Week 5 Training Plan, 9/19-9/25

As we start the fifth week of practice, the early portion of the season has given way to the middle stage. This week features two meets, a dual meet Tuesday on Westford's course and the Frank Kelley Invitational Saturday at Wrentham Developmental Center. Many of you will be participating in both, which requires some adjustments both to how the rest of the week is structured and how the meets themselves are approached. Regarding the structure of the week's training, other than the long run on Monday and the two aforementioned meets, the rest of the week consists of short length runs. 

As for how the meets are approached, since racing all out over the full 3 mile/5k race distance twice in four days is a really bad idea, one of the following scenarios will be in play:

• Running the Wednesday dual meet as a controlled effort, basically a workout rather than a full-on race. Details on this will be forthcoming. The idea is to have something in the tank for Saturday's meet as well. 
  
• Running the shorter 3k race distance at the Frank Kelley Invite. This option applies to the entire girls team, as the girls will be racing the course on Wednesday in the dual meet. It also applies to all 9th grade boys who are available for Saturday's meet (and meet the time standards)
• Only competing in one of the two meets. This would apply to people who can't make the Saturday meet, and also to people intentionally held out of Wednesday's meet.

For planning purposes, please take a minute to fill out this survey regarding your availability for the Frank Kelley Invitational on Saturday. I need to receive a response from every member of the team by Monday evening. 

Here's the plan for the week ahead:

Monday 9/19 - Practice at 3:30. Warmup including BURPEES followed by progressive long run. The length of the run has increased a bit over previous weeks, as outlined below. The plan for today is for everyone to head to the Hultman aqueduct and then west into Framingham, what happens from there will depend on how far you're going. For many people the Getchell Trail will be part of the route today, there's a map of this trail in the "maps" sidebar on the right of this page:

Level 1: 36 minutes (12 minutes easy - 9 minutes fresh - 9 minutes good - 6 minutes easy)
Level 2: 48 minutes (16 minutes easy - 12 minutes fresh - 12 minutes good - 8 minutes easy)
Level 3: 60 minutes (20 minutes easy - 15 minutes fresh - 15 minutes good - 10 minutes easy)
Level 4: 72 minutes (24 minutes easy - 18 minutes fresh - 18 minutes good - 12 minutes easy)

Tuesday 9/20 - Practice at 3:30.

Wednesday 9/21 - Dual Meet #2 vs Lincoln Sudbury and Westford Academy at Stony Brook Middle School in Westford. More information including a time schedule, lineups and a course map will be forthcoming soon. Remember today should be a medium length day in terms of total running time, including warmup and cooldown. For Level 1 and 2 athletes this will impact how we approach the course tour which doubles as a warmup jog for most people. 

Level 1: 28-32 minutes
Level 2: 36-40 minutes
Level 3: 43-47 minutes
Level 4: 52-56 minutes

Thursday 9/22 - Practice at 3:30. Warmup including BURPEES, followed by a short length run with hill drills. The drills will be done on the Hultman Aqueduct where it intersects Cedar Crest Road.

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

Friday 9/23 - warmup followed by a short length run at mostly an easy effort. Save the last 8-10 minutes of the run for two sets of short intervals on top of the aqueduct.

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

Saturday 9/24 - Frank Kelley Invitational at the Wrentham Developmental Center. More information including time schedule, lineups and a course map will be published on this site by Friday morning.  The only athletes who have the option of racing the 5k at this meet are the boys who finished among the top 8 WHS runners in the first dual meet vs. Weston last week. Everyone else who's racing today will be entered in the 3k. Remember today should be a medium length day in terms of total running time, including warmup and cooldown. This breaks down as follows:

Level 1: 28-32 minutes
Level 2: 36-40 minutes
Level 3: 43-47 minutes
Level 4: 52-56 minutes

If you're not participating in the meet you should do a medium length run on your own, with the last 1/4 of the time spent running at a good to hard pace (80-90%).

Sunday 9/25 - off