Ladies,
I know my training pattern might be confusing some of you a bit, so let's take a few lines to clarify this. I do this not because anyone appears upset, but we have a lot of new runners that might not yet get the big picture.
Our big races come in October. Between now and then we'll have races, and we'll want to go hard, but they aren't the focus of the season. Our big races are Conference, Sectional, Regional, Semi-State, and State. Setting those races as the goals, we work backward to make the plan.
About 6-8 weeks out from peak race we want to start speedwork. We can't do this for much longer than that or people get hurt. This is the most stressful part of the season, and everything builds to it.
We are currently 10 weeks from the what I believe will have to be our focus - Regional. Our #1 goal of the season is to progress from Regional to Semi-State. I won't delve into the why on that right now; I only need to know how far away peak is.
That means we start speedwork, true speedwork, in 4 weeks. We'll race before then, and that will serve in some ways as quasi-speedwork, but the true stuff doesn't come for a while. No, for the next few weeks we'll focus on tempos and hill work.
Along with that I'm going to bend the rules a little. Ordinarily once you get to this point you don't really lift your miles. This summer we went shorter miles to keep injuries down, and that I feel was successful. However, we need a few more a week for a bit, so I am taking Saturdays and trying to run a bit longer. Today we ran 8. It wasn't fast, but I didn't expect it to be. We ran 10k of hills yesterday, and a tough hill workout the day before. What I wanted was a nice, flat run. Long, easy, flat. And that's what you did.
I know, I know, it's the Milwaukee. Count your lucky stars it's there. It is by far the easiest way to collect long runs we have. Sure there are downsides to it. But really, would you have preferred to run a hilly, hot 8? I can't see it.
I've told you I'm after permission to use Milwaukee after school. Understand, I don't want you to run hilly courses every day. Your body needs recovery from stressful work, and running hills day after day won't help. Last year was undone by injuries; I don't want to repeat that misery.
What might a typical week look like then?
Monday - easy 6-7 miles - CC course
Tuesday - tempo 2-3 miles, 6-7 total miles - Milwaukee Trail
Wednesday - easy 6-7 miles - RR bed
Thursday - hills, 6-7 total miles - CC course
Friday - 6-7 miles - CC course
Saturday - 8-10 miles - Milwaukee Trail
That would give a training range of 38-45 total miles for a week, right on target for most really good high school cross-country teams. That might seem like a lot, but it really isn't. I don't know if you realize it or not, but you girls ran for 38 miles this week!
I feel pretty solid about those numbers. Are there concerns? Always. But I like where we are right now...
I know my training pattern might be confusing some of you a bit, so let's take a few lines to clarify this. I do this not because anyone appears upset, but we have a lot of new runners that might not yet get the big picture.
Our big races come in October. Between now and then we'll have races, and we'll want to go hard, but they aren't the focus of the season. Our big races are Conference, Sectional, Regional, Semi-State, and State. Setting those races as the goals, we work backward to make the plan.
About 6-8 weeks out from peak race we want to start speedwork. We can't do this for much longer than that or people get hurt. This is the most stressful part of the season, and everything builds to it.
We are currently 10 weeks from the what I believe will have to be our focus - Regional. Our #1 goal of the season is to progress from Regional to Semi-State. I won't delve into the why on that right now; I only need to know how far away peak is.
That means we start speedwork, true speedwork, in 4 weeks. We'll race before then, and that will serve in some ways as quasi-speedwork, but the true stuff doesn't come for a while. No, for the next few weeks we'll focus on tempos and hill work.
Along with that I'm going to bend the rules a little. Ordinarily once you get to this point you don't really lift your miles. This summer we went shorter miles to keep injuries down, and that I feel was successful. However, we need a few more a week for a bit, so I am taking Saturdays and trying to run a bit longer. Today we ran 8. It wasn't fast, but I didn't expect it to be. We ran 10k of hills yesterday, and a tough hill workout the day before. What I wanted was a nice, flat run. Long, easy, flat. And that's what you did.
I know, I know, it's the Milwaukee. Count your lucky stars it's there. It is by far the easiest way to collect long runs we have. Sure there are downsides to it. But really, would you have preferred to run a hilly, hot 8? I can't see it.
I've told you I'm after permission to use Milwaukee after school. Understand, I don't want you to run hilly courses every day. Your body needs recovery from stressful work, and running hills day after day won't help. Last year was undone by injuries; I don't want to repeat that misery.
What might a typical week look like then?
Monday - easy 6-7 miles - CC course
Tuesday - tempo 2-3 miles, 6-7 total miles - Milwaukee Trail
Wednesday - easy 6-7 miles - RR bed
Thursday - hills, 6-7 total miles - CC course
Friday - 6-7 miles - CC course
Saturday - 8-10 miles - Milwaukee Trail
That would give a training range of 38-45 total miles for a week, right on target for most really good high school cross-country teams. That might seem like a lot, but it really isn't. I don't know if you realize it or not, but you girls ran for 38 miles this week!
I feel pretty solid about those numbers. Are there concerns? Always. But I like where we are right now...
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