The first SOM was 1989 when Terrance Mahon decided he wanted to become a better runner. He asked me, "But what if I get tired." I said, "You will, but it will pass."
If general fatigue doesn't pass within three weeks take off a few days. Simple.
The easy days should feel easy and the "hard" days shouldn't be hard at all. If you don't know if you are running too hard then back off a notch These two workouts should feel easy. You should feel incredibly invigorated afterward, not exhausted. I realize this is an alien experience for many of you but listen to me and understand the whole point of SOM.
This began over 20 years ago (on John Schiefer's Trackand fieldmedia.com) about this time of year when the usual knuckleheads wanted to know a secret program that would prepare them for cross country. I knew the answer because I had thought about it for decades. Knowing that you guys have just come off a track season, and knowing that you needed a break, but still needed to continue on to your next season in cross, SOM was meant to be "between season" training. Basically it was to get you back to the basics and refresh and invigorate your body and mind.
I came to this idea by reflecting on what I used to do in the Summer and how I would do it if I could do it over again. In high school my teammates would meet at 6 am for an easy run. Then I'd run in the afternoon sometimes. When I was in college I used to manage swimming pools during the Summer. Comedian Martin Lawrence was one of the knucklehead kids at one of my pools. Generally I ran about 40-70 miles a week June through July, but I was very active, what with swimming all Summer. In August I'd start to ramp up the training a bit and get ready for cross country.
If I had to do it over again, I'd do SOM. I'd invite guys from other colleges and high schools to meet twice a week for an easy training session on the track. By easy, I mean for a sub 14 5k college runner repeat 400s at 68-70 would be certified SOM training. Again, this will shock many of you, "that's not hard." That's the point.
When I suggest workouts to do, those are only the basics. The point of SOM is that all runners of varying abilities and levels of fitness can run together. For instance, the 4-6 mile tempo run who be 4-6 miles for the lead group, however, the less-fit in the group might run 2 miles, rest a lap, then run tow more miles with the leaders. Each subsequent week they might add another lap top the time they hang with the leaders. Same thing with the repeat 1200-2000m efforts. They might run 800m, wait a lap, then jump in the final 400, of the mile repeats that the lead group is doing.
There's no reason why everyone has to run a five mile tempo run, or that everyone has to run repeat 1200s. The leaders should be running paces that is comfortable to them, the others should be jumping in/out at those same paces. It makes it fun for everyone, and the slower athletes will find themselves improving week after week, without breaking down physically or mentally.
Here it is, Summer of malmo, with addendum-diddy-dum
Summer of Malmo
To paraphrase George Costanza:" It's going to be the 'Summer of malmo!'"
Q: What is this so-called "Summer of malmo"?
A: It's a foolproof, no-nonsense, 100 percent guaranteed program that will help runners of all abilities to improve their fitness over the summer WITHOUT the attendant physical or mental fatigue. "Summer of malmo" revolves around a relaxed commitment from a group to meet just twice a week for an organized workout. One tempo run and one longer interval session. JUST TWICE A WEEK IS ALL I ASK. Emphasis on RELAXED and emphasis on COMMITMENT. Make this a social event.
Q: Who is it for?
A: Everyone (almost). Anyone that isn't reaching their full potential, and you know who you are. It's for runners that have been THINKING about doing doubles and haven't yet started. It's for you runners that have been THINKING of jacking up the mileage and haven't yet started. It's for college runners. High school runners. Boys, girls, men and women. Anyone that wants to make the leap for next year's cross country season. Different skill levels? No problem. Fitness levels? Coming off an injury and are way behind? It's OK, I've thought of it all. This foolproof SCHEDULE is all things to all runners!
Q: Who isn't it for?
A: Any runner who has immediate racing goals. This "program" is a springboard for the cross country season. An easy way to prepare oneself for the real training to be done in the fall.
Q: I thought that you don't believe in writing SCHEDULES?
A: I don't, these workouts are only examples, you can customize it any way that you want - EXCEPT FOR THE INTENSITY LEVEL. That part must always be relaxed and within yourself. Otherwise it is not a genuine Summer of malmo. The product and your warranty will be null and void.
Q: How do I start?
A: First up, call all of your running friends, crew, homeys, goodbuddies, gangmates, posse, stable, team or pals and commit to meet twice a week for a workout. Get together with runners from other teams in your town or city. Make it a social event. Meet for pizza or a BBQ afterwards. Start now. Also, start running twice a day now. In the words of John Ngugi, "Don't waste good time." Do doubles four, five or six days a week. Can't make it four days? Then do three. For most of you grasshoppers doubles are the missing element that is keeping you from reaching your full potential, so start 'em now.
Q: What if I get tired?
A: You will get tired, I can guarantee it. IT WILL PASS. Trust me.
Q: How many miles should I run?
A: I don't know, but more than you've been doing. The time is now to find out exactly where your personal sweet spot is. The main goals are to (1) increase the mileage and (2) to run doubles. Some of you may be running over 100 miles per week for the first time, other still think that running 70 mpw is a lot. It's OK, this PROGRAM will accommodate everyone.
Q: My friends are going to meet twice a week, where?
A: On the track. Why? Because the PROGRAM is designed to accommodate everyone with one simple formula. You'll see soon enough.
Q: What workouts do we do?
A: Once a week meet for a tempo run on the track of four to six miles. The other workout is four to six by 1200m to 2000m with one lap jog, OR 16 to 24 by 150m to 300m with FULL RECOVERY - that's a really slow jog. Walk if you have to. You determine what you want to do; these are just recommendations.
Q: How fast?
A: Whatever is comfortable for the group. Not once should you come off of the workout with your eyes rolling back in your heads, that's not the point. Basically it's threshold training, but don't tell anyone I said so - I've got an image to uphold.
Let's say on your tempo run you've got four of you who are comfortable with 5:20 pace for five miles but you have two others who would have to struggle with that pace and another two who just simply are not in shape. No problem. The middle two could probably run for two miles, rest a lap and when the group comes around again, jump back in. Just as long as it's still a tempo run for them. Both the leaders and the runners jumping back in will benefit from each other. Those two out-of-shape runners? Jump in at the back of the pack for a lap or two, rest a lap, jump back in for another lap or two, and repeat until the run is over.
Each week they'll be able to run more and more, and before you know it, they'll be right up there with the lead group. Same thing with the long interval session.
The beauty of the "Summer of malmo" is that no matter what kind of shape you or your comrades-in-sweat are in you can all train together and benefit from each other.
Q: What should my heart rate be?
A: I don't have a clue. I'm trying to get you to "feel" Kung Fu, not "think" it.
Q: What about those 200s? Why are we doing speed work now?
A: The only way to run fast is to, well, run fast. The time to start is now. Let's say the group is running 200s. Just go out and run them. FULL RECOVERY. The whole point is to train the neuromuscular system, to concentrate on the mechanics of running - you know it: forward lean, arm carriage, knees up and out, heels clipping your butt, stride length and turnover. I've always been amazed at the number of runners that think that they can "get speed" during the last three weeks of the season. It doesn't work that way.
Q: So what you're saying is a five mile tempo run once a week AND, lets say, five by one mile, OR 16 x 200 for the other workout?
A: That's exactly what I'm saying. 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.
Q: No hill repeats?
A: Nope. If you want to, go ahead, but the objective here is to get the most during the summer with the least amount of effort - that's PHYSICAL and MENTAL. By meeting twice a week and running in a group the mental effort should be at a minimum. REMEMBER, NO RACING IN THE F*****' WORKOUT!!! There will be plenty of time for that later.
Q: What about the other days?
A: Keep those doubles going. If you're out on a run and are feeling good you just might rip into another tempo run. My favorite: "run to the barn", that is, the last two to three miles of an easy run just let it rip. Go into orbit. Some of you geeks might even call it AT training.
Q: I live in the country and don't have anyone else to run with.
A: That's OK. Just do your tempo runs on the roads. For your long repeats you might just go out on the roads for an hour or so of 5:00 easy/5:00 hard (on of my favorite workouts). Still the same principles apply to you. All of these workouts should be run within yourself.
Q: I want to run some summer road races, can I?
A: Sure, why not? As long as these races are not the end-all. You've got bigger fish to fry in the fall so take it easy. Who are you trying to impress in the summer anyway? Not me, baby. Save it for later. If you've got the discipline then run your tempo run during these races. Alright, I know that everyone has one race that they'd like to concentrate on, go ahead and go for it. Just don't make it a weekly habit.
Q: How much will this cost?
A: Nothing. There is no "Gold, Silver, or Bronze" plan to sign up for. I won't provide increasing levels of attention dependent upon the amount on the check. This program isn't about me, it's about you. I'm just passing on to you what is public domain, hopefully you'll use it.
Q: Go over that again?
A: (1) twice-a-day, as many days as you can - four, five or six days a week (2) increase your mileage, look, you guys are made of the same muscle and bone as me, you can do it. Find your own sweet spot (3) meet with a group twice a week (4) one tempo run of just four to six miles and (5) one workout of 1200m to 2000m repeats OR 16 to 24 by 150m to 300m (5) don't try to impress anyone, run within yourself (6) relax, the real training doesn't begin until September.
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1871615&page=0
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1936989
http://pih.bc.ca/summerofmalmo.html
Addendum
"Summer of Malmo" is "a foolproof, no-nonsense, 100 percent guaranteed program that will help runners of all abilities to improve their fitness over the summer WITHOUT the attendant physical or mental fatigue" just as it says in the first paragraph. It is in-between season training. It isn't a training "program" so-to-speak.
"Summer of Malmo" was born out of John Schiefer's Track&FieldMedia.com message board almost ten years ago. Tranck&FieldMedia was the "Granddaddy of the running message boards" and had Schiefer not decided to spend more time on his day job Letsrun would have never become the "world famous message board" it is today.
Track&FieldMedia.com was just like it is here today, full of runners looking for the secret workout or the secret program that will take them to the next step. Every year about this time they start devising all sort of ingenious plans for the Summer to get them ready for cross country season. Then, as it is now, they were looking for a blueprint for the Summer, when in reality there is no blueprint, there are no secret workouts at all. All there is, is consistency, persistence and patience -- just as it always was. Summer of Malmo is a concept, not a blueprint, feel free to adjust it to suit your needs.
Knowing that "consistency, persistence and patience" doesn't excite anyone, one day I posted on T%FMedia that I had the Summer program that was exactly what all of the young bucks were looking for, and that when I get a chance I'll post it. This became somewhat of a running joke at the T&FMedia message boards, each week someone would ask about my summer "training" program and each week I's say, I'm still "working on it.
Finally in June, I realized I couldn't procrastinate any longer, so I sat down and wrote "Summer of Malmo" with the Seinfeld episode of "Summer of George" in the background on TV. It was born part out of reality, the Summer of 1989 that Terrance Mahon decided he was going to get serious, and went from unknown scrub to College All-America, but it was also part reflection of mine as to how high school and college runners should go about training during the Summer between seasons.
Historically, runners tend to come from two camps; their motivation gets misplaced during the Summer and they do too little training to prepare themselves for XC, or they train too hard, come to school in great shape and don't improve, causing disillusionment and then misplace blame on their coach for ruining them.
I decided that if I could do it over again, or if I were a college coach, I'd direct my runners that the first thing they should do when they get home is to call all of their friends up and make a commitment to meet twice weekly for informal training sessions. I'd tell them to put the word out to all of the local high school teams and invite them to the training sessions as well. The point of those sessions would be that this is a social event and the workouts would be low-stress aerobic workouts. ALL WORKOUTS would be run at an intensity level that is well-within the ability of all runners.
The idea of having runners all run the same pace, periodically jumping in and out of the workout that the lead group is doing, also came out of that Summer of 1989. I had been knocked out of training by a dose of sciatica. When I started running, I decided that rather than building up my mileage with all easy runs, I'd start doing interval work on the track immediately, but I'd start off running slow and short, gradually lengthening the distance and increasing the speed as my body let me. The original "Summer of Terrance" group consisted of Terrance Mahon, Peter Fonseca, Brad Hudson, Colin Dalton and myself, with assorted guest stars jumping (not sure how many times Pat Haller made it) in depending on who was in town for that session. There were times that I'd jump in for a lap (while the group was running a 5 mile tempo run) then wait until they got back around, then I'd jump in again, and so on. Each week I'd run a little bit more and/or a little bit faster, finally by the end of the Summer I caught up to the lead. This was the easiest Summer of good training I ever had.
I.John Nutlall. Iowa St.. 29.30
2 Jonah Koech, Iowa Sr . 29.32
3 German Beltran,Alabama. 29:33
4. Terry Thornton. LSU ana Sr., 29.49
5. Robcrr Kennedy. Indiana. 29.54.
6. Todd Williams,. Tennessee. 29.47
7 Shannon Butler. Montana St, 29.59;
8. Brad Hudson. Oregon. 30:01.
9. Mark Croghan. OSU St 30.03
10. Peter Sherry. Georgetown. 30.04
11 Darrell Smith. Iowa St, 30.07
12. James Gibson Yale. 3O.08
13 Joe Kirby. Nebraka. 30.09
14. Jesse McGuire WMU 30.09
15. Stan Dollman. WKU 30.13
16. Peter Fonseca Oregon 30.16
17 Pat Hailer. Oregon. 30.16
18. Sammy Cherulyot. Mt. St. Mary’ 30 17.34.
19. Steven Fury. Oklahwna St. 30:22
20. Steven Brown. Penn St 30.23
27. Terrance Mahon, Oregon 30.31
1 Iowa State 54
2 Oregon 72
3 Wake Forest 219