A Little Vocabulary and How We Are Going to Attack This Season

Important notes on reading the schedule

OK, I'd like to introduce you to a few terms I've not used with you yet.  The terms: Microcycle, Mesocycle, and Macrocycle all describe different amounts of time in the training year.  There is not a hard and fast unit of time assigned to each term, rather, each term describes a specific period of training where we will try to accomplish a specific goal.

• Macrocycle - This describes a long period of time with a major goal race at the end of the cycle.  For most high school and college teams, a macrocycle would be a competitive season.  This means that most of us would go through 2 macrocycles each year: Summer and Fall for Cross Country and Winter and Spring for Track. For a world class athlete, aiming for an Olympic medal, a macrocycle might be a 4 year period of training designed to earn gold at the end.
• Mesocycle- This describes a specific block of time within the macrocycle.  Most competitive seasons are broken up into 3-6 mesocycles, each with it's own training emphasis. If you read through the plans I put up for the track season, I used the term "training phase" to outline the different mesocycles of the season.  I outlined 5 different mesocycles for the track season. I have 6 mesocycles planned for cross.  One difference that you will notice from track to cross this season, is that we will have a pre-programmed rest period during each mesocycle.  The rest period is not a time to sit around and do nothing, it is a period of easy running or cross training, or in extreme cases, complete rest.
• Microcycle - A microcycle is the day to day, nuts and bolts of a training schedule.  Microcycles are usually from 5-14 days in length, but for practical purposes and because our calendar has 7 day weeks, most coaches write their microcycles so that they last one week.  During the summer, I will be writing microcycles 

2016 Cross Country Macrocycle

(This is aimed at our experienced runners with a number of miles under their belts.  If you are just starting out, you can follow along with this template, but just do less of everything.)

Ian and Jonah at the 2013 camp

Mesocycle #1 - (May 30-July 3) Build Aerobic Endurance. Because of the timing of camp this year,main emphasis during this mesocycle is to build aerobic endurance through a high volume of steady mileage. The two minor emphases during this period are to 1. build low end aerobic power through tempo running and CV intervals and 2. Develop biomechanical efficiency through drills and short repetitions.  At camp, we will likely do one or two very intense workouts to help us transition to the second mesocycle.
I want to make the first mesocycle of the summer higher mileage than normal.  For you varsity athletes hoping to hit 700 miles, this summer, you should aim to hit close to 250 miles during this 5 week period (you will have an easy week after camp, so don't worry about burning out early).  You are still in very good shape from track, so you should be able to jump right back in with 35-40 in the first week then build to 50-60 for the last 2-3 weeks of the cycle.  The

Anthony and Zach Finishing Rock River Ascent

Mesocycle #2 (July 4-August 7) Increase Aerobic Power and Biomechanical EfficiencyThis secondmajor emphasis of this cycle is to put in a large volume of steady miles. However, we will put a little more emphasis on our two minor emphases from the first mesocycle: Aerobic Power and Biomechanical Efficiency.  During mesocycle #1, we might do a 5 mile easy run followed by 2 x 1k @ CV.  For the same stimulus during mesocycle #2, we might do a 4 mile run followed by 4 x 1k @ CV.  Toward the end of this cycle, I have it in my mind that we will do 8 x 800 on a 4 minute cycle followed by 4-6 x150 fast uphill.  If you are aiming for 700 summer miles, you should probably run 280-290 miles during mesocycle #3
mesocycle will start with a few days of easy running or cross training after we return from camp.  If you chose to run the 4th of July race in Atwater, your easy days will come a couple of days after everyone elses'.  Either way, the first week of July will have a low overall volume and intensity.  The second mesocycle will be much like the first. The

2010 Team Members Meeting Early to Beat the Heat

Mesocycle #3 (August 8 - September 4) Transition to Race Pace Work. The start of the school year and the start of official after school practice is a time of transition for us.  For most of the summer, you probably are will do your runs in the mornings when it is cool.  As we transition to afternoon running, our mileage will drop for at least 2 weeks.  Because our mileage will drop during the beginning of this cycle, we will begin to do more interval type running.  Thjs includes the tempo intervals in the arboretum as well as hill repeats out at the Nazareno Ranch. We will also begin to bring in a very small amount of  race pace training in order to prepare for the stresses of racing.  We have 2 time trials planned during this period as well.  Also, because the first part of this mesocycle has such low volume, we will not take a tremendous amount of rest as we transisiton into mesocycle #4.  Mesocycle #3 is also the end of the summer mileage period.  It is difficult to run big miles the first few weeks of this cycle, so if you have a mileage goal, you should be ahead of pace going into cycle #3.

Early Season Races are Fun and Build Fitness, GG Park 2014

Mesocycle #4 (September 5- October 2) Early Competitive Season.  The training during this period will look a lot like the training during the previous period with one main difference.  We will get our race pace training by actually racing.  This period begins with the TVL opener meet and ends with 4 days off from training after TVL meet #2.  During this period, the weather will start to cool a little bit and we should be able to ramp our mileage back up.  Workouts and training runs during this period will be very high volume.  Varsity boys can expect sessions such as 6 x 1200 (girls will do 5) on a 5:30 or 6:00 cycle or a 6 mile continuous tempo.

Victory at Supercross! Adam and Lucas Celebrate.

Mesocycle #5 (October 3- November 2) Main Competitive Season.  This is the time of the year where races start to become more important. The varsity teams will be traveling to Fresno for the Clovis meet (where the girls will be looking to improve on their 5th place finish from last year) and we will be trying to run well at our own Supercross meet.  The main meet of this period, however, is the TVL finals meet on October 26th. Last year we were 2 points away from sweeping to victory in all 4 divisions.  Let's go get those last 2 points this year!  The overall volume of running will stay high during this period, however the hard sessions will become shorter and faster.  Everbody's favorite session, 10x400@ mile race pace with 1 min recovery will make at least one appearance during this mesocycle.   If you are looking at the calendar, you will note that this mesocycle ends in the middle of the week before subs.  There is a good reason for this.  I want all of our hardest training to be completed 10 days prior to the section meet.

Medals at Section and Berths to State are Great Goals
to Set for Yourselves

Mesocycle #6 (November 3 - November 26) Peaking/Championship Season.  This cycle could be Section Meet on November 12th.  During mesocycle #6, our volume will finally drop.  During this period, the hard sessions will be designed to maintain the fitness that we've built over the previous 5 months, but at the same time allowing our legs to recover.  Mileage during this period will likely be between 60-75% of peak volume from earlier in the season.  The total volume of our hard workouts will probably not exceed 3 miles, whereas earlier in the year, the volume of hard workouts might have been as high as 6 miles. If all goes well, both varsity teams will toe the line at the California State Championship on November 12th in Fresno, and bring home top 10 finishes.
only 10 days long if things don't go well at the

Leo, Brigham, Mason, and Pablo run as a pack at the 2010 State Championship

Ian Brooks, NCAA All American

Former Husky, Ian Brooks qualified as an NCAA DII All American yesterday.  Ian placed 8th in the NCAA DII track and field championships in Bradenton, FL.  Ian is the second Husky trackster to earn the title of All American since I've been at HHS, the first was Lucais MacKay, who won the NCAA DI hammer title at University of Georgia.

Ian had a very good 4 years at Hughson, but was often slowed by illness and injury at exactly the wrong time. Despite being on 2 teams that qualified for state, he never got to toe the line in Fresno.  For those of you who would like a little inspiration to keep working hard, here are Ian's times at HHS.

Cross Country 5k - 17:12 @ Legion Park
800 - 1:56.34 @ the Golden West Invitational
1600 - 4:32 @ Brett Harte Invitational

His 800 time is pretty good :), but I'd say we have a number of boys capable of matching his best cross country times this year.

Congratulations to Ian and to all of the Stanislaus State athletes.  Those guys are killing it!

Thinking About Cross

Hello Team:

For most of us, track season is just winding down, however for others, we are getting ready to embark on training for a sport that we've never done or we haven't done since last November.  I'd like to make a quick post today for you all to look at so you can get the general idea of what we want to do this summer.  I'm going to break things into two basic groups: Those who did track, and those who didn't.

For the kids coming out of track
We can let our legs and minds recovery for a little while before jumping back into our mileage build up.  Some of your seasons have been over for a couple of days, some have been over for a week and a half, some (Emily and Abby) are still going.  When ever your season ends or ended, you all need to keep a couple of things in mind.

Varsity Girls after captuing the TVL title

1. You are in extremely good shape right now.   It would be terrible to waste that fitness and regress all the way back to where you were prior to track.  During your break, stay active.  Do other sports, keep eating well (but don't worry about having a little bit of junk food here and there.)  When you start running again, don't be afraid to do a little bit of quality.  We have gotten to the point where CV intervals are feeling very relaxed.  It wouldn't hurt you to finish your runs 1-2 times per week with 1-2 x 1k on the track at your current, peak, CV shape.   For our top varsity guys, this would mean about 3:35-3:40 per 1000.  For our top girls, it would mean about 4:00-4:05.  All of you can look at Tinman's Running Calculator to get an idea about what kind of paces you should be thinking about running during the summer. We'll start summer practices pretty soon, so until that time, don't worry about any other hard, organized training.
2. Remember, when all else fails, just run. Run a lot.  Run more than you did last summer.  When you feel good, run fast.  When you are tired, run easy.  Don't be afraid to push your long runs out further than before.  Don't be afraid to drop the hammer on long runs either.  Mileage club t-shirts provide good baseline goals, but don't regiment your summers to hit a specific mileage goal.....just run!

Hughson, pressing the pace at TVL Finals

For the kids who didn't do track

Your legs don't need to recover from anything...you need to start running....NOW!  If you have never run before, you don't need to worry about going out and trying to run big miles, just run.  If you can only do one lap around the track, that is all you should do.  You will be surprised how easily your body adapts to running.  Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind as you embark on this wonderful journey with your new team.

1. This sport is not about SPEED as much as it is about being able to EXTEND YOUR SPEED.  If you've run a 6:15 mile in Jr High Track, let's figure out how to extend that speed for another 2.1 miles and run 19:30 for 5k.
2. The purpose of summer running, especially for beginners, is to adapt your body to the pounding of cross country training.  During the fall, you will be asked to do workouts that are harder than you currently think are possible.  You need to build up gradually this summer so that you are ready to do the hard work in the fall.
3. While building your mileage over the summer is the most important thing you can do, you cannot neglect your speed.  For most cross country runners during the summer, speed work will consist of what we call strides.  A stride is a "relaxed" sprint of 60-120 meters.  Don't run your strides so fast that your legs are burning at the end or that you are gasping for breath.  Strides should make your legs feel light and quick, not dead.
4. Do not be too agressive trying to build your mileage right away.  I've had plenty of new runners do great for the first 3 weeks of the summer, then tail off to almost nothing by the middle of summer.  It is better to start very small, with managable distances then gradually build from there.

Let's have a great summer and kick butt in the fall!