The Goal
● To build fitness in a way
that is as relaxed and comfortable as possible
● To work on parts of the
racing skill set that we don’t work very much during the season.
● To come to the beginning of
organized practice fit, but fresh.
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| Zach built up to 80mpw before his 2014 season opener |
The most important factor in your
training
The
most important factor in your off season and early season training is VOLUME of running.
Running volume may
not immediately lead to faster race times, but it builds the foundation for the
harder workouts that will come later.
Low intensity high volume running accomplishes a number of things
● It increases, in a low stress
way, the strength of your tendons and bones.
● It increases the number of
capillaries (blood vessels) in your muscles
● It increases the efficiency
of your heart
● It increases the efficiency
with which you run.
How
much should you run? I don’t know the exact answer. I do know this: NONE OF YOU HAVE COME CLOSE TO RUNNING TOO MANY MILES. You may have felt soreness or tightness or
small flare ups during the cross country season. Those aches and pains are most likely due to
the intensity of racing and of the hard reps we did during the actual cross
country season. Think about your training last summer.
Very few of you had aches and pains during the summer, and if you did,
they cleared up quickly. It was when we
began to add intensity that your aches and pains began, right?
The
secret to being able to run those hard workouts during the season without all
the little shin and calf issues that you experienced is to build up resistance
to fatigue during the off season. This
is the value of high volumes of easy miles.
To be able to get more miles in safely, most of you would benefit from
adding DOUBLES. I know for a fact
that Gregori high runs doubles 3 days a
week for the off season and much of the competitive season. If you are going to double, consider doing it
on days where you are already running kind of hard. Start just by doing an easy shake out run on
in the morning when you know you will do something fast in the afternoon.
Less important (but still important)
factors for this off season
This
off season, I want to switch the emphasis a little bit away from organized
workouts, but I still want you doing some stuff that is a little bit hard so that you
don’t lose all of the higher end fitness that you worked so hard to gain
during the cross country season. So,
from the time you start running, to the time we begin to have more organized
workouts, these are the things I want you to include in your training.
Fartlek Running. Fartlek is the Swedish word for “speed
play”. During this off season, I want
you to, once per week, insert some faster segments into your run. How much should you do? I don’t know, fartlek should be done by feel. Some general guidelines for
successful fartlek
● For you guys, run hard for
segments of 2-4 minutes
● Run fast enough so that at
the end of the pick up, you feel a little fatigued but not like you are tied up
or exhausted.
● In between segments, run
easily (but don’t slow to a shuffle or jog) until you feel good enough to go
again.
● Don’t exceed 15 total minutes
of hard running
● Insert these segments into a
normal distance run
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| Ernesto, David and Martin progressed in the 2003 TVL finals to finish 1st, 3rd, and 7th in 4:31, 4:33, 4:37. |
Progression Running. If you are more the type of
runner that likes to grind out the distance, you can do a progression run instead of a fartlek run. Most of you should be very experienced with
these from cross country, but here’s a quick reminder, with adjustments for the
off season.
● Start the run nice and easy
● Run a good portion of the run
at a pace that is fast but comfortable
● Pick it up for the last
10%-25% of the run to a pace that is a little faster
● Finish the run knowing you
could have continued at your finishing pace for at least a couple more miles
Top End Speed. If you want to be able to
race fast, you need to be able to, you know, train fast occasionally. The amount and type of top end speed running
you do can vary with athlete and target event (400-800 runners will want to do
a little more top end stuff than 3200m runners), but these following guidelines
should get you off to a good start for the winter.
● Short sprints of less than 60
meters from a standing start. Walk back to the starting line for recovery
● Sprints up the ramp (about 35
meters). Walk back to the start for
recovery.
● Fly-In sprints: This means
you build up gradually to your top speed then try to hold that top speed for
10-30 meters. Walk back to the start for
recovery
● Most of you should run no
more than 250 total meters in any given speed session.
● You need to be really well
warmed up prior to the start
Long Runs.
If the overall goal of the off season is to build up resistance to
fatigue, there is no better method to do that than by increasing the distance
of your long run. However, let’s have a
word of caution about long runs. If long
runs become too long, or too fast or too fatiguing during the off season,
then you are doing more harm than good.
During your off season, the focus of the long run should be just cover the distance comfortably.
Here are some guidelines for long runs.
● Make the long run about
20%-25% of your weekly mileage: If you are new and just getting up to 20 miles
per week, then your long run should be 4-5 miles. If you are experienced and building up to
50-60 miles per week, then your long run could be up to 15 miles!
● Take an easy day after your
long runs. Even if you run easily, a
long run will still take a toll on your body.
● Don’t run so long that it
takes away from your ability to come back with solid mileage over the next 2-3
days.
● Don’t run so long that you
need to slow down to a ridiculously slow crawl.
For example, a young guy that’s run 12:00 for 2 miles would be better
off doing 8 miles at 8:00 pace rather than 12 miles at 10:00 pace.
● If you plant to specialize in the 400-800, you don’t need to
do a long run. Do an extra speed session or a
second shorter fartlek session instead.
Strength Training. You don’t need to do a ton
of this stuff. For most of you, push
ups, pull ups, core, and lunges 2-3 times per week should be fine. If you want to get into the weight room a
couple of times a week, I can make that happen also.
How do you mix these sessions
together?
It’s up to you! I just want to throw out a couple of guidelines though. The #1 goal is to raise your training
volume any time you go too hard on a session and have to back way off the
next day as a result, you’ve done too much!
You can’t do every one of these
sessions every week! Pick and choose based on how you feel and what you
enjoy. Did you do fartlek last week,
maybe do progression this week. Did you
run ramps last week? Run fly ins this week.
You get the picture. Whether or
not you have a great track season this spring is up to you! Go out this
winter, have fun, get fit!
