one week closer

After two weeks of a mileage jump, this week is a bit of a recovery week.  Make sure you follow the plan and take advantage of it!  Hopefully the stronger aerobic efforts went well last week but keep in mind that it was just the first week of more structured efforts.  So be patient with them.  One more week in the mountains then back to the ATL.  While it's great here, the promise of a new season is one week closer, and the excitement of having the team back together is building!

aerobic conditioning begins

The aerobic conditioning begins in earnest this week.  Some of you have already gotten a little head start on this phase with some faster-paced easy runs and some of you are still a week or two away from beginning it, but you should begin to follow the more structured weekly training schedule in the "SUMMER '13 NOTES" tab of your annual plan spreadsheet.  And you should begin to look at the pace chart to guide your efforts.  Remember to be conservative with your beginning paces and as always, look at the pace chart thinking about where your current fitness is right now.

Regarding heat and humidity...if you are running in hot and humid conditions you will need to adjust your paces so they will be slower.  A typical afternoon in the south would probably be worth 20-30 seconds per mile.  Overall, learn to trust your efforts by how your respiration is...you should be able to tell when strong aerobic efforts cross over the threshold and become anaerobic.  Stay on the aerobic side!

Lastly, from Wikipedia, some of the health and performance benefits of aerobic exercise:

Strengthening the muscles involved in respiration, to facilitate the flow of air in and out of the lungs

Strengthening and enlarging the heart muscle, to improve its pumping efficiency and reduce the resting heart rate, known as aerobic conditioning

Improving circulation efficiency and reducing blood pressure

Increasing the total number of red blood cells in the body, facilitating transport of oxygen

Improved mental health, including reducing stress and lowering the incidence of depression

Reducing the risk for diabetes

Increased storage of energy molecules such as fats and carbohydrates within the muscles, allowing for increased endurance

Neovascularization of the muscle sarcomeres to increase blood flow through the muscles

Increasing speed at which aerobic metabolism is activated within muscles, allowing a greater portion of energy for intense exercise to be generated aerobically

Improving the ability of muscles to use fats during exercise, preserving intramuscular glycogen

Enhancing the speed at which muscles recover from high intensity exercise

team cohesion and team achievement

Sitting in a dorm room preparing for the first of three weeks of camp in the mountains of NC, there's only time for a quick post.  In the recently released book, "Eleven Rings - The Soul of Success", great NBA coach Phil Jackson talks about how he knew the 2008-09 Lakers team had the seeds of greatness from the first day of training camp.  The team would go on to post a season-record of 65-17 and would win the NBA Championship.  One of the biggest differences Phil Jackson saw early in training camp was in star player Kobe Bryant.  From the beginning of training camp that year, Kobe made a great effort to connect more closely with his teammates.  In prior years, Kobe made little effort to spend time with his teammates.  Jackson credited Kobe's effort as a major factor in forging a more cohesive team focused on something bigger than themselves, understanding that "what we achieve is bigger than what you can achieve".

The challenge for each of us is to think about what we as individuals contribute in the area of team cohesion.  What efforts are we making to connect more closely with our teammates? And, are we as individuals more committed to the team achievements than we are to our own achievements?

Lastly, this is our last week of just easy aerobic running.  The following week you should begin using the aerobic conditioning schedule contained in the summer notes.  If you want to however, you could do an aerobic speed fartlek workout this Tuesday as a little extra credit and to get a little jumpstart on the training schedule.

"Great moments are born of great opportunity."

Inspired, once again, by the movie "Miracle", which chronicles the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team's march to the gold medal, this week we're re-visiting Coach Herb Brooks great quote.  Great moments, indeed, are born of great opportunity.  All the great moments you dream of having in the next academic year will be born by how you take advantage of all the opportunities you have each and every day to improve.  And that includes every hot and humid summer day!  Hopefully actor Kurt Russell's rendition of Herb Brook's locker room speech will get you motivated...

and if that doesn't do it for you, try this...

Lastly, enjoy a pic of Kelly taking advantage of every opportunity to get a little extra work in :)

reflections

After a great weekend of championship racing, I'm all packed up and ready to head home tomorrow.  With the end of the season I can't help but reflect on what a great 2013-14 it was.  So much progress was made and some great accomplishments were achieved.  And the stage is set for an even better next year.  So many of you are fully engaged in your development as athletes, and make no mistake how important your continued commitment is!  As coaches, we are impressed.

As your mileage continues to build, make sure you following the strength & conditioning suggestions in your annual plans.  The various circuits, including the mobility, along with a continued emphasis on recovery will go along way towards keeping you healthy and headed in the right direction.

Keep it up!

last go-round for 2012-13

After more than nine months of competition, we'll finish the 2012-13 season with the USATF Junior Championships in Des Moines, IA.  The men's 1500m prelims are scheduled for Friday and the final is set for Saturday.  Preparation has been going well even while going at it alone.  Send positive thoughts for a new personal best!

Below is the final return to running schedule consisting of the last two days of running on the six day swing, then after an off day Wednesday resume training according to your individual schedules.  The blog comments were pretty full last week, great to see some new names along with the old, and only a few still missing.

Remember, all reporting of weekly mileage should now be to the comment section of the blog.  (note: the mileage you report on this week's comments is your mileage for last week)

those returning to running:

mon - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

tue - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

wed - stretching & mobility + OFF or crosstraining

...continue with regular training and days off per your training schedule

those training for usa jr nationals:

mon - light aerobic running + technique strides

tue - 11 x 200 cut-downs, r= 90" (5 @ 32, 3 @ 30, 2 @ 28, 1 @ 26)

wed - OFF or 20' light running + travel + shake-out upon arrival

thu - light aerobic running + 2 x 200 @ race pace

fri - COMPETITION

sat - COMPETITION

sun - 20' light aerobic running + travel

winding down

With the NCAA season wrapped up all that is remaining is the USA Junior Championships to be help in Des Moines, IA in two weeks.  And while a strained hamstring in the days leading up to the NCAA meet contributed heavily to a disappointing end to a stellar season, the overall experience was awesome.  A great suggestion for your post-competitive days bucket list would be to watch a championship meet in Eugene, Oregon.  Even better, next year's NCAA meet will return to Hayward Field - we're in the very beginning stages of preparing to have more representation for 2014!

Remember, all reporting of weekly mileage should now be to the comment section of the blog.

 

those returning to running:

mon - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

tue - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

wed - stretching & mobility + OFF or crosstraining

thu - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

fri - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

sat - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

sun - stretching & mobility + light aerobic running

 

those training for usa jr nationals:

mon - light aerobic running + technique strides

tue - 600 fast + 2 miles light running + 3 x 200 cut-downs, r= 200j

wed - medium long aerobic running + barefoot strides

thu - light aerobic running + 2 x 200 @ 29, 27; r= 200w

fri - 3 sets of 3 x 300 @ RP-3%, r= 1' / R= 4'

sat - aerobic running + stretching

sun - long aerobic running + cool-down exercises + recovery