Training on the Road

So the past week was quite hectic.  I left on Tuesday after a morning practice session and headed out to Tallahassee where our guys who qualified for New Balance Outdoor Nationals met with FSU head coach Bob Braman who was a great host and showed us around campus and discussed his program.  We then departed for Savannah, Georgia where we spent a hot evening enjoying the city before finally arriving at Greensboro, North Carolina.  Some pictures have been posted on my twitter.  The two distance runners that ran for us did a great job, despite having to travel a thousand miles to get to the meet.  Austin Brown placed 13th in the freshman 400 and Devyn Keith was national freshman runner in up in the 2 Mile.  After the meet we took the long trek back in one shot and I made it to the last day of the AAU Regional meet here in New Orleans to watch more of the Southern Athletics athletes compete.

One thing that is always a challenge on these long trips is how to train on the long, out of town races, especially the multiple day meets.  It takes much more planning and thought to determine what is the best route to go.  You have to consider the stress and or discomfort the body goes through during long travel times, jet lag, or change in climate conditions if you are going to a different part of the country.  You may also not have access to a track while on the go, or a grass field, and other issues that should be resolved.

First I'll give you an overview of what my athletes did on our trip to prepare for our races and then also offer some other ideas after.  On Tuesday, before we hit the road, we did some short pace work on the track to prepare for the pace for the weekend.  Wednesday the guys had a full day and ended up having to do a treadmill run which had some some up tempo pickups to get some turnover.  The trip had already started to wear on them after 10 hours of driving the previous 36 hours, so I cut the run short.  Thursday the boys swam for about 30 minutes in the morning at the beach, and did a short shakeout run on the treadmill in the evening.  Friday and Saturday were competition days.  It was definitely not an optimal training plan but we did the best we could and it worked out well in the end.

Some other ideas, especially if you have time, include some easy running along the beach if you don't have competition the next day, swimming at the pools in hotel, and using public parks to stay on soft grass can help out a lot.  You really have to have a plan, though, and know what type of training you want to do each day and try to figure out the best strategy to achieve that training stimulus.  Prepare as you would any other competition.  You just may need to be a little more creative in the training plan, and also consider how tired the athletes are from the travel.

The boys training on a treadmill this week, preparing for New Balance Outdoor Nationals.