cruisin' the caribbean

During a great week on a cruise ship (11 laps to a mile track!), I was able to finally finish the book 'Highest Duty', the story of Captain Sully who successfully landed his disabled jetliner in the Hudson River in NYC, thus miraculously saving the lives of all those aboard. At one point in the book, Captain Sully referenced a Hopi Indian poem:

There is a river flowing now very fast,
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid,
They will try to hold onto the shore.
They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river,
Keep our eyes open, and our heads above water.

I read the poem and thought what a great philosophy on life. Life at its best is found out in the fast-moving rapids at the middle of the river. And we can't be afraid to let go of the secure shoreline. Just let go, ride the rapids, keep your head up, and keep moving forward - the river, and life, will take you where you need to go.

Then I realized something else. And I wanted to say congratulations to every one of you. For you have already let go of the shore and put yourself out into the deep, swift water at the middle of the river ... academically, you did that the minute you decided to attend Georgia Tech!

Take that same courage, that same heart, and that same 'give me your best shot' attitude and employ it in all facets of your life. Particulary, bring all that to your running, to your athletic efforts.

I hope the first aerobic fartlek effort went well last week, that the right effort was found. Along with the long run and the aerobic fartlek, this week brings the addition of your first 80% run on Friday. Again, use the pace chart to determine a ballpark pace, then learn what the effort feels like and manage it well throughout the run. Don't forget to warm-up with an easy mile and cool-down with an easy mile.

And don't forget to spend some time stretching, along with your core and general strength development.

first week of xc aerobic conditioning

After four weeks of transition and re-adaptation, it's now time to turn our attention to aerobic conditioning. For those of you focused on the fall cross country season, the next ten weeks are huge. While we spent last winter in a very similar phase at school, all of these ten weeks are on your own! And as important as this phase is, paradoxically, maybe the most important concept is PATIENCE. This ten weeks requires methodical patience and consistently running the correct efforts. All efforts are still aerobic, but over the next ten weeks we need to push into high-end aerobic running at 80-88% effort. Refer to the 'summer'10 notes' tab of your spreadsheet for the weekly pattern. Sundays are long runs, Wednesdays are aerobic fartlek running, and Fridays are 80% aerobic runs. Mondays will vary depending on your status - upperclassmen, freshmen, and recently injured. See the summer'10 notes!

For the upcoming week, only the aerobic fartlek on Wednesday should be added. The following week you will add the Friday 80% run. The week after that, some of you will begin to add the Monday 80% run if you feel up to it. Again, all is explained in the summer'10 notes and if you are still not sure, email or text one of your coaches.

Use the pace chart tab on your spreadsheet and a conservative estimate of your current fitness to determine approximate paces for the high-end aerobic efforts. While the pace chart provides an excellent starting point, it is very important that you begin to understand what the different aerobic efforts FEEL like. For the aerobic fartlek effort, you can determine the structure or you can use an old stand-by - 5', 4', 3', 2', 1' w/ equal time recovery. The 5' and the 4' should be around 80-85% effort, and the 3', 2', 1' can at 85-88%.

Lastly, continue working on general strength as well as core strength! Make sure you can perform 3 x 45" for the front plank and the side plank.

POST WEEKLY MILEAGE ON THE BLOG!

gettin' fit, gettin' strong

After an up week of mileage, take advantage of this upcoming consolidation (i.e. recovery and adaptation) week. Once we get past this week, the mileage will jump up pretty good and soon we will start adding high-end aerobic efforts with the fartlek and the 80% runs.

Don't forget to post weekly mileage to the blog. Most of you are doing a great job, but we're still missing some; incoming freshmen - this includes you :)

Upcoming blogs will discuss iron supplementation (mainly the why) and sleep. Exciting stuff, I know. And very, very important stuff if you are to make the progress each of you desires.

For this week, let's look at a general strength bodyweigth circuit. We've done it at school several times, here it is in written form. For new people, you can complete the circuit twice a week. For returners, you can opt for this circuit if you don't have access to a weight-training facility, or if you are struggling to find time and/or energy to complete the strength & conditioning program. Go through the exercises in order, completing anywhere from 10-25 reps depending on the exercise, and move from exercise to exercise at a moderate pace. Go through the circuit once; if it becomes extraordinarily easy, you can go through it twice.

1. bodyweight squats
2. v - sit-ups
3. push-ups
4. back hypers or superman
5. squat jumps
6. leg raise (tighten abs, focus on lowering legs slowly)
7. push-ups or push-ups w/ a clap if capable
8. hip extension or glute bridge (or whatever we call them!)
9. slow crunch
10. push-ups
11. clams
12. front plank w/ single-leg raises

Enjoy!

Lastly, good luck to shawn, who runs the USA Jr. 800m next week in Des Moines, Iowa! Training has gone well, running a solo 1:19.9 for 600 today.

track town usa

Sitting on a plane leaving the NCAA's in Eugene, Oregon. My wish would be for everyone of you to experience a national meet in Track Town, USA. Whether as a competitor or as a spectator, if you love our sport, it is an experience that should be on your bucket-list.

The stands are packed, literally, and the crowd knows track & field. The people stay for the whole meet and are excited about the 5k or 10k at the end of each evening. And they clap in unison as the runners go down the backstretch or up the homestretch. EVERY backstretch and EVERY homestretch. They ROAR for those clad in the green and yellow with the "O" on their chest, but they also cheer for EVERYBODY.

The weather is interesting and if you don't like it, that's ok, because it will change completely within the next 30 minutes. In one 5 mile run on the wood chips of Pre's Trail, we experienced the cold wind and rain of a southern December day AND the bright sunny warmth of an early April afternoon. It rained almost every day at the meet, usually multiple times each day. But not one lightening delay. And you stay dry in the grandstands as they both have rooftops. How ballin' is that?

The competition was magnificent. Event after event, you felt as though you were witnessing something special. The performances so spectacular that you felt not that you were watching it, but indeed you were part of it. And as the athletes performed at their best, you felt as though you were at your best. There were names written into the record books here, legends even born, and names shouted from the packed stands. And as one who loves the sport, you recognize those names being added to the fabled ones who have graced this track before.

There will be time to talk about training, core strengthening, and even iron stores. But today, be inspired. Think about what it is you love about our sport and rejoice in it. What can you endeavor to accomplish that not only moves you but moves those around you.

And go ahead and dream about coming off the Bowerman Curve, the rhythmic clapping of the grandstand pulling you down the homestretch, and hearing your name shouted by the packed house!

Post your weekly mileage to the comments section please. And check back, later I hope to add some pictures.

Still waiting for some pictures from cameras that our coaches had but wanted to post a couple taken with my phone. The picture of darts to the right is from a cricket game we were playing with some fellow coaches. As you can see, COACH closed out the 15's in grand fashion!

in the beginning there was June

And in the beginning coach said let there be gentle running at very low volumes for the four weeks that is called June. Gentle running that re-acquaints rested muscles and tendons, ligaments and joints, with the sweet and beautiful motion that is running. Gentle running that barely tests well-developed aerobic systems, touching only the lowest levels of aerobic capacities that will be greatly expanded in the coming months. And gentle running that is undertaken only 5 days a week for the first two weeks, then 6-7 days the following two weeks. Gentle running that frees the mind of effort and allows for big and important dreams to seep in.

And coach looked at the gentle running at low volumes for the four weeks that is June and saw that it was good.

Then coach looked at the core muscles, the pillar that stabilizes the body as one holistic unit. And coach looked at the website, runningdvds.com, and searched through the the links within the 'download' section.

Coach looked through the various workouts contained in the pdf's and the completion of the workouts 4-5 times a week, and saw that they were good.

And then coach looked at iron supplementation, researched and learned the average red blood cell lives for only 120 days. And coach calculated then that every three months we all must reproduce about 5,000,000 red bloods cells. Coach knew then how important DAILY supplementation with 325 mg of ferrous sulfate in combination of vitamin C was. Coach knew that this daily supplementation would provide our bodies with the needed iron to constantly supply the vital new red blood cells.

And coach looked upon the daily supplementation of iron, along with the 4-5 times a week of core strengthening, and the gentle running during the four weeks that is called June, and saw that they were good.

week of May 17-23

Break time has arrived for all except those continuing on to the NCAA East Regional or the USA Junior National Championships. Enjoy the time off! MAKE SURE YOU CONTINUE TO STRETCH DAILY AND PERFORM CORE WORK ALMOST DAILY. Anticipate the summer running program to begin on Sunday, May 30th. We will be forwarding you a training schedule before then.

As a group, we ended the season last weekend with great efforts! Many pb's (personal best) and sb's (seasonal best) were achieved; and many of those were big improvements. I really believe you were able to finish the season with such efforts because of the block of time we devoted last december-january exclusively to pushing our aerobic ability to new heights. After your short break, we will begin another such block, pushing our aerobic ability higher than ever. Imagine what you will be capable of with even greater aerobic strength.

And with last weekend's races still fresh in our minds, let's lay out an intermediate goal: everyone starts the indoor season in January where we left off this weekend! No backsteppin'.

notes and schedule for w10k and w3kSC:
rest (sleep, nap, conserve energy)
stretch and core work daily
practice times for week after tue to be determined

mon - (on your own) aerobic running
tue - 7AM workout
wed - aerobic running
thu - aerobic running (w10k: some short speed)
fri - w3kSC: AM workout / w10k: long aerobic running
sat - aerobic running
sun - long aerobic running

m800USAjr:
off thru thur, stretch and perform core work daily
fri thru sun, easy aerobic running
workouts resume the following week
five weeks until USA Junior National Championships in Des Moines, IA

week of May 10-16

the johnson PR train goes viral

Opportunity knocks for all this week as the johnson PR train continues to lay its wrath upon all personal bests. With the all-comers on tuesday and the home invitational this weekend, the goal is simple - everyone runs a PR in something this week. That's right, everyone! The recipe is equally simple:

race every chance you get
jog 3-4 miles + light strides each day
rest (sleep, nap, conserve energy)
*those continuing to the regional meet should not cut back this much

mon - (on your own) light aerobic running; move out of dorm
tue - 8AM workout or 10AM shake-out & PM all-comers meet
(events: 800m, mile, 5000m)
wed - light aerobic running + strides
thu - light aerobic running + strides
fri - home invitational; 1500m, 3kSC, 5k (time tbd - meet for shake-out)
sat - home invitational; 800m (time tbd - meet for shake-out)
sun - long aerobic running for those continuing to race

*strength & conditioning - none this week at wardlaw; we will incorporate at practice.