This morning was one of the best workouts my team has had in a very long time…it’s not that we have not been having good sessions, but this is the first time in a long time that EVERYONE was good…not one person fell off of what they were assigned and the attitudes and energy were 100% in attendance!!!
So, what did we do?
The backstory is that we’ve been on the treadmills the previous two days before this session, so I think that just being outside, even at 6AM, was the first success of the day. Rain was heavily forecast and we had a plan B of going back to the treadmills…so, when we were able to get this in outside…I think that was a spike in attitude and energy right there!!!
Now, onto the workout…as you might know if you follow along with my DBU XC team…we’ve got about 40 distance athletes and today we had about 35 of them in action. That’s a lot to manage with a very big session on the horizon…BUT…I wanted this to be a TEAM session…where all of the guys were working together and all of the ladies were working together. As you will see below, we created the session so that everyone could be part of the session, together, and help each other along.
So, WHAT DID WE DO?
The basis of the session was a continuous tempo run of 3-4 miles, followed by mile repeats that would cut down from tempo to race pace (or a little faster).
So, the model that we started with was 3-4 miles tempo + 3 x 1 mile faster.
And, to make it to where the whole team could run it together we started making some adjustments…such as one group only doing the first two miles of the 3-4 mile tempo run, but running their 3 x 1 mile faster with the tempo group finishing up the 4 miles…
So, below is the five different workouts that we had…all working together, all helping each other out…and it went to near perfection!
A. 4 miles cut down tempo in 5:32, 5:24, 5:16, 5:08 mile paces; 4 min rest; 3 x 1 mile in 5:00, 4:52, 4:44 w/ 2 min rest.
B. 3 miles cut down tempo in 5:32, 5:24, 5:16 mile paces; 4 min rest; 3 x 1 mile in 5:08, 5:00, 4:52 w/ 2 min rest.
C. 2 miles cut down tempo in 5:32, 5:24 mile paces; 4 min rest; 3 x 1 mile in 5:16, 5:08, 5:00 w/ 2 min rest.
D. 3 miles cut down tempo in 6:32, 6:24, 6:16 mile paces; 4 min rest; 3 x 1 mile in 6:08, 6:00, 5:52 w/ 2 min rest.
E. 5 x 1 mile cut down in 6:32, 6:24, 6:16, 6:08, 6:00 w/ the group above…taking off one lap as they continued on in the tempo and then taking their rest once they started the mile reps.
IT WAS A GREAT DAY. Every athlete hit the assigned paces (or a little faster) and every athlete had a chance to be TOGETHER.
2.5 weeks out from the Conference Championships!!!
Phillips Running 