I kind of didn't want to do this.

 One of the beauties of being a distance runner is learning exactly what your body can and can't handle while at the same time applying the principles that we know will make you faster.  YOUR ability to figure this stuff on your own will make you not only a better runner, but a more responsible, foreward thinking human being in general.  I mean, if you have to sit down and map out a course of action to make yourself successful in running, you kind of have the idea of how to sit down and map out a course of action that will make you successful in school, jobs, etc....

That being said........many of you have NOT YET mapped out a course of action for this off season.  It's always a little puzzling to me that so many athletes who are all in for summer training when the weather is hot and gross, don't go all in for winter training where the weather is cool and conducive to going out and putting in big miles.  

Whatever the reason, if you want to have a good season, you need to get the miles in.  So, if you're having trouble deciding how much you need to run, you need to look no further than this template. I've mostly built this template with 2 principles

1. How much did you run during cross?
2. How much do you need to run in order to build to where I think you can ultimately end up.

What you'll see is that most of you hit 3-6 weeks of mileage that I think you should be able to hit 14 weeks of this summer.  So, if you're more cross country minded, think of this winter as the bridge to get you where you want to be next summer.

Oh, and by the way, you'll set huge PRs and help the team this spring as a result. 

Gettin' Back To It - The Right Way!

 Hey guys.  I was talking with Shane earlier in the week and he's off to a really good start in his build up for track.  Big shout out to him.  Remember the principals

1. Build to your previous peak mileage +5 per week (maybe plus 10 for some of you guys that were lower mileage during cross).
2. Sprint, full gas, once per week.  Keep them short.  No more than 8-10 seconds.  Full recovery.  Have a good warm up first
3. One "hard" run a week of whatever you feel like.  Could be tempo, could be fartlek, could be threshold intervals, could be progression.  Have fun with it.  
4. If you're feeling good, throw in a long run