Week 2 Training Plan, 8/29-9/4

The first week of practice was a good one, it's on to Week 2. This week features the start of school of course. Once school starts we plan on getting in to the regular routine of practice starting at 3:30 in the afternoon. That being said, based on the current weather forecast practice on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be in the morning.

The pattern of this week's practices is overall similar to last week with a maximum of six runs that includes three shorter runs, two medium runs, and a long run. One of the two medium length runs, on Monday, will also include a series of timed pickups.

If you haven't already please hand in your summer training log (optional for new athletes, required for returning athletes) by the first day of school (Thursday) at the latest. Rewards will be distributed once the coaching staff has tabulated the logs, hopefully at the beginning of next week. If you're an 11th or 12th grader with at least one year of prior experience and would be interested in being a captain of the team, please contact me via e-mail or in person to declare your interest. The prerequisites for being captain are described at the bottom of page 6 of the team policies and FAQ document.

Finally, 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 5:30 PM with a full day of running and other activities planned. If you're interested let the coaches know. There's room for 14 people on the booster bus. Please let me know if you're interested in coming along.

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

• Mon 8/29 - Practice 6:45 AM at the High School. Warmup including BURPEES 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). This will be followed by a few pickups of 30 seconds in length at a speed faster than race pace, with the same 1 minute recovery. Level 1 athletes may find it more realistic to 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. Time for today's run is as follows, with number of pickups indicated as well:

Level 1: 22-26 minutes: 4x 1 minute pickups, 4x30 second pickups (warmup and cooldown 5-6 minutes each)
Level 2: 34-38 minutes: 6x 1 minute pickups, 4x30 second pickups (warmup and cooldown 8-10 minutes each)
Level 3: 43-47 minutes: 8x 1 minute pickups, 6x30 second pickups (warmup and cooldown 10 minutes each)
Level 4: 52-56 minutes: 8x 1 minute pickups, 6x30 second pickups (warmup and cooldown 12-15 minutes each)

• Tue 8/30 - Practice 6:45 AM at the Town Beach. Warmup followed by a short, easy active recovery run. Up to half the run can be done in the lake in the form of aquajogging. We also hope to have multiple elliptigo bikes available for use.

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

• Wed 8/31 - Practice 6:45 AM at the Town Beach. Warmup including BURPEES, then 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)

We will discuss a route for today's run at the start of practice. 9th graders: I know the 9th grade orientation starts at 8:30, precluding you from attending this practice. I'll send directions to you via e-mail regarding what to do instead.

• Thu 9/1 - Practice 3:30 PM at the High School. Warmup followed by a short, easy active recovery run, with a series of hill drills (8x each, hill springing and high knee running) in the corner of the practice field area. Level 1 and 2 runners will do this after the warmup and before the run itself, Level 3 and 4 runners will do it after their run. We also hope to have multiple elliptigo bikes available for use.

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

• Fri 9/2 - Practice 3:30 PM at the High School. Warmup including BURPEES and then a short, easy active recovery run. We will be doing a series of bounding run throughs over cones and a few short intense sprints as well.

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

• Sat 9/3 - Western Mass. day trip (assuming sufficient interest). 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 9/4 - off