Week 1 Training Plan, 8/26-9/1

This is the first 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 published by the previous Sunday evening, but certainly no later than lunchtime Monday. Remember that while the plan is a good outline of what we will most likely be doing, there are sometimes unforeseen factors that cause changes. 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 length of each day's run among the different levels. 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.

Monday through Thursday practice will be at 3:30. Friday there's no school and practice will be held at 8 AM. Check each day to see where practice is held, either at the school or at the Town Beach.

Please hand in your summer training log (optional for new athletes, required for returning athletes) by the first day of school (Wednesday) at the latest. Rewards will be distributed once the coaching staff has tabulated all the logs, hopefully no later than next Tuesday September 3rd. That will be a big day.

Finally, speaking of big days there will be an optional day trip to Western Massachusetts on Saturday. We'll be taking one of the school's booster buses leaving at 7:30 AM and returning around 9 PM with a full day of running and other fun on tap. If you're interested let the coaches know. There's room for up to 13 people on the booster bus and as of this writing I've heard from 6 people already.

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

• Mon 8/26 - Practice at WHS @3:30. Warmup including burpees followed by a short length run broken down as follows:

Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-32 minutes
Level 4: 38-42 minutes

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 pickups at 80-90% effort on the practice football field with a recovery jog back between each. The time it takes to complete these pickups (6-8 minutes) should be included in the length of your run.

• Tue 8/27 - Practice at the Town Beach @3:30. Warmup followed by a medium length run that will incorporate timed pickups of 1 minute in length, at a "race pace" (90%) effort. In between the race pace pickups is a recovery of 1 minute, ideally run at a 60% effort (this is not a slow jog). Level 1 athletes may find it more realistic to jog the recovery interval or even walk the first 30 seconds of each recovery interval. Everyone will begin and end their run today with a warmup and cooldown that are at an easy pace, with the timed pickups sandwiched in between. If you like, the cooldown can be done in the lake in the form of aquajogging. Time for today's run is as follows, with number of pickups indicated as well:

Level 1: 22-26 minutes, 6-8x 1 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 5-6 minutes each)
Level 2: 34-38 minutes, 8-10x 1 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 8-10 minutes each)
Level 3: 43-47 minutes, 8-10x 1 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 10-12 minutes each)
Level 4: 52-56 minutes, 10x 1 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 16-18 minutes each)

• Wed 8/28 - Practice at WHS @3:30. Introductory circle after the first day of school, then warmup including burpees, then a medium length run which will be the same length as yesterday's run but without any pickups. In fact, you should cover less distance on today's run than yesterday's because today is meant to be an easy active recovery day. The elliptigo bikes are available for use as well today.

Level 1: 22-26 minutes
Level 2: 34-38 minutes
Level 3: 43-47 minutes
Level 4: 52-56 minutes

• Thu 8/29 - Practice at WHS @3:30. Warmup followed by a cyclic long run (CLR). The total time of your run will be broken down into 12 equal segments. The first segment is run at an easy (40% or so) effort. The next is run at a "fresh" (60-65% or so) effort, and the one after that at a "good" (80-85%) effort. Then this easy-fresh-good cycle is repeated three more times. The countdown timer function on your watch is a good way to keep track of these time segments. Total length of the run as follows:

Level 1: 36 minutes (12x3 minute segments)
Level 2: 48 minutes (12x4 minute segments)
Level 3: 60 minutes (12x5 minute segments)
Level 4: 72 minutes (12x6 minute segments)

• Fri 8/30 - Practice at Town Beach @8 AM. Warmup including burpees and then a short, easy active recovery run. If you like you can do up to half of the length of the run in the lake in the form of aquajogging but do not get in the water without a coach present on the dock.

Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-32 minutes
Level 4: 38-42 minutes

• Sat 8/31 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 9/1 - off