This winter, during our Indoor Season, Noah Metzger broke our school record for 3000 meters. He ran 8:19, which was a 13 second personal best and was four seconds under the old mark (held by Stetson Rayas). The Indoor Season isn’t usually one that we peak for and so any time that we have an NCAA mark, or a school record it’s always fun to look back and see what led to that performance.
Noah concluded his 2020 Cross Country season on November 14th. We then took 10 days of total rest before starting back our build for the 2020-2021 Track season. We then built 7 weeks until he opened up the Indoor Season with the school record performance at Pitt State.
Here is what the training looked like over those seven weeks…
Week #1 — 45 miles
Tuesday Workout — 8 x 30 sec fast w/ 90 sec jog rest on the grass (intro fartlek).
Friday Workout — 2 x (5 x 200 meters) in 32, 35, 33, 33, 32, 32, 30, 32, 31, 29 secs.
Saturday Long Run — 12 mi (6:38/mi pace).
Week #2 — 55 miles
Tuesday Workout — 8 mi hilly run (7:51, 7:24, 6:55, 6:21, 6:16, 6:02, 5:56, 5:50/mi pace).
Friday Workout — 2 x (5 x 200 meters) in 34, 33, 32, 32, 32, 31, 32, 30, 31, 29 secs.
Saturday Long Run — 14 mi (6:37/mi pace) over hilly course.
Week #3 — 70 miles
Tuesday Workout — 10 mi progression (7:31, 7:14, 6:42, 6:32, 6:15, 6:09, 5:44, 5:41, 5:34, 5:35/mi pace).
Wednesday Medium LR — 11 mi (6:51/mi pace).
Friday Workout — 1.5 mi (5:25, 2:42) + 2 x (5 x 200 meters) in 33, 35, 33, 32, 32, 31, 32, 31, 31, 29 secs.
Saturday Long Run — 16 mi (6:29/mi pace).
Week #4 — 75 miles
Tuesday Workout — 4 x 200 meters (32, 36, 33, 33 secs) + 5 mi (5:39, 5:31, 5:31, 5:22, 4:56/mi pace) + 4 x 200 meters (32, 32, 31, 31 secs).
Wednesday Medium LR — 13 mi (7:05/mi pace).
Friday Workout — 2 mi (5:25, 5:20/mi pace) + 2 x (5 x 200 meters) in 34, 35, 33, 33, 33, 33, 32, 31, 31, 29 secs.
Saturday Long Run — 18 mi (6:37/mi pace) over hilly course.
Week #5 — 85 miles
Tuesday Workout — 12 mi progression (7:44, 7:10, 6:48, 6:32, 6:20, 6:11, 5:43, 5:42, 5:35, 5:38, 5:30, 5:30/mi pace).
Wednesday Medium LR — 15 mi (6:55/mi pace).
Friday Workout — 2 mi (5:28, 5:20/mi pace) + 2 x (5 x 200 meters) in 35, 34, 33, 33, 32, 33, 32, 32, 31, 30 secs.
Saturday Long Run — 20 mi (6:27/mi pace).
Week #6 — 85 miles
Tuesday Workout — 12 mi progression (7:36, 7:08, 6:43, 6:40, 6:34, 6:21, 5:48, 5:53, 5:43, 5:44, 5:35, 5:33/mi pace).
Wednesday Medium LR — 15 mi (7:05/mi pace).
Friday Workout — 2 mi (5:25, 5:16/mi pace) + 2 x (5 x 200 meters) in 34, 33, 33, 32, 31, 31, 32, 31, 29 secs.
Saturday Long Run — 20 mi (6:36/mi pace) over hilly course.
Week #7 — 50 miles
Tuesday Workout — 5 x 1 mi (5:25, 5:14, 5:08, 4:59, 4:54) w/ 1:30-2:00R + 4 x 200 meters (33, 34, 33, 32 secs) w/ 200 meter jog rest.
Saturday Race — 3000 meters (8:19)
As you can see there wasn’t a lot of work done at 4:28/mi pace (which is what it took to run 8:19 for 3000 meters), outside of some quick 200 meter reps every week. We just were very consistent in the build-up with lots of high-end aerobic work and easing into good tempo work. I think one of the biggest changes we made over this past winter was the Wednesday Medium LR…they ran this pretty easy, but it was like having a second long run each week as it built to 15 miles.
I’ve said it for years…STRENGTH IS SPEED.
Noah got super strong this winter with long runs up to 20 miles and medium long runs up to 15 miles and lots of big aerobic work. Get strong aerobically, keep some 200 meter reps in there consistently to practice fast running, and magical things happen!
Phillips Running 