and focusing on the 80 20 rule. When it comes to recovery, this is a really great in depth look at mindset and training of an elite runner looking to make huge strides this spring and summer.

Finn Melanson [00:01:27]: You're looking for the best way to get motivated, improve performance and recovery, and increase focus for your upcoming races. You'll love the new perform from the Amino Company. I'll tell you more about them later in this episode, or you can check out the Research@aminoco.com Rtt. If you're looking for better and safer headphones while you run, then you need to check out Oledance. Their open ear design delivers premium sound while still allowing you to hear your surroundings to stay safe. I'll tell you more about them later in this episode, but if you're looking for a great gift for the runner in your family, head to Oledance.com rtt.

Alex Ostberg [00:02:13]: Everyone. My name is Alex. I'm one of the coaches with Runners Connect. I've been working with the platform since September of last year, and I was recently talking with Jeff, who thought it would be a cool idea to dive into one of my weeks of training just to get a sense.

Alex Ostberg [00:02:29]: Of what It's Like to Train For.

Alex Ostberg [00:02:31]: A five K when I'm Trying To Run in the Low 13 minutes and.

Alex Ostberg [00:02:35]: Chase PRS in My Post Collegiate career.

Alex Ostberg [00:02:38]: So to give you all a little bit of background on where I'm coming from, originally, I ran in high school in a small town called Darian, Connecticut, and after a relatively successful high school career, I was recruited to run at Stanford in 2015. And while I was there, I actually took five years. So I red shirted my freshman year.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:02]: And competed through five years.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:04]: I was fortunate enough to earn seven.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:06]: First team All American honors, and I.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:08]: Ran distances between the 1500 and the.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:11]: Ten K. The plot twist came in.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:14]: 2020, as it did for most of us, when the pandemic hit.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:18]: I actually did a grad transfer to.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:20]: UNC and because of the COVID pandemic, I preserved some of my eligibility and was actually able to take last year.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:27]: To finish up my NCAA career as a master's student at UNC, which was really fun.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:34]: And I got the fairytale ending that everyone hopes for. I was able to finish my career.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:39]: At NCAA's in June of 2022 and.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:44]: I ran a five KPR at the.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:45]: Time, which was 1331.

Alex Ostberg [00:03:47]: Since then, I've actually continued to train post collegiately, which has been a fun new chapter of my running career. I have run recently PRS of 358 in the mile and 1318 in the five K. And right now I'd say.

Alex Ostberg [00:04:00]: I would consider myself to be training for the five K and the ten K primarily.

Alex Ostberg [00:04:08]: So before I go into the week of training, I thought it might be interesting just to preface everything by talking about where I was coming from when I started this most recent training block. So, after graduating with my Mph from UNC, I no longer had eligibility in the NCAA and I had maintained fairly close contact with my college coach, Chris Miltonberg, who actually recruited me at Stanford and then came to UNC.

Alex Ostberg [00:04:36]: And I ultimately followed him here as a graduate student.

Alex Ostberg [00:04:39]: And we decided, like, we wanted to take a new approach or a newer approach to my post collegiate training. And he gave me some autonomy to kind of prioritize what was important to me in the next step because I've been training for five, six years in a relatively similar way.

Alex Ostberg [00:04:57]: So just to keep it novel and.

Alex Ostberg [00:04:59]: To keep it interesting, I think there.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:00]: Were some tweaks that I wanted to make.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:03]: And I think one of the big things was I wanted to prioritize a long block of Uninterrupted training. I was fortunate that I was relatively healthy the past two years while I.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:12]: Was here at UNC.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:14]: However, one of the issues is that when you race all the time, which.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:18]: Is kind of inherent with the NCAA cycle, because you have to hit qualifying times, you do sacrifice some of the training.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:27]: So we wanted to emphasize really long blocks of Uninterrupted training. And our goal was basically to set.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:32]: Up a four month training block from basically August until December.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:38]: And the culminating race was going to be a 5000 meters race at Boston University.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:44]: They had a big opener for their five K there. I also thought that I had the.

Alex Ostberg [00:05:50]: Most room for growth in terms of my running volume. When you think about all those dials that you can turn, all those different variables that comprise a training plan, you have your volume, you've got your intensity, and then you've got your density of the training and then all the things.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:06]: You'Re doing on the side.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:07]: And I thought that based on where.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:10]: I was coming from, I was relatively low mileage. I know that may sound funny, to.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:14]: Some people, but I was running 65.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:16]: To 70 miles per week, which for.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:18]: My competitors was a little bit on the lower side. And some of the research that I've done, that's been done on elite athletes.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:25]: Developing the aerobic system, you basically can't tap that out. And even though I'm now entering a.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:34]: Phase of my career where my running age is, I've been doing the sport now at a fairly high level for ten plus years. But there is always room for growth in that aerobic system. And it's one of the biggest predictors.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:45]: Of success that is aerobic development long term.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:49]: So I really wanted to increase my volume, and then I did want to.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:52]: Change the density or the distribution of.

Alex Ostberg [00:06:57]: Intensity throughout my week. And what I mean by that is I think most people will have some kind of oscillation between hard days and easy days, hard days and easy days. And I wanted to make my hard days a little bit harder. And my easy days, I wanted to.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:12]: Maintain them as easy.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:13]: And the way I did that was actually adding longer doubles on my workout days.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:19]: So I was getting in like 17.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:22]: To 20 miles some days between a hard workout in the morning and then a double in the afternoon, and then I would come back and do a very short run the next day. So I had more exaggerated peaks and.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:33]: Valleys, I guess you could call it.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:36]: And then the other thing we experimented.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:37]: With was adding in one rest day every week.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:40]: And that's one thing that sounds sacrilegious to some people. Runners always think that more is better, but this kind of relates to the theme of packaging together that stress and recovery. We thought, okay, if you're going to have meaningful blocks of stress, you should have meaningful blocks of recovery as well.

Alex Ostberg [00:07:58]: That will probably help with training adaptation.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:00]: So every Sunday I took off, which.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:03]: Was new for me.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:04]: I would normally run seven days a.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:05]: Week, but now I started doing six days a week.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:08]: So I was basically trying to hit.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:09]: 80 miles to 85 miles in six days.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:12]: So that was a big step up.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:14]: For me and certainly came with its own challenges, which I can talk about.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:19]: And I think it's important to say here that I knew I was taking.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:22]: On risk with these decisions.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:24]: Obviously running at a high level is there's this interplay between riding the line.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:32]: Of peak performance and injury.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:33]: And that line can sometimes feel like.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:35]: It'S a millimeter thick.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:37]: But I think now that I was outside of the collegiate system, I felt as though I had a little bit.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:43]: Of a higher risk tolerance, I guess.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:45]: Is what I'm trying to say. I was willing to take some more.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:47]: Risks to see what the benefit might be.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:50]: I also had some things working to my advantage. Many of you know that super shoes have come out recently so I was.

Alex Ostberg [00:08:56]: Using the Nike Vaporfly as well as.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:00]: The Puma Dev Eight Nitro Elite. Those are two training shoes that I was alternating between. I also am fortunate in that I was able to use the UNC facilities and they've got really nice woodway treadmills and the surface on those is really supreme.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:14]: It's fantastic.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:15]: So I think that was a protective factor for me in terms of mitigating the risk of injury. I would go on the treadmill and I'd run on 2% incline, so I'd be running uphill on the treadmill, which.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:28]: Would take some of that impact off the legs. So that's basically the summary of some.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:34]: Of the changes in the mindset that.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:36]: I had going into this training block.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:37]: I thought it would be interesting to.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:39]: Dive into one week in particular, which.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:42]: Was the week of November 14 to November 20. This ended up being about two weeks.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:49]: Out from my five KPR, which was at Boston. And so I'll just talk through pretty.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:56]: Much what I did on it on.

Alex Ostberg [00:09:57]: A day to day basis and the purpose behind it.

Alex Ostberg [00:10:01]: So Monday, this would be November 14. In the morning, I did two runs this day. My morning run was a ten mile run, very nice and easy, and then I followed that up with some drills. So we have very specific set of drills that are mostly mobility and pliometric based and then we use ladder drills and wickets to basically remind our bodies on a Neuromuscular level what good form means. So it's really quick ground contact, putting force through the ground and proper knee drive. So we do the drills basically just to prime the Neuromuscular system to run fast. And I find that that's quite effective.

Alex Ostberg [00:10:40]: For encouraging and reinforcing good movement patterns before doing strides.

Alex Ostberg [00:10:45]: So then I did two sets of 40, 8120 meters accelerations and we break it down in that way such that you do the 40 and then you walk back, then you do the 80, then you do the 120.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:01]: So these are very short and intense sprints.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:04]: These are like super maximal intensity, like way faster than any kind of race pace I'd be running. Really we're targeting like faster than mile.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:13]: Pace, closer to 800 meters race pace here.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:17]: And the idea is that we do.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:19]: So much work in the aerobic domain.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:22]: That we find that metaphorically, you can kind of pump some air in your tires here by doing this neuromuscular efficiency work. And there have been studies shown that these pliometrics and these short sprints do.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:36]: Really help with running economy.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:38]: So that was pretty much the day. After that I would just do like a short three minute jog and then do some stretching. And I have like an active, isolated stretching routine with a rope stretch sorry, with a rope that we used to stretch and I've been doing that routine.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:53]: Now for about ten years, so it works pretty well.

Alex Ostberg [00:11:56]: Then I went about my day and did a double on the treadmill that evening and I just did 3 miles. So between the run, the ten mile run, the strides and the three mile.

Alex Ostberg [00:12:06]: Double, I got about 15 miles on the day.

Alex Ostberg [00:12:10]: And we like to generally separate our morning run and evening run by a minimum of like five to 6 hours. There's been some interesting work actually, by Keith Barr who is someone that I interacted with a little bit in my undergrad while I was doing exercise physiology research. He's based out of UC Davis and.

Alex Ostberg [00:12:28]: He'S shown that the optimal loading dose.

Alex Ostberg [00:12:32]: For tendons and muscles is generally like this period where you stress them for a minimum of six minutes is what he's found. Gives that's the minimally effective dose. And then you wait 6 hours to repeat that dose. And that's kind of the window where you're receptive for loading again. So that might have gotten a little bit technical, but I find that stuff fascinating.

Alex Ostberg [00:12:59]: So I'll add that in just to keep things interesting for the audience here who's more interested in the exercise physiology side of things.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:08]: Okay, so Tuesday was a big session.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:11]: This was probably my most specific, most intense, five K specific session that I did. Let me just say first and foremost.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:20]: That no one workout should define a training cycle. No one week defines a training cycle. In fact, I think people who think that way are very flawed because a training cycle consists of layering weeks and.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:33]: Weeks on top of each other. No workouts can give you confidence, but.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:38]: They are certainly not going to be.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:40]: The end all, be all factor that transforms you on a race day.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:45]: This was one workout of many workouts.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:47]: That I think reinforced in my own.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:50]: Mind that I could run around 1320.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:52]: Which was my goal.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:54]: Regardless, the workout today on this day.

Alex Ostberg [00:13:57]: Was a mile 1200, 800 spikes, right around five K goal pace, and we.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:06]: Had full recovery in between. So the idea here was just really dialing in on race pace, and as you all know, if you're experienced runners, I find that you get a couple of extra percentage points on race day with all those stress hormones and all that nervous energy that that actually I.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:28]: Find can help enhance your performance if if you channel that properly.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:34]: So on a given Tuesday, when I'm coming in relatively tired, I did 15 miles a day prior. I certainly was not primed for this effort.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:42]: But I think all those things being.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:45]: Equal, I learned that doing these sessions on tired legs and ensuring that you.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:53]: Know what the bigger picture looks like.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:55]: And knowing that this one workout is.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:56]: Going to be important.

Alex Ostberg [00:14:57]: But even if I feel a little bit tired, that's okay. That's kind of a mindset adjustment I've.

Alex Ostberg [00:15:02]: Had to make throughout the years.

Alex Ostberg [00:15:05]: So just to give some specific paces, we were dialing in on 64 pace.

Alex Ostberg [00:15:09]: 64 pace per 400, which is 416.

Alex Ostberg [00:15:12]: Per mile, and 1200 would have been 312, 800, 208, 464, obviously. And then the two K was supposed to be around 520. So yeah, we just put spikes on and we're like, this is going to be a race simulation, basically. And I did this with a few of my training partners who were also training for the Boston Five K, and we took turns leading each rep. The two K ended up being a real barn burner at the end. We started off at 64 pace and then one of my training partners, Jack, took over and then started tightening the screws, so to speak, and really squeezing it down. So we ended up closing probably like.

Alex Ostberg [00:15:52]: 63, 59 on the last two laps.

Alex Ostberg [00:15:55]: Which was very challenging. But I think that those exposures where you really kind of put yourself in the well and see if you can outlast, see if you can last make it through, essentially, is really important because that's where you're going to be put.

Alex Ostberg [00:16:11]: In a race, right?

Alex Ostberg [00:16:11]: In a race environment, if you're really chasing a PR or if you're on PR pace, you're in uncharted territory and that can be scary and that can be difficult. So I've always felt that I need.

Alex Ostberg [00:16:22]: Like at least two to three repeated exposures before I feel calloused at race.

Alex Ostberg [00:16:26]: Pace, and this was certainly one of those sessions.

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Alex Ostberg [00:19:10]: So, going back to what I was saying earlier, I came back that evening, I certainly was fatigued with a treadmill double once again. And then I added on a leg lift. So normally we do some squatting and.

Alex Ostberg [00:19:26]: Deadlifting, and that's supervised by a weights coach here at UNC.

Alex Ostberg [00:19:32]: So talk about meaningful stress and meaningful recovery. We packaged together a lot of work in this day. It was probably at least, I want to say, 14 to 15 miles on.

Alex Ostberg [00:19:44]: The day with a heavy lower body lift.

Alex Ostberg [00:19:48]: And we do that lower body lift. Not to get too technical, but it is quite good for injury prevention and running economy. Loading the bones with loading, like the musculoskeletal system with heavy weight, has been shown to have a fairly protective impact.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:06]: On injury risk, and it also helps us generate force.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:11]: So running, we do repetitive motions hundreds and hundreds of times per day. But loading up on a heavy squat, as long as you have the motion down and you do it properly, can be really helpful for generating some power.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:23]: And some muscular strength in an area that we don't really work as often as runners.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:29]: Okay, so that was my Tuesday.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:30]: That was probably the day that I.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:32]: Have the most commentary on. Wednesday was what I consider to be.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:37]: A medium long run.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:39]: So I ended up going to the trails and I didn't even put my GPS watch on. This was one of those days where.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:45]: I was not at all concerned about my pace.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:49]: I just was doing a run for.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:51]: Time on the feet.

Alex Ostberg [00:20:52]: And that was the intention of today. I had run a really hard workout the day prior. So my motto, and I've learned this from a great book I read called.

Alex Ostberg [00:21:02]: Peak performance is stress plus rest equals growth. And so workouts create the potential for gaining fitness and that potential manifests itself, or you realize that potential only after a recovery process.

Alex Ostberg [00:21:24]: So I did a very easy 80 minutes run and I didn't even have a mileage target. Sometimes when I'm just going out for an easy run, I'll just do minutes.

Alex Ostberg [00:21:32]: Instead of miles because I don't even want to think about pace.

Alex Ostberg [00:21:36]: Thursday was another really easy day. So this was just 9 miles, which was on the lower end of the spectrum of my what I do on on a daily basis, pure recovery. I also did a short body weight.

Alex Ostberg [00:21:51]: Circuit afterwards, focused mostly on mobility and balance.

Alex Ostberg [00:21:55]: So just some hip mobility stuff and then some single leg exercises to help work on ankle strengthening and then just.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:04]: Some general more like physical therapy exercises that I do for some of my weaknesses in kind of my stride.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:14]: So we ended up actually doing something unique this week. And I think it's interesting to talk about because it's unconventional. Normally for most people, the model is.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:23]: A Tuesday Friday workout with a Saturday.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:26]: Or Sunday long run. But we decided since we really loaded up Tuesday, we decided that we wanted to just do a combination workout on Saturday such that we would do a.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:38]: Fairly high volume of work.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:42]: But we would actually kind of package.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:44]: That together with the long run.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:50]: I think I got 19 miles on the day, which is even longer than what I would do for an average long run. But I also did a workout in.

Alex Ostberg [00:22:58]: The middle of that.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:00]: So I did eight by mile at.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:01]: Threshold pace in the morning.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:04]: It was on a trail. So I think the paces range, but I think I averaged around 450 pace, which feels comfortable, but say comfortably hard.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:12]: You're kind of riding that line and.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:14]: Did that on 1 minute rest. And then I came back in the evening and did another double for, I.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:21]: Believe, 19 miles on that day.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:25]: Like I said, we really wanted to decompress after Tuesday and we sacrificed the.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:28]: Conventional long run and instead decided to.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:31]: Still get a good overall volume on the day. But we didn't want to have to do another workout plus a long run because that's a lot to put on.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:38]: The body 14 days out from the big race.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:40]: So we just said, okay, let's package those two things together.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:44]: And that's what we did.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:45]: And Sunday was off. Like I said, I took every Sunday.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:48]: In this training cycle off and this.

Alex Ostberg [00:23:52]: Sunday was no different. So I got 84 miles on that week and this was my last high volume week. I started a taper the following week. So I basically hit 60 to 65.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:02]: Miles the next two weeks, which was the intention.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:07]: So I guess a couple of things there are a couple more points of commentary that I wanted to add on.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:13]: Here that I think could be helpful.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:15]: For any audience, whether you're chasing PRS at an elite level or you're just.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:19]: Starting off running your first five K or half marathon.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:24]: One thing I've learned over the years.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:25]: Is to really standardize your pre workout routine to resemble race day.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:31]: On that session I did this Tuesday, the one that was a five K simulation workout. I actually have this routine where I work backwards from race start and basically.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:42]: I do the same thing for the 2 hours prior before every race and every really hard workout.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:51]: So my routine consists of basically like a mindfulness practice just to center myself.

Alex Ostberg [00:24:58]: Beforehand and try to kind of ground.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:02]: Myself amidst all that nervous energy. I will then do some activation drills so that's like some light stretching and some glute activation, some core activation. And normally I'll do like this wouldn't be 2 hours prior, but I'll do like a shakeout run early that morning.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:18]: Just to kind of wake the legs.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:19]: Up really easy and then yeah, I basically do the same thing from an hour out every time. So it's a 15 minutes warm up and some drills and strides spike up, sip on some water and then do some accelerations and then I'm at the line. The point is, I think we all.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:38]: Could benefit from drawing confidence from our.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:42]: Routines such that when you're in an unfamiliar and very anxiety provoking environment on.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:47]: Race day.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:50]: You can ground yourself with those routines and say, hey, this is something that I've done every Tuesday, every Saturday in my training cycle.

Alex Ostberg [00:25:57]: Today is no different. It helps you kind of see through.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:01]: And manage that nervous energy.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:07]: I also think that another lesson I've.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:10]: Learned is that at least one day per week it can be helpful to.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:12]: Go without a wearable device.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:14]: So like I mentioned on this Wednesday run, which was a medium long run for me, I did not run with a GPS watch.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:21]: I just wore an old timex and I went off of time alone instead of mileage.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:27]: Of course people are different. They will have different opinions on that. But I think sometimes seeing that pace reinforces bad habits. Especially if you're like me and you.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:36]: Have a tendency to push those runs harder than you should be.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:40]: I think that going really easy or going with a friend who's going to keep you accountable is really important. I also think that a plan is only as good as your willingness to.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:54]: Change it as needed.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:55]: Oftentimes I see a lot of runners.

Alex Ostberg [00:26:58]: Refuse to deviate from the plan even.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:00]: If they're getting sick or like some kind of injury is starting to pop up. And I'm certainly guilty of this myself, but I feel like over the years I've gotten better at being very objective at evaluating where I'm at and modifying if needed. I think this week was interesting because like I said, we took an unconventional approach. We went really hard on Tuesday and we got a lot of volume and a lot of intensity and we felt like, you know what, we don't need to try and do a long run and a workout. Instead, let's just do the long run and workout on the same day such that we get one extra day of.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:33]: Recovery on Friday instead.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:35]: I think it's really important to not.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:36]: Be chained to a plan and understand.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:39]: That especially a plan that stretches months into the future, it's okay if it changes. I think the best runners are the ones who know when to stop and.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:48]: Know when to take a day off.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:49]: Because ultimately consistency is your best friend.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:52]: And if you're not consistent and you.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:54]: Don'T show up to the starting line.

Alex Ostberg [00:27:55]: Healthy, what's it all about, what's it all been for, right? So you have to prioritize those things.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:00]: That are going to keep you consistent. And overall, like a small deviation from the plan, even if you stick to it, a small deviation rather is better than refusing to deviate from the plan and then you end up having to.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:13]: Take like three weeks off rather than just modify a day or two.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:19]: I think the other thing I wanted to say was that I was fairly busy in this training cycle. I also work in the UNC emergency department in the hospital there and I've had to change my approach a little bit over the years.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:35]: When I was a collegiate runner, I.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:37]: Certainly had my academic classes to worry about, but I did have a lot of time in the day to focus on recovery, to focus on napping, et cetera. And I realized that that's a luxury that few people get unless you are.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:51]: A professional runner who is being paid a good salary to do that, which.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:56]: There aren't that many of those people.

Alex Ostberg [00:28:57]: Out there because those contracts are hard to come by.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:00]: And so I've realized that when things get busy and life gets in the way, it's better to avoid common mistakes.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:07]: Than it is to strive for perfectionism.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:10]: And sometimes it's better to reduce the scope but maintain the practice. That's a quote that I heard recently.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:17]: That I really like.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:18]: It's far better to put a number up on the board than put a zero up on the board.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:21]: And even if you miss once, don't miss twice. So those are some of the things.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:25]: That I've learned in terms of specifics. I think that recovery should be a hierarchy rather than everything getting the same importance. I think that if you're not sleeping seven plus hours per night, no amount of foam rolling is going to be.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:42]: Able to compensate for that or no amount of ice bathing or compression socks.

Alex Ostberg [00:29:48]: I think the most bang for your buck when it comes to recovery is going to be high quality nutrition, not skipping meals and sleep. And then of course your mental state, whether that be if you're stressed or.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:04]: Anxious, that's certainly going to make it harder to adapt to your training over time. So those were some of the lessons.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:12]: That I've learned and certainly put in.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:16]: Help contextualize this training block.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:22]: I don't know if I had mentioned this already.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:24]: But I ended up running a PR.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:26]: Of 1318 in the five K at Boston 14 days after this training week. Again, this week alone was not the.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:33]: Deciding factor, but it was certainly one of the steps along the way that helped me realize that running that fast was possible.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:42]: So it ended on a high note. I was really proud of this training cycle and really proud of some of.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:48]: The changes that I had made in collaboration with my coach and this sport.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:55]: And running the sport at a high level over a long period of time.

Alex Ostberg [00:30:58]: Is really an iterative process where you're.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:01]: Always reevaluating and understanding how you can get better.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:04]: And that constant desire to be learning.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:07]: And growing, I think, is one of the best attributes that I've seen in really good runners. And I think relying on our coaches to help us get to those points and be objective with us is important. And it's also important for you to reflect on how far you've come and.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:21]: What else you can be doing better along the way. Those are really important skills.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:26]: So, anyway, I'll stop there.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:27]: That was the summary of my week.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:29]: And along with some other lessons I've learned.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:32]: So, yeah, please don't hesitate to reach.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:35]: Out if you have any questions.

Alex Ostberg [00:31:36]: I'm always happy to discuss this in more depth if anyone's interested. So thank you.

Finn Melanson [00:31:56]: Thanks for listening to the Run to the Top podcast.

Finn Melanson [00:31:59]: I'm your host, Finn Mulanson. As always, our mission here is to.

Finn Melanson [00:32:03]: Help you become a better runner with every episode. Please consider connecting with me on Instagram.

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Alex Ostberg [00:32:30]: Till next time. Happy trading.