Please critique our first week of Malmo???

Day 4 and Day 5 are the ones that beg some questions. I'm not against a day off, but we see muscle work followed by an atrociously slow run. I'm not against lifting or slow runs, either, but having an off day become a lifting day that becomes a precursor to a slow day of running isn't acceptable. Hopefully something unique happened here to make these two days abnormal.

There is not enough doubling. For now, doubling is about teaching discipline and getting out the door. Run 15 or 20 minutes. Whatever. Just get out the door. It gets way easier when it starts happening regularly. 90% of this sport is just getting out the door.

It should be about 21 hours, not 16.

Agreed with all of it -- Day 5 was just over 95 degrees and about 40 mph wind. I'm NOT about excuses -- it was just god awful that day. Day 4 was an "off day" with some strength training in prep for Day 5 -- didn't really work out due to the weather. In terms of the doubles, she had NEVER doubled in the past so we are working in to it slowly. Plus another sports camp was held in the evening this last week. She will double three times this week and five next.

With out knowing what type of mileage and training this YOUNG girl did last year - it's hard to make recommendations. I guess I would question the doubling at such low volume and the need for the FARTLEK WORKOUT during summer training - especially the first week. Good Luck - you have a very good project to work with.

Fitness Fan -- she ran about 15 mpw in the morning before school and then some meager track team workouts this last year. The logic behind the track workout is really just my inability to give up on any/all speed work as he has no real natural sprinter speed. Get rid of it all in all?

Fitness Fan wrote:

I guess I would question the doubling at such low volume

+1

"It should be about 21 hours, not 16."

??

So, would you recommend larger individual days? No doubles? More doubles? We threw in one double this week to simply get her the idea of running (and preparing to run) twice in a day. Also, as previously mentioned, she has NOT run doubles consistently in the past and had some other scheduling conflicts this week. She will step up the number of doubles and miles in the next two weeks.

Thoughts? wrote:

Fitness Fan -- she ran about 15 mpw in the morning before school and then some meager track team workouts this last year. The logic behind the track workout is really just my inability to give up on any/all speed work as he has no real natural sprinter speed. Get rid of it all in all?

I don't exactly understand your coding for the 20 min Fartlek? How hard are the 200m sprints - how many does she do during the 20 minutes? Are these on a decent track, roads, a golf course? Also, how many weeks does she have for summer training? In addition to the 15 mpw in the a.m. what did her p.m. total volume add up to per week?

Is all pace and distance being recorded by a Garmin?

She ran fairly hard -- @85-90% on the sprints and very, very slow on the jog. There is no set number -- just 20 mins and all were run on smooth, manicured grass. She will not compete until early Sept in XC -- will gradually increase the miles and doubles to @50-55 mpw. During the school year, she ran @15 mpw before school and MAYBE 15 mpw in track practice mixed with intervals, fartleks, etc. Yes, she uses a Garmin every day religiously.

take the watch off here and there

uhhh wrote:

take the watch off here and there

This was my thought. Don't time your daily runs. Just run comfortably. Even for the workouts you want to do those more by feel than by time/pace. Time doesn't matter, just run a lot.

She doesn't use it to measure distance or pace while running -- simply to keep track of how long she's been gone. I thought malmo emphasized running for amounts of time at your current comfort pace rather distances.

I don't like that farlek, it doesn't seem like what I think of when I hear fartlek. just run some 150 accel with full rest or something, you don't need it. I think of a 2min 3min 4min etc. hard period at something like 5k race pace or around there then a relaxed period of 1min 2min 3min etc. plus it is really early for a fartlek type workout, maybe get some cruise intervals or tempo instead and then after awhile throw in the fartlek.

Thoughts? wrote:

She ran fairly hard

I'm am not a SOM expert but I think the basic premise for the hard stuff is to save it for the fall - "All of these workouts should be within yourself. Remember this isn't the end-all training program, it will prepare your for the real work to begin in September".

Also, are there any "running friends, crew, homeys, goodbuddies, gangmates, posse, stable, team or pals" for her to run with.

Yes -- she will meet up with 10-15 girls from a nearby school 2-3 times weekly starting next week. They have comparable philosophies and many varying abilities for summer work. My only concern is the idea of not "racing" in practices -- we've talked about it -- hope she can stick to it.

Thoughts? wrote:

She ran fairly hard -- @85-90% on the sprints and very, very slow on the jog. There is no set number -- just 20 mins and all were run on smooth, manicured grass. She will not compete until early Sept in XC -- will gradually increase the miles and doubles to @50-55 mpw. During the school year, she ran @15 mpw before school and MAYBE 15 mpw in track practice mixed with intervals, fartleks, etc. Yes, she uses a Garmin every day religiously.

Going from maybe 30mpw to 50-55mpw with WORKOUTS is a big jump especially for a young gun like you are working with.

The 85-90% effort is wrong in my opinion. Way too hard and it's subjective for anyone to determine, and you have a 13 or 14 year old deciding this.

I agree that the mileage is a jump for the this age but it is going to happen very gradually. Is 50-55 mpw by the middle of Aug too much still? The "workout" will really only consist of one interval/speed/fartlek workout weekly. The lifting is nothing for her since she works HIGH reps and LOW weight and has done so for a few years.

As far as the specs of the fartleks, yep, wrong -- we fixed it going forward.

Thoughts? wrote:

I agree that the mileage is a jump for the this age but it is going to happen very gradually. Is 50-55 mpw by the middle of Aug too much still? The "workout" will really only consist of one interval/speed/fartlek workout weekly. The lifting is nothing for her since she works HIGH reps and LOW weight and has done so for a few years.

As far as the specs of the fartleks, yep, wrong -- we fixed it going forward.

The only one who will really know if 50-55 mpw is too much is your athlete - unless you run with her daily and can monitor respiration in relation to pace. Teach her to listen to her body.

What's the purpose of your lifting program?