Winter Training

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Winter Training

Winter training is crucial for building a strong aerobic base, which supports your training during the competitive season. It helps maintain fitness levels, preventing major performance setbacks when regular track practice resumes in the spring. It also greatly reduces the risk of injury by ensuring gradual, year-round progress instead of sudden, intense training when spring arrives. MSHSL guidelines prohibit us from coaching you during this time, so I’ve put together this list of guidelines to help you navigate the winter months.

Winter Sports

If you play a winter sport, that is great! In fact, I’d recommend this option, if possible. The structure and consistency of an organized sport will provide you with enough of an aerobic base that you will enter the track season in a good spot. When your winter sport wraps up, I would recommend beginning a regimen of 30-minute daily jogs for 6 days each week leading into the track season. This will help you get your legs under you before the start of the season.

Some of you may not wrap up your winter sport until after the start of the track season, in which case you don’t have to worry about supplementing your winter sports training with any additional running. Some of you will wrap up your winter sports season up to a month before the start of the track season. If the latter is the case, it will be critical that you start to prepare for the track season after the conclusion of your winter sports season. You will begin to lose fitness after a few weeks of inactivity and will enter the track season with almost no sport-specific fitness if you do nothing for the final 2-4 weeks leading into the spring season.

Byron currently offers Alpine Ski Club, Basketball, Nordic Ski, and Wrestling as winter sports options. If you do not have a background in any of these sports but want to participate in a winter sport to stay fit, I think that Nordic Skiing is a great option. Many successful long-distance runners participate in this sport and the fitness that you will gain is very applicable to long-distance running. Joining a winter sport is, in my opinion, the best way to stay fit in the winter months.

Winter Running

Some of you may choose to run on your own in the winter. If this is the case, I’d encourage you to think about your winter training the same way that you would think about your summer training: as an extension of the competitive season that will follow it. There are a few guidelines that you should follow if you choose to run on your own in the winter.

Clothing

Many of you will choose to run on the treadmill this winter and that is great. However, you can still get in some quality running outside when it is cold out if you wear the appropriate clothing. The appropriate winter running attire will vary greatly based on the temperature but the staples are socks, shoes, a t-shirt, sweatshirt, windbreaker, athletic underwear or shorts with a liner, sweatpants or long tights, a hat, and gloves (and maybe a scarf.) You may layer more or less or wear heavier or lighter garments as the temperature fluctuates. If you are concerned about having the right clothing for winter running, there are several running specialty stores in the area that can help you out or you can reach out to me with any specific questions. Wear something bright and/or reflective if it is dark out!

Teammates

If you are planning on running on your own this winter, I would highly encourage you to find at least one teammate to train with. It will make the training much more enjoyable.

Timeline

You should take up to two weeks off from exercising following the cross-country season in order to recover and heal any injuries you may have picked up throughout the fall. You should begin your off-season training once we are about 3 months out from the start of the track season (early December.) Before this point, it would still be healthy to exercise but you do not need to be doing structured training. The winter months will be your base-building period for the track season so you should continue your training until the first day of track practice.

Minimum Requirements

You need to run 6 days a week. (One day off for recovery.)
The shortest run that will be useful for providing sufficient aerobic adaptation is a 30-minute continuous run.

Elements of Your Offseason Training Program

Volume

All training that we do is predicated on running a certain amount of volume. You should consider how much mileage you’ve historically done on a weekly basis and determine what an appropriate weekly mileage goal for the winter is for you based on that. If you are a high schooler, your average weekly volume this fall was between 30-40 miles-per-week.

A good place to start is at about 18 miles-per-week. Increase your volume by about 10% each week until you reach roughly the amount of mileage you averaged in the fall. For most of you this will be somewhere in the mid-30’s. It is also a good idea to give yourself a lower-mileage “rest week” once every four weeks (bolded in the example below.)To the right is an example of what your winter training weekly volume might look like:

Intensity

The other main variable that we should consider is intensity. Your winter program, much like your summer program, should be made up of mostly lower-intensity mileage runs.

Mileage Runs

Mileage runs should make up a vast majority of your winter training. You should consider what your goals are for the spring and what you’ve accomplished in the past when determining your pace for these runs. To the right is a chart showing what pace you should be running on your mileage runs based on your 1600m goal for this spring.

Remember, a goal should be realistic and achievable, so there should be some overlap between what an appropriate mileage run pace is for your current fitness level and your goal fitness level (for example, a 5:00 miler and a 5:30 miler could go on a mileage run together at 8:00/mile pace and both be running at an appropriate effort level.)

Long Runs

You should complete 25% of your weekly mileage in a single run every week. Try to complete this run on the same day of the week each week. The long run is critically important for developing mental toughness and creating useful adaptations within your aerobic system. To determine what length your long run should be, multiply your weekly mileage goal by 0.25 and round down to the nearest whole number. For example, if your weekly mileage goal is 26 miles, your long run will be 6 miles (26*0.25=6.5).

Quality Sessions

You may consider adding some light quality work as the winter progresses. Be sure to give yourself at least one regular mileage day between sessions. Here are some workouts that you could implement into your winter training, all of these workouts should be completed in the middle of a mileage run:

Up to 8 x 20 sec. "up-tempo", 40 sec jog.
Up to 8 x 20-second hill-stride, jog to the bottom between reps
Progressive Run: Do the first 1/3 of your run easy, the middle 1/3 moderate, and the final 1/3 "up-tempo."
Up to 4 x 4 minutes "up-tempo," 4 minutes jog.

You will notice that there are no paces given for these workouts. Let your body dictate what pace is appropriate. There is no need to “go to the well” during a winter workout.

Other Considerations

Dynamic Stretches

Just because it is the offseason doesn’t mean you should not warm-up. Remember to go through your dynamic stretches before each run.

Strength Training

Lifting weights can be great supplemental training for your offseason program but it will not replicate the aerobic benefits of a run. If you are running 6 days per week and strength training, I would limit your strength training to 3 days per week, leaving at least one day between sessions. I would also be sure to limit the total amount of both your daily running and strength training sessions to 120 minutes. If you go this route, be sure to focus on eating enough food, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep as you will risk injury if you do not recover properly.

Winter Training Log

I’ve put together a printable winter training calendar. If you plan on running throughout the winter, I would encourage you to print this calendar and fill out.

Download Winter Training Log

Winter Competition Opportunities

USATF hosts all-comers track meets throughout the winter. These competitions can be a good opportunity for you to test yourself early and give yourself a reason to stay engaged in your training during the offseason. Here is a link to the meet schedule.

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