SUMMER JUNE 28 – JULY 5

Hello and welcome to the “dead week”. Our school district has designated June 30 – July 6 to be the designated week that all sports are “hands – off, no contact for coaches. 2 weeks into the summer training and all is going so well, this seems to come up so quickly this year.

So the team is on their own this week, and for a difficult week -requiring a lot of adaptation as well if they’re following the program. It’s week #3 of the first cycle, that makes it the big week of the cycle, and at this point  that means a stretch to adapt to greater distances.

We’ve had great participation from several of our new Freshmen. Kieren Hall, Aaron Mahoney and Andrew Jones have shown up several times for workouts and to get used to this new crowd. Joseph & Patrick Kiessling ran with the gang for the first time today. Welcome all, and keep it up! It will pay off for you in the future.

Here’s the weeks’ workout suggestions:

Sun June 28  - 0

Mon,  29 – A – 6 – 8 miles, faster in second half, tempo pace if you can.

B – 4 – 5 miles – as above

Tuesday 30 –  A – 8 – 10 miles easy / steady again – like last week.

B – 6 easy run – getting used to it.

Weds. July 1 –  A – 4 mile JOG

B – 3 mile JOG

Since this is a recovery week in the strength work, do a stretching session together

Thurs  2 – A  - 6 miles finishing faster.

B – 4 miles – as above

Friday 3  - A – 8 – 10 miles – easy / steady again

B – 5 – 6 miles – same

Sat  4  - A – 6 moderate run

B – 3 miles recovery.

Ok, so some of you think this is a lot. For now it is, soon it won’t be. Sensibly done, being properly rested and getting sleep will ensure that you are fine. Don’t push hard if just going the distance is a challenge. Just go the distance. Some who want to begin doing 2 workouts a day, well this is a good time for it to start. Try doing 1 early in the week, maybe the shorter  ”A” distance on Tuesday and then a second mild run of 3 to 5 miles. If you are up to it then maybe a second workout on Thurs. or Friday, same way. NO LONGER than 5 miles, and anything less then 3 – you may as well just get the rest. One or two second runs like this will take your distance; for those that want to try doing more, up to the ideal range of 45 – 50 miles for this week. (with all of the workouts accomplished)

** NO MORE THAN 2 SECONDARY WORKOUTS THIS WEEK **That is very good at this time, and it is geared primarily toward Juniors and Seniors who will be able to handle it better than the younger crowd.  B squad would be around 28 miles, A’s – in the 40’s. Remember that the season is now only 6 weeks away. If you are following along with these workouts and keeping up with it pretty well, then you are right on course to be ideally prepared.

Enjoy your week, and have a great 4th of July!     Z

SUMMER – WEEK OF JUNE 22 THRU 28

Well, it’s been an excellent first week of summer training! There have never been so many show up for summer practices day after day. Hopefully many will continue, for those of you who aren’t making it in the morning, I hope you are getting the training done at home, because you are definitely going to have some very fit team mates if this keeps up this way!

The second week of the first cycle of this seasons’ training steps it up a little bit. Some are adapting, some are eager to get on with it. The second workouts after the run is just gravy, and will figure into the over-all fitness in the end.

June

Mon. 22   A- 6 – 7 miles,  start steady, tempo finish for 1 to 2 miles

B – 4 miles , steady, finish faster.

Tues. 23  A- 8 miles EASY

B – 5  easy

Weds. 24   A – 4  jog – recovery day

B – 3

Thurs.  25   A – 6 to 7 miles, change speeds, vary it at least every 1/2 mile

B – 4  varying speeds

Fri. 26   A – 8 – 9 miles  easy / steady

B – 5 – 6  miles,  easy / steady pace  (can speak up to 5 words at a time)

Sat. 27  A – 5 mild day

B – 3 miles easy

Sun. 28   OFF

Keep up the great work! Steady and consistent is what will make for very successful preparation. NO over-training allowed, we don’t want any burnout. Train smart and you’ll be on the heels of your goals – or maybe ahead of them, by the end of October. Follow instruction and talk with coaches, and we’ll have an unstoppable momentum that will roll right thru the season.

NOW THE REST OF THE WEEK…

This morning the A group ran about 5 miles, and he B went around 4. For right now I think several will find that they were pushing too hard. There is time to build into this, starting at this point.

Here’s the rest of the week:

Tuesday June 16th

A – 6 miles,  EASY run

B – 4 easy as well

Weds.

A – 3 – 4  light run – RECOVERY DAY

B – 2 miles very easy

Thursday

A – 5 steady pace

B – 3 miles

Friday

A – 6 miles steady / easy

B – 4  light run just getting used to the distance

Saturday

A – 4 – 5 light recovery run

B – 3 miles kept light – a recovery day

Each year we have mileage shirts available for anyone who wants to attempt achieving a “Mileage Club” of 5oo miles. That is accomplished between the track state championship and the first day of XC practice. If you think you would like to do this, then you need to keep a log of what you have run this summer so that the coaches can go over it. This could sound like a lot, but it isn’t so much. Back in the old days some of us would run 1000 to 1200 miles in the same amount of time. 500 isn’t that much.

25 guys showed up for the first summer workout! That’s more than I’ve ever seen for us, and that’s great. Now I hope that most of you will keep it up. It sure would be nice to have the majority of the team really fit and ready for practices.   Z

SUMMER BEGINS, AND SO DOES THE TRAINING

It’s time. Time to prepare for a great season. Time to be certain that you aren’t caught flat-footed.

If you are new to this site, welcome. I hope that we see a lot of you this summer. If you are a seasoned XC guy, I hope we see a lot of you as well. Things will be different this summer for those who wish to be involved. Now just because I plan to be more involved, doesn’t mean that you won’t have any free time. You always have the choice as to whether you get involved with the teams’ summer workouts. They are however highly recommended. Come mid August when we are into the official season you’ll be glad that you increased your fitness and toughness over the summer, and didn’t just wait for the season to begin. Doing so risks injury and severely limits your potential.

If you are not able to join the team at Veterans park 8:00 am Mon – Fri for training then you need to be on this site regularly to follow what you should be doing on your own, then get out there and do it. If you wonder why we meet so early when you are out of school, well, in 2 or 3 weeks the answer will be obvious when it’s already in the mid 70’s by 9 am and getting humid. It just isn’t pleasant or smart to do your main body of training in the heat of the day when we aren’t acclimated to it.

Please check this site often, as there will be things that I will post quite regularly now. If you know of someone that didn’t come to the meetings, but you feel that he should come out for the team, give him the website, my phone #, bring him to morning practice. Have him go out and run with you, – it’s all good, and we sometimes get the benefit of great team members that way, – don’t be shy, twist their arm.

I’m not going to list the weeks worth of training tonight. I just got home from downstate visiting “the master” and I want to get tomorrows work on here for you to get started with – quickly. This way I can make all of this introduction, and get it up!

I will generally be at Veterans’ Park (corner of Bay St. & Division, – end of Wayne St., at the parking lot – near tennis courts) (across Division from the Elks Club) by 8:00. That’s not 8:20. Traffic holds me up sometimes, but I’ll need to get started on my own workout by 8:10 so that we can get thru everything, so please be timely, or you may be on your own.

AFTER the run, I’ll head over to Darrell Park at Bay & Monroe for the strength ++ workout. (P90X) Early on, the run will be done before 9:00 and we’ll be done with the other workout – for whoever wishes to join me – by 10 – 10:15. After a couple of weeks when the runs get longer, we’ll wrap up with everything more like 10:30, sometimes it may be a littler later than that.

SO MONDAY THE 15th

A – workout, for those upper classmen that are used to running (most all of you)

Do a 4 to 6 mile run. Steady / comfortable pace. NO PUSHING IT AT THIS TIME.

B – workout – all Freshmen and anyone else who may be new and not ready, – needs to build into the training a little more slowly.

Do a 3 to 4 mile run – same instructions as above. Please keep it comfortable.

A comfortable run doesn’t mean that you walk, it means that you don’t do any anaerobic (speed) work. Nothing fast, – not a jog, a reasonable running pace that you can carry for the distance.

For the time spent running everyone should be multiplying the # of miles by the expected pace per mile to know how long you should run. eg: 4 miles x 8 minute pace / mile = approximately 32 minutes. It’s a guestimation, but it works for now as you get settled in and become more knowledgeable about pace, etc.

The main important thing is that you get out there. Be active, run as well as do many other things. The more fit you are coming into the season, the more you’ll enjoy it, and the more success you will experience. Both for yourself and for your team.

Have fun, and I hope to see you out there!  Dan Z   941-8494  zemper@chartermi.net