Re-Arranging the Training

I've never had a more difficult year trying to find out what events will fit each athlete- that's why I stopped posting the training, since I changed the entire season outline so many times.  The philosophy is always the same- a balanced, aerobic-based system- but the means of getting to the end have changed quite a bit.  There is a variety of athletes on the distance squad right now with so many different strengths and weaknesses, it has been tough to individualize the "groups".    


As for the first half of the season, which is somehow already gone, I thought it went okay.  Training seemed very spotty (there was a 6-day band trip on week #3, which was awesome...) and I am just not confident in the amount of endurance that most of the athletes have right now. On the bright side, all of the athletes we have for MD/Distance runners come from basketball, so they have some speed/power characteristics already ingrained. Nonetheless, everything we have done to this point has been very basic in nature: basic speed, strength and endurance. 


Slowly, we will inter-twine some faster running into the season.  With a lack of real, aerobic base, our kids seem to come to the mythical "peak" very quickly, so I have waited later and later each season to do anything of anaerobic substance; and what anaerobic training we do is pretty light. 


Anyway, here is last week's training (Week 6) and look into what we would do in a perfect world for the following week:


Friday: Snowstorm, so we had to go inside (first time in three years here).  10-20 min warm-up on bike or treadmill, then alternating groups of:
3x 10 min steady on treamill (high-end aerobic pace)/ 10 min of strength circuits incliding Flying 30's
We actually got in a lot of movement and a consistent heart-rate.


Saturday: Easy run 30-40 min


Sunday: OFF


Monday: Douglas Early Bird Track Meet (under-distance races, if possible- light load)


Tuesday: Easy regeneration jog (3-5 miles)


Wednesday: Threshold Intervals (5k pace+ 30-45 seconds/mile)
Boys: 5-7x1k w/ 45 seconds rest (Victor did 7 + a 2:46 800 @ the end, Tyler did 6 with a 2:36 800) 
Girls: 5x800m w/ 45 seconds rest (they ran as a group- perfect workout; cut-down each one)
We ended up starting at about M-pace (Daniels) and finishing just under T-pace, which was great, since the road was slushy anyway. 
1.5 mile warm-up and 1.5 mile cool-down; pretty big day


Thursday: Pre-Meet, easy 2-3 miles


Friday: Hot Springs Meet; varied races depending on what we needed training-wise as individuals


Saturday: Prom...
Sunday: Loosen-up jog...most will just rest, which is okay.


This next week will probably look like:


Monday:
Transition workout (MP-I pace) + hill sprints (6-8x40 meters; steep)+ circuits
Boys: Mix of 1000-800-600's
Girls: Mix of 800-600's
We start most of our runs/workouts, etc. pretty slow, but I think you almost have to training at a mile high like we do.  I really messed up our second LT workout by having the kids to too fast on the first rep and we had to rig the workout to try to get the correct stress.


Tuesday:
Hilly, easy
Boys: 6-7 miles
Girls: 5-6 miles


Wednesday:
Repetition Workout:
Warm-up with some In-and-out 150's (3-4)
Boys: 300m @ Mile pace (w/ some 150m Hammers @ 800 pace-ish) 4% of weekly mileage
Girls: 200m @ mile pace (w/some 100m Hammers @ 800 pace-ish) 4% of weekly mileage
* Not terribly worried about the recovery on this- we'll do equal distance walk.jogs; just want to get better mechanically right now with just a slight bit of faster running mixed in, but not too long of repeats to flood the legs with an anaerobic mess... Do circuits afterwards- just upper-body, however.


Thursday:
Recovery Day 3-5 miles very slow on some dirt.


Friday:
Pre-Meet


Saturday:
Run end-of-the-year goal event(s) for a good mid-season fitness check.  


So far, at the end of Phase I, here are the PR's of just the MD/Dist group:


Kala: 2:28
Steph: 2:33 (split)
Mariah: 2:42
Karly: 6:23
Tia: 6:36
Cassidy: 6:58

Victor: 2:16, 5:13, 10:54
Tyler: 2:16, 5:15
Josh: 2:12
Nick: 2:19