Week 1 Training Plan - 8/28-9/3

With the first full week of practice set to begin, this is the first post outlining what's scheduled for training. Each weekly training plan begins on Monday and covers the week up until the following Sunday. Typically each week's training plan will be posted by Sunday evening, but no later than lunchtime Monday. Remember that while each plan is a good outline of what we plan on in terms of training and racing, there are sometimes unforeseen factors that change the planned workout on a given day. When this happens we'll do our best to get the word out quickly. In addition, note that there's a wide variation in the length of the workout on each day. As previously stated at practice, this is because we have a diverse group of athletes on the team with a wide range of experience and incoming fitness levels. If you have any questions about how far or how hard to go on a particular day don't hesitate to ask one of the coaches. With all that out of the way, here's the plan:

• Mon 8/28 - Practice at WHS @3:15. Warmup 5-20 minutes, followed by the circuit workout, then 5-20 minute cooldown. The circuit workout is a series of 8 runs around the practice soccer field (a length of 300 meters) followed by 3 strength or mobility exercises. The list of exercises can be found in the Training Links sidebar under "circuit workout." Some may be familiar, others will be just names until you see them demonstrated. For those that are certified on the elliptigo, either the warmup or cooldown can be done on the elliptigo bike. After practice if there's enough interest there will be another orientation for use of the elliptigo bikes.

• Tue 8/29 - Split practice, either 3:15 @WHS or 3:45 at the Town Beach. For those meeting at the school, the workout involves a round trip to the beach, whle those meeting at the beach will do a shorter run around the neighborhood. Both groups will then go aquajogging for 12 minutes (alternating 1 minute on, 1 minute off). The aquajogging is optional for those not comfortable with going in the water. The elliptigos azre available for makng the trip to or from the beach.

• Wed 8/30 - Split practice, either 3:15 @WHS or 3:45 at the Town Beach. Hill drills, followed by a similar run to yesterday. 10 minutes of aquajogging, 1 minute on 1 minute off. Like yesterday the elliptigos are available for making the trip to or from the beach.

• Thu 8/31 - Practice at WHS @3:15. 40-60 minutes with hill repeats. Today everyone will head out towards Framingham on the Weston aqueduct (this is the aqueduct behind and above the school). Once across the Sudbury River via the HDB, everyone will do 3-5 hill repeats. These are done as a form of resistance work and are not intended to be all out sprints; the point is to build strength in the legs and not be totally gassed. Following this, some people will head directly back while others will continue on either via the Getchell Trail or further west along the aqueduct.

• Fri 9/1 - Practice at WHS @3:15. 25-50 minutes starting out at an easy pace and finishing with 4 or 5 bursts of 10-20 seconds at a faster speed in the last 5-10 minutes of the run. These pickups should be done on one of the ball fields near the school.

• Sat 9/2 and Sun 9/3 - No organized practice during these two days of the Labor Day holiday weekend. On your own, I'd like for you to pick one of the two days for either:

- a cross training workout of 30 minutes to an hour plus (depending on what the activity is)

or

- a run of 30-45 minutes with the last 10 minutes being run at about a 75-80% effort. Up to that point, take it easy.

Regardless of which workout you choose to do, please remember to do the warmup routine beforehand and SAM afterward. The specifics on these can be found in the "Training Links" sidebar of the team website.

Finally, looking ahead to the first day of Week 2 which is Labor Day; there will be an optional practice at 2:30 PM but it won't be held at the school or the beach, but rather at the Lincoln Commuter Rail station which is the trailhead for a large network of nice running paths. More information will be forthcoming on this practice later in the week.

Sarah Tully - Wayland Town Crier Athlete of the Year

Recent WHS grad Sarah Tully was featured in this week's edition of the Wayland Town Crier, as their "Athlete of the Year." The honor is well-earned, as anyone who's followed this team over the past few years can attest. You can read the article detailing her exploits here.

Details on the start of practice

Pre-season practice begins this Thursday 3:15 PM at the high school. We meet at the high school by the "snack shack" between the field house and the track. 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 by 5:30 at the latest.

Please remember you have to be registered with an up to date physical (within the last 13 months) on file with the school nurse. More registration information can be found at

http://whs.wayland.k12.ma.us/athletics/registration/ 

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. Please bring a water bottle which you can use during breaks in practice and after practice has ended. It's best to bring your water bottle already filled.

• 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 (preferred method on my end), please send me the file or the link to your online log.

• towel for drying off after aquajogging

• sunglasses for cutting down the glare of the sun on the water while aquajogging

• extra change of clothes 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 the early season practices, 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 will be forced to go in the water. 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.

Here's the training plan for the first three days of practice:

• Thursday 8/24 - brief introductions, demonstration of warmup routine, followed by 25-45 minutes of running out and back along the Weston aqueduct. Ideally the pace will pick up gradually towards the end of the running portion of the day. After practice has ended there will be an orientation for the elliptigo bikes which should take about 20 minutes. Anyone new to the cross country team should find out from me whether they'll be meeting at the school or the town beach tomorrow.

• Friday 8/25 - Either

• warmup routine, 30-60 minutes of running and 15 minutes of aquajogging. Today's run will include 6-8 x 20 second pickups with 1 minute recovery jogs in the second half of the run. Those doing this workout will meet at the school at 3:15.

• wamup routine, 10 minutes of alternating 15 seconds faster running with 45 seconds easy jogging, then 15 minutes of aquajogging. Those doing this workout will meet at the town beach at 3:45. 

If there's sufficient interest there might be an elliptigo orientation at the end of today's practice.

• Saturday 8/26 - meet at Town Beach, 40-80 minutes gradually picking up the pace the second half of the run, 15 minutes aquajogging. Today's run will be an out and back mostly along the Hultman aqueduct, which we'll access where it meets Sycamore Road. There will be at least two water stops during the run. 

Next week (the last week of August) we'll be meeting for practice Monday through Friday at 3:15. With the start of school the week after that (the first full week in September) we'll fall into the regular pattern of meeting for practice at 2:45. 

Links to Registration Info

With a little over three weeks before the start of practice, it's worth a reminder that all athletes must be registered before being able to practice. There are three steps involved in being cleared to participate:

• An up to date physical (within the last 13 months) on file with the school nurse.

• Registration through the FamilyID website

• Payment of the athletic user fee. There is a waiver form available if needed.

More information including links can be found at the Athletic Department website:

http://whs.wayland.k12.ma.us/athletics/registration/