Summer Training

 Summer training program starts first week of July

Summer group runs will be posted on the team calendar

Join the team Strava club if you are interested 

Training Philosophy

The goal of summer running is to build an aerobic base so you can start the season in good shape!  Good shape is not running at your season’s best, it’s about running strong, comfortable and without injury.  If you start early you will have time to slowly and properly ease your body into the new demands of competitive running.  So be ok with going slower during the early summer, this is the time to build up endurance and strength.  Faster workouts will be gradually added later in the summer and establishing a strong base level of fitness will allow you to achieve your goals as the season progresses.  Be the tortoise not the hare during the summer training. 

Types of summer runs

Continuous run - it is what is sounds like, continuous running for a set amount of time.  Beginning runners may need to break the continue run into walk/run segments (run for 4:00/ walk for 1:00, repeat until finished)

• Tempo Run - faster but shorter than a regular run.  Add 0:45 - 1:00 to your mile race pace for these runs. (ie: if you run a 6:00 mile, make your temp pace 7:00) This pace should be "comfortably hard" and you should not be able to hold a continues conversation. For beginners, divide the run into thirds, run the 1st 1/3 at long run pace to get loose, run the middle 1/3 at tempo, then finish the last 1/3 at regular run pace. As you progress make more of the run at tempo and shorten the warm up and cool down phase 

• Regular - If you know your 1 mile race pace add 1:30 to 2:00 to get your regular run pace. If you don’t  know your mile race pace, do a time trial and see how fast you can run or just find the pace that you can maintain for 20 minutes while still being able to have a conversation. If you are too out of breath to talk, slow it down. 

• Long run - slower and longer. Add 2:30 to 3:00 to your mile race pace.  This will feel slow, but the goal to maintain this with good running posture and breathing a longer period of time.  These long runs will progressively get longer as the season continues.  

Intervals - Consist of a variety of short distances run at a variety of paces depending on the distance, repetitions and rest. 

• Hill repeats - short hard efforts uphill with easy jogging recovery

• Anaerobic - these short (50m to 400m) run at race pace or faster 

• Threshold - longer intervals (800m to 1000m) run at slightly slower that race pace. 

Hybrid

• Fartlek (speed variations) - We generally use time because it's easier to communicate.  A good starter fartlek is to start at your regular run pace (RRP) for 2:00 to 2:30.  Then go right into 30 seconds at a harder tempo effort. Bring it back down to your RRP pace and repeat for the required time.   As the weeks progress your timed runs will get longer, as you get stronger make it a goal to increase your hard effort or change the easy/hard intervals and efforts.  Some example are 2:15 RRP and 45 seconds tempo or 3:00 RRP - 60 seconds tempo, or 2:00 RRP, 15 to 30 seconds faster at tempo. I encourage mixing up the hard/easy intervals so that it's not always the exact same and your body is forced to adapt to different stimuli.  

Strength - suggest 2 or 3 times a week.  This can be done after your run or on alternating days. The following are some suggestions that I like and use versions of these at practice.  If you have another workout that you like better, go for it.   The idea here is to work on the muscle groups that stabilize your running and to make you a better all around athlete. Fitness blender and Darebee are sites with tons of workouts, so search and find something that challenges you. 

• Core  Darebee Beginner Abs, Core X

• Upper body  Darebee - SHIELD

• Whole body 7 minute   Do this 1 time through in the first few weeks, then add a second or third set as you get stronger.