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SUMMER TRAINING WORKOUTS GENERAL COMMENTS If you have not been running since the end of school, begin as soon as you receive this letter. Run at least six days a week for 30-60 minutes. If you miss a workout, spread the lost mileage out over the next five workouts rather than doubling it in the next workout. Weeks 1-5 are fairly low intensity. Weeks 6-10 should be increasingly intense. Try to run in the mornings since it is cooler, and many of our races will be on Saturday mornings. Increase your distance a mile each week for ten weeks. If you want to be in shape for the Fall, you should average the race length mileage every day for a week, some days longer, some days shorter. Girls should average at least 20 miles a week. Guys should average at least 30 miles each week. Begin week 1 on June 9. Come back to campus on August 16 or 17, ready for early morning and / or late afternoon workouts by Monday, August 18. We are trying to lay out a new cross-country course this summer, one which uses less pavement and more soft surfaces. The first meet will probably be the second weekend of September. Email me with your questions: dgarside@tfc.edu . Skype me at Dale C Garside. Phone me at 706-282-7011. Search for me on Facebook. 1. WEEK 1 If you have not run regularly up until now, run at an easy comfortable pace this first week, trying to reach your total mileage for the week. Your breathing should allow you to talk or sing easily as you run. Look for variety in your routes. Do not do any intensive runs that might provoke an injury unless you have been regularly running for at least two weeks prior. At this point, speed is not so important. Establishing a regular running routine is. 2. WEEK 2 Begin to establish different types of courses with varying distances: trail, track, road, hill, long, short… Alternate between leisurely and intense runs. One day a week, do a longer, slower run that maximizes the hour. There is no need to run more than 10 miles on any one course. Have at least two runs where you deliberately change your pace as you run, striding at times, slowing down at others, even sprinting at times pretending that someone is trying to pass you. I used to race cars to the next telephone pole when I ran roads, for example. Don’t worry about times unless you are trying to establish benchmarks for increasing speeds in later workouts. It is important that you not run the same course at the same slow pace everyday since it will be hard to speed up later. 3. WEEK 3 Increase your distance on each course by about a mile. Go easy the first mile and slow down the last mile. If you have not yet done so, begin logging each day’s runs: course type, distance, time, weather conditions, and other comments (see chart below). Take a look at your total mileage for the week, and increase it every week by about 5%. This is one very good reason to keep an accurate journal. If you feel exhausted, I encourage you to take a day off and look at your training. Have you started too hard? If you feel “over-trained”, you need to look at your training program, your diet, and your sleeping patterns. 4. WEEK 4 – TOTAL DISTANCE 23-29 miles Here is a possible schedule you can adapt to your situation. Link the numbers with days of the week 1 – 3-5 miles - Loop run, 3-5 separate mile cross-country circuit runs 2 – 3-5 miles - Long hills run – up a long hill or mountain (at least 1-mile slope) 3 – 3 miles - Tempo run - 20 minutes hard running (vary your speed at different points, slow, stride, fast) 4 – 6 miles - A track run - 8 x 800 meter at race pace with ¼ mile jogs in between (set a benchmark pace) 5 – 3-5 miles - Short hills run – Take the uphill fast, refrain from breaking coming down the hills, recoup on the level 6 – 5-mile run – Enjoy a relaxed pace, slow and easy. 5. WEEK 5 - TOTAL DISTANCE 20-26 miles MARATHON COMMENTS It is essential to avoid a break-down that will usually come within six miles of the end of the race. I STOP and drink a paper cup of gatoraid for 15 seconds every five miles of the race; some run and drink because they struggle to begin running again, but I like to stop, ingest, look at my watch, figure the time I want to run in the next 2 1/2 mile stretch (usually a target of 20 minutes)... I suck on that energy goo in packets just before the start of the race, around the ten-mile mark, at the half-way point, and sometimes at the 20 mile mark if I am beginning to feel depleted. I also take two Tylenol before the start of the race. I carry small packets of that energy paste in my running belt. If you wait until your body feels like it wants liquid, it's too late. If you become energy-depleted or liquid-depleted before you decide to drink or eat, it's too late, and your body will often break down after about 20 miles unless you replenish carbs and fluids as you run. It is essential to carb-up with stuff that doesn't mess up your stomach. Do time yourself during the race, and set a target pace for yourself to get your target time. It motivates me to adjust my pace as I run. My guess is that the second half of the race will take you about 20 minutes longer than the first IF you don't break down, and the last five miles will be the hardest to maintain your pace. I deliberately run the first half about 30 seconds a mile faster than the second-half because I know my thigh muscles will tighten; they always do. |