As I discussed in the last post, the first 10 weeks of training for distance runners will be focused on aerobic conditioning and strength, and the first 5 weeks for sprinters will concentrate on form, strength, and conditioning. Today, let’s take a closer look at what our early-season weekly schedule looks like. Below you will see the schedule for the first week of December as it has been given to the team. It is for both boys and girls.
As an aside, this is the first time I’ve ever done a Midnight Madness practice, but with December 1 falling on a Saturday this year, it just seemed like the perfect time to try something new. We’re doing it in conjunction with South Oldham. Hopefully, the kids will enjoy it.
Sprinters/Jumpers
We don’t do any sprinting this time of year. The primary focus is on drills and form through our warm-up. A “warm-up” for us, though, is a pretty good workout by itself. A full warm-up, which it will take us a little while to work up to, will take us between 25-30 minutes. We concentrate on drills with a large emphasis on the A position. We hit that hard, emphasizing hitting the A position in almost every drill we do since it is so important in the mechanics of sprinting. We drill very hard on proper form, including upper body.
We also do static stretching at the end of the workout rather than the beginning, since recent studies have shown that static stretching actually decreases our muscles’ ability to generate power for up to an hour. Flexibility is still extremely important, so we still do our stretching, we just do it at the end of our workout to avoid the loss of power during the workout. We use the dynamic warm-up of jogging and drills instead of the traditional static warm-up.
Our warm-up routine will eventually include the elements below, but we’ll spend the first week or so concentrating on just the first half:
300-400m jog
Leg swings
Hurdle Drill
A-skip
B-skip
Butt-kick
C-skip
Straight-leg Shuffle
Power skip
Strides at 70%-80%-90%
Our other focus is on strength, which we will get through the circuit training and hill work, which I will discuss more next time.
Distance Runners
There’s nothing earth-shattering about this schedule for distance runners, but there are two things that usually jump off the page at people: double workouts and no designated rest day. Let’s get this out there: I’m a big believer in doubles. My team ran them in high school with great success, and everybody that I’ve coached that has done consistent doubles has seen it pay off. Having said that, last year was the first year that I’ve had an organized program in the mornings. Previously, the second workout was just “on your own” for various reasons. Starting last year, Stu Fischer, one of our assistant coaches, volunteered to handle the morning program for me. Thanks to Coach Fischer, our kids had a coach available to them and running with them every weekday morning from December until spring break, and the kids that participated really saw the benefit in the spring.
We approach the second workout as purely aerobic conditioning: we stay relaxed, and we do not push the pace. It’s purely supplemental aerobic work. In my opinion, there are very few high school runners who cannot handle an extra half hour or so of aerobic running at least a few times a week. Schedules are variable, and life happens, so attendance varies; but we had a group last year that did 3-5 days per week. Weather is also a variable during the winter, so we meet at the YMCA so they can stay inside and do the treadmill or spinners if necessary.
As for rest days, I rarely schedule them. This is part of individualization. I instruct the kids to tell me if they are feeling like they need a rest day or a cross-training day, and then we figure out what to do on an individual basis. Beginners, especially, tend to think they need more days off than they really do, so sometimes we nudge them to keep going. Eventually, they learn when they really need a day, and then I encourage them to take it. Most of the time, the runner will just ask to cross-train instead of taking the day completely off. I also encourage them to take their rest on an easy day during the week rather than skipping the long run on Sunday, which I consider more important.
Other than that, just notice that we touch on speed a very little bit and get a taste of fast running with a little fartlek, but most of our time is spent on strength (circuits and hills) and on aerobic conditioning (distance runs and tempo work).
Track Workout Schedule for November 30-December 9, 2012
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Sprint |
Distance |
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Friday, November 30
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7:00pm in OCHS Cafeteria: Season Kickoff/Midnight Madness. Dinner in cafeteria followed by activities and our first practice at midnight! |
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Saturday, December 1 |
On your own: Stretching 20:00-40:00 Distance run Stretching |
On your own: Warm-up/Stretching 45:00 Aerobic progression run 6 x 100m Strides Stretching/Core strength |
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Sunday, December 2 |
Rest |
3:30pm @ South Oldham HS: Warm-up/Stretching 60:00-75:00 Long Run 6 x 100m Strides Stretching |
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Monday, December 3 |
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching 20:00-30:00 Run
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6:15am @ YMCA: 30:00-40:00 Aerobic run, Stretching
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching 3 x 2000m Tempo w/ 1:00 rest 6 x 100m Strides Stretching /Core strength |
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Tuesday, December 4 |
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching Circuit Training Stretching |
6:15am @ YMCA: 30:00-40:00 Aerobic run, Stretching
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching 50:00 Aerobic progression run 6 x 100m Strides Stretching/Core strength |
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Wednesday, December 5 |
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching
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6:15am @ YMCA: 30:00-40:00 Aerobic run, Stretching
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching 5 x 3:00 hard/2:00 jog 6 x 100m Strides Stretching /Core strength |
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Thursday, December 6 |
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching 20:00-30:00 Run
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6:15am @ YMCA: 30:00-40:00 Aerobic run, Stretching
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching 50:00 Aerobic progression run 6 x 100m Strides Stretching/Core strength |
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Friday, December 7 |
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching 20:00-30:00 Distance run Stretching |
6:15am @ YMCA: 30:00-40:00 Aerobic run, Stretching
3:50pm @ Coach G’s Room: Warm-up/Stretching Circuit Training Stretching |
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Saturday, December 8 |
8:00am @ Spring Hill Clubhouse: Warm-up/Stretching Hill Repeats Stretching |
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Sunday, December 9 |
Rest |
3:30pm @ South Oldham HS: Warm-up/Stretching 60:00-75:00 Long Run 6 x 100m Strides Stretching |
Notes: Saturday hill workouts are NOT optional. They are an important part of our training. For hill workouts, we will meet this year on the first cul-de-sac up in Brentwood (up the hill across the bridge from the Spring Hill Clubhouse where there aren’t any houses yet).
Sunday long runs can be done on your own if necessary, but running with the group is encouraged. Morning runs for distance runners are optional but encouraged.