Pyramid Schemes

Last night, I went to a “Tupperware Party”.  Although, by definition it isn’t really a Pyramid Scheme (because Tupperware is a publically traded company and couldn’t be committing fraud), when you are sitting there listening to the Tupperware consultant tell you about how she drives two cars paid for by Tupperware, how much she makes a month, and oh by the way “you can do it too!”, it sure feels like you are listening to the opening lecture of Pyramids 101. OHHHH, and I was the lucky individual at the party that was selected to host my own Tupperware Party....I said “no thanks”, much to the chagrin of the consultant.

There is only one type of pyramid scheme that I believe in, and that is the running for performance pyramid:

Races

Speed workouts

VO2 workouts, VO2 workouts

Threshold work, threshold work, threshold work

Base miles, base miles, base miles, base miles, base miles

Right now I am in between the base miles phase and the threshold work phase.  I am running quite a few miles, logging 95 miles last week and working in some longer threshold pace workouts. This is also the time of year where I feel tired quite a bit because of all the miles and long workouts, but it is an extremely important and necessary phase of the year.  If I don’t “put in the miles” now, I’ll lack the strength and endurance to run to my full potential. Even sprinters do “over-distance”; a term that makes me laugh because a sprinter’s over-distance still seems pretty short to someone training for races between 5K and the marathon.

Why put in the base miles or over distance?  Like I eluded to in the previous paragraph it helps build strength and cardiovascular endurance.  Stronger muscles fatigue less quickly, therefore helping to maintain a given speed for longer – which will in turn help me to win a race or achieve a personal best.  There are other factors of course that play into the equation, like desire and experience, but these parts of the equation are the building blocks. So I’m taking care of the part I can control now and putting in the hard work of building up the running pyramid.

Last week’s race results from the LTF Torchlight 5K: 1^st place – 15:58

Up next: USA 20K championships on Sept. 5^th – the results will be in next week’s post!