Every summer I love just going through our old training logs. It’s always a good reminder of work that we’ve done in the past and I think it keeps us grounded in what we’ve done, while learning and striving to do it better going forward. Today I am looking through the last seven weeks that Micaela Lamb ran before having a breakthrough in the 3000 meters. She went from 10:39 as a freshman to 9:59 as a sophomore.
It was a huge jump for her, and while these last seven weeks of training aren’t the only reason she PR’d, I think they definitely helped sharpen her up and prime her for a big race.
These last seven weeks were coming off of the end of our Cross Country season where Micaela had a huge breakthrough and finished 20th at the Regional Championships. Unfortunately, we didn’t advance to the NCAA National Championships that year and so we had a few weeks of focused training for our Indoor Opener.
Here’s what it looked like:
7 Weeks Out:
Wednesday — 2 mi (time trial) — 10:57; 5:33 first mile, 5:24 second mile.
Friday — 2 x (5 x 200 meters) — Set #1 in 38-40 secs. Set #2 in 36-38 secs.
Saturday — 8 mi (progressive) — last 4 mi in 6:44, 6:36, 6:25, 6:17/mi.
6 Weeks Out:
Monday — 1600 (5:44/mi) + 2 x (4 x 400 meters) in 80-82 secs. 1 min & 4 min rec.
Wednesday — 2 x (5 x 200 meters) — Set #1 in 38-40 secs. Set #2 in 36-38 secs.
Saturday — Regional 6K — 22:58 (altitude) — 20th place, All-Region.
5 Weeks Out:
Wednesday — 3 mi (tempo) @ 6:24/mi + 4 x 200 meters in 36-38 secs.
Saturday — NCCAA 5K — 17:54 (hilly) — 2nd place, All-American.
4 Weeks Out:
Wednesday — 20 x 200 meters (36-38 secs) w/ 200 meter jog (60 secs).
Friday — 2 x (5 x 200 meters) — Set #1 in 36-38 secs. Set #2 in 38, 36, 34, 32 secs.
Saturday — 8 mi (progressive) — last 4 mi in 6:51, 6:40, 6:21, 6:20/mi.
3 Weeks Out:
Tuesday — DBU Turkey Trot 3M — 17:02 — 1st place.
Friday — 2 x (5 x 200 meters) — Set #1 in 36-38 secs. Set #2 in 38, 36, 34, 32 secs.
Saturday — 8 mi (progressive) last 4 mi all at sub 6:40/mi.
2 Weeks Out:
Wednesday — 1600 (time trial) — 5:09 — First lap was 78-79.
Friday — 3 mi (tempo) @ 6:24/mi + 5 x 300 meters in 60-58-56-54-52 w/ 2 min rec.
Saturday — 9 mi (easy)
Pitt State Week:
Monday — 4 x 200 @ 40-38-36-34 + 2 x 800 @ 2:44 | 2:40 + 4 x 200 @ 38, 36, 34, 32 secs.
Wednesday — 4 x 200 @ 40-38-36-34 + 2 mi (tempo) @ 6:24/mi + 4 x 200 @ 40-38-36-34 secs.
Saturday — Pitt State 3K — 9:59 — Last 300 meters in 57 seconds.
After this 3K she started her Winter Break.
As you can see from above…at this point in the training season, the work had been done. We kept in some high-end aerobic stuff throughout to keep her strong, but really we just tried to implement some lighter work at 3K/5K pace, some good rhythm 200 meter reps, and the inclusion of time trials and XC racing to have her race ready and fully peaked.
Phillips Running 