Week 1 Training Plan: 8/31--9/6

This week encompasses the end of pre-season and the beginning of school. The pre-season start time of 3:30 will change to the regular routine of practice starting at 2:30 on Wednesday. While last week's practices were comprised mainly of just steady running, this week features two days with training that's more structured, focused, and of a higher overall intensity. In addition, note that due to the forecast for temperatures pushing 90 degrees on Monday, I'm changing things around such that we'll be visiting the Town Beach on Monday rather than Tuesday. While everyone will meet at the high school to start, some people will be finishing up at the beach with aqua jogging and should arrange to be picked up there. These are the people who haven't had as much training under their belts during the summer. If you're not sure if this applies to you send me a note or ask me at the start of practice.

Here's the day by day breakdown:

• Monday 8/31 - medium length run plus 15-20 minutes aqua jogging. Medium length here means anywhere from 25 to 55 minutes depending on the person. Overall intensity of 5 or 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. Everyone will meet at the school at 3:30, and hill drills will be making their first appearance of the season as well (hold your applause). Some people will be running back to the school from the lake; those that have less summer training and have been running less volume thus far in practice will be picked up at the pond. It will be hot today, please remember to bring your water bottle.

• Tuesday 9/1 - 10 minute warmup, timed repeats at 80% effort, 10 minute cool down jog. After meeting at 3:30 and doing the team warmup, we'll be heading over to the intersection of the Weston aqueduct and Herland Road, which will be the starting point for the workout. Everyone will be running timed repeats with relatively short recoveries; the idea is to run at an exertion level that's a notch below race intensity. The length of the repeats will be either 2, 3, or 4 minutes, with 1 minute, 90 seconds, or 2 minutes recovery respectively. The number of repeats will vary from person to person, overall the goal is to have the entire workout, including warmup and cool down, add up to a length of time fairly similar to yesterday. It goes without saying that a timed workout such as this requires a timekeeping device; if you have a watch with stopwatch or better yet countdown timer function, please bring it. While we do have a supply of wrist watches for use, there aren't enough to go around.

• Wednesday 9/2 - Longer run, out and back along the Hultman aqueduct. With the resumption of school, the warmup will start at 2:30. After that we'll do a brief round of introductions and then head out east along the aqueduct, accessing it from Maiden Lane. Today's run should be 30-50% longer than Monday's, i.e 35-70 minutes depending on the person. The pace should be quite easy and relaxed at the start, 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10, and gradually picking up to 8 for the last 5-10 minutes of the run.

Thursday 9/3 - 10-20 minute warmup, circuits, 5-10 minute cool down. More details will be forthcoming on the circuit workout, but in general it will consist of 8 different stations of 3 exercises followed closely by a run of 200 or 300 meters at an intensity level of 9. Each of these runs is followed by a very short jog before going directly into the next station of 3 exercises. We'll be doing this on the track once a week for the month of September, and it'll be the only type of workout we'll be doing on the track this season.

Friday 9/4 - With no school today, there's no organized practice at the usual time. For those that are interested, there'll be an optional practice on the Lincoln trails at 3:45 in the afternoon. This is located at 145 Lincoln Road, and is the site we visited last fall for our optional Saturday practices. If there had been school and a regularly scheduled practice session, it would have been a repeat of Monday's practice with a mix of running and aqua jogging. If you can do this or something like this on your own at any point during the day that would be great. If your family's plans make that impossible for this particular day but you can do it on another day this weekend then do that instead.

Saturday 9/5, Sunday 9/6 - These two days and Monday 9/7 are of course part of the Labor Day holiday weekend. The plan I'd like for you to follow is as follows: one day of running at an intensity between 5 and 7 on a scale of 1-10, one day of cross training somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour, and one day off.

We'll reconvene on Tuesday with a busy week that will include the distribution of uniforms, a team shopping night at Marathon Sports in Wellesley on Wednesday 9/9 (20% off all purchases) and the first meet of the season on Saturday 9/12 in Newburyport.

One more day to the start of practice! What to bring and notes on Friday's practice

Pre-season practice begins tomorrow, 3:30 PM at the high school. We meet near the track, in the area between the track and field house. Coach Lehmann and I are looking forward to seeing both new and familiar faces and getting the season off to a great start! The first couple days tend to take a little longer as we learn (or re-learn) the team warmup and get to know each other, but things should be wrapping up between 5:30 and 6 at the latest.

Please remember you have to be registered with an up to date physical (within the last 12 months) on file with the school nurse. See the most recent post prior to this one for more information on registration, physical, and a link to the concusssion awareness course that must be completed by both athletes and one parent/guardian per athlete.

You should bring the following to Thursday's practice:

• running shoes

• comfortable clothes in which to work out. You might also want to wear a hat. 

• sunscreen

• water bottle - very important item. Our supply of cups is limited for now, and we'd like to reduce the amount of litter and waste regardless. Please bring a water bottle which you can use during breaks in practice and after practice has ended.

• running log - if you were at the interest meeting in June you heard me speak about the importance of logging your training, be it running or some other cardiovascular activity. If your log is in writing on paper, please make a copy and bring it to practice. If you've stored your training log on your computer or online, please send me the file or the link to your online log.

• you can also bring an extra change of clothes and a towel if you'd like to change after practice. I'm not 100% positive about the status of the locker rooms but they should be open, if not bathrooms will be available at the very least.

For Friday's practice, everyone will at some point be meeting at the Town Beach which is at the end of Parkland Drive. Some will be running there from the school, others will meet me there directly. The purpose of meeting at the Town Beach is to spend some time "aquajogging" in the water as a way to increase training time without putting extra pounding on joints and muscles. That being said no one has to go in the water that isn't comfortable with doing so. If swimming in deep water is not something you want to do, let me know at practice on Thursday and we'll make other plans. For Friday's practice you might want to bring a towel and a pair of sunglasses (glare from the sun on the water can be intense in the late afternoon).

Pre-season practice schedule and reminder on eligibility requirements

I've received multiple requests for the pre-season practice schedule, here it is:

Thursday 8/27 - 3:30 PM at WHS

Friday 8/28 - 3:30 PM at WHS or 3:45 at Town Beach (some will meet at WHS, others at the beach)

Saturday 8/29 - 9 AM, Town Beach

Monday 8/31 - 3:30 PM at WHS

Tuesday 9/1 - 3:30 PM at WHS or 3:45 at Town Beach

Wednesday 9/2 - First day of school, practice begins at 2:30

 If you're unable to make any of these practices let me know so I can give you an alternate workout to complete on your own.

In addition, it's worth noting that you must be registered, paid for, and have an up to date physical examination record on file in order to be allowed to practice with the team. Here are the relevant links:


Registration
https://www.familyid.com/programs/wayland-high-school-athletics-registration-fall-2015

 Payment
https://unipaygold.unibank.com/Default.aspx?customerid=618

Finally, the Athletic Department is now requiring all athletes and one parent per family to submit a certificate of completion from a concussion class. Link:

http://nfhslearn.com/courses/61037

at the end of taking the course you should get a certificate, which then must be sent via fax, USPS, or sent as an attachment via email to the school nurse Amy Schoeff. Her e-mail is amy_schoeff(at)wayland(dot)k12(dot)ma(dot)us

Any questions, let me know at llayam(at)hotmail(dot)com

Enjoy the rest of the summer and happy training!

-Coach Mayall