Please give me feedback. I have developed an off-season winter training program that I look to use with my top end 8th graders....they are freaks. As 7th graders last year they are 4:50 in the 1600. I am caping them at 20-25 miles per week but I might bump that up. They will start their MS season toward the middle of March.
They are physically build like a sophomore in HS and could hand more of a work load but its MS and I still want them to be kids.
Anyway, please let me know what you think. Could this be us for your an your program MS/HS why or why not? Any tips, suggestions, or comments are welcome.
If you like it and want to use the entire thing or parts of it please feel free to copy and paste it and do as you wish. Sorry the format is ugly, obviously they layout on google drive doesn't carry over.
Monthly Overview:
November
Running Goal: Run 4-5 days per week (3-4 miles or 20-30 minutes) with 1 slightly longer run (5 miles or 30-40 minutes)
Weekly Mileage: 10-15
Supplemental Goal: General Strength and Mobility 1 day per week.
December
Running Goal: Run 4-5 days per week with 1 long run (5-6 miles or 30-45 minutes) and 1 controlled, hard effort workout (lactate threshold or fartlek). The other days can be easy runs (3-4 miles or 20-30 minutes)
Weekly Mileage 15-20
Supplemental Goal: General Strength and Mobility 1-2 days per week.
January
Running Goal: Run 5-6 days per week with 1 long run (5-6 miles or 30-45 minutes) and 1-2 controlled, hard effort workouts (lactate threshold run or fartlek). The other days can be easy runs (3-4 miles or 20-30 minutes)
Weekly Mileage: 20-25
Supplemental Goal: General Strength and Mobility 2 days per week.
February
Running Goal: Run 5-6 days per week with 1 long run (5-6 miles or 30-45 minutes) and 2 controlled, hard effort workouts (lactate threshold run, fartlick, hills, hills). The other days can be easy runs (3-4 miles or 20-30 minutes).
Weekly Mileage: 20-25
Supplemental Goal: General Strength and Mobility 2 days per week.
March
Running Goal: Run 5-6 days per week with 1 long run (5-6 miles or 30-45 minutes) and 1 controlled, hard effort workout (lactate threshold run, fartlick, hills,), 1 race pace workout and the rest can be easy runs (3-4 miles or 20-30 minutes).
Weekly Mileage: 20-25
Supplemental Goal: General Strength and Mobility 2 days per week.
Example Workouts:
Lactate Threshold
Examples: Tempo Runs, Cut Down Runs, Cruise Intervals
Intensity: 83-88% of VO2Max (1-10 scale it would be a 6-8 with 10 near exhaustion like at the end of a 2 mile race). Threshold pace is comfortably hard running for either a steady 3-4 miles or repeated runs of 3 to 15 minutes with 1 to 3 minutes of rest between reps.
Purpose: To improve endurance and lactate threshold- the body's ability to clear lactic acid
Example Workouts (Pick 1 or 2 depending on time of year and fitness level)
Tempo run:
15-30 minutes at threshold pace (comfortably hard) + WU/CD
Cut Down Run:
15-30 minutes or 3-4 miles at threshold pace (comfortably hard); start slow and cut about 10 seconds off for every mile. (ex: Mile 1 = 8:00, Mile 2 = 7:50, Mile 3 = 7:40, Mile 4 = 7:30)
Cruise Intervals:
3-5 x 1km at threshold pace (comfortably hard) with :60-:90 rest
3-5 x 3-5 minutes at threshold pace (comfortably hard) 1 minute of rest for every 3-5 minute rep.
Fartlek
With a fartlek workout distances, time, and pace can vary. With this style of workout it is very customizable to your ability and running environment. A fartlek workout has varying speeds: easy, medium, comfortably hard, and hard for varying distances or time durations. Make up something you enjoy or choose a workout below
Intensity: Varied between slow to fast. Overall workout feeling should be:1-10 scale it would be a 6-8 with 10 near exhaustion like at the end of a 2 mile race
Purpose: To stay in touch with speed work, get the feeling of “shifting gears in a raceâ€, aerobic/anaerobic capacity, improve lactate threshold tolerance
Example Workouts (Pick 1 or 2 depending on time of year and fitness level)
300 meters easy, 200 meters hard for 15-20 minutes or 2-3 miles
600 meters at comfortably hard, 400 meters at race pace, 200 meters easy for 15-20 minutes or 2-3 miles
Medium pace for 1 block, race pace for 1 block, easy for 1 block (Can also use light poles)
Coach G’s Favorite: :90/:60:30. :90 seconds medium :90 seconds easy, :60 seconds comfortably hard :60 seconds easy, :30 seconds hard :30 seconds easy. Then repeat for 3-5 cycles or 2-3 miles
Hills
You can accomplish a lot of different physiological effects with hill training. In the off-season with a distance athlete the focus should be building a strong base or aerobic capacity, mileage, lactic acid tolerance and running mechanics. Hills training will depend on your fitness level and most importantly the training environment- what kind of hills you have access to.
Intensity: Medium Hard (1-10 scale it would be a 7-8; with 10 near exhaustion like at the end of a 2 mile race). Try to get around 5-8 minutes of hill work
Purpose: Improve running mechanics, aerobic capacity, lactate threshold
Example Workouts
10 x 40 seconds up hill. Active recover down the hill
(400 seconds of total work = 6:42 minutes)
2 set of 10 x 15 seconds up hill. Active recover down the hill. 3 minute rest between sets
(300 seconds of total work = 5 minutes)
Make up your own. Just keep track of the total seconds of “workâ€
100 seconds = 1:40 minutes
200 seconds = 3:20 minutes
300 seconds = 5:00 minutes
400 seconds = 6:42 minutes
Race Pace
Since we do not have any times on any of your events with your current fitness level we do not have a super accurate time to give you for what your race pace should be. Although, we can accomplish the same task by using a hard effort during the workout. Remember race pace isn’t an all out effort for the given distance it is a pace that you would run for either 400/800/1600/3200. Make sure all your reps are consistent, there will be a time during the season where we will sharpen the workouts and vary the paces for different reps.
Intensity: Hard (1-10 scale it would be 9-9.5 with 10 near exhaustion like at the end of a 2 mile race)
Purpose: Stay in touch with speed work and pace, develop anaerobic capacity
Example Workouts
5 x :40 seconds @ 90-95% of 400m race pace. With 6-10 minutes of rest between reps
4 x :90 seconds @ 90-95% of 800m race pace. With 15 minutes of rest between reps
Winter Running Thoughts:
If you are in basketball or wrestling, that sport is the priority- no exceptions
Run outside when possible. If you dress in layer and have some decent cold weather running gear you can safely run in the cold.
If you have willing parents- you could have them drop you off a certain distance. First decide what direction the wind is coming from and then have parents drop you off so many miles from your destination. That way you can run the entire way with the wind at your back.
If you can not get outside to run; run on a treadmill/bike/elliptical. You can run well on any of these and I would suggest using minutes and not worrying about pace or distance that the treadmill/bike/elliptical tells you.
Training Priorities:
Every workout (not easy run or long run) needs a warm up (WU) before and cool down (CD) after: 5-15 minutes or 1-2 miles. Make sure you add this mileage into your total weekly mileage.
Train consistently. Running 4-5 days a week is for 20-30 minutes is better than running 60 minutes 2-3 times per week.
Develop an aerobic base. If you simply do steady runs all winter you will set yourself up to have a great spring.
Stay healthy- do not do too much too soon and avoid doing a lot of high intensity training. The goal is to run fast in May, not March. Stay on top of stretching, core, nutrition and sleep to keep your body healthy.
If you are feeling physically beat up- take an extra day(s) of rest or cross train with a bike or elliptical.