2024 Practice Schedule & Training Tips

It seems like it snuck up on us, but school has started, and summer is officially over. We had a really good group that put in some solid summer miles. That work will pay off! With that being said, we are now undergoing a complete schedule overhaul. This post is intended to clarify and solidify the plan for practice times, meeting places, and any other logistical details. Also, it will include some basic information and advice about training philosophy and methods. While there are plenty of members of the team who are familiar with my coaching from last track season, there are just as many who aren't, or who may be new to running altogether!

Practice Schedule/Outline

• A Days
• Practice begins after school, at 2:45 P.M. and we will meet at Creekside Park, or the track, once construction is finished. I'll take a headcount, then we will drive to a spot to run from as a team. Immediately after the run, we will drive back to the school, where parents can pick up 9th/10th graders. This will allow for some variation in our routes, and encourage teamwork! We will never drive more than 2-3 miles from the school. Nothing like Legacy Parkway, Bountiful Pond, or anything like that. We'll stick around Cheese Park, North Canyon, Holbrook, etc. so that it's as efficient as possible. The calendar will have a link to where we will be driving to start the run, but we will still meet at Creekside before heading there. We will try to wrap things up at 4:30 at the latest on these days
• B Days
• After checking in at the field house, Practice will begin during 8th period, at 1:10 P.M. and we will also meet at Creekside Park/the track. We will do our "speed" workout days on B days, either Mon/Wed, or Tues/Thurs depending on the week. We will warm up/cooldown jog to East Mueller Park for a lot of these, and once the track is finished, we will utilize that frequently as well.
• Immediately after the cooldown, we will lift weights in the fieldhouse, starting at 2:30. It's imperative that we start our warm ups as close to 1:10 as possible so that we can be ready to lift at that time. 
• Those not enrolled in the 8th period course will simply report to weights as close to 2:30 as they can, do the lifting workout with the team, and then do the run workout immediately afterwards. I will usually be there to give details on their running workout, but if not, it will always be posted on the calendar, and I can provide details on GroupMe.
• We will try to wrap things up on B days at around 3:30-3:45, and if we don't lift that day (Fridays) it will be more like 2:30-2:45.
• Saturdays
• This is generally the day that we do our long runs. There is much more freedom to meet further from the school, and do things like trails, legacy parkway, etc. to keep things engaging. We will meet at 7:00 A.M. for the majority of the season, until it starts to get dark and cold, at which point we will move it to 7:30 or 8. Again, location will be posted on the calendar. 

Training

Those who did track with me will know that I utilize a minutes approach, rather than miles. For example, rather than recommending a 6 mile run, I will often give 45 minutes, and instead of doing mile repeats, we might do 5 minute repeats. There are plenty of reasons for this, but most pertinent to the team is due to the wide variety in experience/skill level. Minutes allow me to prescribe workouts that accommodate everybody, and keep things organized, especially on speed workouts. Your body is not an odometer! 

• Philosophies/Principles
• This is a visual representation of the training model we generally follow. Zone 1/2 being "easy" intensity runs, and increasing to zone 5, which is essentially a maximum effort.
• As you can see, easy running forms the base of the pyramid. The most important, and largest in terms of size/volume. Approximately 80% of your running should be in that green zone1/2 intensity level. 
• Zone 3 is referred to as threshold or tempo. This should make up a much smaller portion of your runs, about 15%.
• Lastly, we have zone 4/5, which is known as speed work. The remaining 5% of running is at this intensity. This will be your strides, races, and very short intervals, usually 1 minute or less.
• As with any pyramid, the larger the base, the larger the peak. This means that the more easy running that you can sustain for long periods of time, when we do zone 3 and 4, you will be able to safely handle much higher volumes of that as well, leading to better adaptations and faster times.
• These zones are difficult to quantify accurately, but a fairly reliable method is using the "conversation test." It's literally just attempting to speak out loud to get a gauge on where you're at.
• Zone 1/2, you should be able to hold a conversation with relatively little difficulty. Of course, it will be harder than simply standing and talking, but you should be able to say a couple sentences without interruption or large pauses.
• Zone 3, you should be able to say at least one sentence before taking a gasp or breath. On a scale of 1-10, this should be about a 7 in difficulty. You should be able to hold this pace/effort for several minutes at a time.
• Zone 4/5, this is where it starts to hurt. You can only say two or three words at this effort before gasping for air.
• A typical week of training should look something like this
• 4 days of zone 1/2 easy runs. Duration from 30-50 minutes depending on age and experience level. One of these runs will be the "long run", which is about 15 minutes longer than your standard zone 1/2 run. 2-3 of these days, you will perform "strides" immediately after the run, and these should be at zone 4/5. Generally, 4 of them, 15 seconds long each.
• 2 days of zone 3 intervals, with some zone 4/ sprinkled in. Generally separated by one or two days of easy running to allow for recovery. This will be Mon/Wed, or Tues/Thurs
• Some examples of zone 3 interval (threshold) workouts.
• sets of 3 minutes on, with 75 seconds rest
• steady, continuous 15-25 minutes known as "power run"
• sets of 70 seconds on, with 30 seconds rest. 
• As the season goes on, and we approach meets like region and state championships, the emphasis will slowly tilt towards zone 4 and 5, but as of right now, it is still largely zones 1,2 and 3.
• Injury Prevention
• Consistent, high-quality sleep
• This is easily the best thing you can do to avoid injury. 8-9 hours each night is ideal. Try to establish a routine and that includes weekends.
• Easy days Easy
• We do the vast majority of our runs at zone 1 and 2 for a reason. A quick way to get injured is to do those runs too fast or hard. Committing to a conversational pace, even if that might mean teammates that are at a higher current fitness or experience level will be ahead of you, is absolutely essential to preventing injury. Running is a sport of patience!
• Sufficient Calories
• Eating is training! When putting in training like this, standard 3 meals is not sufficient. Of course, eat a healthy and balanced diet, but don't be afraid of dessert or getting seconds. Under fueling is a common issue in distance running, and it can lead to all kinds of bad outcomes. I generally recommend runners to take an iron supplement a couple of times per week as well. 
• Strength Training
• This is where our weight lifting comes in. This will address muscle imbalances and deficiencies that many runners unknowingly have, and build a stronger foundation that can handle training better.

If you made it this far, congratulations!! You get a virtual golden star. But seriously, I'm excited for this season. We are going to work hard, have tons of fun, and make some lifelong memories. This group has great energy and positivity. Let's make sure we are constantly encouraging each other, regardless of skill or experience level. At the end of the day, running is about self improvement and dedication. We are all in a race against ourselves!