D1 athlete in need of feedback

YOU SHOULD RUN LONG SLOW DISTANCE IF YOU WANT TO RACE DISTANCE.

I forgot to mention.... I'm running 5k-10k outdoor.

What distance are the intervals? What's the work to rest ratio? Are you racing any more indoor races or just waiting for your first outdoor competition? Speed now isn't bad, just keep your mileage up. Have you asked your coach what the plan is fo outdoor and if training will becom more 5k/10k focused in th coming month? Does Daniels prescribe speed work first, then a move to v02, then finally threshold? Perhaps your coaching is following a similar structure.

True speed work has longer intervals. How do you pass college exams?

I'm not running indoor because I have been injured all December and part of January. So I don't have not much of a base. My base since my injury 15 mpw, 20 mpw, 40 mpw, 35 mpw, 50 mpw, 60 mpw, and 60 mpw. I started doing intervals when I hit 40 mpw. The intervals usually range from 200-400 meters. The rest on the 200s is usually 30 seconds and the 400s range from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. I just don't understand why I haven't done thresholds yet? I have plenty of speed for a 10k guy (51 sec 400m, 4:16 mile). Sometimes it just seems like my coach makes up workouts right before practice. None of the captions or the assistant coach knows what's going on.

Interesting. How's your relationship with your coach? Do you have an open dialogue about training? In high school I read Jack Daniels, Roy Benson, a few others and felt like I had a basic understanding of training principles. Armed with that knowledge I would often discuss training ideas with my coach. The key was to come at it as a learner looking to grow in your knowledge of the sport, not as a know-it-all. Coaches can get defensive if they feel you are questioning their training, but I've found open dialogue and honest questions tend to get you some answers. If the coach has no interest in that and just wants mindless followers then perhaps you sand bag a speed session per week and throw in a secret threshold during a distance run.

Just to clarify, I would discuss training with my college coach equipped with the knowledge from the reading I did in high school. My high school joke wouldn't discuss anything, he was a navy man who believed you could not treat athletes as friends or peers, but simply as mindless grunts that should follow his orders without question.

High school Coach not joke. Freudian slip.

It's okay. He always tells me "you gotta trust the process." He is very defensive about his training whenever I try to bring it up. I don't know to much about Jack Daniel's training. I'll do some research about his training methods.

Good luck! My brother struggled with a coach he didn't trust with training in college and it really messed with him throughout college. He was a 4:13 1600m runner coming out of high school and never saw any improvement through four years of college. He got injured his freshman year and the next a new coach took over and he never saw eye to eye on training with him and I think that really hurt his faith in his fitness. If you don't buy into the training it's hard to believe in yourself when it comes time to compete. Always questioning your fitness. I hope things work out. Good luck this outdoor season. Are you going to any big meets to go for a quick 5000 or 10000 this year? I loved Mt. Sac when I was a 10000m runner. Do you have a goal for the season?

D1 Athlete wrote:

I'm not running indoor because I have been injured all December and part of January. So I don't have not much of a base. My base since my injury 15 mpw, 20 mpw, 40 mpw, 35 mpw, 50 mpw, 60 mpw, and 60 mpw. I started doing intervals when I hit 40 mpw. The intervals usually range from 200-400 meters. The rest on the 200s is usually 30 seconds and the 400s range from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. I just don't understand why I haven't done thresholds yet? I have plenty of speed for a 10k guy (51 sec 400m, 4:16 mile). Sometimes it just seems like my coach makes up workouts right before practice. None of the captions or the assistant coach knows what's going on.

There is a school of thought that you work the two extremes--distance and speed--at all times. If you read Magness' book, he basically says that. Although, in all fairness, I think he and most coaches like him would rather see striders for speed and tempos, progressions, fartleks for distance.

When you run the rest of your miles, is it just LSD at ~7:00 mile pace? Or do you throw in any race pace?

Jack D has my team doing intervals from week 1 to week 12

D1 athlete wrote:

What should I do if my D1 coach is making me do speed intervals with little rest inbetween during winter? I have been doing intervals 3 times a week for the past month.

What's the problem? Oh yes I see the problem......you are the friggin problem!

In all seriousness there is no issue with short intervals during the winter. Is the rest of your weekly training aerobic based? I bet it is.

Coach is possibly breaking up the boredom of all long and slow runs.

If you are still not happy quit the team and go to class because the reason you are there is to get an education not be an athlete.

Correct?

Yeah. My team is going to MT.SAC. I'm hoping for 31:10 in the 10K and 14:40 in the 5K.

During XC, my runs were 6:30-7:00, now it's usually 7:00-7:30 because I do my mileage after intervals.

I just don't understand the need for short rest and high performance reps in most workouts. Like 4X400@61 w/30 second rest. That workout is meant for the end of the season. Runs have been slow like 7:00-7:30.

more intensity grasshopper.

If you don't want to listen to your coach, you shouldn't have gone to that school.

Though if his workouts were what caused your injury, perhaps you have a point.

I can see value in those workouts.

I get doing some Rep work early in a season, especially skittle bit of it for a guy coming off of a break who won't be able to do longer intervals. But 400s at somewhere between 800 and 1500 race pace with :30 rest for someone with a recent injury doesn't strike me as the best approach. My concern grows when you factor in that this is happening three times per week.

But what do I know? This coach does this for a living and presumably knows the athlete well.

Smoove wrote:

I get doing some Rep work early in a season, especially skittle bit of it for a guy coming off of a break who won't be able to do longer intervals. But 400s at somewhere between 800 and 1500 race pace with :30 rest for someone with a recent injury doesn't strike me as the best approach. My concern grows when you factor in that this is happening three times per week.

But what do I know? This coach does this for a living and presumably knows the athlete well.

I'm guessing you didn't run for a D1 program.