Precalc_Runner wrote:
Hey, I'm also going to be a Junior this year with similar PRs, just a little faster. You're having some really great progression already and the major thing is consistency. For only doing 20 mi/ week, you already know that's a little low. I don't have any suggestions for this season, just do not lose any mileage whatsoever. Push through the season, do what your coach says, etc. What you can do though, is this winter really amp it up. you should start at something like 15 mi/week 2 weeks after your season ends and then every week add 5 - 10 mi, but every 4th week drop around 10 - 20, for an easy week, and the next week continue where you left off or a little less. An example could be:
15, 20, 25, 20 (down week),
25, 30, 35, 25 (down week),
35, 40, 45, 35 (down week),
45, 50, 55, 45 (down week),
All of that should get you right to Track season (Outdoors) and this would get your peak week to 55 mi, but keep your average at 35 ish/week, much better than 250/ summer or 20 mi/week. Of course this will take dedication : Getting AT LEAST 8 hours of sleep a night, eating enough, stretching after practice and at night, icing, etc. The other thing is add 5 - 10 min of core every other day or Mon, Wed, Fri. Weights twice a week of low weight, but high reps is also helpful. an example is Bench Press : I can max a little over 100 pounds (I weigh 130) but I do 8 - 10 reps of 85 pounds, 3 times.
Another very important aspect to remember is taking easy/ recovery runs EASY. You shouldn't push these runs and you should have 2 or 3 each week.
A way to work on your speed is to do strides. Try starting with 2- 4 twice a week for a week or two, then do 4 - 6 for the same amount of time, then cap it at 8 strides, twice a week, maybe if it isn't too hard for you, 3 times a week. These should be 70 - 85% effort, not too crazy, and about 100m (not necessarily on a track).
Also, make sure you have one hill run per week. It can be a rolling hills run, or 5 - 10 hill repeats (starting at 5 the first time, working up 2 ish / week).
While in your base phase (Winter/ Summer) you should do a single tempo run each week (once you hit 25 or 30 mi/week) where you do a few miles warm up and run for 10 - 25 min at 25 - 40 sec slower than race pace (depends on how you feel, also, start at 10 min the first time and then each time you do it, add 5 min until you hit 25, then stop adding time and work on doing it a little faster) The goal of this is to get you used to running fast without working too hard. You should breathe a little harder, but it shouldn't be hard to breathe. Also, it should be one consistent pace, unless you progressively get faster. You shouldn't go out at 5 flat and then 7 flat the rest of the time to average 6 flat. you should try and go 6 flat the whole time (those are just example times. You should be hitting about 6:40 at the beginning of your base phase and slowly bring it down as you get into better shape)
Next, you should have at least one long run each week, about 20 - 25% of weekly mileage total. This would mean on a 30 mi week, your long run should be at least 6 mi, but 7.5 mi would be ideal. (for a 30 mi week).
Now a sample week could look like this :
Mon - 2 mi warm up, 10 min tempo (1.5 mi), 2 mi cool down
Tues - 3.5 mi easy
Wed - 5 mi comfort zone (pushing a little, but could go 1 - 2 mi further if you wanted)
Thurs - 5 mi hills ( 5 mi run with hills or 2 mi warm up to hill, do repeats, 2 mi cool down)
Fri - 3.5 mi easy
Sat - 7.5 mi comfort zone (pushing a little, but could go 1 -2 mi further if you wanted)
Sun - Off
Total: 30 mi
This is just a sample of what your week could look like, it's not set in stone.
Another thing, this is what my training schedule looks like, it is not a one size fits all, it might not be what you want to do, you could always look up "summer of malmo" or "lydiard training", etc. This is just an idea for you and I know you didn't say "Give me my whole training plan" but you can take from this whatever you want, this is just everything I could think of. Hope this helps!
So this is a post I made a little bit ago on someone else's thread. I'm a high school athlete so this is obviously not perfect or even good for some people, but this is the type (ish) of training my coach has us do, this is just a little more generalized. anyways, if you have any questions, I'd love to answer them!