Drills for Summer Training

Here's an example of a simple routine for drills starting about 4 weeks before a competitive season begins (precede it with 12-20 minutes of progressive warmup jogging):

Phase 1 (4 weeks)

High Knees: 2 x 30m (2 weeks), 4 x 30m (2 weeks)

Quick Steps: 2 x 15m (2 weeks), 4 x 15m (2 weeks)

Heel Walks: 2 x 10m (2 weeks), 2 x 15m (2 weeks)

Goose Steps: 2 x 40m (2 weeks), 4 x 40m (2 weeks)

Traveling Lunges: 2 x 15m (1 week), 3 x 15m (1 week), 4 x 15m (2 weeks)

High-Knee Skips: 2 x 40m (1 week), 3 x 40m (1 week), 4 x 40m (2 weeks)

Phase 2 (5 weeks)

High Knees: 2 x 30m (5 weeks)

Rapid High Knees: 2 x 20m (5 weeks)

Heel Walks: 2 x 20m (5 weeks)

Goose Steps: 2 x 40m (5 weeks)

One-Legged Half Squats: 2 x 10 each leg (1 week), 2 x 15 each leg (1 week), 2 x 20 each leg (3 weeks)

High-Knee Skips: 2 x 30m (5 weeks)

Alternate-Leg Bounding: 2 x 40m (1 week), 3 x 40m (1 week), 4 x 40m (3 weeks)

Phase 3 (4 weeks)

High Knees: 1 x 30m (4 weeks)

Rapid High Knees: 1 x 20m (4 weeks)

Heel Walks: 2 x 15m (4 weeks)

Goose Steps: 2 x 40m (4 weeks)

One-Legged Half Squats: 2 x 10 each leg (4 weeks)

High-Knee Skips: 2 x 30m (4 weeks)

One-Foot Hops: 2 x 30m (2 weeks), 2 x 40m (2 weeks)

* Do drills and warmup strides with the wind (if any)

* Focus on technique but relax, relax, relax as much as possible and breathe, breathe, breathe

* Recover well between each set of drills so as to maintain mental focus and preserve proper technique

* Follow the routine with 4-8 progressively faster 10-15 secs. buildups or even-speed strides to regain specificity of running

* The number of drills reduces (often replaced by more buildups or strides) in Phase 3 because mid-season workouts become more demanding, and to get accustomed to requiring a less extensive plyometric warmup routine

* The warmup routine (drills and strides combined) is tailored to personal preference for the remainder of the season following Phase 3

* Recommended to cut total number of reps in half prior to the hardest or most important running workouts and prior to important races (also subject to personal preference)

* Pre-workout static stretching should be very light if done at all, normally stopping slightly short of full range of motion for any given stretch

This is an example of a routine for mainly long distance runners. It looks like a fair amount on paper, but the entire routine (including all the recovery periods between the drills and strides but not including the warmup jog) should take no more than 25 minutes (usually less). If done twice per week (prior to a medium effort or hard workout), the total should amount to no more than 8% of weekly workout time for mature runners at normal adult mileage levels. This illustrates the place of drills and strides in the hierarchy of the overall running routine - it's still a very minor part, isn't it? But this small devotion to variety can help you warm up pretty effectively and thoroughly and can make some inroads into developing explosive strides with minimal ground contact time. Just think of it as getting a complete warmup, because that's mainly what it is for distance runners.