Coach Flatow is going to be gone for Winter Break* but that does not mean we will lose focus! Consistent training, including break week, is key to our improvement and success as individuals and as a group. We have a set of planned workouts below; please try to join the complete team for practices when the break week times are announced, arrange to meet teammates, or if you are travelling, try to get in these workouts on your own. You will appreciate the results when we get back together on Monday the 24th and at our first meet–the RustBuster on March 1! It’s more fun to compete when you know you have prepared as best you can.
Friday, February 14: Maintenance run. Target 4 to 5 miles at conversational pace. Run 6x100m strides afterwards; I suggest running three laps around the track, striding the straights and jogging the curves. Follow this with a 15 minute core workout and call it a day!
Saturday, February 15: Endurance/Long Run. Whatever a long run is to you at this stage of your development; this is probably 7 to 13 miles of conversational paced running (find some friends so that you can converse!). The suggested run is either Horse, Horse+Garrods, or REI. Try to make your last mile or two a little bit faster than conversational, almost lactic threshold pace for you–finishing faster is always a good long run practice. And if you want to challenge yourself, how about running a couple of 200s or a 400 at your 3200m race pace when you get back to the track? It will feel like money! Add some shin splint prevention afterwards (heel and toe walks, and toe taps) and roll out your IT band today.
Sunday: Recovery day or cross train.
Monday, February 17: Workout! Warm up, then 6-8×600 at VO2MAX pace (this should be around your 3200 m race pace) on the track; 200 m jog recoveries between each rep and keep the recovery time dequal or less than your interval time. When you are done with the intervals, take a 2-3 minute walk to the 200 m break line and then run two hard 200s to work on our finish! After the second 200, give yourself a 10 to 20 minute warm down and join the rest of the team for a 15 minute core session.
Tuesday: Conversational run of 5 to 8 miles. This is just a shakeout day! Add core today, and if Coach Smith is leading hurdle mobility work, do that too!
Wednesday: Hill repeats at Linda Vista, just has we have done this season–20 to 25 minutes of striding hard up the hill and jogging a recovery. If you want, and the timing works, I am fine with you heading up to Matt’s Hill in Fremont Older and running your hill repeats up there, cross country style! Don’t forget to get 15 minutes of core, and roll that IT band!
Thursday: Maintenance / shake out day. We are looking for 5 to 8 miles so let’s run the Homestead Loop; yes, it is a boring loop, but we can revel in the knowledge that we don’t have to run this every day or even every week! MVTF has options. Core and shin splint prevention today, please.
Friday: I’m thinking this will be a Phar Lap day–3-4 miles total is good. Then some strides (stride the straights on the track and jog the curves; my high school coach called these in-and-outs), stretch, core, and call it a day.
Saturday, February 22: Long run day! If you are at MV, let’s hit Up and Over plus Seven Springs; or if you have wheels, maybe Rancho or head someplace new (ask Coach for suggestions). It’s Saturday of break week; if I were you, I’d organize a game night at someone’s house and stay up late playing Settlers of Catan or something.
Sunday: Recovery day or cross train.
Good luck, all! Have a great week, stay in touch, and see you on the 24th.
*It’s an indoor track extravaganza! Coach Flatow will be traveling to see Vivian Lau (MV 2022) compete for Tufts University at the Tufts Stampede; Triya Roy (MV 2020) will represent Johns Hopkins on the very fast Boston University indoor track at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational; and Sammi Dunn (MV 2021) will be competing in the Margret Bradley Invitational, which is also UofC’s senior meet. Watch Discord for updates!
