Training Plan for Week 5: 9/29-10/5

On the heels of last week's reduction in training volume, the next two weeks will be the highest volume of training you do for the entire season. Training may take some other form than running if nagging injuries require it; an elliptical machine or aqua jogging in a pool would be the best options, with riding a bike next on the list, followed by swimming. The training pattern for the week is C-A-B-A-B-C where A is a shorter run C is a longer run and B is somewhere in between. 

Many people on the team have come down with a cold that seems to be going around the school. Keep in mind that the best ways to avoid illness are:

• washing your hands thoroughly and regularly, including before eating and after using the bathroom

• sleeping 8-9 hours a night

• avoid touching your face
• cover your coughs and sneezes--by doing so into your elbow, preferably

Finally, the plank at the beginning of the warmup has been bumped up to 60 seconds. 

• Mon 9/29 - 45-75 minutes easy. If you feel up to it, pick up the pace the last 10-15 minutes or so. Core circuit after the run.

• Tue 9/30 - 30-45 minutes incl. 6-8x100 meters at race pace at the end of the run. Hill drills after the warmup. 

• Wed 10/1 - Dual Meet #3 vs. Newton South and Waltham. This meet will be held at Cold Spring Park; more information will be posted Tuesday on this website. The overall amount of running you do today, including warmup and cool down, should be in the 40-60 minute range. 

• Thu 10/2 - 30-45 minutes easy, with a modest increase in pace the last 5-10 minutes. Core circuit after the run. 

• Fri 10/3 - 10 minute warmup, timed pickups, 10 minute cool down. Hill drills after the warmup. There are two options, either 9-7-5-3-1 or 8-6-4-2-1 minutes, starting out at slower than are pace and ending with the last two pickups at race pace. Recovery jogs of 4-3-2-1 minutes after each pickup. This can be done on the area of the home course.

• Sat 10/4 - 60-90 minute easy long run. Today's optional practice will be at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge instead of the Lincoln trails. The time is the same, 9 AM. The address for the main entrance is 680 Hudson Road, Sudbury MA. We'll be meeting at the visitor center on Winterberry Way, which is just under half a mile from the entrance. More information in a future post. 

• Sun 10/5 - off. 

Frank Kelley Invitational Results

We had some very impressive results today at the Frank Kelley Invitational. Results can be found here. We ran in the Division II races. It turns out my warning in the previous post about the conditions was if anything an understatement. The attrition rate was much higher than usual. In addition to the abnormally hot temperatures, at one point I think I saw Tom Joad packing up his things and heading for California.

Despite all this, many people on our teams raced quite well. We had four medal winners who finished in the top 25 in their respective races:

Erica Sheffres - 25th, girls JV
Zhenyang Luo - 16th, boys freshmen
Graham Macklin - 20th, boys varsity
Sarah Tully - 3rd, girls varsity

the boys varsity finished 12th out of 17 teams. I'm sending out a spreadsheet with split times and average pace for everyone on the mailing list; if you're not on the list and would like to receive this and other results for the rest of the season send a note to llayam (at) hotmail (dot) com and I'll put you on the list.

Frank Kelley Invitational at Wrentham Developmental Center - Saturday 9/27/14

Meet Site: 
Wrentham Developmental Center. The address is 131 Emerald Street, however the race course is located a little further down the road, in the large field at the intersection of Emerald Street and Shear St. This is across the street from the William A. Rice Recreation Area.

Bus time 10:15

Race Schedule and Entries:

12:15 JV boys - Brewton, Butler, Comettant, Dowling, Dutton, Gold, Jacobs, Kay, Moody, Nealley, Pachter, Porter, Talukdar, Xu
12:38 JV girls - DeRubeis, Henning, Jofe, Kiefer, Moran, Provost, Schwartz, Sheffres
1:05 Freshman boys - Chase, Estrada, Luo
1:20 Freshman girls - none
1:38  Varsity boys - Bucher, Cocce, Galang, Greenwood, Last, Macklin, J. McCarthy
2:00 Varsity girls - A. McCarthy, Tully   

Meet Information:

• Weather forecast (IMPORTANT): Sunny with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s at race time, with light breezes. It will be hot, and you'll be running at the hottest time of day. This will affect how you prepare for your race and how you run it. In fact, the weather will surely be the dominant concern for everyone who's racing. It's imperative that you stay out of the sun as much as possible before starting your warmup routine, which should be 45 minutes to an hour before your race starts. Stay hydrated. Bring and use sunscreen. Be prepared to back off your pace goals by 5-10 seconds/mile if the coaches think it would be advisable. There will be athletes who struggle in the weather we'll be experiencing Saturday; do what you can to ensure that you're not one of them. 
• Numbers will be assigned to you specifically for this meet; these numbers have an RFID chip attached to the back which interacts with a conductive mat at the finish line to record your time. The meet director has asked that athletes who aren't racing NOT wear their bib number if standing near the finish line; doing so can cause a false reading by the finish line mat. Also, don't crumple or fold your bib number.
• The meet staff has asked that no one do their warmup or cooldown among the buildings of the Wrentham Developmental Center, where patients are housed. Aside from the course itself, you can warmup and cooldown on the fields across the street. • A map of the course can be seen here. It's basically flat, with some gentle roll in places. The course is entirely on grass. The freshman race ends after the second lap (3k versus 5k). JV and varsity run three laps. 
• Medals will be given to the top 25 finishers in each race.
• There are 68 teams and over 2,300 athletes entered in the meet.
• The large school races will be run in the morning (we're in the small school division). 
• Time cutoffs: varsity boys 22 minutes, varsity girls 26 minutes, JV boys 25 minutes, JV girls 28 minutes, freshman boys 16 minutes. The chute will be closed when the cutoff time is reached.


What to Bring:

• Uniform
• Everyday training shoes
• Racing shoes if you have them
• Warmup clothes including a hat with a wide brim for shade
• Sunscreen
• Water bottle - BRING YOUR WATER BOTTLE, it does you no good sitting on a shelf at home!
• Snacks for post-race (chocolate milk will be provided using proceeds from the Wayland XC Challenge)
• Lunch - food will be sold at the meet but it won't be particularly good or nutritious; my advice is to pack a lunch and bring it with you.

For Parents:

• A parking fee of $5 will be collected for each car.
• We hope to return to WHS around 4 PM. 

Dual Meet #2 results

We took our lumps today at Bedford, with the varsity girls falling 18-45 and the boys 15-46. Both JV races went to Bedford 15-50. Nevertheless, it was a valuable experience running on a mostly flat 5k with smooth footing. In fact, this describes most of the courses we'll be racing on from here on out this season. I've sent a spreadsheet with the split times for everyone who raced today, if you'd like to receive this but aren't yet on the e-mail list send a note to llayam (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Dual Meet #2: at Bedford - Tuesday 9/23/14

Meet Site: Bedford High School

bus time: 2:30

First race 4:00 PM unless you hear different from me

Girls will be followed by boys; one race for each gender

Meet Information:

• Weather forecast: temperatures in the high 60s at race time, with light breezes from the west. Quite similar to last week's home meet. You'll want to wear more than just your uniform while warming up and cooling down. The temperature will start to drop by the time the meet's wrapping up. It's worth a reminder: bring clothes to wear at the meet besides your uniform.
• Once again you'll be required to wear your DCL bib number. After the race, don't forget to return it to me and I'll hold on to it until next week's meet.
• The Bedford coach says the tour will take no more than 30 minutes. 
• A map of Bedford's course can be seen here. It's quite flat, and about a third of it is on pavement. Start and finish are on the track encircling the football field. 

What to Bring:

• uniform
• everyday training shoes
• racing shoes if you have them
• warmup clothes
• sunscreen
• water bottle - BRING YOUR WATER BOTTLE, it does you no good sitting on a shelf at home!
• snacks for post-race (chocolate milk will be provided using proceeds from the Wayland XC Challenge)

for parents:

• The best (only) place to watch the race apart from the start and finish at the track is along Railroad Ave., near the middle school parking lot. See the course map linked above. 

Training Plan for Week 4: 9/22-9/28

This week the pattern changes from what it's been up to now. Hopefully, the amount of running you've been doing has been gradually increasing since practice officially started. This week, the average amount of running you do on a daily basis will drop by about a third from what it's been the past week or two. Put in simple terms, if you've been averaging 60 minutes of running a day, this week you'll average 40. If you've been averaging 45 minutes per day, this week you'll average 30. This doesn't mean every day is the average; some days will be less and others will be more. The pattern of the runs will be A-B-A-(B)-A-(B) where A is shorter and B is longer; note that there are no C (longest) runs for the week. The higher training volume will return next week but this week, with two meets on the schedule for many people, it's a good idea to pull the cord. 

Also worth noting this week is the observance of Rosh Hashanah on Thursday. As a result there's no school or organized practice on Thursday. Also, there's no organized practice on Friday even though school will be in session. Depending on whether or not you're observing the holiday on Thursday you can run on your own if you want. On Friday, I'd like you to do basically the same thing we're doing on Monday. You can get together amongst yourselves to do that if you like. 

Mon 9/22 - 20-40 minutes. Hill drills between the warmup and the rest of the run. In the last ten minutes of your run I want you to run 4-5 times from the far corner of the football practice field to the start/finish line of the home course at race pace. And not faster. Jog back to the other end as recovery. This stretch is flat, has smooth footing, is basically straight, and just under 200 meters so we can easily put a time goal and get a sense of what race pace effort "feels like" on a flat course. Worth doing given that both courses this week are mostly flat with smooth footing. I'll also explain Bedford's course and our approach to this meet given its place in the season. 

Tue 9/23 - Dual meet at Bedford, 30-60 minutes total including warmup and cool down. Check this website during the day Monday for a post with meet info including a link to a map of Bedford's course. Think flat with a lot of pavement. 

Wed 9/24 - 20-40 minutes. Core circuit after the run. Since this is the last time we'll meet before Saturday's meet it's important that we go over some things about the meet before you leave for the day. 

Thu 9/25 - off. No organized practice today, if you're not observing the holiday and are interested in going for a run on your own you can do something in the 30-60 minute range. 

Fri 9/26 - same as Monday. Including the same 4-5 runs at race pace on the stretch of course I described in Monday's entry. 

Sat 9/27 - Frank Kelley Invitational at The Wrentham Developmental Center. 30-60 minutes total including warmup and cool down. Check this website for more information on Thursday or Friday. The large school races (not us) are in the morning; the small school races begin at 12:15. Note that there are time cutoffs for each race; this has forced me to hold certain people out of this meet. 

Sun 9/28 - off or an easy run in the 30-60 minute range if you took Thursday off.  

Website upgrade - Volunteer opportunity this weekend - Frank Kelley Invitational next weekend

Three things to note:

• I've added a sidebar to the website with useful links. One of them is a link to results of DCL dual meets, uploaded by the Weston coach for everyone's benefit. So far our meet with Latin and the Bedford/Westford/Weston double dual are up.

• The Dudley Pond Association 5k will be held this Sunday at 1 PM. They're looking for volunteers, specifically people to call out mile splits and help direct runners on the course. Graham has helped out at this race in the past and can explain what it's like but it sounds like a good time. You can earn community service credit for volunteering at this race as well. If you're interested let me know at practice or send me a note at llayam (at) hotmail (dot) com

• Next Saturday September 27th is the Frank Kelley Invitational at the Wrentham Developmental Center. This is the same site as two of the big meets in November.  It's a good opportunity to experience the course in advance of the championship meets, as well as run against a large number of other schools. I need to submit entries by this Saturday, so I need to know if you're interested in running. As with the volunteering for the Dudley Pond 5k, let me know at practice or send me an e-mail if you want to race this meet. Important note: Due to the establishment this year of cutoff times in the various races at this meet, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to enter every team member who wants to go.