John Furey is the official team trainer for the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Running Program. We are delighted to offer John’s training expertise to you in preparation for your upcoming race! To ask training questions or build an individualized training plan, please contact John directly at jfurey262@gmail.com.
If you are new to running or have not run in a long time, John suggests you begin with the Couch to 5K program to allow your body to get used to impact. Injury prevention is the most critical part of a training plan at any level. Please take the following steps to optimize your program:
- Weekly mileage increase
- Foam roll before running and stretch or roll post run
- Strength training 2-3 times per week
- Cross train to promote variety and reduce overuse risk
- Get fitted for sneakers
Additional Information and Tips:
- Long runs once a week at an easy to moderate pace are important for building mileage; incorporate walking breaks as needed
- Strength training (30-40 minutes of push-ups, squats, planks, side planks, pull-ups, etc.) allows for a total body workout
- Cross-training (spinning, swimming, rowing machine, elliptical, etc.) is important to give joints a break without impact
- Hill intervals start with a 1-1.5 mile warm-up followed by a 1-2 minute climb with a moderate pitch; you should run up with hard effort and jog down easy; complete the workout with a 1-1.5 mile cool down
- 30/30 intervals (2 miles alternating between 30 seconds of hard effort and 30 seconds of easy effort) should be incorporated into the middle of a run; start with 5 repetitions and add one per week
- Tempo workouts are 15-20 minutes of hard continuous running in the middle or at the end of a workout
- Days off are necessary to let the body recover
Training Plan: 7-mile Falmouth Road Race