This summer I decided I didn't want to be an average 16:45 5k guy anymore so I got up to 60-70 mpw with 4-5 double days a week and good threshold running. Compared to last summer where I did 40-45 mpw in all singles. Going into this season I am my team's top guy and a team leader, roles of which I hope to excel in.
I ran a late summer race before school started up (junior year). Based on the fact that I had been mainly doing mileage, I figured I'd run a bit slow. In reality, I felt really strong and ran quite well.
My school year and XC season started back up and my daily runs became not completely up to me. My coach is a nice guy and he knows a good bit about running. He's read all of the hit running books and has 10+ years of experience. Yet, he has us doing some things that go against my thought process...
The last six weeks (includes summer practices), we have ran the following workout once per week...
60s hard, 60s rest for 3 miles.
A fartlek type of workout, which I understand. But, once a week for a over a month? It seems a bit excessive to me. I also don't really feel a huge benefit from this workout, neither do my few teammates. As far as other workouts go, we've had one tempo run, one set of tempo reps, and a few long runs. Last week went like this...
Mon- Long Run, the last few miles effortful
Tues- Tempo Run
Wed- 60s hard, 60s rest for 3 miles
Thurs- Easy
Fri- Tempo Reps
Sat- Easy
This week went...
Mon- Long Run, last few miles effortful
Tues- Easy
Wed- 4 sets of 1 min on, 1 min jog, 2 min on, 2 min jog, 3 min on, 3 min jog
Thurs- 60s hard, 60s rest for 3 miles
Fri- Easy
Sat- Race (in which I ran and felt worse than a few weeks ago when I raced off of just mileage)
Maybe asking if my coach is an idiot is a bit much, but I'm just not feeling as strong as I was. I've been able to keep a few doubles 3-4 days a week and 50-55 mpw yet, I'm not feeling like the same guy as a month ago.
I've asked my coach why we have been doing consecutive hard days and so many of these short, fast fartleks... His answer is usually something along the lines of "we need to get some hard, fast efforts in." I communicated very well with him this summer about my training. I emphasized how good I was feeling while running 65+ mpw with tempo runs and reps and he seemed to agree with my findings. What he is having us do now just doesn't seem right.
Sorry for the long post. Any thoughts? What can I do to voice my and my teammates' feelings towards his planning? Thanks.