Week 7: Buildups

So, over break I fractured my ankle pretty bad while casually falling down the stairs in my house..good times. That being said, there's no way in hell that I can run for the next two months. To say I'm irate would be a huge understatement. In the meantime, I'm just going to post a variety of different workouts from week to week that are really effective. Starting next week, I might change it up to include a day to day synopsis of each workout of the week, instead of just including the highlights. I'd do it this week, but I've been a little slow on trying to figure out new workouts to do without injuring myself further.

Something that's good to do is a buildup. A buildup is where you run a certain length along the track and, obviously, you build up your speed to a certain degree as you increase your distance. This strengthens your stride and really improves your speed, especially for that last-minute sprint at the end of the race. Normally buildups are done with many repetitions because since the distance ran is pretty short, it requires a lot of repetitions to really tire you out. I'd suggest doing about 8 repetitions of 150 meters each. It's certainly not long, but it's not short either. Basically, it's the perfect amount to do buildups because it's a great sprinting distance that challenges you. What to do is a 150 at about 90 percent of your actual race pace. Doing 8 of these really does take a toll on you after a while because it really is almost going all-out each time, which adds up after a while. However, judge it on the weather. If it's cold out, go at 85 percent of your race pace to not injure or pull any muscles. There's really not too much to say about this workout because as you start running each time, you gradually build up to about 90 percent of your race pace each time. A good tip for this workout is to time yourself with a watch to see if you are keeping the same pace each time. If one buildup is 35 seconds and then the next one is 33, then you know you have to step it up a little bit.

Another good thing to do after the workout are to incorporate a few strides to wind down as a cool-down run. Generally, cool-down runs should be done after any challenging workout to let your body gradually decline to a normal state of rest. This also helps with your stamina by forcing yourself to keep running after you have exerted all of your energy. In a way, a cool-down is a form of an active recovery. Find a long stretch of road and jog for  7-8 seconds, thinking about your running form and what you can do improve it. It's all the usual stuff: arms at 90 degrees, pumping arms, hands as if you're holding a chip, looking upright, legs parallel. Then jog for 7-8 seconds again at a faster, "cruising" pace while thinking of your form again. After this, run for 7-8 seconds again while running at 85-90 percent of your normal racing pace. After this you're all done!


yup, this is a buildup