Week 2 Training Plan, 8/31-9/6

Online team store - orders must be submitted by Tuesday September 1st

Vineyard Invite survey - needs to be submitted by noontime Wednesday September 2nd

This week features the first meet of the season, the Vineyard Invitational hosted by Martha's Vineyard RHS. For various reasons, this meet is happening a week earlier in the season schedule than normal. This will be the third time Wayland has participated in this unique event, where all the competing schools (except the host school of course) arrive on a ferry! This also means there are more logistical concerns to consider, namely reserving space on the aforementioned ferry. As a result, I need to hear from everyone on the team as to whether or not they plan on taking part. The meet is optional, like all the weekend invitational meets on the schedule. Please fill out this extremely brief poll linked above regarding whether or not you plan on taking part in the Vineyard Invite this year. 

Also worth mentioning is the fact that there's no school on Friday. There will be practice held in the afternoon at the regular time, as I don't have the day off at my job. Friday's practice will be for people who are in town that aren't signed up for Sunday's meet; the people that are racing on Sunday will take Friday off. There will be a practice Saturday morning for everyone that's in town, held at the high school. 

The pattern of this week's practices is similar to last week with a maximum of six runs--three shorter runs, two medium runs, and a long run. Remember that alternate forms of exercise can be subbed in for running on one or more days, which is a particularly good idea for people who haven't put in as much time (or any time) running over the summer months. Remember that we meet each day under the large trees next to the field house, this is on the southwest side of the field house. If you walk around the outside perimeter of the field house you'll find us.

If you haven't already done so please hand in your summer training log (optional for new athletes, required for returning athletes). Rewards will be distributed once the coaching staff has tabulated the logs, which should be done by the end of next week. 

If you're an 11th or 12th grader with at least one year of prior experience on the team and are interested in being a captain, please contact me either via e-mail or in person to declare your interest. The prerequisites for being captain are described at the bottom of page 7 of the team policies and FAQ document.

On Wednesday the 2nd from 5:30-7 PM there will be a "spike night" (spikes being the racing shoes used in this sport) held for the team at Marathon Sports (255 Washington Street in Wellesley). If you need running shoes, whether for daily practice use and/or specifically for races, this is an opportunity to get them at a 20% discount. In fact, everything in the store except for electronics is discounted 20% for WHS team members. This event is optional. 

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

• Mon 8/31 - Practice 3:30 PM at WHS. Warmup including BURPEES and strides on the track followed by 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. The team supply of elliptigo bikes will be available for use.

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

• Tue 9/1 - Practice 3:30 PM at WHS. Warmup including CURTSIES followed by a medium length run that will incorporate timed pickups of 3-4 minutes in length, at an "uncomfortably sustainable" (80%) effort. In between the faster paced bits of running is a recovery interval of 1.5 minutes, ideally done at a 50% effort (a bit faster than a slow jog). This will be followed by a few pickups of 30 seconds in length at a 90% effort. The 30 second pickups should approximate race pace for the typical cross country race distance. Cross country races are between 3 and 5 kilometers. These shorter faster pickups have a 1 minute recovery interval between them. Level 1 athletes may find it more realistic to walk the first 30-60 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: 1x 4 minutes @80%, 4x30 second pickups @90% (warmup and cooldown 5-6 minutes each)
Level 2: 34-38 minutes: 2x 3 minute pickups @80%, 4x30 second pickups @90% (warmup and cooldown 8-10 minutes each)
Level 3: 43-47 minutes: 2x 4 minute pickups @80%, 6x30 second pickups @90% (warmup and cooldown 10 minutes each)
Level 4: 52-56 minutes: 3x 4 minute pickups @80%, 6x30 second pickups @90% (warmup and cooldown 12-15 minutes each)

• Wed 9/2 - Practice 3:30 PM at WHS. Warmup including BURPEES and then a short, easy active recovery run. Remember that "Spike Night" at Marathon Sports in Wellesley is from 5:30-7 PM this evening after practice.

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

• Thu 9/3 - Practice 3:30 PM at WHS. Warmup including CURTSIES, then a cyclic long run (CLR). The total time of this 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. If your watch has a countdown timer function, it's 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 9/4 - Practice 3:30 PM at WHS. Warmup including BURPEES and strides on the track followed by a short, easy active recovery run, with a series of hill drills (7x each, hill springing and skipping). Multiple elliptigo bikes will be available for use. Those that are racing on Sunday will have today off.

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

• Sat 9/5 - Practice 9:00 AM at WHS. Warmup including CURTSIES and then a short run including 3 sets of short repeats on top of the aqueduct. If you're not able to make it today try to do a steady run of short duration as outlined below on your own if possible. 

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

Sun 9/6 - Vineyard Invitational (more details forthcoming in a subsequent post) or day off

Week 1 Training Plan, 8/24-8/30

 Online Team Store - please submit orders no later than September 1st 

Welcome to the 2026 cross country season! This is the first weekly training plan post of the season. These weekly posts outline the scheduled training for the upcoming week. Each weekly training plan covers Monday to Sunday. Typically the plan will be published by the Sunday evening before the start of the week, but certainly no later than lunchtime Monday. 

Remember that while the weekly training plan is a good outline of what we will most likely be doing at each day's practice, there are sometimes unforeseen factors (typically weather related) that can change things. 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 each day's run among the different training 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. 

If you're not in Wayland during all or part of this week which doubles as the preseason (the time between the start of practice and the start of school), do your best to follow along with the training plan and do what you can on your own until you can join us at practice. 

Because this is the first week of the season, there are some details to go over here besides the daily workouts. For the rest of the season, this "preamble" section of the weekly training plan will be much shorter.

You should bring the following items with you to practice:

• running shoes

• comfortable clothes in which to work out. For the first few weeks you might also want to wear a hat with a brim to keep out the sun. 

• running watch, either your own the one you borrowed from the team supply. If you don't have a watch one will be assigned to you from the team supply.

• sunscreen

• water bottle - Very important item, should hold 32-48 ounces (1-1.5L). Please bring a water bottle which you can use during breaks in practice and after practice has ended. Bring your water bottle already filled.

There are a maximum of six runs total scheduled for this week. For people doing six runs there will be three shorter length efforts, two medium length days (one of them with timed pickups), and one long run. If you haven't been training much or at all over the summer, don't worry you can start at Level 1. 

We'll also employ cross training options, open to anyone, that can be done as a supplement or in place of running as need be. These include the elliptical bikes, or riding your own bike if you have one and can bring it to practice. If you haven't been running consistently over the summer, it's best to avoid jumping right into 5 or 6 days of running per week. Cross training is the best way to accomplish this. In other words, running 2-4 times in a week and doing alternative forms of exercise the other 2-3 times.

Monday through Friday, practice will be held at WHS. The meeting point at the high school is under the large trees next to the field house, this is on the southwest side of the field house. If you walk around the outside perimeter of the field house in either direction from the parking lot, you'll find us. 

It's expected that returning athletes will hand in a training log from the summer. Athletes new to the team have the option of submitting a training log but it's not required. Rewards will be distributed once the coaching staff has tabulated all the logs, hopefully no later than the week after Labor Day.

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

• Mon 8/24 - Practice at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including BURPEES and strides (run-outs on the track) followed by a medium length run broken down as follows:

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

The pace of the run today should be easy on the whole, if you feel up to it it's ok to pick up gradually towards the end of the run. 

• Tue 8/25 - Practice at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including CURTSIES followed by a short length run that will incorporate hill drills (springing AKA bounding for height and high knee running). For those that have been on the team in the past, we'll be using the same hill along the Hultman aqueduct between Cedar Creek Road and Pine Ridge Road that we've used for hill drills in the past. 

Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-35 minutes
Level 4: 38-45 minutes

• Wed 8/26 - Practice at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including BURPEES and strides (run-outs on the track) followed by a medium length run that will incorporate timed pickups of 2 minutes in length, at an "uncomfortably sustainable" (80%) effort. In between the race pace pickups is a recovery of 1 minute, ideally run at a 50-60% effort (this is easy but not a slow jog). 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, 3-4x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 5-6 minutes each)
Level 2: 34-38 minutes, 4-5x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 10 minutes each)
Level 3: 43-47 minutes, 6x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 12-14 minutes each)
Level 4: 52-56 minutes, 8x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 14-16 minutes each)

• Thu 8/27 - Practice, @WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including CURTSIES and then a short easy run followed by run throughs (accelerations) and bounding over cones. The run throughs are short accelerations building up to 95% or so of maximum speed. 

Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-35 minutes
Level 4: 38-45 minutes

• Fri 8/28 - Practice, at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including BURPEES and strides (run-outs on the track) followed by either a short run for those going on the trip tomorrow or a progressive long run (PLR):

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)

We'll discuss where to go for this long run, it will likely be an out and back affair along one of the aqueducts. For those doing the short run today the time guidelines are the same as yesterday:

Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-35 minutes
Level 4: 38-45 minutes

 9th graders will take today off, enjoy the orientation! 

• Sat 8/29 - Western Mass. day trip. There will be more details shared via e-mail with the people going on the trip. 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, run at an easy pace.

Regardless of which workout you choose to do, please remember to do a warmup routine beforehand and "silly walks" afterward. The specifics on these can be found in the "Training Links" sidebar of the team website.

Sun 8/30 - off (no running), if you like you're welcome to go for a bike ride or hike on your own.