Older guys who were more aerobically gifted (Baxter, Day) I think were roughly 100-120 mpw, while he's on record saying a guy like Andy Trouard was running maybe 70-80 mpw as a senior.
Freshman seem to run somewhere between 65-80 mpw for the most part. I would imagine one of his goals is to get them up adapted to altitude, get to 100 mpw, and build intensity from there.
bump for Han ;-)
bumpity bump
Is Han Solo update?
What can I do for you?
Any motivation to look at outdoor 5k-10k training? Is there much change in XC to outdoor training for the distance guys?
Speaking specifically about NAU?
Yes, maybe even other teams depending on how much research you’ve done.
Han Solo wrote:
What can I do for you?
Would love to see some updates to the elite runner training website. The ones that are there are great and we would all love to see as many more as you are willing to post. Thanks!!
I'm going to do a 12 days of Christmas special - posting one training every day for 12 days. Will be starting up sometime next week I do believe.
Han Solo wrote:
I'm going to do a 12 days of Christmas special - posting one training every day for 12 days. Will be starting up sometime next week I do believe.
Awesome news. Thanks Han!
Han Solo wrote:
I'm going to do a 12 days of Christmas special - posting one training every day for 12 days. Will be starting up sometime next week I do believe.
This still happening?
my heart skips a beat every time this thread is bumped. Bless you papa han
Ruppforgold wrote:
This might have been asked but roughly how many miles a week are the top guys looking at? How about the lower end guys?
Are you really asking this? There is no answer to that. It all depends on their situation and where they are trying to go.
Yes. Once I start I will post the new update daily in this thread.
First one on Friday.
Han Solo wrote:
Yes. Once I start I will post the new update daily in this thread.
First one on Friday.
Thank you Han.
Han Solo wrote:
It’s actually very easy to find what they do. Just look up some of their guys on Strava. I have an excel document with all their XC training from last year, indoor and outdoor track, and this years XC so far. Make sure you find the book Matt Baxter wrote about the 2017 championship season. Lots of info there. But basically it goes a lot like this:
Core Principles
High mileage - basically as much as you can handle. It seems to be I individualized though to what you can manage. Based on podcasts and interviews, it sounds like Day and Baxter were up around 110-120 last year, while others were 80-90.
They lift on Mon/Wed. Not sure what but I believe heavy weight low rep. They also do a ton of supplemental flexibility and strength and mobility. They do a five isolated stretching before every run.
High end aerobic focus
Lots of mileage and sub threshold running, and their speed work is in short chunks of 200-400m. I believe this to be because of the altitude they’re at. It’s more manageable this way. A traditional XC workout for them is 4x6x300 at around 3-5k pace, with #4,6 faster. Short rest between and a few minutes between sets.
I know all summer they basically alternate each week with a 4-8 mile sub threshold run / 10-15x1:00 on/off. And Fridays are 8x20sec Hill sprints as part of their run. And they run long on Saturdays right after Friday workouts. Doubles Mon, tue, Thur, fri. Medium long on Wednesday and single on Sunday.
A lot of their mileage is done very slow actually due to altitude. But they pick and choose when to hammer certain runs. I think their workout the week of Nuttycombe this week was simple 10x1:00 on/off and 4x200.
A typical week in season would be like this:
Mon: Mileage run in the morning / Easy double in the afternoon with lifting, strides, mobility, etc.
TUE: Workout...threshold or SUB T, maybe short reps. Double up as well.
WED: medium long run - 16 for the top guys
THUR: double easy runs again...in the afternoon they do 10-15 sec hill sprints on the treadmill, set at 15 percent, 10-11mph.
FRI: Second workout of the week...opposite of Tuesday, or sometimes they do harder V02 work later in the season.
SAT: long run...18-20 miles or so easy. Sometimes they’ll run this with sub threshold like 3x3 miles if they don’t have a hard workout the day before.
SUN: easy single run
He uses Daniels as the guide for paces, clearly, but doesn’t follow the training plans. Saw some crazy stuff in the track season like 40x400 and 16x1000 for the 5k/10k Guys.
Pretty cool to follow actually. Again, I have every day of their training for the last 2 years basically if you’d like more details.
definitely appreciate it. Those hill sprints seem like a great idea if you're doubling
Han Solo wrote:
Yes. Once I start I will post the new update daily in this thread.
First one on Friday.
Any Update?
Han -
Would you mind sharing the two years?
I am a high school coach but always looking to see how coaches blend their workouts/plans.
Thank you.
Han, much appreciated for posting the training. I find it very fascinating, especially the NAU XC training. Would love to see any more NAU stuff you came across. Love Baxters book. Quick question for you. All the stuff they are doing at VO2 pace what would we say that is for most of their top guys? I'm guessing around 70 seconds per 400 so 4:00 per mile but I might be off. I was interested to see how the rest might adjust for some athletes who aren't 14:45 5k runners lol.