Hi All!
When cross country season ends–especially on seasons when MCVX sends competitors to the State championships, which we do often–the end often seems abrupt. One day we are practicing together and the next we are focused on the drive to math, English, Bio finals, coach heads off to Oregon and a million 200 repeats, and we are all doing our own thing. I don’t like to bug you too much–I hear about coaches who are starting to discuss track workouts plans on the ride back from State and that seems like a little much to me! Distance running is a year around sport but we are also human beings and should be enjoying our lives and having fun as well as taking care of everything important in our lives. With all that in mind, here are a few thoughts for the first half of December…
- If you have or are taking some time off, fine! A couple weeks of a break often make a lot of sense. If you are not running much or at all, it is still good to try to get some exercise–maybe walk to school instead of get a ride, at least, or swim or play games. Also it is an excellent idea to continue to stretch and get some core work in to stay limber and strong.
- During the time from the end of cross until you are through with your finals, that’s a good time to be very unstructured with your running. Have fun, run whatever you feel like running, hills or flat, long or short. Play with your speeds (it’s a good time for Fartlek / speed play. Challenge each other to try something fun, it can be short like ‘let’s pick it up to that next telephone pole’ or longer like ‘let’s finish a little faster, we can push it back to the track’. It is a good idea to try to continue to improve your conversational run pace but this is a gentle and incremental improvement. Enjoy!
- Finals and your school work are more important than running. That’s why this is a good time to be flexible with your running and take breaks. If you need to head home directly to start studying for a test, this is the time to do go home and let studying take over. We want running to be something enjoyable in your life that reduces stress in December, not something that adds to your daily stress level. Sleep, relax, enjoy.
- Mileage: Let’s get back to our base numbers (First year girls – average 30 miles per week, second year 35, third year 40, fourth year 45. Boys, add five miles. These averages include warm up/cool downs). If you had a good cross season and feel good you can add two to three miles. If you take a break with no running at all, get back starting at 2/3 of your number, then 80%, then back to your base average mileage per week. If we have adjusted your target (some of you are not ready for this mileage or have special issues we have discussed) then use the target we talked about not the general team target above.
- I’ll have an optional plan for break and January that you can follow and I’ll post that later. No need to stress about that while you are focusing on finals.
- See Coach Johnson if you want to get the bikes out. I bet she would help you out.
- One last thing, if you are thinking about doing some extra training in January, weights, plyos, etc. with Chris or Bree or someone else, you better arrange that NOW. If you wait until the New Year, this probably will not happen as you will run out of time before the track season starts. So get on it! If you need advice or contact information, then contact coach Flatow. I’m happy to help, I think this stuff is so useful!
I do know that many of you are out running–my remote ears and eyes keep me informed! Hank Lawson told me he saw a group of eight MV runners on the RR tracks this week, and another group last week. I’ve heard some other good things about all of you–this makes me so happy!
Good luck with finals, see you soon, enjoy–and don’t hesitate to write if I can help! You are the best team around.
–Coach
