Analyze this workout

Mon: 2 mile wu, 2 x 300 @ mile gp, 800 @ current 3200 pace, 4x300 @ mile gp, 800 @ current 3200, 2 x 300 @ mile gp

Tue: 7 easy + weights

Wed: 7 mile run with last 4.5 @ tempo effort

Thu: 11 miles

Fri: 4 miles + 4 x 60 acceleration

Sat: Meet

Good results saturday, lots of PRs. Frosh Sophers DMR won by quite a way (2:06, 61, 3:45, 4:52). Had a varsity guy PR by 21 seconds over last seasons best (5:22 down to 5:01, but he has been training with our MD group)

CoachB wrote:

Mon: 2 mile wu, 2 x 300 @ mile gp, 800 @ current 3200 pace, 4x300 @ mile gp, 800 @ current 3200, 2 x 300 @ mile gp

Monday workout....

CoachB, drop the kids 2 x 300's. Make it 1 x 600 @ one mile pace.

CoachB wrote:

As far as cooling down goes, I don't see much need to do more than a mile for most cool downs. That and some stretching is usually enough to get the junk out of kids legs. If I want to increase the volume of a workout, I will usually tack it on to the warm up.

Long run is 10.5 for now, but will gradually increase to the 13-14 range. I've only had a couple of kids start getting their long runs up over 2 hours and honestly don't think they saw any benefit from it.

it's my opinion that a longer cool down is more beneficial than a longer warm up. given the choice, i'd prefer that. but i have no evidence to back it up, just saying i'd do it differently.

i prefer to under emphasize the long run, working on it only after all the other components are in place. i don't think there's much reason to run over 2 hours if there's nothing else there to back it up.

regardless, your stuff looks pretty solid. there's certainly more than one way to skin a cat! best of luck!

[quote]CoachB wrote:

Agree with the saturday long run deal. However, we are dealing with kids of varying levels of motivation.

We had 5 of 23 at yesterday's practice. I cannot make saturday's mandatory, so the LR is on the next best day, Thursday. Thursday is best because we generally race Wed/Sat. So, we have been doing quality days on M/W. LR on Thursday gives us a nice shake out from a quality day / race and gives us 48 hours before any potential race on Saturday.

quote]

Why can't you make Saturday practice mandatory? I'm a coach & I do. But, I had to work up to it. What I mean is, when I took over the program, I made Saturday practices optional. Then, the next year, I made it mandatory. When the season begins, you let the student-athlete know the expectations of the program. They can decide to be a part of the team or not. Also, make Saturdays fun by having a team breakfast after the long run.

Good luck!

Update:

3/26 - 4/1

Things going well so far. Starting to transition most of the guys to stuff that is a little more race specific. We originally had a dual meet scheduled for wed, which was moved to friday, which was then cancelled due to the host school being unable to get their track dried out. The week was a little disjointed and I think my mid d guys ended up training a little too hard. Next week is a dual against a team that is pretty weak, then we go on spring break. During that time, I'll take some of my better guys to a distance carnival up in Sacramento.

Mid D guys (5 guys in the 2:06-2:09 range)

Mon: 5 x 250 @ faster than 800 race pace, 2-3 min recovery.

Tue: 6 mile run with 6-9 pick ups of 1-2 min. Easy striding on the pick ups.

Wed: 6 x 800 @ 2:55-3:00 with 1 min recovery

Thu: Easy 3 miles, stride 3 x 150 (anticipating meet)

Fri: No meet, 3 x 4 x 200 @ slightly slower than 800m rp. 30 seconds between reps, 4-5 min between sets.

Sat: 5 miles easy

Sun: By feel, off or easy.

Distance Guys (guys in the 10:15-10:30 range)

Mon: 2 x 300 @ mp, 800 @ 2m pace, 4 x 300 @ mp, 800 @ 2m pace, 2 x 300 @ mp

Tue: 8 miles easy

Wed: 6 x 800 with the mid d guys, they were feeling tired, so they just ran 2:55-3:00 with the mid d guys.

Thu: 4 miles easy

Fri: 16 x 200 @ goal mile pace, 30 seconds recovery.

Sat: 7-8 easy

Sun: by feel, off or easy.

Overall, probably a little too much intensity this week. I'll back it off a bit next week and take the volume back up for a week or two.