Week 1 Training Plan - 8/27-9/2

NOTE THE TIME CHANGE FOR PRACTICE ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY DUE TO EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH

This is the first weekly post outlining the scheduled training for the upcoming week. Each weekly training plan begins on Monday and covers up to the following Sunday. Typically the plan will be posted by Sunday evening, but certainly no later than lunchtime Monday. Remember that while each week's plan is a good outline of what we plan on doing, there are sometimes unforeseen factors that change our plans. When this happens we'll do our best to get the word out quickly. In addition, note that many days there's a wide variation in the length of the workous. 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.

The forecast this week is for hot weather at least through Wednesday. As a result, we're planning on meeting at the Town Beach at the end of Parkland Drive on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for practice. Please note we won't be meeting at the high school on those three days. Don't show up at the high school for practice on Monday, no one from the team will be there! We will be meeting at the high school on Tuesday and Thursday.

With all that out of the way, here's the plan:

• Mon 8/27 - Practice at the Town Beach @3:15. After doing the warmup on a nearby ball field, 15 minutes of running for new athletes and 30-35 minutes for more experienced athletes. 5 pickups of 10-12 seconds on the ballfield before aquajogging 10 sets of 60 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy.

• Tue 8/28 - Practice at the High School @7:00. Everyone will run from the school to the beach while doing a series of cycles, either 3 or 4 minutes in length. The 3 minute cycle consists of 1 minute at 40% effort, one minute at 60% effort, and one minute at 80% effort. The 4 minute cycle is the same as the 3 minute cycle with a fourth minute of walking. This cycle will be repeated five times or until you reach the beach, whichever comes first. Once at the beach, aquajogging 2 minutes at a time with a one minute break, repeated 5 times (total time in the water 15 minutes). Some people will then return to the school, others will be picked up from the Town Beach. Total time spent running today should be in the 20 minute range for new athletes and more like 35-40 for experienced athletes.

• Wed 8/29 - Practice at the Town Beach @7:00. Everyone will run over to a nearby hill for hill drills. From there new athletes will return to the beach directly while others will take a less direct route back. Overall time for today's run should be the same as yesterday, 20 minutes or so for new athletes and 30-35 minutes for more experienced athletes.

• Thu 8/30 - Practice at WHS @3:15. 36, 48, or 60 minute progression run. This is the longest run of the week. It's structured in a very specific way, such that the first 1/3 of the run is at an easy conversational pace, the next 1/4 is at a moderately quicker but still manageable pace, the next 1/4 is at a higher intensity that feels "uncomfortably sustainable" (80-85% effort), and finally the last 1/6 of the run is at an easy conversational pace again. For example, for the 48 minute run the first 16 minutes are easy/conversational, the next 12 are moderate/manageable, the next 12 are uncomfortably sustainable, and the last 8 are easy/conversational.

• Fri 8/31 - Practice at WHS @3:15. 10 or 20 minute warmup followed by circuits. For those who have been on the team in the past, the same 24 exercises will be done but instead of running 300 meters at a time after every third exercise, you'll be running 100 meters after each exercise. The overall distance covered is thus the same but in more digestible bits. After this, the cool down will be either a 10 minute jog or aquajogging for 10 minutes, whichever you prefer.

• Sat 9/1 For those not coming along for the Western Mass. day trip, either:

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

- a run of 25-45 minutes with the last 5-10 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.

Sun 9/2 - off

First practices August 23rd-25th

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 (Friday and Saturday)

• extra change of clothes if you'd like for 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 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 Friday and we'll make other plans.

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

• Thursday 8/23 - brief introductions, distribution of watches, demonstration of warmup routine, followed by 20-25, 30-35, or 40-45 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. Today's run will end with 6x100 yard accelerations on the practice football field with a recovery jog back between each. The time it takes to complete these accels should be included in the length of your run. 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 8/24 - Either

• warmup routine, 40 or 50 minutes of running and 15 minutes of aquajogging. 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.

• Saturday 8/25 - meet at Town Beach at 9 AM. 40, 50, 60, up to 70 minutes gradually picking up the pace the second half of the run. Following the run will be 10 minutes of 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. Going forward, once school starts in September practice will start just after 3 PM.

Registration link and information on the start of practice

With less than two weeks left until the start of practice on August 23rd, it's worth a reminder that all athletes must be registered before being able to practice with the team. 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/

The first day of official organized practice is next Thursday August 23rd at 3:15 PM. Practice begins at the "snack shack" between the field house and football field at the high school. There will be another post on this blog next week with more details on the first few practices next week.