Training To Be Your Best: December 30th- January 5th

Christmas has come and gone and when New Years is over, the dust will finally settle and the chaos of the winter break will subside, allowing us to get some quality training back under our belt.  You have big goals for the spring so we need to get on the ball!  After easing back in last week, it is time to start preparing for track again.  The spring training should build off the fall, and for track we will get a little bit more complex.  Continue to be open with your training, and allow yourself to try new things that may not fit the traditional distance runner mold.  Remember, you need to treat yourself like an athlete, because you are!

Dress warm and get after it!

Monday- 40 minutes easy, 8x strides
Tuesday- 35 minutes of Ins and Outs.  Full Warmup. Strength Workout A
Wednesday- 12x Progressive 150s.  Start off at strides pace and ease into roughly 95% of your maximal capacity by the last 20-30 meters.  This should keep you controlled.  Either 250m walk recovery or 3 minutes. Full warmup.  If the weather is too cold and your body does not feel warmed up properly, you may substitute a 45 minute distance run.
Thursday- 45 minutes easy, 8x strides
Friday- 6x400 @ xc 5k effort, 400m jog recovery.  Full Warmup. Strength Workout B.
Saturday- 45 minutes easy, 8x strides
Sunday- Off

Legend:
Warm Up- A few minutes jogging, dynamic stretching, a few strides
Easy- A pace you can handle and have a conversation at the same time. Relaxed.
Tempo Run- A distance run at a pace of 5k race pace plus 30 seconds per mile.
Ins and Outs- Striding the straights and jogging the turns on the track
Strides- Not a sprint! Simply a short pickup of 50-100 meters at around 1-2 mile race pace. Full recovery.
Sprints- Not a stride! This is near maximal effort (while maintaining control of your body). Form is crucial in this type of running.
Progression Run- Training done at progressive pace that increases throughout the run. Begin at an easy pace and finish at 5k race effort or so for the last few minutes.
Fartlek- A run of varied pace for varied time which can be anywhere from an easy jog to hard sprinting.
Hills- Not all out sprints, good paced effort around 5k race effort. Can be anywhere between 100-400 meters long.
Workout A- 10-30x pushups, 10-30x prisoner squats, 10-30x lunges, 10-30x crunches, 30-60 seconds of planks on each side and the middle, and 30-60 seconds of Australian crawl.
Workout B- 20-40x step ups, 5-20x tricep pushups, 30-60 seconds of bridging, 10-20x dips, 30-60 seconds of pedestal, and 30-60 seconds of scissor kicks.