Ready to Race

You'll never beat the summer heat in the Lowcountry but you can alleviate some of the effects by doing track workouts early in the morning.

We have four runners who all doing the Floppin Flounder Race tomorrow on Sullivans Island. Today’s workout was all about preparing for the race. Some might argue that to be truly primed for a PR, that the runner needs to take the day off. I wouldn’t disagree but I also would argue that you can’t run every race for a PR so today we simply worked on maintaining pace and feeling the pace so the runner knows what that feels like the next day.

Every runner starts with an 800m warm up and ends with an 800m cool down.

Group 1 - all repeats are at race pace

• 2 x 400
• 2 x 800
• 2 x 1200
• 2 x 400

The athlete starts his next repeat when his heart rate falls below 120 in order to give him time for a more complete recovery. This is a passive recovery time. If he is not within 2 seconds of his split time on the first set of 400’s then he continues to do 400’s until he can nail that pace.

Group 2 - The second group is working on maintaining intensity at their new 5K pace.

2 x 2000m at race pace - Recovery=800m split time

This workout lasts about the same amount of time as it should take the athlete to run 4800 meters but there is a break thrown in there for recovery. This is not a workout that I normally recommend the day before a race but the runner showed up and found that others were racing tomorrow and decided he wanted to race as well but also wanted to do this workout.

We closed out the session by doing 100m repeats for form. A camera is very helpful to be able to show the athlete where he can improve.

Friday Track Workout

• 800 m Warm-up
• 6 x 200, 100 recovery
• 6 x 300, 200 R
• 5 x 400, 300 R
• 800 m cool down

Each athlete ran between 15 and 25 seconds faster than their 5K pace. The intensity of the workout strengthens the runner, making him or her faster. Stamina at speed is built by the amount of time each athlete runs at speed. When the runner can complete the workout at the proscribed pace, they run the next workout (in two weeks) at a faster pace.

Ready to Race?

One athlete on the track this morning. Even though I have five runners who regularly do track workouts, only one was able to be there this morning. That’s good for him because he gets my full attention for an hour.

Today’s workout was to dial in the pace for tomorrow evening’s 5K.

• 800m warm-up
• 2 x 400 m
• 2 x 800 m
• 2 x 1200 m
• 2 x 400 m
• 800 m cool down
• Recovery - HR<120

All of the repeats were done at race pace. The athlete was able to hit his pace until he got to the 1200 repeats. At first I thought it was because I had him running too fast but he was immediately able to nail his pace for the last two repeats. I think it had more to do with the mental part of it. We do these drills so that we learn to listen to what our body is saying. The runners needs to listen to the body and remember what that pace feels like. He needs to feel the slow accumulation of lactate in his legs. He needs to feel what the breathing feels like. The runner must gain a sense of what the body goes through when it’s being pushed to the brink of failure.

Run at the red line and then beyond when racing a 5K.

Track Workout

This is a track workout that is good for almost every runner. One size never fits all and anybody just starting with track workouts should approach things cautiously. All of the Charleston Runs athletes doing this workout have been running consistently for at least two years and have been racing for at least one year.

I start every athlete at a pace that is 15 seconds per mile faster than their 5K pace. As runners get used to this workout, I speed up their workout in subsequent weeks.

The recovery interval should take just as long as the effort. For instance, if the runner does a 55 second 200 m, then they should take 55 seconds to recover during the 100 m. At first this was  difficult for the runners but by the time they’re doing the 400 m, they’re happy to take all of the time allotted. The workout should be continuous - effort - recovery - effort with no breaks.

Today’s workout

• 800 m warm-up
• 6 x 200 m, 100 m recovery
• 6 x 300 m, 200 m recovery
• 6 x 400 m, 300 m recovery
• 1 x 400 m, all out
• 800 m cool down

Friday Track Workout

I have one athlete training for  the Hell Hole Swamp 10K Gator Run and Walk on May 2. Last Friday we worked on speed - same thing today but we umped up the speed just a bit. We’re talking about literally a few seconds difference in split times between last week and this week. Last week, his 400m split time was 1.52. Today we started at 1.48. 4 seconds/lap = 16 seconds/mile = 1:40/10K. That’s a lot when you’re looking to better your PR by over 2 minutes.

This workout was designed to further tax the athletes system and push his lactate threshold. We 3×400, 3×400, 2×1200 with a one-minute rest in between. He really blew his pace during the first 1200 and then got it together on the last 1200 and nailed his pace. Physically, he is ready for next week’s race. He’s now ready mentally as well, if he remembers what he learned today about how his body responds to the increased stress.

Weekly Track Workout

A weekly track workout can really sharpen an athlete for an upcoming race. Endurance is built through weekly long runs at varying distances and paces and speed is built through tempo runs, intervals, and track workouts. They are actually more ways to build speed but they are all variation of tempo runs and intervals.

I believe there are two big advantages of the track - the removal of the distractions of the road and having the athlete run a proscribed distance at an exact pace. Running on the road means paying attention to the surface, your surroundings, and the traffic. On the track, it’s just you and the distance.

This morning I had two athletes at the track. One was continuing to work on her half-marathon pace and the other wanted to improve his time in an upcoming 10K race. My half-marathon runner, after an 800m warm up, ran 4×1200 at race pace with a one minute break between sets. All I want from her two weeks out from the race is for her to dial in her pace - she’s actually very good at intuitively figuring it out.

The second runner ran an 800m warm up and then ran 2×400, 2×800, 2×1200, and 2×800. His paces were designed to stretch his capacity for speed by pushing him to a limit over a shorter distance. These were not race pace distances. We’ll do a similar workout next week and then the following week, we’ll do 6×400 at race pace the day before his race. This is an athlete who has a great capacity to improve and enter the age-group awards arena.

Last Bridge Run Clinic

For our last workout, we spent time practicing running at race pace. We ended the session with Bridge Run Trivia for race schwag.

Pre-Race Track Workout

I worked with two athletes on their race pace. We ran 3 x 1200 m after an 800 warm-up. The idea is to maintain race pace even when tired but at the same time, not to wear the athlete completely out. We were a little too close to race to do that.

Bumping up VO2 Max

This morning’s workout was with just one athlete. Purpose was to push the envelope of VO2, in order to increase overall speed. 

800 m warm up

3 x 1200 @ 2-mile race pace - 3 minute recovery

800 m cool down

Athlete said it was difficult to run in the dark by herself with no one else out there. She was definitely winded as she finished each 1200 m interval and needed every second of the 3 minute recovery before getting back out on the track.

Running While Tired

Wednesday’s Cooper River Bridge Run training groups both did repeats on the track tonight. Tyler took his group through a series of 400m repeats and I had the beginner’s group do something similar.

• 800m warm up
• 400m at lactate threshold pace
• 800m
• 1200m
• 400m
• 400m all out
• 800m cooldown.

This was a little beyond everybody in my group - it was the first time most of them had pushed themselves to run that fast. It’s part of running faster at shorter distances and this time we made the shorter distances longer. As long as they’ve all been running consistently each week, they will all finish well.