A New Routine

Well folks, Im gunna give this post another try. I wrote a nice one two weeks ago only to lose it to cyberspace. Being that I dont have much to report on the training/racing front, I would share with everyone what I have planned for the next 2 months of training.

As I have previously stated several times before, I am really lucky to have a very talented group of tracksters. In fact, barring any injury problems, we will be right in the hunt for a state title in the girls 4x800 this year. There are a couple new girls out that skipped track their freshman year that will give us an advatage depth wise. I also believe that Kevin Eades has the potential to be a medalist in the 3200 meters this season. Hugh Gill looks forward to redeeming himself in the 1600 after missing a medal by one place last spring. Along with all that, we have several other kids who have potential to score at the conference meet. With that being said I feel a real obligation to do everything possible to have them ready for that moment.

In the past I have been fairly conservative with their training duration and intensity. I have tried to focus on listening to their bodies and running how they feel...they take it to literally. So I have set paces for every run even on easy days. This especially applies to the long tempo runs that I do every Monday. Always worrying about boredom and burnout, we used to bounce around from week to week with our tempo run. I have now picked just one course that we are going to do stick with for the next 6 weeks. This makes them more comfortable because they will know the course so well and they can see the improvements from week to week.

The big change on Tuesdays is the addition of a weight circuit routine. I believe that a big reason we have been having so many injury problems is the lack of muscular strength along with weak attatchments and ligaments. In the past I just gave them the exercises and told them to do it on their own. This typically resulted in a lot of standing around and going through the motions. Not only can I now stand over them and yell, but it gets their heart rate up and ads another degree of difficulty.

Wednesdays now have a morning run (school doesnt start till 9 so they will live) added to it which allows me to still get the mileage but helps reduce risk of injury by breaking up the run. We have also gone back to doing running form drills in the gym which I feel is really important for young athletes. Although it is maddening trying to teach it to a rowdy group, they few that listen will see big benefits in their form and economy. Wednesdays also finish with 150's on the track that I shovel once a week!

Thursdays are something I have done in the past, but not as consistent as I will do this season. Tempo intervals are a big part of my program, but I have always tried to do it out on the roads and gone off heart rate and effort. I stayed away from the track in fear of the kids hating it and getting really bored....but tough crap! For example: 6x800, 5x1k, 4x1200 with 60-90 seconds active recovery.

Fridays are probably the biggest change to the program. Along with doing our new dynamic and movent prep warm ups every day, we have also added a plyometric circuit routine to the week. I have always wanted to try throwing plyos into the training mix, but never felt comfortable coaching them as I have a limited amount of experience with it. So this is going to be an experiment for all of us. The way I have set it up, we will do 10 stations with 3 different exercises at each station, 40 seconds on/20 sec rest. That gives us 30 minutes of a pretty intense routine of eplosive exercises with several core exercises sprinkled in. This way I can get rid of the boring old core routing that I have done for the last 3 years.

Saturdays stay at a long run finishing in marathon type pace and Sundays being off or short and easy. Thats it folks. We are going to stick with this till April 1, then I have no idea what I will do! If anybody has any suggestions, let me know ; ) Our first indoor meet is two weeks from Friday so I will get those posted as soon as I can.

Go Raiders!