"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." - Leo Tolstoy
arete - attaining excellence through competition

Sunday, July 19, 2026

aerobic short specificity with a twist

#MTM #chopwoodcarrywater #WILDDOGS ⬈🝚x🝚 #rememberthegoal #discipline #edify

Week 8, with full volume reached, it's time now to move into a three-week phase of aerobic short specificity, with a twist this year.  In essence, some short, goal race pace efforts, with long recovery so the overall workout remains aerobic while getting to turn the legs over.  The key is to make sure you take long enough recoveries.  The second workout for the week will be a sustained longish aerobic run.  Continue with the short hill repeats or fast strides on Thursday, and S&C circuit on Tue and Fri.

The twist this year is we want the short goal pace efforts done on a ~200m long hill.  A gradual rise to work again gravity and definitely not too steep to change running form.  If in doubt, choose a shallower hill.  Do not rush the recovery JOG down, we are looking for enough recovery time to clear any built up lactate.  If you need longer to clear any accumulated lactate, lengthen the recovery jog at the bottom of each hill.  For goal pace, think 6k for women and 8k for men.

The second workout for the week will be a sustained longish aerobic run.

Continue to adjust paces for heat and humidity, and two aerobic threshold runs (aka Ae T or easy tempo) for both Tue and Fri.  The rest of your running for the week remains easy, 60-65%.  Thursday is an important day, whether 6-8 x 60-80m hill sprints or fast strides, don't neglect this day.

Tue - 10-12 x 200 hill repeats @ either 6k or 8k goal pace with ~2' easy rec
Fri - sustained Aerobic Threshold/Easy Tempo @ ~75%

Simple, but not easy.  Stay the course, be patient.

Again, reminder of important dates...

Incoming first-year/transfers: move-in Sat-Sun, August 15-16
Returning Students: return Mon-Tue, August 17-18

Physicals for new people and for returning will be Tue, Aug 18.
Year-Beginning/Team Meeting will be Wednesday, Aug 19.
First practice will be in the AM of Thursday, Aug 20

Both the team and GTAA will have functions during the following week before school starts.  Before you make any other plans for this week, make sure you clear with coaches first. If you know of any conflicts, make sure you notify coaches as soon as possible

As always, if unsure about anything, or have any questions, reach out.

22 comments:

Lottie said...

60 miles last week! First full volume week but no workouts because of camp

John Jessup said...

70 miles. Had an amazing week at camp and got some good easy runs in and a workout at John Hunt. Entering week 2 of camp a little sick so monitoring how I feel before I make a jump in mileage

Joey Sandel said...

80 miles.
Week started off rough but wrapped up well. Stomach problems made Tuesday’s workout really difficult. Recovered with intentionality and had a great Tempo on Friday. Pad of my right foot was in pain a little this week. Icing got it feeling better pretty quick, think it was caused by my easy run shoes, brought them from Atlanta all the way back in May. Switched to a new pair.
Last full week in Hume Lake. Making my way to LA by the weekend.

Hannah Schemmel said...

15.5 miles of walking + 2hr 15 min on recumbent bike!

Nathan said...

72 miles last week, probably my best week of the summer so far. 10.5k tempo on Tuesday cutting down all the way to 5:38 pace and 14k tempo on Friday cutting down to sub 5:30 pace. Felt really good on that second one. Hopefully I can stack some good back to back high mileage weeks.

Anonymous said...

Also 50 miles the week before as I was traveling a lot and completely forgot to include this. 13.5k tempo that week cutting down to 5:35 pace and starting at 6 flat

Anonymous said...

57 miles last week. Workouts went well

Anonymous said...

Ava

Annie said...

44 miles this week with solid lifting and tempos and good long run. Strava graph very cute and feeling good. 53 hours worked this week so excited to quit my job for school!

Taylor said...

80 miles this week. Another good week, tempos went very well and had a good long run

Elizabeth Healy said...

45 miles last week! Started off the week feeling pretty terrible, but ended feeling solid. Excited for a new workout this week!

Matt Castro said...

90 miles on the week, surprisingly felt fresher than ever. Solid workouts and intentional runs all around. Need to find a way to get hydration during long run, that almost killed me, but pretty proud of hitting 17 mile long run on sunday.

Anonymous said...

40 miles done!! Both workouts and long run went great. - Addy

Sadie said...

55 miles last week! First week of full mileage and feeling good.

Wyatt Windham said...

72 miles this week. At full mileage now and while I have had some slight soreness occasionally I overall feel pretty solid! Both Tuesday and Friday went well, and I am eager to see what I can do for these upcoming workouts.

Ian J said...

40 miles. Internship and running has been catching up so excited to get some focused running weeks in here at the end of the summer. Feeling good looking forward to what’s next.

Kam said...

45 miles last week, feeling awesome! Completed my first half marathon on Sunday and it was peak. Feeling good about the season.

Richard said...

75 miles last week, I feel fantastic. Runs have been going great, Monday bike rides are beautiful, and workouts have felt strong. Excited as usual to keep this ball rolling.

Kushan said...

79
Had to switch Sunday and Monday which led to me going easy on Tuesday but Friday workout was good.

Maddie said...

First full mileage week (a little over actually) with 46 miles! No workouts because of camp but did an 11 mile long run with some of the other counselors! Biggest mileage week in two years and feeling good! Excited to mix it up with a new workout this week.

Zoe g said...

45 miles

Stella Chambless said...

60 miles last week and starting to get excited about the season