Ladies,
Let me open with a reminder; I won't be able to attend practice this week, July 21-25 due to workshops I am teaching. I could change practice time, but I think that would be severe inconvenience to just about all of you. It is easier to continue practice without me. You guys know what to do - Mon/Wed/Fri are easy runs of 5 miles; Tu/Thur are quality days. Tuesday will be speed play, fartleks or Indian run, Thursday will be hill repeats. See? Simple.
Let me move over to the Limestone Klassic 5k which was held today. We had Diana, Carrie, Madison, Zoe, and Chelsea running for us, and let me say each exceeded (by far) my expectations! The team statistician (Coach Jo) poured over the numbers, and here's what she sent me:
Carrie - 2:30 faster than last year
Madison - over 2:30 faster than last year
Zoe - 1:30 faster than last year
Chelsea - over 2:00 faster
I don't know if Diana ran last year; I think she was at the fair. We'll have to ask.
Notice I didn't put their times - that's not what's important. Improvement is what counts, and it's clear that's what we have. I'll be the first to admit I was a bit worried when Tuesday's workout fell apart so early. These kinds of shocks do happen in training cycles, but I wasn't prepared for this one.
Remember, we set the summer up to focus more on higher overall quality, less quantity. The last two years have shown us we can't necessarily handle the higher miles required for a huge base, and since we don't need a bunch of injured girls to start the season, a different path was required. It was a gamble. One part of it has already proven right - we have far less girls complaining of injury. I had been encouraged by the midnight run last weekend, so I guess I expected a bit higher quality on Tuesday. It didn't happen.
Sometimes though, your successes follow directly after failure. Tuesday hopefully refocused us all, showed us we have to up our game. It's not impossible, it's not even overly difficult, but it won't just happen. It requires we make the effort.
That's where today comes in. For the five who ran, there was a focus. You were instructed to run 85-90%, not all-out. You were given specific things to look for in the race. And then you took over. This is my third year of coaching girls, and these are the fastest times we've had from any BNL runner over the summer in that time. It was a very good day, and in my mind, wipes Tuesday's effort completely out.
There's still a great deal of work to do. We haven't even started the high quality workouts yet. Don't let that scare you, rather let it encourage you. True, they are difficult. However, and this is the important part, you will reap your greatest gains from this point on from those workouts. How much? That depends on you. The old saying, "You get out what you put in" definitely applies here. Let's just say the purpose of this type of work is to make you more efficient, flexible, and mentally prepared to push. Some of you may drop two minutes or more from this point on.
Let me extrapolate a bit... Carrie ran 22:18 today. Assuming she obeyed the request to treat it like a tempo, that means she hit three miles at 21:30, which is roughly her true 5k speed at this point. Let's say she drops two minutes from there... 19:30! Easy? No. Possible? Very!
In case you think that's shaky math, consider this. Last year Carrie would have been in the 24:50 range, yet she ultimately ran 20:50. Even I can do that math in my head - three minutes!
Yeah, I'm definitely excited!
Let me open with a reminder; I won't be able to attend practice this week, July 21-25 due to workshops I am teaching. I could change practice time, but I think that would be severe inconvenience to just about all of you. It is easier to continue practice without me. You guys know what to do - Mon/Wed/Fri are easy runs of 5 miles; Tu/Thur are quality days. Tuesday will be speed play, fartleks or Indian run, Thursday will be hill repeats. See? Simple.
Let me move over to the Limestone Klassic 5k which was held today. We had Diana, Carrie, Madison, Zoe, and Chelsea running for us, and let me say each exceeded (by far) my expectations! The team statistician (Coach Jo) poured over the numbers, and here's what she sent me:
Carrie - 2:30 faster than last year
Madison - over 2:30 faster than last year
Zoe - 1:30 faster than last year
Chelsea - over 2:00 faster
I don't know if Diana ran last year; I think she was at the fair. We'll have to ask.
Notice I didn't put their times - that's not what's important. Improvement is what counts, and it's clear that's what we have. I'll be the first to admit I was a bit worried when Tuesday's workout fell apart so early. These kinds of shocks do happen in training cycles, but I wasn't prepared for this one.
Remember, we set the summer up to focus more on higher overall quality, less quantity. The last two years have shown us we can't necessarily handle the higher miles required for a huge base, and since we don't need a bunch of injured girls to start the season, a different path was required. It was a gamble. One part of it has already proven right - we have far less girls complaining of injury. I had been encouraged by the midnight run last weekend, so I guess I expected a bit higher quality on Tuesday. It didn't happen.
Sometimes though, your successes follow directly after failure. Tuesday hopefully refocused us all, showed us we have to up our game. It's not impossible, it's not even overly difficult, but it won't just happen. It requires we make the effort.
That's where today comes in. For the five who ran, there was a focus. You were instructed to run 85-90%, not all-out. You were given specific things to look for in the race. And then you took over. This is my third year of coaching girls, and these are the fastest times we've had from any BNL runner over the summer in that time. It was a very good day, and in my mind, wipes Tuesday's effort completely out.
There's still a great deal of work to do. We haven't even started the high quality workouts yet. Don't let that scare you, rather let it encourage you. True, they are difficult. However, and this is the important part, you will reap your greatest gains from this point on from those workouts. How much? That depends on you. The old saying, "You get out what you put in" definitely applies here. Let's just say the purpose of this type of work is to make you more efficient, flexible, and mentally prepared to push. Some of you may drop two minutes or more from this point on.
Let me extrapolate a bit... Carrie ran 22:18 today. Assuming she obeyed the request to treat it like a tempo, that means she hit three miles at 21:30, which is roughly her true 5k speed at this point. Let's say she drops two minutes from there... 19:30! Easy? No. Possible? Very!
In case you think that's shaky math, consider this. Last year Carrie would have been in the 24:50 range, yet she ultimately ran 20:50. Even I can do that math in my head - three minutes!
Yeah, I'm definitely excited!
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