miler workout

[bama06]

Joe,

I read your article about miler training and my son,whose 15,has been doing your workout,however we are confused about how much he should do.We have been doing 8x200 @:36, 7x300 @:59, and 6x400 @ 1:21 every Tuesday.Is this right or too much? He runs his 1st XC race September 12th.
HELP!

David

[Joe Rubio]

Couple of things to help you determine what's appropriate.

1. How long has he been running?
2. What's his weekly mileage?
3. What's his mile PR?

Let me know and I'll give you my $.02.

Joe

[bama06]

He's been running since FEB'09...his weekly mileage is 30-40 miles and a PR
at 1600m in 4:57. Thanks.

[Joe Rubio]

He doesn't have a lot of background. I'd keep it at 200's, maybe 300's. Total amount of work should add up to about 1600m, so 8 x 200 or 5 x 300. Pace should be 78-80, so the 32 are way too fast. Also, consider doing 1-2 miles on the track of stride the straight/jog the turns.

The idea is to run these controlled, not super hard so slightly slower than mile race pace is fine. He should feel good afterwards, not dead.

Make sense?

Joe

[bama06]

Got it on he should do 200's or 300's...but at what pace for each. He did the 8x 200's...7x300's and 6x400's with no problem. He's at 2:08 for the 800 and with your workouts and more training,his sophomore season will be a good one. Thanks for your help!

[Joe Rubio]

Pace is 78-80.

Joe

[bama06]

Its a month later...my son has gone from a 19:33 in the slop,to a 18:00
5k time on a hilly course.He will run 17:15-17:30 on Saturday.This miler
workout is gold!He is a sophomore and has run 2xc events this fall.

[Joe Rubio]

Nice. Make sure to base his workouts on his current fitness and you'll be good - it'll just keep the emotion out of the equation. i can tell you form experience when I base workouts on what I "think" someone can run, I always run into trouble. When I base workout paces off of actual race results, the athlete does best.

Keep me posted on the progress.

Joe

[bama06]

My son,Dillon ran a 17:23.88 on Saturday for the 5k distance. Thanks
Joe!

David

[Joe Rubio]

Nice. Try to stay patient and save the hardest work and greatest focus for the last 3-4 weeks of the season.

Joe

[bama06]

Joe...its 19 days until state,we have a course out back on our land and it has a slight incline on a trail one way and going the other direction,its a longer run up a slight hill on grass.6 times around is a mile...should he keep
going on this or look for something flat this close to state.Trying to save his
legs for the race on 11/14.Dillon is at 17:19.97 for 5k.

[Joe Rubio]

The idea for a taper is generally to do what's been working so far, just do less of it. Same workout structure, same paces, same recovery, just less volume. So next week it would be about 80% of normal and the week of 60% or so. Example: Normal October workout = 12 x 400
Taper 2 weeks out at 80% of normal: 10 x 400.
Week of big meet: 7 x 400.

Same for the rest of the runs. Long runs would drop from say 10 down to 8 two weeks out and 6 the week of.

Make sense?

Joe

[bama06]

Joe,

Dillon,who has only 7 career XC races...finished 2nd in the class 4A State
Meet on 11/14.His last 5 races were 17:23,17:19,17:41,17:39 and 17:26.
Your workout helped him a lot.Not bad for a soph.He runs for Ashville
High in Alabama.Thanks.

David