Thanksgiving Training Thoughts & Plans

What a great workout Monday was.  It is a pretty standard workout, tempo pace repeats, but I changed it up a bit to try and freshen it up.  Instead of repeats kilometers, we did repeat 1500's.  We increased the rest slightly, and set the watches to go off at 500 m intervals for pacing purposes.  The athletes ran between three and six of these repats, for a total of between 25 and 35 minutes of running at tempopace.

What I was so pleased to see was the breakthrough achieved by some athletes.  Tempo running can be a grind, it can be boring.  It is at a slow pace, and going in cir les around that track can really start to suck.  But, when one "breaks through" and just starts cranking out laps, without looking at the watch, just running by feel, it really is magical.  You feel like you could maintain that pace for hours, that the running is effortless, and any hardship you experienced earlier in thew workout has suddenly vanished. Quite a few athletes experienced this yesterday, and for such a young team, that is really fantastic.

I am sure the creative run went well this afternoon, so here are some details on tomorrow's workout.

The seniors have decided to meet at 10 in the morning, at the track, in fast shoes.  They will be overseeing 8 x flying 60's.  These are just like last week.  A twenty meter acceleration from a three point stance (that's one hand and two feet), into a all-out, overspeed  just flying, 40 meter dash.  Do them on a curve, on the straight, it does not matter to me.   Just do them as fast as you possibly can.  Get those arms churning, get those feet up off the ground as quickly as you can. Drive those legs with power.   However, make sure you walk back slowly, and have PLENTY of rest in-between these. I do not want you running them tired, but I want them run after your are fully rested.

Make sure you get in a really good warm-up and stretch before this workout.  You need to stretch like the sprinters do, with lots of form drills and stretching  and not rushing through that.  (Even you, Zach!)  This is a workout where you can easily pull something, so be careful and be smart.  After the flying 60's, I suggest a simple push-up pyramid, starting from ten and heading down.

Rollerskiing in Franconia Notch (illegal now)

As for Thursday, I suggest either one of the statewide Turkey Trot races or an 90+ OverDistance run.  Both will be perfect for you, as they will really stress your body.  Go to the Turkey Trot race in Parker as a family, start that tradition up.  Or, have a family member be the sag wagon support on your long run, stopping ahead of you every few miles to make sure you have water and fuel.  Thanksgiving is a day to spent with families, so enlist your family to help you train!  Some of my most memorable workouts were when my dad would follow me on the bike.  I was rollerskiing, he was behind me smoking a cigar.  He just loved it when passerby would refer to him as "Coach", man he would get a kick out of that!

Friday is easy, a nice relaxing, rejuvenating 45 minute run.

Saturday is more sprinting, but more details to come on that later in the week.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving everyone.  I know what I am thankful for; a loving supportive family, wonderful athletes who work hard every day, and fantastic friends who make me laugh and smile.

SEP