As you get deeper into your season, the workouts your coach prescribes will get harder. This is because your coach is trying to prepare you to run your best race(s) at the end of your season, which may be a league championship meet, a sectional meet, or even your state's state meet. These hard workouts - tempo runs, repeats, hill workouts, etc. - are some of your most important workouts of your season.
Treat them like races.
No, that does not mean you should necessarily run them as hard as you do a race. You should run those workouts however your coach tells you to run them. But you need to be prepared for them because you don't want to have that be the day you show up at practice and - oops! - you forgot to hydrate properly, or you ate that greasy pizza slice for lunch only an hour ago, or you're just "not feeling it today."
On the days of these hard workouts, imagine you are running a race at 3:30 (or whatever time you practice). Wouldn't you be extra-sure to hydrate properly on a race day? What would you ordinarily eat on a race day? When would you eat your lunch? Did you go to bed early enough last night?
If your coach hasn't given you a practice schedule, ask him/her what the workout is going to be the day before you do it. Spend a few minutes the night before thinking about how you're going to run it, just like you would if it were a race.
Once you arrive at practice, treat the warmup/stretching/drills like you were about to race. When it comes time to actually do the workout, listen to your coach and do the workout like he/she says.
When the day finally comes to actually run the big race, you'll be ready!
Showing posts with label repeats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repeats. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Why are 800s "Good for Me"?
Because I said so, that's why. OK, just kidding.
Actually, doing a set of 800m repeats is good for a number of reasons.
One reason is that it trains you to run about as fast as you need to run in a cross-country race. One could argue that there are times that you might be running faster, but high schoolers are probably going to be able to ratchet up to that higher speed well enough (for sprinting at the end, etc.) without training for it.
Another reason is that 800m represents a good distance that you might want to speed up during a race. Let's say you're running a course that's about 2½ miles long. The first mile or so, you're getting started, settling into your race pace, etc. At some point during the second mile, you will either A) start inadvertently slowing down; or B) want to pass a bunch of other runners, so will need to speed up. Regardless of the reason, this is a good time in a race to turn up the effort. If you do so for about 800m, you will put yourself in an excellent position to run an overall good race - you will probably pass some people, which will give you confidence, and you will now be close enough to the end of the race that you will start to speed up toward the finish (like the horse smelling the barn on a ride).
Of course, there is the mental practice you get running 800s, too. You have to run pretty fast during each 800m repeat, and you have to do it while you're tired. However, they aren't that long, so you will know that the discomfort won't last forever, as it can seem when you're doing mile repeats or a longer tempo run. Because you'll do more of these than the longer distance repeats, you get more brain training than when you do fewer of the longer ones. Each time you are running one of these, you are learning how to accept the discomfort that comes with running fast for a prolonged period of time (longer than a 100m sprint, say). Then, when you get in a race, you will recognize the feeling you have as relatively familiar, and won't panic ("OMG, I need to slow down!!!").
Finally, again because you will do more of these than longer repeats, you get a chance to refine your pacing because you get more attempts. If you're only doing 2 or 3 1600s, it's hard to get a feel for the pace. But doing, say, 4 or 6 800s, you get a much better opportunity to compare: "That one felt slower, but was 2 seconds faster than the one before last."
Actually, doing a set of 800m repeats is good for a number of reasons.
One reason is that it trains you to run about as fast as you need to run in a cross-country race. One could argue that there are times that you might be running faster, but high schoolers are probably going to be able to ratchet up to that higher speed well enough (for sprinting at the end, etc.) without training for it.
Another reason is that 800m represents a good distance that you might want to speed up during a race. Let's say you're running a course that's about 2½ miles long. The first mile or so, you're getting started, settling into your race pace, etc. At some point during the second mile, you will either A) start inadvertently slowing down; or B) want to pass a bunch of other runners, so will need to speed up. Regardless of the reason, this is a good time in a race to turn up the effort. If you do so for about 800m, you will put yourself in an excellent position to run an overall good race - you will probably pass some people, which will give you confidence, and you will now be close enough to the end of the race that you will start to speed up toward the finish (like the horse smelling the barn on a ride).
Of course, there is the mental practice you get running 800s, too. You have to run pretty fast during each 800m repeat, and you have to do it while you're tired. However, they aren't that long, so you will know that the discomfort won't last forever, as it can seem when you're doing mile repeats or a longer tempo run. Because you'll do more of these than the longer distance repeats, you get more brain training than when you do fewer of the longer ones. Each time you are running one of these, you are learning how to accept the discomfort that comes with running fast for a prolonged period of time (longer than a 100m sprint, say). Then, when you get in a race, you will recognize the feeling you have as relatively familiar, and won't panic ("OMG, I need to slow down!!!").
Finally, again because you will do more of these than longer repeats, you get a chance to refine your pacing because you get more attempts. If you're only doing 2 or 3 1600s, it's hard to get a feel for the pace. But doing, say, 4 or 6 800s, you get a much better opportunity to compare: "That one felt slower, but was 2 seconds faster than the one before last."
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
"What Happens When I Die? (In a workout, that is....)"
I posted some information about doing repeat workouts last week. One of the goals of this kind of workout is to run the repeats at about the same time. But despite your best efforts, sometimes you just poop out part way through the workout. What do you do then?
This just happened with a few guys at our team's workout yesterday. The workout was to do five 1,000-meter repeats with about two minutes of rest in between. It was one of our first warm days of the late summer (here, our warmest weather occurs in September), and the guys were suffering. A few of the guys were dragging at the end of #3. Uh-oh.
Here's what you should do if you find yourself in that situation (which might simply be due to running the first one or two too fast, not necessarily because of the heat): First, and always most important, make sure you are not having a serious issue, like dehydration or heat exhaustion. Basically, if you are feeling dizzy or unusual in any way, you should be stopping and telling your coach what's going on. Hopefully, your problem is simply that you're feeling tired. If that's the case, try to cut the next repeat short. We can do this where we do our repeats because it's in a park, and we have sort of a lightbulb or keyhole shaped course.
The reason you should cut the next one a little short is that you can still do some fast running, and maybe recover enough to do the entire subsequent repeat with the group. That is, it's better to do 4½ 1000s at the appropriate pace than to do three of them, then just jog the other two. Plus, it's more likely that you'll get closer to the same rest as everyone else - if you finish waaaaaaay behind everyone, you'll get a lot less rest than the others because they will have finished sooner.
Another thing you should do as you tire is focus on running with good form - I will write about this specific issue in the future....
This just happened with a few guys at our team's workout yesterday. The workout was to do five 1,000-meter repeats with about two minutes of rest in between. It was one of our first warm days of the late summer (here, our warmest weather occurs in September), and the guys were suffering. A few of the guys were dragging at the end of #3. Uh-oh.
Here's what you should do if you find yourself in that situation (which might simply be due to running the first one or two too fast, not necessarily because of the heat): First, and always most important, make sure you are not having a serious issue, like dehydration or heat exhaustion. Basically, if you are feeling dizzy or unusual in any way, you should be stopping and telling your coach what's going on. Hopefully, your problem is simply that you're feeling tired. If that's the case, try to cut the next repeat short. We can do this where we do our repeats because it's in a park, and we have sort of a lightbulb or keyhole shaped course.
The reason you should cut the next one a little short is that you can still do some fast running, and maybe recover enough to do the entire subsequent repeat with the group. That is, it's better to do 4½ 1000s at the appropriate pace than to do three of them, then just jog the other two. Plus, it's more likely that you'll get closer to the same rest as everyone else - if you finish waaaaaaay behind everyone, you'll get a lot less rest than the others because they will have finished sooner.
Another thing you should do as you tire is focus on running with good form - I will write about this specific issue in the future....
Saturday, September 3, 2011
How fast should I be running?
A runner (OK, it was my son, who is a junior on the team I coach - since I'm the frosh-soph coach, I don't directly coach him any more) asked me the other day, "Was I running with the right guys yesterday in the speed workout?" This was a more complex question than it seems.
My answer had a few different parts. First of all, as I noted in my post about running repeats, you want to run all of your repeats at about the same time. But not slowly at the same time: you should be pretty darn exhausted at the end of a workout of repeats. So the first part of my answer was a question: Did you run evenly, and were you exhausted at the end?
Next, I asked another question: Which guys on the team do you want to (or think you should) be beating in races? This is tricky because there may be a guy you see who you think you should be able to hang with, but he may actually be faster than you can run right now. But using your teammates to gauge how hard you should be working can be a good way to improve.
What you don't want to do is pick some guy that you want to run with, get on his shoulder, and run the first one or two repeats way too fast. That would put you in a situation where you don't run evenly. But you might try hanging with him for part of the repeat. For example, let's say you pick out "Jim" as the guy you want to run with. When you start, get on his shoulder for the first 100m or so. Is he going too fast? Let him go. When you get to, say, halfway through the repeat, take note of how far ahead of you he is. For the remainder of the repeat, maintain that distance. When you finish, assess how you feel, then make adjustments on the next one.
The bottom line is that chasing down runners who are faster than you (in speed workouts - don't do this on easy days!) will probably result in improvements in your own running. Like everything, though, you have to experiment a little to make it work.
My answer had a few different parts. First of all, as I noted in my post about running repeats, you want to run all of your repeats at about the same time. But not slowly at the same time: you should be pretty darn exhausted at the end of a workout of repeats. So the first part of my answer was a question: Did you run evenly, and were you exhausted at the end?
Next, I asked another question: Which guys on the team do you want to (or think you should) be beating in races? This is tricky because there may be a guy you see who you think you should be able to hang with, but he may actually be faster than you can run right now. But using your teammates to gauge how hard you should be working can be a good way to improve.
What you don't want to do is pick some guy that you want to run with, get on his shoulder, and run the first one or two repeats way too fast. That would put you in a situation where you don't run evenly. But you might try hanging with him for part of the repeat. For example, let's say you pick out "Jim" as the guy you want to run with. When you start, get on his shoulder for the first 100m or so. Is he going too fast? Let him go. When you get to, say, halfway through the repeat, take note of how far ahead of you he is. For the remainder of the repeat, maintain that distance. When you finish, assess how you feel, then make adjustments on the next one.
The bottom line is that chasing down runners who are faster than you (in speed workouts - don't do this on easy days!) will probably result in improvements in your own running. Like everything, though, you have to experiment a little to make it work.
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