First Week of Practice

OK Team!  Here We Go!

We've had a great summer of training and now it's time to crank it up for real.  I want to get some information out about the first week.  Please take a look at the training groups that I've assigned you to

Training Groups

We will start practice on Monday at 7:00 AM.  Groups 1-4 will run morning workouts.  Groups 1-3 will have a mandatory shakeout run at 3:00 PM.  This will serve the double purpose of additional training volume and heat aclimitization.  Attendance will be taken.  If you can only get a ride to one practice, come to the morning workouts.  Group 5 will only work out in the afternoons.  See below for full details

• Monday - AM Groups 1-4, PM Groups 1-3 and Group 5
• Tuesday - AM Groups 1-4, PM Groups 1-3 and Group 5
• Wednesday - AM Groups 1-4, PM Groups 1-3 and Group 5
• Thursday - All groups: PM 7th period.  Team meeting in Reeder Hall then afternoon workout
• Friday - All groups: 7th period. afternoon workout. 
• Saturday - OYO mileage.  Advanced groups encouraged to meet up for long run (see schedule)
• Sunday - Off or very easy. 

Training groups are organized by expected weekly training volume.  There is quite a bit of flexibility for athletes within groups to either back off or jack it up on any given day.  Please see the first week's workout schedule

Please note that when you read "70-80% of peak volume" that this is aimed at the veteran runners who have been running all summer and have already reached their peak volume for the year. 

To find your peak volume, find your 3 concecutive weeks the highest total mileage.  For example, Mason's highest 3 weeks probably average about 60 miles per week.  This week is only a 70-80% week.  This means mason woud run only 42-48 miles this week.  Mason will need to be responsible for making sure he hits these totals and can adjust total volume by lenghening or shortening his weekend runs or his afternoon shakeouts.  

Week 11 Workouts 

One Week Until Practice Starts

Hey Team!

We have one week until our official season starts.  This could be our best season ever, so let's make sure we get off to a great start.  I've got a couple of housekeeping things to go over and then want to talk about your OYO training for this week.  

1. We will work out at 7:00 AM on M,T,W of next week  (Aug 4-6).  Veterans will also have afternoon shakeouts for heat acclimation on those same days.  If you can't make it to school twice, come to the morning workout and run in the heat on your own in the afternoon.  School starts on the 7th and we will practice during 7th period from that point forward.
2. Freshman Roundup is Wednesday.  I will be contacting a few of you about recruiting and trying to build our team.  We didn't have a ton of freshmen running this summer, so finding some more enthusiastic athletes is essential
3. You MUST finish your athletic clearance.  Most of you have done this already.  If you have not GET YOUR PHYSICALS AND GET THEM UPLOADED. From this point forward, no athletic clearance, no practice, no compete. 

Last week of summer training

1. Mostly, you just need to keep your mileage high.  This is the most important time of the season to keep it up.  It's going to be really hard the first couple of weeks of school, and I've planned for a dip in your volumes during that time.  So, use these next 10 days wisely.
2. This week, you need 2 harder sessions.
3. Session 1: It's time to do something a little faster.  You've got options.  Veterans should aim for 400m repeats with 2 minutes recovery.  Go about 4-5 seconds faster per lap than you have been doing on your 3 minute intervals.  This should not be hard, but should be your first taste of a realistic goal pace.  
4. Session 2: Make this a normal tempo run or threshold interval session.  You've done a bunch of these this summer so you should know what you're doing by now (veterans)
5. Newbies try to make 2 of your runs this week progression runs, finishing with about 5 minutes of fairly hard running.  Other than that, do strides and do mileage. 
6. All of you should make sure your doing strides at least 2 times a week in addition to the hard training days.
7. On August 4th, we'll run our end of the summer 6 minute test to see where we're at.  

Summer Fundraiser Donations Needed

OUR SUMMER FUNDRAISER IS TOMORROW NIGHT

I've created a sign up genius for donations of drinks.  Any donations we get mean we don't have to buy them with team money.  What I'm looking for are

1. 6 cases of water (defined as a 24 pack)
2. 2 cases of coke (Costo 35 pack)
3. 1 case of sprite
4. 1 case of dr pepper
5. 1 case of diet coke. 

Also, we will need coolers for the fundraiser and for camp.  I have 3 "normal sized coolers" but we usually need to bring at least 3 more to camp to keep ouf food cool on the trip up.  Usually, one of those coolers is a large one where we can fit 10 gallons of milk :)

If your son or daughter is going to camp, and yoy have a big cooler, please bring it to practice Thursday morning.

Please bring drink donations Thursday morning as well. 

Sign up for Drink Donations Here 

Good Job, Team!

 OK guys, Check the summer mileage page.

We're doing really well.  We've got 5 boys within striking distance of being in the 700 mile group!  I talk a lot about how in 2022, we had our whole varsity group hit 700.  OK, that was juast the varsity group.  After that, there wasn't much happening.  If I look now, I see a whole bunch of you on pace for 550-650.

On the girls side, 

Melanie and Lizeth are KILLING IT!. We're going to see some big improvements from them.  And, we're starting to get healthy with a number of other girls.  For the girls side, we may be a little behind where we want to be right now, but as long as we all start gelling as a group and getting the volume up little by little, we're going to be very good.  For the girls, it's important that we get those newer girls feeling like they're part of the team.  Call them up for an easy run, it can be your double for the day.  This is how we keep the ball rolling when a big chunk of seniors graduates this year.  

As far as mileage goes, Here's where you should be RN.

• 700 = 294 @ 6 weeks - If you're at 270, RN, you're in good shape.
• 500 = 210 @ 6 weeks - If you're at 190 RN, you're in good shape. 
• 300 = 126 @ 6 weeks - If you're at 115-120 RN, you're in good shape.

The next 5 weeks ideally should be your highest volume block of the season

It's not ideal, but when school starts, it's much harder to keep up your volume.  So, if you're aiming for 700, now is the time to start hitting 55-65 mile weeks and then you'll drop back to 45-50 once school starts.  If you're aiming for 500, now is the time to experiment with 40-45 mile weeks.  If you're aiming for 300, now is the time to try and get into the mid to high 20 range. 

Peak Mileage and Summer of Malmo

OK, Team.  We're 4 weeks into the summer and things are going WELL 

On the boys side, the majority of our BIG DOGS have ramped up their mileage close to their peaks for this training cycle.  On the girls side, we're working through some injuries and vacations, but things are starting to move in the right direction.  

Where do we go next? 

We go to peak mileage for the season (this applies to veterans only.  Newbies will continue to slowly build their volume for most of the rest of the season.  How do you get to peak mileage?  Just back off the intensity a little bit and run a little bit more.  It's that simple.  We've had a good 4 weeks of mileage and 3 weeks of practice, so it's time to bump it up.

How will this look?

You need to remember that after this Thursday, you guys will be on your own for the next 2.5 weeks.  This is a really good opportunity to dial into your own individual needs.  Please read the Summer of Malmo.  It should only take you about 5 minutes.  Summer of Malmo was written by former American Record Holder in the steeplechase, George Malley.  He is well known for having put in pretty big miles while still in high school and that leapfrogged him to a good college and professional career in the early 80s.  When Malley wrote this article, American distance running was in the dumps.  Times that seem pedestrian today were viewed as unobtainable back then.  Coaches and atheltes started readng this article, and adopting the principles.  I believe that this is one of the reasons that distance running in the US picked back up again starting in the late 90s and continuing today.  

How will this look? Part II

Some of you might be a little tired, having already built up to the mileage you're at.  If that is the case, you can take a down week this week, where you cut back by about 20%.  If you're still feeling good, you can keep building.

You have 6 weeks until we start practicing every day.  We'll only be meeting as a team for 3 of those weeks.  One of those weeks is camp, for the varsity group.  Let's use Shane as an example of how these next 6 weeks should look.

Shane the Bullet Train

Shane's goal for the summer is 700 miles, which means he needs to average 49 miles a week for the entireity of our 100 day period.  Shane just got to 50 miles, which means he's a little behind pace for 700.  This is the time for Shane to get AHEAD of the 700 pace.  So far, Shane has gone: 

• Week 1: 38.5
• Week 2: 45
• Week 3: 46
• Week 4: 50.

So, Shane has built up to what his average volume needs to be.  What does a catch up period look like?

• Week 5: 42 (if he was tired from the first month), 50 if not
• Week 6: (OYO) 55
• Week 7: (OYO) 60
• Week 8: 55 Back with the team
• Week 9: 60
• Week 10: 60 (OYO)
• Week 11: 45 (first week of organized practice) 

What about workouts?

On the weeks you run with the team, just do the workouts we do.  For the OYO weeks, do the workouts that you like the best.  Just make sure they fit in with what I've been teaching you.  The workouts should be controlled and you should not be blowing yourselves out.  Since you're running your biggest miles of the season (and probably of your lives) you can even go back to 1 actual workout on the OYO weeks....or simply follow Summer of Malmo for those weeks.  If you're planning to back off the workouts, grease the speed groove by running strides almost every day. 

I'm really excited about where we are at right now.  Let's make this season epic!

Camp 2025 Updates

 Hey Team

I've updated our team's Camp Page.  Thank you to those of you who've done what you need to do in order to be elligible.  For those of you who want to go, here's what still needs to be done.  

1. Make sure you've got your physical and that it's uploaded to athletic clearance.  If you don't have a physical yet, get one ASAP.  Download the form from our athletic department page. Click the athletic forms link
2. Bring your Deposit of $300 (that deposit won't be enough to pay for camp entirely, and that's where Fundraising comes in. If you are not selected for camp, you will get your full deposit back.  
3. Sell fundraiser tickets and participate in the fundraiser The fundraiser isn't just for camp, it's for the whole team.  However, if you want to go to camp, you're going to need to sell tickets AND help serve food during the fundraiser.  If we do well enough on the fundraiser, I will be able to return some of your deposits.  Camp will cost the team in the neighborhood of $8000 this year
4. Turn in a permission slip.  I will get these slips out the week we leave for camp.  

FYI, to see the checklist on the Camp Page, click the tab on the spreadsheet that says, Camp Checklist. 

LOOK AT MILLS!!!!

 In 1964, one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history happened when Billy Mills of the USA, sprinted past world record holder Ron Clarke to win the gold medal in the mens' 10000m run.  

I bring this up because the video of him winning in a thrilling kick displays one of the only examples I can think of where a distance runner uses really good sprint mechanics during the final kick.  I talked today at practice about the importance of constantly practicing, and rehearsing good running mechanics, so that when the time comes, and you're as dead as dead can be, you still can run powerfully and efficiently to move past your opponents.  

Here is a sample week of Mill's training.  When you see 110s, that means a 110 yard hard strider.  Notice how he did these almost daily as  part of a secondary workout.  

Mon: A.M--2 mile w/u, 4 mile "tee to greens" on golf course 2 mile cooldown

P.M-- 2 mile warmup, 2 miles of repeat 110s, 1 mile cooldown.

Tue: A.M.--2 mile warmup; 1 mile repeat 110s, 2 mile cooldown.

P.M.--1 mile w/u 2 miles of sprint 150, float 70, in 8:50, 4 mile cooldown.

Wed: A.M.--3 mile w/u; 1 mile of repeat 110s; 1 mile easy; 4x 880s in 1:59-2:00 with 330 rest; 2 mile c/d.

P.M.-- 4 mile w/u; xc run on sand with 1.5 miles easy and 1.5 miles at race pace, 2 mile cooldown.

Thu; A.M--3 mile w/u; 2 miles of easy 110s.

P.M--whirlpool and rest.

Fri: A.M--1 mile w/u, whirlpool

P.M--14 miles easy

Sat: A.M--3 mile w/u, 1 mile of repeat 110s; 6 x 1000 yards (slower than race pace) w/330 rest; 1 mile c/d

P.M--4 miles easy; 4 miles hard, 1 mile easy 110s, 1 mile cooldown.

Sun: A.M--2 mile w/u 1 mile easy 110s, 1 mile hard 110s; 1 mile easy; 1 mile cooldown.

Total: 90 miles

Here's another good video, with a little higher production value.  Note the crushed brick track (for those of you complaining about running on dirt at Hilmar. 

If you're interested, there was a good movie made about Mill's life called Running Brave (he is Lakota Sioux Native American).