Summer 2009 - week eight

Another solid week of training is in the books based on the comments reported. Now we find week eight in front of us with the highest volume of the summer. Make a commitment to get the miles in, adjusting the intensity if needed. Also, let's give a little focus to the fartlek effort on Monday's. I really want to encourage you to use the fartlek as an opportunity to explore the finesse side of running, making it less a structured workout (i.e. x number of minutes times y number of reps) and more of a workout by feel. Use the terrain, flow up and down the hills, push the pace at times, float along for recovery, and then push again when ready. Mix it up with the hills and turns of your route. And for the week, as always, make sure your really devoting yourself to a routine that lends itself to success.

A note about the comments section. Everyone has a responsibility to our team to present themselves fit and ready for the upcoming season come the start of the semester. Posting our weekly efforts adds an element of accountability. In addition, it fosters an environment of motivation and encouragement. In my opinion, it's not a chore to post your weekly results, it's an honor. Just my two cents...

EC offering for the week is againg 3 x 15'.

On a final note, Veronica emailed me a link to an article titled "Chocolate Milk: the new sports drink?" (http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20060224/chocolate-milk-new-sports-drink) The article details a recently completed study. Check it out. A couple of notes from the article are highlighted below:

"...milk contains key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, in quantities that sports drinks can't match."

"The findings suggest that chocolate milk has an optimal ratio of carbohydrates to protein to help refuel tired muscles..."

Thanks Veronica! Recovery is just as important to your development as the training we do!

Summer 2009 - week seven

Week seven brings another increase in volume as you continue building up to the highest level of volume for the summer. Keep the quality efforts up decently but remember to stay well within yourself. If you aren't already 'living like a clock', now would be a great time to do so. Rest and recovery are so important. And hydration and proper nutrition play such a vital role in recovery and compensation. You need nutrition very soon after your efforts, remember you have about a 45' window of opportunity to really jumpstart recovery. Pay attention to all the 'small things', which in fact aren't so small after all.

Extra Credit offering for the week is 3 x 15'.

Summer 2009 - week six

It's kind of hard to believe week six of the summer is here so quickly! Hopefully everyone had a great holiday and I look forward to hearing tales from the Peachtree Road Race!

After last week's opportunity to consolidate training gains, this week brings an opportunity to start pushing the volume levels even higher. While we don't want the intensity to be too low, make sure you focus first on handling the higher volume. Only push the pace on runs to the point where you still feel comfortable with a relaxed rhythm (and running with proper technique!). Keep in mind that weather conditions will affect your pace and adjust accordingly.

Opportunities for extra credit this week: 3 x 15' & 1 x 30'

Most if not all of you have received the strength-training schedule from Scott. Some of the new people have not, some have. If you haven't, you can email me and I will forward it to you. One of the areas of emphasis right now should be the core. If you don't have access to a workout facility, there is still plenty of bodyweight work you can do and plenty of core work you can do. Make sure you are putting in some solid work on your core. It can't be too strong.

Some educational opportunities for this week:

Here is a link to an article that discusses the iron supplementation issue which I think is very important to both men and women alike:
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/hs/coachscorner/20051215.html

and a link to a thread on a running website which also discusses iron supplementation:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=3089515&thread=3089378

Lastly, I have read recently about the importance to recovery of keeping testosterone levels elevated throughout the day. Below are some stategies that help keep those levels elevated:
-sleep (take naps when at all possible)
-eat smaller meals, 5 x day
-eat protein with each meal
-zinc supplement
-increase good fats in diet (nuts, etc.)
-push-ups after runs, etc.

Summer 2009 - week five

It's great to read about everyone's training and it looks like a number of you will have fun re-connecting on the 4th of July. Keep up the solid training - as we've said in the past, just take care of one week at a time and before long you will find yourself in fantastic shape.

Week five is a good week to consolidate the mileage increases over the past several weeks. With a very minimal increase this week, it is an opportunity to recover and regroup as the mileage climbs higher over the next few weeks. Make sure you're living like a clock, getting into a routine with rest, diet, stretching, strength-training, etc.

Extra-credit opportunities for week five are 2 x 15' and 1 x 30'.

Regarding extra-credit, mostly it's meant for those who are easily able to get all their weekly mileage in one run per day. The extra-credit gives you an opportunity to add up to three additional light runs for the week. For those with heavier mileage targets, many of you are already running more than once each day.

And lastly, speaking of re-connecting, I had an opportunity to visit with Morgan in his home state - he took me on a tour of the southern and eastern parts of Oahu and it certainly was beautiful. It was great to see his hometown of Kailua and below is a picture Kailua Beach, I believe.

extra credit offering

for week four:

3 x 15'

Summer 2009 - week four

This is an early post for week four as I'm leaving town with the family tomorrow for a little over a week - flying to Honolulu, then a week on a cruise that hits all five of the islands.

Thanks for the many posts - it's good to keep up with everyone's running, but mostly it's just great to stay connected. It seems like just about everyone is into swing with the summer training so we want to keep encouraging each of you to make every day a good day, make every day a productive day. Know what you're trying to accomplish with each effort and execute it well.

A word about effort. Keep in mind it is still VERY early in the whole scheme of things, mid-June, and probably all of you are dealing with the challenges of heat and humidity. Those factors can and should affect your paces. Compared to the quality of running we do here during the school year, in the summer, fartlek efforts should not be quite as intense, threshold runs should be a little slower, and your pace for aerobic runs should be a little slower as well.

Most importantly, you should focus on how you're feeling, getting in tune with your own rhythm, and finding that groove between too hard and too easy.

Remember, PPRC should be fun!

Summer 2009 - week three

Beginning with week three, everyone should be following the weekly pattern with a fartlek effort on Monday, a tempo/threshold effort on Wednesday, and a long run on Saturday. Some of you already have started those efforts and that's ok. Keep in mind though, that at this point these efforts should be moderate in intensity. Focus right now should be on increasing the volume, keeping the efforts at a relaxed level, running correctly (i.e. midfoot strike), and establishing a routine for yourself (more on this below). Please read though the notes below!

note #1
Just to clarify, post your weekly running to the comments section of this blog entry. At a minimum, post your weekly mileage. Feel free to add more, such as how the week went and encouragement for others, for example. You don't have to email COACH or ASST COACH if you've posted to the comments; remember to identify yourself and on the blog we want to use FIRST NAMES ONLY. However, you can certainly email us, particularly if you want to add more detail or you're seeking some feedback. We really enjoyed the first week of comments and look forward to coming editions.

note #2
It's been a great week here in Fayetteville. Congrats to EC for making it this far! All of you should aspire to make it to this meet. It is truly an absolutly fantastic meet and I always leave here inspired and motivated. It's great to watch the world-class competition and to catch up with many old friends and colleagues. Over the course of the week I had many conversations with coaching friends about one of our favorite topics - the student-athletes we coach. EC and I also had some good conversation. In the many talks I had, one important word kept coming up that is so vital to your success - CONSISTENCY. I know that's not a flashy word, certainly not an exciting word. Through your life though you will begin to find that the things that make a real difference are not 'flashy and exciting'. But consistency in your life will provide you with a solid platform off of which you can reach for excellence. Consistency in your running, your recovery, your nutrition, your stretching and strength-training, your rest and sleep, will pay huge dividends. The athletes at this meet in Fayetteville are not here because they have more talent. They are here because they do the right things consistently, day after day, week after week, and month after month. In the SUMMER NOTES tab of your annual volume worksheet is a quote from one of the great all-time collegiate coaches - Jumbo Elliot of Villanova - "live like a clock". Take it to heart, put it into practice, and your running will take off!

note #3
*NEW FOR 2009-2010* We have decided to offer all of you an opportunity for EXTRA-CREDIT, particularly those of you with lower volume targets! This is your chance to add to your volume levels with supplemental running - running in addition to your scheduled miles. But as with all things in life, this opportunity for extra-credit comes with a catch.

*supplemental running MUST be added as a second run so you cannot add it on to your scheduled mileage for a single run.
*supplemental running must be LIGHT, EASY running. It MUST be run at a slower pace than all of your scheduled running.
*supplemental running is to be run in MINUTES ONLY, not miles, and will be offered in 15 minute increments (i.e. 15', 30', 45'). RUN FOR TIME AND NOT FOR MILES.
*supplemental running CANNOT exceed the level of extra-credit we offer each week.
*while supplement running is light and easy, it is not sloppy running and you should work on good technique.
*lastly, supplemental running must be REPORTED. For example if you ran 44 scheduled miles and a total of 30 minutes of supplemental running, you would report: 44 miles + 30' extra credit.

*** EXTRA-CREDIT OPPORTUNITY FOR WEEK THREE - 2 x 15' ***

In closing, sorry for the long post, I'll try to keep subsequent weeks shorter!