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Blue Collar Endurance Training
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Training Definitions
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Training Elements
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These are the building blocks that make up your training week. Understanding each element will help you see how everything fits together.
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Volume & Distance
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Weekly Volume
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The total distance or time you run in a week. Your training should be built around how much weekly volume your body can handle sustainably over time.
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Long Distance (LD)
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The longest run of your week. The Long Distance run is a valuable tool for aerobic development that has stood the test of time. It’s typically placed on weekends for practical scheduling.
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Medium Distance (MD)
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Shorter than your Long Distance run, but longer than your typical runs. It’s typically placed mid-week and can help double down on aerobic development when complemented with a weekend Long Distance run.
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Double
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A second run done later in the day. These are used to increase weekly volume without overloading a single run. Doubles are typically shorter, easier, and often placed in the afternoon on quality days.
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Session Structure
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Warm-Up
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Warming up prepares your body as a whole for higher quality work. You should aim to break a sweat, wake the legs up fully, and get the heart pumping. A warm-up should ideally be 15 minutes of easy running or 2 miles at the minimum.
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Cool-Down
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Although not as important as warming up, cooling down is a good way to shift mentally towards recovery, and get some extra quality out of the day through fatigued easy running. Some elite athletes get creative and add progressively slower threshold work, mobility exercises, or strength training into their cool-down.
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Quality Day
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Generally describes a day with an intentional purpose to create an adaptation. Quality might come from a Long Distance run, intervals, continuous efforts, or even a double workout. Sometimes the quality comes from intensity, sometimes from volume, and sometimes from how the session is structured. This could be shorter recoveries, longer reps, or higher density. The rest of your week is structured to support these days.
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XC Surface
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Grass, gravel, dirt, or clay. Anything that’s not road, paved, or a track.
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Planning & Periodization
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Race-Specific
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Training that closely mimics the effort, rhythm, and demands of a particular race. Race-specificity can be targeted through pace, total volume, rep length, recovery type, recovery length, and terrain.
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Block vs. Cycle
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Block
A 2 to 5 week stretch of training designed to target a specific stimulus like weekly volume, threshold work, or race-specific work.
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Cycle
The bigger picture. It’s the full buildup toward a goal race, racing season, or both. Cycles are made up of multiple blocks stacked together.
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Blue Collar Endurance Training
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