Ladies,
It's been a game-changing week for this team. Monday started an abrupt paradigm shift that saw practices switch from controlled, paced runs into competitive "watch for the next move" type events. It's going to pay off huge, indeed it did even last night. Racing season is a completely different mindset every day, every practice.
Still, the body does have limits, and today we hit them. Nearly everyone is beaten down after this long week, and the heat index was far higher than I expected. Put that together and you have some runs that had to be curtailed. Man, I wish we'd have stayed at Milwaukee!
I want to talk about knowing when it's time to call it a day... the surest sign your body is finished is heart rate. Theoretically, your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. We worked this out with Joslyn after I chopped her day, so let's use her as an example. Her pulse was at 190-195 when I stopped her. Let's run the numbers:
220 - 14 = 206
190 / 206 = 92%
A rest day probably shouldn't go above 75%, or 155 bpm for Joslyn. Her pulse was racing at almost 11-minute pace running. There is nothing, NOTHING constructive about breaking an athlete down beyond that. You are practicing bad form, destroying confidence, and slowing the recovery process. That's my job - to look at you and see when the day is over.
I wish I could dig up an old book (long out of print) by a German physiologist by the name of Junge (which is German for "Youth", ironically enough). He laid out the foundation of principles upon which I based much of my early training and racing career. It was great stuff. If I ever get my hands on a copy I'll be a better coach for it.
The gist of it is this... instead of using a watch, it's entirely possible to train by heart rate alone. In truth, it gives a far more accurate picture of any given moment than time. There are so many variables that go into making a course or conditions that time alone falls miserably short of telling the story. Heart rate never lies. If you hold a zone of heart rate, that's how hard you worked, period.
Back to Joslyn's example... she might have led workouts all week, but today might have been the hardest she's worked yet. That zone is in the place reserved for intervals and racing. It didn't matter how slow she was going - the stress was the same as if she were racing. That's why she felt so awful. I suspect Diana was there by the end of her run, too.
Two girls that really made out okay were Carrie and Zoe. I checked them, Carrie clocking in at 150, Zoe at 160. Zoe's was slightly elevated, but not in any danger. Carrie was coasting. Katlyn finished right after them with a 170, clearly working very hard. So, though Carrie and Zoe were faster, Katlyn worked harder. See how it works?
Here is a great page with useful information.
Just remember this... it all comes down to place in a race. Whatever methodology gets you to the line before as many runners as possible is viable. We like to think of time because it is comfortable. Sometimes we have to think outside the box to get the full story, and to get the most out of ourselves.
Tomorrow I have planned a long run, but I am very prepared to cut it back if things get too hard. We cannot hurt people at this point unnecessarily, and if I have to choose between speed and distance, I choose speed.
It's been a game-changing week for this team. Monday started an abrupt paradigm shift that saw practices switch from controlled, paced runs into competitive "watch for the next move" type events. It's going to pay off huge, indeed it did even last night. Racing season is a completely different mindset every day, every practice.
Still, the body does have limits, and today we hit them. Nearly everyone is beaten down after this long week, and the heat index was far higher than I expected. Put that together and you have some runs that had to be curtailed. Man, I wish we'd have stayed at Milwaukee!
I want to talk about knowing when it's time to call it a day... the surest sign your body is finished is heart rate. Theoretically, your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. We worked this out with Joslyn after I chopped her day, so let's use her as an example. Her pulse was at 190-195 when I stopped her. Let's run the numbers:
220 - 14 = 206
190 / 206 = 92%
A rest day probably shouldn't go above 75%, or 155 bpm for Joslyn. Her pulse was racing at almost 11-minute pace running. There is nothing, NOTHING constructive about breaking an athlete down beyond that. You are practicing bad form, destroying confidence, and slowing the recovery process. That's my job - to look at you and see when the day is over.
I wish I could dig up an old book (long out of print) by a German physiologist by the name of Junge (which is German for "Youth", ironically enough). He laid out the foundation of principles upon which I based much of my early training and racing career. It was great stuff. If I ever get my hands on a copy I'll be a better coach for it.
The gist of it is this... instead of using a watch, it's entirely possible to train by heart rate alone. In truth, it gives a far more accurate picture of any given moment than time. There are so many variables that go into making a course or conditions that time alone falls miserably short of telling the story. Heart rate never lies. If you hold a zone of heart rate, that's how hard you worked, period.
Back to Joslyn's example... she might have led workouts all week, but today might have been the hardest she's worked yet. That zone is in the place reserved for intervals and racing. It didn't matter how slow she was going - the stress was the same as if she were racing. That's why she felt so awful. I suspect Diana was there by the end of her run, too.
Two girls that really made out okay were Carrie and Zoe. I checked them, Carrie clocking in at 150, Zoe at 160. Zoe's was slightly elevated, but not in any danger. Carrie was coasting. Katlyn finished right after them with a 170, clearly working very hard. So, though Carrie and Zoe were faster, Katlyn worked harder. See how it works?
Here is a great page with useful information.
Just remember this... it all comes down to place in a race. Whatever methodology gets you to the line before as many runners as possible is viable. We like to think of time because it is comfortable. Sometimes we have to think outside the box to get the full story, and to get the most out of ourselves.
Tomorrow I have planned a long run, but I am very prepared to cut it back if things get too hard. We cannot hurt people at this point unnecessarily, and if I have to choose between speed and distance, I choose speed.
No comments:
Post a Comment