Combining 60-Day Bootcamp with running?

[LionAlpha]

Hey all! Theoretically speaking, next week I'll finish the PPL program (done it with resistance bands and included push-ups and pull-ups on the respective days. Gained a good amount of muscle). But anyway, I want to do the 60-Day Bootcamp next, and since I am kind of following, or at least trying to follow, a Hybrid Athlete approach, I was wondering how to combine the program, while incorporating running into it. Any ideas?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

You could add in running as many days as you like with the 60-Day Bootcamp. The only thing I would suggest it to make certain your running recovery day doesn't fall on cardio days in the program. Depending on your conditioning level, time, and goals, you could either take the cardio days off from running and consider them as cross-training days, or you could still run on those days and consider them more as power cardio days. But either way, choose one of the other days in the program (weights, core, or tendon strength) to be an easy run day.

 

[LionAlpha]

You could add in running as many days as you like with the 60-Day Bootcamp. The only thing I would suggest it to make certain your running recovery day doesn't fall on cardio days in the program. Depending on your conditioning level, time, and goals, you could either take the cardio days off from running and consider them as cross-training days, or you could still run on those days and consider them more as power cardio days. But either way, choose one of the other days in the program (weights, core, or tendon strength) to be an easy run day.

Thank you for the reply! So if I understood correctly, either do a run instead of the program's cardio, or do the run during the strength days. Did I get it right?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Thank you for the reply! So if I understood correctly, either do a run instead of the program's cardio, or do the run during the strength days. Did I get it right?

I'm saying you could do Bootcamp every day. And you could also run every day. Bootcamp already has a recovery schedule build into it, because the workouts alternate on a 4-day schedule: cardio, strength, core, tendon strength & meditation. If you choose to run every day, it's optimal to put a recovery day in your running schedule as well, which you would need to schedule yourself. Typically runners do this on a weekly schedule. For instance, when I was running competitively, my training schedule was:

Mondays: tempo run
Tuesdays: intervals
Wednesdays: tempo run
Thursdays: intervals
Fridays: easy run (usually jogging the race course, if it was a 5K)
Saturdays: race day
Sundays: long and slow

We used a weekly schedule, because the schedule had to be built around race days, which typically were every Saturday.

If you want to combine running with a DAREBEE program, it's best to go with a 4-day running schedule, because the program also has a 4-day schedule. To do this, you want to pick a running recovery day that is NOT the program cardio day. Because high knees, mountain climbers, jump squats, and similar exercises are not recovery from running. These are exercises that target your body in very similar ways to what running does. From a muscular fatigue point of view, they count as interval training days. If you did a hard run (tempo/intervals/race) on the weights, core, and tendon strength days, and a recovery run on the cardio days, you wouldn't have any recovery day in your running schedule.

From a running perspective, the Bootcamp schedule looks like this:

Day 1: Cardio = interval training
Day 2: Weights = recovery day
Day 3: Core = recovery day
Day 4: Tendon Strength & Meditation = recovery day

So you could pick day 2, 3 or 4 to be your easy run day. But not day 1.
Whether or not you choose to do a run on day 1 would depend on your conditioning base, training goals, and time available for working out.

A schedule I might suggest to a beginner could be:

Day 1: Cardio + no run (= running cross-training day)
Day 2: Weights + tempo run
Day 3: Core + fartleks (alternating running and walking for a total beginner, otherwise alternating running and jogging)
Day 4: Tendon Strength + easy run (= running recovery day)

But for someone with a decent established training base I might suggest:

Day 1: Cardio + alternate: tempo run on wk. 1 / race/best speed run on wk. 2 (do the run BEFORE Bootcamp on race/best speed weeks)
Day 2: Weights + tempo run
Day 3: Core + interval training (could be fartleks, or something more structured)
Day 4: Tendon Strength + alternate: easy run on wk. 1 / long & slow run on wk. 2 (= running recovery day)

(I know you're not a beginner. But I haven't seen a running update from you since July. So I don't know what specifically to suggest for you at this time.)

 

[LionAlpha]

I'm saying you could do Bootcamp every day. And you could also run every day. Bootcamp already has a recovery schedule build into it, because the workouts alternate on a 4-day schedule: cardio, strength, core, tendon strength & meditation. If you choose to run every day, it's optimal to put a recovery day in your running schedule as well, which you would need to schedule yourself. Typically runners do this on a weekly schedule. For instance, when I was running competitively, my training schedule was:

Mondays: tempo run
Tuesdays: intervals
Wednesdays: tempo run
Thursdays: intervals
Fridays: easy run (usually jogging the race course, if it was a 5K)
Saturdays: race day
Sundays: long and slow

We used a weekly schedule, because the schedule had to be built around race days, which typically were every Saturday.

If you want to combine running with a DAREBEE program, it's best to go with a 4-day running schedule, because the program also has a 4-day schedule. To do this, you want to pick a running recovery day that is NOT the program cardio day. Because high knees, mountain climbers, jump squats, and similar exercises are not recovery from running. These are exercises that target your body in very similar ways to what running does. From a muscular fatigue point of view, they count as interval training days. If you did a hard run (tempo/intervals/race) on the weights, core, and tendon strength days, and a recovery run on the cardio days, you wouldn't have any recovery day in your running schedule.

From a running perspective, the Bootcamp schedule looks like this:

Day 1: Cardio = interval training
Day 2: Weights = recovery day
Day 3: Core = recovery day
Day 4: Tendon Strength & Meditation = recovery day

So you could pick day 2, 3 or 4 to be your easy run day. But not day 1.
Whether or not you choose to do a run on day 1 would depend on your conditioning base, training goals, and time available for working out.

A schedule I might suggest to a beginner could be:

Day 1: Cardio + no run (= running cross-training day)
Day 2: Weights + tempo run
Day 3: Core + fartleks (alternating running and walking for a total beginner, otherwise alternating running and jogging)
Day 4: Tendon Strength + easy run (= running recovery day)

But for someone with a decent established training base I might suggest:

Day 1: Cardio + alternate: tempo run on wk. 1 / race/best speed run on wk. 2 (do the run BEFORE Bootcamp on race/best speed weeks)
Day 2: Weights + tempo run
Day 3: Core + interval training (could be fartleks, or something more structured)
Day 4: Tendon Strength + alternate: easy run on wk. 1 / long & slow run on wk. 2 (= running recovery day)

(I know you're not a beginner. But I haven't seen a running update from you since July. So I don't know what specifically to suggest for you at this time.)

Thank you very much for the thorough guidance! I indeed stopped posting about my running post-July because I stopped running for a few months (completely lost motivation), and kept going with my strength training. I started running again at the beginning of the year, alternating between strength and running. However due to my working time, it's hard to do double workouts or long training sessions, so the alternate days worked for me.

Truth be told I simplified my running and I just do 5k runs following the MAF method. I was wondering if it would be also beneficial to adapt it as follows?
Day 1: Program's Cardio
Day 2: Program's Weights (but doing it with resistance bands instead and adding push ups and pull ups)
Day 3: 5k run
Day 4: Program's Core
Day 5: 5k run
Day 6: Program's Tendon Strength
And then repeat

Theoretically, I have 3 days of cardio, 3 days of strength in a week. Right?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Day 1: Program's Cardio
Day 2: Program's Weights (but doing it with resistance bands instead and adding push ups and pull ups)
Day 3: 5k run
Day 4: Program's Core
Day 5: 5k run
Day 6: Program's Tendon Strength
And then repeat

If you want to keep it to one workout per day, I think this is an excellent schedule, yes.
And yes, (none of the workouts are entirely one thing, but) you are more-or-less alternating strength days with cardio days with your schedule.