if you ain't first, you're last

In deference to our season's opener being in Talladega country, this infamous quote from Ricky Bobby seemed fitting.

As with last week, reminder if at all possible, try to do the majority of your mileage on Wed and Thu in the morning on your own, leaving just 2-3 miles for the afternoon.  This week we can use some time on those days for the 4th and 5th year people to tell everyone a little about themselves.  And early in the week this post will be updated with race times and departure times.  For planning purposes now, Friday's departure for those racing will be no earlier than mid-afternoon.

monday (on your own or OFF)

dynamic wu

+ light aerobic running or cross-training

+ 6 x technique strides on grass

***(3:30 PM - in freshman gym) Voluntary Yoga with Jenna

tuesday (6:00 AM)

800j + mcmillan wu

+ 20' of AT (anaerobic threshold) running on track

+ 6 x ~115m  Cherry St hill w/ jog down rec

+ general strength circuit

wednesday (3:30 PM)

400j, lunge matrix wu

+ aerobic running

+ hurdle drills

(some 3000SC hurdle work)

+ barefoot strides on grass

+ foot drills in sand & balance exercises

thursday (3:30 PM)

800j + dynamic wu & speed ladder

+ 3 x 200m at race pace in spikes

+ light aerobic running

+ work on A march

+ mcmillan core

friday

shake-out and departure time - tbd

COMPETITION, w= 4k / m= 5k

those not competing:

6:00 AM workout - tbd, on track

+ general strength circuit

saturday (on your own)

aerobic running

+ stretching

sunday (VOLUNTARY, time - tbd)

long aerobic running at Kennesaw

+ cool-down exercises

+ recovery at training room

#TogetherWeSwarm

After maybe the wettest first week of practice ever, the forecast for this week looks pretty good!  A solid week of training is on tap, let's make the most of each day.  Reminder if at all possible, try to do the majority of your mileage on Wed and Thu in the morning on your own, leaving just 2-3 miles for the afternoon.  This will give us some flexibility in the afternoons to add some beginning steeple work, some form work, testing, etc.  And some great feedback last week from those who worked with Jenna on Monday with yoga.  Take advantage of it if you can!

Also, don't forget the men's & women's track & field team meetings on Tuesday @ 3:15 PM.

Lastly, the coaches know everyone's name...are you there yet?

monday (on your own or OFF)

dynamic wu

+ light aerobic running or cross-training

+ 6 x technique strides on grass

***(3:30 PM - in freshman gym) Voluntary Yoga with Jenna

tuesday (6:00 AM)

800j + mcmillan wu

+ 1600's on park cinder loop @ ~85%, r= 3' (jog 400m), w= 4-5 / m= 5-6

+ general strength circuit
*3:15 PM - m & w track & field team meetings @ McCamish Pavilion

wednesday (3:30 PM)

400j, lunge matrix wu

+ aerobic running

+ hurdle drills
(some 3000SC hurdle work)

+ barefoot strides on grass

+ foot drills in sand & balance exercises

thursday (3:30 PM)

800j + dynamic wu & speed ladder

+ 6 x 90m (30m ins & outs) in spikes

+ light aerobic running

+ med ball throws; 5 x BLF + 5 x OHB

+ work on A march

+ hip and/or core work

friday (6:00 AM)

800j + mcmillan wu

+ 1 x 400 fast + 400j + 45-50' of 1000m hill loops @ 80%, r= 100 float

+ general strength circuit

saturday (on your own)

aerobic running

+ stretching

sunday (time - tbd)

long aerobic running at Kennesaw

+ cool-down exercises

+ recovery at training room

2015-16 begins

Please post last week's mileage to the blog comments.  Going forward, weekly mileage will be reported at practice.

It looks like a challenging week ahead with a good chance of rain in the forecast each day, particularly Tue and Wed.  So we'll keep close to campus on Tuesday, then be in the park on Friday.  Just a solid, basic week...we'll have a good idea where everyone's aerobic fitness is by the end of it.  Also, something new this year is a voluntary yoga session with Jenna on Monday's at 3:30 PM.  We may incorporate a second day each week also.  Everyone can benefit from this extra work.  Also, those who have no running on Monday's, keep in mind that you can cross-train on your own too!

monday (on your own or OFF)

dynamic wu

+ light aerobic running

+ 6-8 x technique strides on grass
***(3:30 PM - in freshman gym) Voluntary Yoga with Jenna

tuesday (6:00 AM)

800j + mcmillan wu

+ 20' of AT (anaerobic threshold) running @ 85% on track

+ 6 x ~115m  Cherry St hill w/ jog down rec

+ general strength circuit

wednesday (3:30 PM)

400j, lunge matrix wu

+ aerobic running

+ hurdle drills

+ barefoot strides on grass

+ foot drills in sand & balance exercises

thursday (3:30 PM)

800j + dynamic wu & speed ladder
+ 6-8 x 80m fast striding in spikes

+ light aerobic running
+ med ball throws; 5 x BLF + 5 x OHB
+ work on A march
+ hip and/or core work

friday (6:00 AM)

800j + mcmillan wu

+ 80% strong aerobic running on park lake loop (w= 5-8 mi / m= 6-9 mi)

+ general strength circuit

saturday (on your own)

aerobic running

+ stretching

sunday (time - tbd)

long aerobic running at Kennesaw

+ cool-down exercises

+ recovery at training room

back to school 2015

It's finally here ... we hope you're as excited as we are to get everyone back and get started on a new year!  There will be a lot going this week, but make sure you get the medical paperwork and the compliance forms done before Thursday of this week.  If you are unsure about anything, text or call one of your coaches asap.

We will have our compliance meeting on Friday at 3:00 PM ... the location is still not set so look for notification later this week.  After the compliance meeting we will have our start of the year team meeting, then dinner to follow.

Physicals will be on Sunday morning, you should have received notification about where and when you need to report.  If not, find out!  Freshmen have an athletic academic orientation on Sunday afternoon.

Plan on doing your long run on Saturday.  Just switch the mileage for Saturday and Sunday.  Count your weekly mileage with what you actually run on each day, so this week will be higher than scheduled due to the long run being on Saturday.

As we begin preparing for the start of practice, please text us with your estimated 80% pace as well as your typical easy day pace.  That will help us get organized a little easier.

Lastly, make sure you reach out if you have any questions!

Workouts for this week:

Tue: 5' + 4' + 3' + 2' + 1' @ about 85% with equal time recovery at about 65%
Fri: strong aerobic running approaching 80% or fartlek of 5 x 5' @ 80%, r= 3'

dates and info

Two short weeks left before we kick things off for the 2015-16 school year!  We're excited about getting everyone back together at practice (yes, we're talking about practice), our favorite part of every day!

Some important dates to note:

*Thursday, August 13th is the date everyone should return to campus.  For freshmen attending one of the last two FASET sessions, you will move into your school year housing assignment early when you arrive for the orientation.  Other freshmen can move in on this date without incurring an early move-in charge from housing.  Upperclassmen who incur in early move-in charge from housing will be reimbursed by the Athletic Association.  Upperclassmen who are local can move in Friday if they want, just make sure you allot time for your morning workout and our Friday afternoon meetings.

*Friday, August 14th...though the times are not set, we will have our compliance meeting and our team meeting sometime in the late afternoon, plan on about 3:00 PM.  We'll also have a team dinner.

*Sunday, August 16th will be a busy day...physicals in the morning which includes a fasting blood test, squeeze in a run sometime (probably should plan on doing your long run on Saturday), then freshmen will also have an academic orientation in the early afternoon (2:00-3:30 PM), as well as freshmen convocation in the late afternoon (5:00-6:00 PM).

Hopefully, the compliance office will email you soon with the compliance paperwork now online so that you can fill out the necessary forms prior to the compliance meeting.

AND THEN, practice will officially begin on Tuesday morning, August 18th!

Oh, did I mention classes begin...

As for workouts this week...

Tue - 10 x 1' @ ~90% with 2' easy or 4-5 x 5' @ 80%, r= 3'

Fri - strong aerobic running approaching 80%

Lastly, don't forget the Summer Roll Call!

summer roll call

Though we are getting a late start, let's get our Summer Roll Call going!  All that is required of you if you choose to participate is a picture of you in preferably a GT track & field or cross country shirt...though any GT shirt will do.  Try to take the picture so as to give us some context of how/where you're spending your summer break.  Text the picture to Asst Coach and it will be uploaded to the Georgia Tech Track & Field and Cross Country facebook page.  Participation is highly encouraged!

As for workouts this week...

Tue - 10 x 1' @ ~90% with 2' easy running in between

Fri - strong aerobic running approaching 80% or 4-5 x 5' @ 80%, r= 3'

si joint

Had a good discussion with Dr Glass up at camp last week about the importance of the S.I. joint in running and how the joint doesn't function as it should in many runners.  Sounds like an area we want to keep mobile and strong, so here is link to a short video with some good information and exercises to do so...   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTo1eAZXNKk

Regarding the Tue/Fri workouts, as with last week, we'll keep it pretty simple.  You should warm-up and cool-down with about 10-15' of easy running.  Depending on your mileage and the length of the workout, you may need to extend the warm-up and/or cool-down.  For the fartlek workouts, you should complete the designated workout and adjust your warm-up and cool-down to hit your mileage.  If you end up a mile or two longer than what you're supposed to get, that's ok.  You can then take off the 1-2 miles from another day, or just end the week being 1-2 miles ahead.  Either is fine.  For the runs approaching 80%, you should figure about a mile warm-up and a mile cool-down, so the length of the 80% run would whatever you need it to be to hit your mileage.  The minimum length though should be 4 miles.

Tue - 3-4 x 5' @ 80%, r= 3'
Fri - strong aerobic running approaching 80%

Lastly, the summer notes do indicated that the next stage of strength-training should be out, but we've decided to continue as is for 2-3 weeks more.  So early in August it will change.