Mostly, off-season running should be fun! The goal is to build your base of strength and endurance with lots of comfortable running. If all an athlete does is run consistently from the end of cross country season until the start of track season, and they are healthy and happy when we meet for the first day of track, that’s pretty good! Here are a few general suggestions for the motivated athlete:
- While most of your running should be at a comfortable, conversational pace, talking with your teammates…see if you can run at a faster conversational pace than you were running during cross season. We often get stuck with old beliefs in our head, thinking ‘9 minutes per mile is my conversational pace’ when our fitness now allows us to run at 8 minutes per mile–and that will feel just as comfortable as 9 did last summer! Maybe you have improved! Don’t let old beliefs about yourself hold you back.
- Try to finish your long/medium runs a little faster the last couple of miles.
- See if you can increase your average miles per week by 10% or so, up to 5 miles per week, from what you ran during the cross season.
- Run one longer run each week, 20-25% of your mileage for that week in one run.
- Run some strides at the end of several runs each week (remind your legs they like to move fast!).
- Some of these strides can be on hills, too!
- Plenty of core work!–and seek out Coach Irina Stiasny if you have some things you want to strengthen (Karena Lai is our athlete contact with Coach Irina, check with Karena for when Coach will be at Monta Vista).
Gather your crew and go for a run! Don’t hesitate to reach out to coach with questions or if you just want to talk running.
Suggestions for the weeks of December 11 and 18:
We can see Finals coming over the horizon…so maybe running needs to take a priority. These are good weeks for a ‘down week’ (lower volume than usual, but not zero) or two. I want you to do whatever makes you feel most confident as you walk into the classroom for your final exam, so you be you. Personally, when I was taking tests, I still liked to do a few shortish yet intense runs, but still fairly unstructured; not full on workouts but something that pushed me a little. I felt this helped me clear my head. So maybe a Fartlek would make you feel good…here are a couple you could work into a medium run this week or next:
- After you have been running a bit and feel warm, push for 60 seconds then jog for 60 seconds, 8 to 12 repeats. Don’t worry so much about terrain, it’s fine if you are going up and down a bit. Your effort should be a little more than a cross-country race pace effort. This will help you develop your maximum oxygen uptake (VO2MAX).
- Warm up, then push for 2 minutes seconds then jog for 60 seconds, 4 to 6 repeats. Your effort should be a little less than the 1 minute fartleks you ran last week.
- After you have been running a bit and feel warm, push for three to five minutes then jog for one to two minutes, 4 to 5 repeats, 12-20 minutes of total ‘push’. Your effort should be feel like a tempo run. This will help you develop your lactic threshold.
All these Fartleks can be inserted into a medium or long run, and give you a little spice to a shake out day!
Suggestions for the week of December 4:
We can see Finals in our near future, so let’s keep things simple and efficient with our running. And it’s pretty dark! So Monday, Tuesday and Thursday think about runs like Homestead or Will’s Loop (Varian Park and back on Foothill), or heading to Linda Vista for some gentle strides on the upslopes then back on the RR tracks or Stelling. Wednesday, when you get off school a little earlier, could be a good day for Matadors or Up and Over (I want you back to school before it gets too dark). Saturday for your long run can be the day to add hills…maybe REI or Horse+Garrods.
Keep up your core work! Here is a suggestion for an exercise to add to your core mix:
Plank Step. Start in a plank position. Step your left foot to the left, your right foot to the right, your left foot back to center, then your right foot back to center. Keep your body in a plank, without getting your rear high in the air, the entire time. That’s 1 rep. Repeat for one minute. Muscles worked: Shoulders, upper back, chest, rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, glutes, outer and inner thighs, quads, calves.
