Winter Distance Running Guide

Monta Vista Distance

Winter Running Guide 2012

Simple Ain’t Easy.

Here are some suggestions for how to plan your distance training between your cross-country and track & field seasons!  You do not have to follow this guide exactly—this guide is meant to help you plan your running schedule, but you should use your own judgment to make allowances for your academic assignments and goals,  tests, family commitments over the holidays, weather, etc.  Also, PLEASE run with your teammates whenever you can, it will make your run easier and better—so if everyone is going for a long run Friday, and you had planned Saturday, don’t necessarily be rigid—you can change your plan a little to get the benefit of working with your teammates!

The most important thing is—get out and run as consistently as you can, get together with your teammates (I know that there is a Facebook group out there–that is a great tool for planning your workouts and encouraging each other!).

Step 1:  What is your mileage/time goal?  It’s probably a good challenge for you to try to get to a peak mileage that is 10-20% higher than what you had been doing in cross-country, or just what makes sense given your training age (how long you have been running distance).  Don’t try to jump your mileage too much just because someone a year ahead of you is running more miles, you have to be patient–getting hurt is too much of a set-back, don’t risk it.  Here are a couple of examples of how you might think about your mileage goals:

1. Freshman, first year running consistently.  You were probably running 18-27 miles per week in cross.  That’s probably 3 or 4 hours of running per week.  So peaking this off-season at 20-30 miles per week might be a good challenge.
2. Junior, third year running consistently. You were probably running 25-35 miles per week in cross.  That’s probably 4 to 6 hours of running per week.  So peaking this off-season at 25 to even 40 miles per week might be possible.

Step 2:  Break this goal into a weekly target.  You don’t want to run the same mileage every week—varying your running week-to-week challenges your body to adapt faster.   Also, you give body a chance to recover and adapt.  One thing we have learned about physiology and training theory is that rest you give yourself is just as important as the training stresses your body experiences.   Also, by varying your weeks, you can plan around your school, family and holiday commitments.

A pattern I think works well is to plan your training in 4-week blocks, where you give yourself three weeks of increasing mileage and harder effort, then one week of decreased mileage.  The next block, you step up the effort a bit.  This up and down pattern allows you to recover both physically and psychologically.  For the three weeks of increasing mileage, each week you can add 1-3 miles/10-30 minutes/5-15% per week.    The next 4-week block, start again, from a starting point 5-10% higher then the prior block.

Here is an example of how this might work this Winter for someone who has been running mileage somewhere in 30-35 mile per week range:

You do not need to follow this pattern exactly!  You can develop your own plan; having a plan will help you achieve your goal.

Step 3:  Come up with a day-by-day plan as you start each week.   You will want to adapt your weekly plan based upon your weekly target, what runs your teammates are scheduling that you want to join, your academic requirements, and all the clubs, jobs, tutoring and extra classes your parents signed you up for that week, as well as having some time for fun–of course!  Also, we want to vary the effort day by day, to keep stressing your body in different ways as well as give your body time for rest and recovery.  It’s usually more beneficial to run 30 minutes one day and 60 minutes the next day rather than two days in a row of 45 minutes–even if the total time is the same, the variation in training stresses encourages your body to adapt.  Mix up the routes, pace, amount of hills, etc.   Here is a possible plan for a week (note that we are switching back and forth between miles run and time running; it’s OK to look at your training in terms of mileage and time.  Different people, coaches, and training plans look at training in terms of mileage and/or time, and you are a more schooled and advanced athlete if you can think in both ways!):

Summary.   OK, we just threw a lot at you!  However…we are trying to make you a sophisticated athlete, able to think about your training in a systematic way.  Feel free to drop me an email at coachflatow@gmail.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to sit down and talk about your own goals and training plans.  I LOVE to talk running!

If you don’t want to do a lot of planning, don’t worry about it.  The most important thing is to get out the door and run, consistently!  Let’s keep it simple:  If you go out and run, 5 or 6 days a week, varying your runs from a half hour to 90 minutes in a day, and change your routes and hills and pace and running companions from day to day…you will be a better runner in two months!  Follow your friends and get out there and pound the pavement and  hammer the trails!  If you are out there on the roads consistently, you can’t help but improve! 🙂