Training Plan for Week 2: 9/8-9/14

With the first meet in the books, the next two weeks will each follow a similar pattern. In terms of volume, the pattern will be C-A-B-A-B-C, with A being the shortest length runs and C being the longest length runs. Note that on days with a workout or race there will be a warmup and cooldown, and the time you spend on those is counted in toward the total time. A cooldown jog of at least 8-10 minutes is an important part of your race day routine. Barring a medical situation it's not something to be neglected or skipped.

A couple of logistical notes before we get to the schedule:

• per athlete request, the warmup will now begin at 2:45. This is moved up from the previous 3 PM start time.

• the duration of the plank at the start of the warmup is now 45 seconds. Congratulations! You've leveled up.

• there will be a team picture taken on Thursday. Time and place TBA. The AD informed me that you're all supposed to be uniform for that picture, even though we have a meet the day before. I'll explain how we'll deal with that.

The week:

• Monday 9/8 - 40-70 minutes easy including a tour of the home course, followed by 3-6 x 200 meters on the track with varying length recoveries. Cooldown after the 200s are done, then core circuit before stretching. After the warmup, the captains will lead the rest of us on a tour of the home course in preparation for next week's home meet. Upon completing this tour, some people will go directly to the track to run the 200s. Others will run a bit more wherever they like and then head to the track. On the track, the 200s should be run at a pace similar to what those of you who were at the meet on Saturday ran. The recovery after the first repeat is a 300 meter jog; after the second, a 200 meter jog; after the third, a 100 meter jog. If you're doing more repeats than that, the recovery cycles back to 300 meters after the fourth repeat. And so on.

• Tuesday 9/9 - 20-45 minutes. Start out easy today, if you're feeling good pick up the pace later in the run, if not don't. Hill drills between the warmup and the run.

• Wednesday 9/10 - DCL Small Division Relays. This meet will be held at Franklin Park in Boston. The bus leaves at 2:30. As of this writing I'm not sure exactly when we should be back, but more information will be forthcoming in a future post on this blog. For this meet the standard 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) course will be broken into 3 equal chunks of just over a mile. Three person teams will pass a baton from one chunk to the next. For Wayland and Weston this meet will also serve as W-day, wherein the Wayland and Weston teams in each fall sport square off against each other. The rest of the teams will be doing this on September 27th; we'll be racing at an invitational in Wrentham that day, so it was decided to use this meet instead for W-day. Both varsity and JV results count towards the overall W-day scoring. The combined times of each school's A and B teams will be compared to determine the varsity winner. The combined times of the C and D teams will be used to determine the winning JV team. It should be fun. After running your race and catching your breath and before the cooldown, you'll do 4-8 repetitions of 20 seconds hard followed by 40 seconds jog using the timer function on the team wristwatches. Then a cooldown jog. Overall the amount of running you do today should be between what you did yesterday and what you did on Monday.

• Thursday 9/11 - Same length run as Tuesday. It doesn't have to be the same route however. After the run we'll do the core circuit. It's possible some people will be taken to the town beach today for aquajogging in lieu of running.

• Friday 9/12 - 10 minute mild progression jog, then 4-9 sets of 3 minute pickups with 2 minute jog recoveries. Hill drills afte the warmup and before the workout. For this session you'll run in groups that are assigned by me based on race results; the idea is that you'll be able to train with people of a similar fitness level. The pickups and recoveries will be measured using the timer function on the team watches; each group MUST have at least one watch with this function enabled. Every minute, the watch will beep. For the pickups, the idea is to pick up the pace after one minute has elapsed, and then again after two minutes have elapsed. Thus, starting out at a reasonably hard but not all-out effort is crucial. The pickups will be run on the school grounds, basically the area of the home course. However you don't have to follow the exact layout of the home course. Once the final pickup is done, cooldown 10 minutes.

• Saturday 9/13 - 45-80 minute easy run. There'll be an optional practice at 9 AM in Lincoln where you can do this, or else on your own. This run should be at a comfortable, conversational pace as you'll be recovering from yesterday's workout. If you feel up to it you can pick it up in the last 10 minutes or so but this is by no means mandatory. If the pace is too fast today you'll end up sabotaging the beneficial effect of yesterday's workout session.

• Sunday 9/14 - off.