So at this point in xc season, what is the game plan for you til end of season?
Do you change nothing, add or take away a workout, run more, less miles? Just curious to hear what others have done and the success you have had with it.
So at this point in xc season, what is the game plan for you til end of season?
Do you change nothing, add or take away a workout, run more, less miles? Just curious to hear what others have done and the success you have had with it.
Long runs and recovery day mileage still increasing.
Intervals and workouts at and below race pace get longer and rest is reduced.
Intervals and workouts above race pace get shorter and faster.
I've talked to many coaches who only do one or the other of these, but there needs to be both. Works for Ritz and his team, should work for HS teams as well.
If you're trying to peak in late November or early December for NXN Nationals or Regionals, this is right about the time you should be starting your toughest workouts (or maybe 1-2 weeks into the block). Jack Daniels called it Phase 3, some people have called it a pre-competition phase, whatever you want to call it, September into mid-October is the time to hit the hardest workouts. Some of these workouts can be races, but every race should be on the schedule for the purpose of performing better in the late season. A great time to race at your state meet course and regional meet course, if possible. Getting in 1-2 big competitive invitationals is also a good way to prepare for the high level of championship racing. Mileage should already be built up, but definitely try to maintain that level while adding intensity. You might get a few more miles out of making the workouts longer but no drastic increases. This is also the only time I believe it is advisable to do classic VO2max sessions, just make sure you're balancing recovery with the races.
It's also a very different story if you're not a top program. If you expect your season to end in late October, then you should be transitioning to your competition/peaking phase right now. This is also true for JV runners; a great strategy to create this separation without messing with team cohesion or locking your squad in place is to have the varsity squad take a weekend off from racing and do a hard workout while the JV team runs in a varsity race. This gives JV runners experience in a higher level race, allows them to enjoy the experience of racing at their peak, gives them a chance to prove themselves as a potential varsity member (if things are close at 6-7-8-9-10), and simultaneously allows the top runners to get a quality session in and not waste an all-out effort on a meet that doesn't matter.
HS- trying to qualify for the state meet that's the first week of Nov. Regional meet is last week of Oct.
We're into some vo2max type workouts, typical stuff 6x8, 5x1k, reps are at our goal pace, tempo runs are still based on current fitness/latest race results. Will lower the volume the last 10-14 days but keep with the intensity.
In my program we generally race 2 weeks in a row then take a week off from racing. I'm a big believer that aerobic development is the key to long-term progress, so we keep hitting that component by doing short-rest intervals slower than race pace. I'm a girls coach, so I might have guys doing slightly longer intervals to hit around the same duration. I generally don't like doing hard race pace workouts weeks that we have a race, unless the race is on Friday or Saturday.
No meet week in late Sept:
Mon - Race pace intervals (600-1000 meters, we'll hit 1200s in October)
Wed - Speed maintenance (a few short hill sprints near the end of an easy run)
Thurs - Cruise intervals (1200-2000 meter intervals starting around LT and finishing a bit faster)
If we have a Thursday meet, we usually do the cruise intervals on Monday with a bit of faster running (some 200s or 300s) after.
For Friday or Saturday meets, we do race pace on Monday and a light tempo workout on Wednesday (1/2-2/3s their usual volume with a few 200s after).
We have a few Wednesday meets, which I hate for scheduling, but we do a similar light tempo workout on Monday, then I have them do a progression long run on Saturday.
As for mileage, we basically hold from mid-Sept to mid-Oct with down weeks when we have Friday or Saturday meets since they don't do a long run those weeks. Runners without nationals ambitions start tapering a few days before our conference meet in mid-Oct while runners looking to run well in mid-Nov to early-Dec hold mileage until we get closer to our state qualifying meet.