Run Fast, not Hard During the Summer

OK, guys.  Week 2 mileage totals are coming in.  I will have them updated by the end of today.  As a whole, we are doing a good job with our summer running.  I still have not heard from a number of people yet, but I'm sure that many of them are running.  I will add their miles to the total as soon as they get them to me.

Now, for this weeks training topic.

Cross Country running can be very hard.  Training to be excellent is very difficult.  Despite the fact that the sport requires such intense effort, some of the most effective training you can do during the summer months is not difficult at all.  In last week's article, I discussed the proper pace for your training runs (please read it if you have not already done so).  Today, I will talk about running FAST.  Specifically, the focus will be on development of speed, power, and efficiency. 

There are a number of ways to develop speed without actually running yourselves into the ground.  Here is a brief synopsis of the things that you can do to give yourselves a boost in speed without overtraining.

1. Drills and Striders:  This is very simple, you know what this is since we do these often during the season.  After an easy run, spend an extra 5 minutes doing drills and then run 4-10 strides of 70-120m at a pace about equal to your mile race pace.  Make sure that you take plenty of rest in between strides so that they do not start to become too much like a workout.  You are only focusing on being as smooth and relaxed as possible.
2. Easy repetitions at race pace.  Think of these basically as long striders.  Once again you will be running these after a normal easy or steady run.  After the run, do 800-1600m worth of reps ranging in distance from 150-300m.   There is no need to go faster than mile race pace on these.  These are obviously a little more difficult than shorter striders, but if you keep the repetition distance below 300m, you will not experience that much fatigue.  Once again, make sure to take plenty of rest between reps because the purpose is to keep your legs used to running at race pace without actually having to do hard workouts.
3. Max speed short sprints.  This is something we have not done too much of during cross country season, but we will do more of this year.  After a good warm up, or after a short, easy run, do 6-10 sprints of 40-70m.  Make sure to take full recovery.  On these sprints, make sure to focus on your running mechanics (landing on the balls of your feet, good knee drive, etc...) but run as fast as you can without your mechanics breaking down.  Although these runs will not really leave you feeling winded, they will stress your muscles and nervous system, so it is important to do them on fresh legs in order to avoid injuries.  You can do your easy progression run after that.  These short sprints can also be done on the stadium ramp at school in order to develop more leg power.

Lets look at how a week for this point in the summer, including some easy speed training, might look on paper.

• Monday, 6/11: 4 miles easy + drills + 6 x 100m strides (jog back recovery)
• Tuesday, 6/12: AM 5 miles with progression to steady state, PM 3 miles easy
• Wednesday, 6/13: Warm up 1 mile, stretch, drills, 5 x 60m @ 95%  + 3 miles easy run.
• Thursday 6/14, Bear Valley Run, 5 miles uphill, steady state effort
• Friday 6/15 Off
• Saturday 6/16: AM 4 miles easy + drills + 4 x 200 @ mile race pace (walk across infield recovery) PM 3 miles easy
• Sunday, 6/17: 6 miles with progression to stead state effort.

Total: 35 miles
3 days of fast running
3 days of progression or steady running.

Note:  This is the MAXIMUM amount of fast running and steady state that you should do at this point of the summer.  It is perfectly fine to have only 1-2 days with each.