Week 11 (Week 7 in person) Training Schedule - 11/2-11/8

 First a few important housekeeping items:

- The date of the DCL Small Schools End of Season meet has been confirmed for this Saturday November 7th, at 2 PM. The order of races and race format haven't been confirmed as of this time. The meet will be held at Burchard Field in Weston.

- With the news of the DCL Meet, the only possible date for making up the Waltham dual meet is Veterans Day, Wednesday November 11th. I'm not entirely certain as of yet that this meet will in fact be made up. I hope to have its status confirmed by this Wednesday 11/4. 

- Regardless of whether or not the Waltham meet is held, I'd like for athletes not in the top seven to have another opportunity to race, in this case a time trial on the track of either 1 or 2 miles in length. The plan is for that to happen on Friday. If enough athletes in the top seven would also like to do a time trial on the track we can look into doing this next week if possible. 

- With the onset of Daylight Savings Time (ugh), it's important that we start practice on time and stay safe while running on roads. Remember when running along roads to stay on the sidewalk and only cross in the crosswalk. Drivers have a much harder time seeing runners in the twilight than during the daytime. If you have a reflective vest or other reflective gear wearing it is encouraged. 

On to the week's plan:

Monday 11/2 - Recreate as much of the team warmup as you can, then a short length run beginning at an easy pace and increasing the pace the last 5-10 minutes of the run. If you are able to do hill drills that would be great but it's dependent on finding an appropriate hill. If you live near either of the two hills we've been using (Wallace Road or Keith Road) by all means go there. Remember the drills we do are bounding for height, skipping, high knees. heel tuck (butt kick), bounding for distance, and a run-out. Each drill is done for about 50 meters up the slope and the set of drills is repeated twice. Total length of the run today is as follows: 

Level 1: 22-26 minutes
Level 2: 32-36 minutes
Level 3: 36-40 minutes
Level 4: 42-46 minutes

Tuesday 11/3 - Team warmup, followed by a 10 minute warmup jog then a broken tempo run on the "Charena Loop" near the school. This run will follow the same format as the last time we did a workout here, with the tempo being broken into two parts. This time around the two parts will each be a lap shorter. The idea is to run a certain number of times around the loop at a pace right around 75-80% effort, then take a 5-8 minute break, and do it again but slightly faster, i.e. 80-85% effort.  

Level 1: 30 minutes (2x2 loops)
Level 2: 40 minutes (2x2 loops)
Level 3: 50 minutes (2x3 loops)

Level 4: 60 minutes (2x3 loops)

After completing the second part of the tempo run, we'll head over to the track for an 800 meter (two lap) "sharpener" run. The sharpener is alternating 50 meters at faster than race pace with a 50 meter float. Finally, a 10 minute cooldown jog.

Wednesday 11/4 - Team warmup including burpees followed by a medium length run at an easy to moderate intensity. if you're feeling up to it the pace can pick up a bit in the last 5-10 minutes. Remember to be safe while running along any roads today.

Level 1 - 24-28 minutes

Level 2 - 32-36 minutes

Level 3 - 44-48 minutes

Level 4 - 48-52 minutes

Thursday 11/5 - Team warmup followed by a short length run at mostly an easy effort. Save the last 10 minutes or so of the run for short intervals on top of the aqueduct. Top seven athletes will do three sets, JV athletes doing the time trial tomorrow will do two sets.

Level 1: 22-26 minutes
Level 2: 26-30 minutes
Level 3: 32-36 minutes
Level 4: 42-46 minutes

Friday 11/6 - Team warmup followed by either a time trial on the track (JV athletes) or a short length run (top seven). Those doing the time trial will do a 10-15 minute warmup before and cooldown after. Those racing tomorrow should keep their run to a length of 35 minutes or so, with 4 or 5 60-80 meter run outs on the track at the end of the run. 

Saturday 11/7 - DCL Small Schools End of Season meet. More information will be forthcoming in a subsequent post on this site. 

Sunday 11/8 - off