Week 8: Compilations

This week I'll focus on a broader variety of workouts. My ankles still fractured, so obviously I can't really do these. So, once again, I'll just make some suggestions! For this week I'm going to include three rather difficult workouts. The important thing about these workouts is that they all complement each other really well. If you space them out correctly with low level workouts or long distance runs in the days in between each workout, you get some really nice effects out of them. Given, it will tire you out significantly by the end of the week, but the trainings leading up to this week should really have you prepared for this. By this point, you’re used to exerting yourself to a certain point, so pushing yourself just a little more is challenging, but it’s not the end of the world. If you put in the time and energy to the weeks’ previous workouts, this shouldn’t be too bad. Still, try your hardest!

         Workout 1: This workout calls for eight hill repetitions all between 20-25 seconds long. This doesn’t mean run at any pace you want for 20-25 seconds; instead, find a challenging hill and challenge yourself to make it to the summit within that time range. However, don’t go all out. Run these at an 85% race pace. Sprinting up a hill times eight times does nothing except tire you out too soon and you won’t get anything out of the workout. I personally think eight hill repeitions aren’t enough. So, if you’re feeling ambitious or not too tired out after eight, aim for ten to twelve total.

         Workout 2: The next workout of the week is a series of three to four 600s. Here’s how to do these: run 50 seconds at an all out sprint. This 50 is supposed to be hard, so run it hard. The second 50 seconds should be more of a cruise pace. This shouldn’t be at race pace, but it shouldn’t be comfortable either. And finally, the last 50 seconds should be done at a jog. This isn’t a free pass to run wicked slow; it’s a recovery pace! Don’t ruin your workout by practically walking for 50 seconds!

         Workout 3: The last challenging workout of the week is made up of eight 200s. These should generally be run at around 36 seconds if you’re in the right condition. This means that your 200 should take around 36 seconds to complete, but a little over is fine and a little under is also perfectly fine. The important thing is to aim for 36 seconds because it will pace you correctly for the rest of the workout. So, eight repetitions of 200s at 36 seconds each, with 40 seconds of rest between each one. These can be walked or jogged, preferably a little bit of both is best. 

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

Week 6: Ladders on Ladders on Ladders

This week sucked particularly because I had just gotten over a terrible fever State Patty’s Weekend (by the way, missing out on that weekend was probably worse than any of these workouts that I’ll ever post here...).  The workouts are seriously starting to come along. I can really feel an improvement in my endurance and strength in every aspect of my game, which is obviously great. It really puts things in perspective: hard work pays off. I know that’s wicked cliché, but it’s so true. When you feel sluggish one day and are discouraged, just remember to think about the big picture. Everything counts. Just do it. Even when everything else in your week is going crazy, just do it. For example, midterms got you down or whatever,, a hard workout really helps to relieve all of that stress. My favorite part of midterms and finals in high school were actually the hard workouts my coaches gave my team on purpose to have us wind down in a sense. Oh and just a reminder, I don’t only do one hard workout a week, I just post the most valuable one.  With all of that being said, let’s talk about ladders…

            No, I don’t mean the kind you use to paint your house; I mean distance interval workouts on a track. Like how one moves up and down on a ladder to different levels, so does one in a ladder workout. You start with a low distance then gradually build up. Once you’ve run your longest distance, you do the whole workout backwards from there, AKA going back down a ladder.

            Ok, so we start with a 100 at a: 25-:30 second goal time with a walk that goes a length down one side of the track afterwards. Next up is a 200. This should be at a: 35-: 40 second goal time with a one minute slow jog afterwards. Then we do 300 at: 45-: 50 seconds with a 3 minute slow jog afterwards. Next is a 400 at: 55-:60 seconds. Do a 4-minute slow jog afterwards. After this is a 600. This should be done at around 1:35- 1: 40. Do a 5-minute slow jog afterwards. Last but not least is an 800 at around 2:30. Once again, the slow jog afterwards should be around 5 minutes. Once you’ve gotten through all of these intervals, do it backwards starting from the 800. It’s not enough to do the ladder up until the 800; you need to tire your body out and force it to getting accustomed to pushing when it wants to stop. After all, why would you climb to the top of a ladder with no expectation at coming back down at some point? Who would ever want to just stay up there all night? 

Plyos 'til you Cry-os

I haven't really been feeling my best this week with the aftermath of THON and intermittent fevers, so I didn't really run this week. However, I did some plyometrics as a sort of cross-training and conditioning excercise. Plyometrics is a type of workout designed to produce fast and powerful movements. THe exercises are quick, painful, and really tiring. Plyos are generally purposeful for any sport, but they come in handy especially with track and field because it is designed to improve the functions of your nervous and respiratory systems. In other words, it makes you faster and gives you more endurance. Some good plyos workouts include burpees, mountain climbers, squats, lunges, push ups, crunches, lemon drops, plank, and running in place. It looks more daunting than it actually is. It is a really good workout in my opinion. Though not your standard workout full of dynamic stretching drills and things of that nature, this is a good ‘fake’ plyo workout that focuses on all aspects. It focuses around upperbody strength especially. It also has a decent amount of leg strength training with the amount of burpees, squats and lunge jumps involved. Ab exercises of both active and isometric variety are represented through out. Personally, I have noticed a difference in my running as of late from doing this workout, the leg strength is most noticed here.

Week 4: Tempo

Since THON is only a day away now, I figured a good tempo workout would be useful to build up some endurance for the upcoming 46 hours! For months now my Rules and Regulations captain has stressed the importance of the amount of exercise you should do before THON weekend, and I think one workout in particular that I did this week is a testament to that suggestion. I did three series of ‘tempo’ runs, all in different intervals. A tempo run is running at a heightened, quickened pace than you normally would for a certain period of time. This week, I ran two tempo paces in the middle of two six-mile runs. During the first one, I actually did two tempo runs over the course of the entire workout because the length of the tempo was kind of short. What’s important about a tempo run is the warm up (actually, this is important for every workout in general).  You should do a warm up before each run you do, especially a tempo run because it forces you to conserve that energy you will waste while running at a faster pace later. This way, you’ll be able to exert more energy effectively during your workout. Usually your warm up should be about eight to ten minutes long. After the warm up, time yourself for a run at 80% near or around your normal race pace. This should be about twelve minutes long. The longer you keep a consecutive, even pace, the more you’ll get out of the workout. In a race, you’ll be used to going that fast for around that long time lapse. After the tempo is over, do a twenty to thirty minute cool down.

Week 3: A Little Circuit Workout Never Hurt Anyone

So, I could really only do one challenging workout this week because my hamstring is still injured. Oh, and incase you couldn't tell, the title for this week's post is a joke; circuit workouts suck. Circuit training is one of the best ways to make a resistance and strength-training workout that is also challenging for your heart and lungs. This workout is designed to take around 35 to 40 minutes and should ideally be done on a track. It entails ten repetitions of 300 meter sprints, all being timed around 40 seconds. In between each sprint, various plyometric exercises are done. These are put in between each sprint to keep your body from getting used to resting after sprinting. Pushing yourself to new limits carries over to racing, where there’s no time to rest in the middle of a race. This workout strengthens your lungs and heart by restricting your body’s resting time. After the first 300, do squats for approximately one minute, and then go directly into mountain climbers for another minute. Jog for about 25 seconds before doing another 300. After this one, do lunges on each leg for one minute each. Then, jog for another 25 seconds and do another 300. You should be seeing a pattern now: sprint a 300, two minutes of a plyos workout, jog for 25 seconds, and repeat. For the plyos portion in between each sprint, there are a variety of options. I recommend push ups, wall sits, lemon drops, holding your feet six inches above the ground with flutter kicks, bicycle kicks, etc. The most rewarding ploys workouts in this particular circuit exercise are mountain climbers, jump lunges, and a 3 step, zero-rest rountine of 100 crunches, 20 lemon drops, and 10 flutter kicks. This workout sucks, but it gets you that much stronger! Enjoy!

Week 2= Fail

So, I was initially planning on writing about some great workouts I did this week...but then i pulled my hamstring right as I started a speed workout! What I was PLANNING on doing were four different workouts, all with different intervals and different time goals. I started off with one 300 meter sprint (this is where I pulled my hamstring) at 42 seconds. This is challenging and should really test your endurance, but finishing strong always pays off. After each interval is completed, slowly jog for three minutes. This slow jog is called an active recovery, where you force your body to keep moving instead of stopping to walk and therefore completely shutting your body down to the hard work you just accomplished. This jog  does get aggravating at times where all you want to do is walk, but it makes you that much stronger by the end. After those three minutes are up, a 250 meter sprint at 35 seconds is next. Since this is obviously a shorter distance than the 300 meter, more effort is required in the sprint in order for you to get anything beneficial out of it. In general, the shorter the distance, the more effort you put in. But that shouldn't mean to walk a whole mile when faced with long distance races. After this sprint, slowly jog for three minutes again. This jog can be at any pace you like, so long as it isn't too fast or you're not walking either. Next up after this is a 200 meter sprint at 32 seconds. This is where the workout starts to hurt. At this point, you've already exerted that much energy to get you halfway through the workout, so you kind of feel like dying right now. BUT, these are the sprints that count the most. When you're tired and forced to sprint again, keeping your body going strengthens you and builds up your endurance. In short, the harder you work as the more tired you become, the better results you will see when it comes to race day. So, once again, after this exhausting sprint, jog slowly for three minutes. Now is the last sprint: a 200 meter at 28 seconds. Frankly, this sprint will suck too, but it will pay off in the long run (no pun intended). Once again, jog slowly for three minutes, then do a ten minute cool down to wind down after the speed workout. Enjoy!