Week 4 Training Plan - 9/18-9/24

This week features the first of four successive Wednesday afternoon meets. These are the dual meets where we compete against one or two other teams from the Dual County League. The varsity races are scored and I encourage you to read the "how cross country meets are scored" link under the "useful links" sidebar of this website.

Besides Wednesday's meet, we'll continue with the circuit training that we started the first week of practice, as well as another visit to the weight room. There will be another optional Saturday practice at Lincoln, and same as last week, we need to know by Friday if you'll be attending the optional Saturday practice. Those not attending Saturday's practice will do the same workout on Friday at the school.

the practice schedule:

• Mon 9/18 - Practice 2:45 @WHS. 10-20 minute warmup, circuits, 10-20 minute cooldown.

• Tue 9/19 - Practice 2:45 @WHS. Weight room - 3 sets of 10 reps on each exercise, followed by an easy jog of 15-35 minutes and wrapping up with short repeats on top of the aqueduct. Today there will be important announcements about the meet tomorrow, be sure to pay attention so that you'll be prepared for the race.

• Wed 9/20 - Dual Meet #1 (double dual) vs. Newton South and Waltham. This is our only home meet for this season. Please arrive for the meet no later than 2:45; there will be meetings for the boys and girls teams separately, times for those will be announced. In all likelihood there will be four races, with a varsity and JV race for each gender. I need to confirm this with the coaches of the visiting teams. The first race will start no earlier than 4 PM but most likely around 4:15. All athletes new to the team and anyone at all unfamiliar with the course should tag along with the course tour. There are links to JV and varsity course maps in the "maps" sidebar of this website. Regardless of when you're running, take the time beforehand to do a thorough warmup incorporating most of what we do on a daily basis at the start of practice. After your race at least 10 minutes of light jogging followed by the SAM circuit is expected, and your legs will thank you for it over the next few days.

• Thu 9/21 - Off. No practice. If you're not observing the holiday today you can do Sunday's workout on your own and take Sunday off instead.

•  Fri 9/22 - Practice 2:45 @WHS. Those not coming to the practice tomorrow will do a 10-20 minute warmup, 4-6x field loop at a pace between "tempo" and "repetition" pace on the pace and effort chart, 10-20 minute cooldown. The loop is the same one we used for last Friday's practice; this time, instead of running multiple laps continuously, there will be a recovery break of 2.5-3 minutes after each loop. Meanwhile, the pace will be faster than last Friday's practice. The pace and effort chart can be found in the "Training Links" sidebar. Today's workout is designed to be both the longest and hardest effort of the week, but the effort isn't all-out at any time. For those attending practice tomorrow the workout is a 30-40 minute easy run with 4-6 short pickups of 10-15 seconds or so in the last 10 minutes of the run.

• Sat 9/23 - Optional Practice 9 AM @Lincoln Trails. The address for the meeting point is 145 Lincoln Road and we'll meet in the commuter parking lot just beyond the small shopping center. The workout will be 4-6 reps of the field loop at "repetition pace." The loop is the same one that was the venue for last Saturday's practice. There will be 2.5-3 minute recoveries after each rep. Those not attending this practice should do a 30-40 minute easy run with 4-6 short pickups of 10-15 seconds or so in the last 10 minutes of the run.

• Sun 9/24 - 25-45 minute easy run with 4-5 pickups of 10-15 seconds or so in the last 10 minutes of the run.