TRACK AND FIELD TRAINING - Tempo Work For Sprinters And 800m Runners
To fully optimize preseason track and field training for sprinters, hurdlers and middle distance runners it important to pay special attention to aerobic conditioning. This system of training can be easily forgotten or pushed to the side in favor of high-quality interval and/or explosive work. Tempo type workouts will allow you to develop your aerobic capacity and in turn will allow you to handle the rounds or numerous races in a day. It will also allow you to train at a higher level later in the season as you will recover much more quickly. Below are a few of my favorite sprint tempo workouts – stolen by some the nation’s very best coaches.
100m-200m: 6 x 200m descending rest series.
You will perform this same workout once a week for three consecutive weeks. Week one will have a rest period of 90 seconds, week two – 75 seconds and week three – 60 seconds. The 200’s should be run at the same time each week. Try to work your way down to your PR in the 200m +8 seconds over time.
400m: 5 x 300m descending rest series.
As above, you will perform this same workout once a week for three consecutive weeks. Week one will have a rest period of 90 seconds, week two – 75 seconds and week three – 60 seconds. The 300’s should be run at the same time each week. Try to work your way down to your PR in the 400m for the 300m.
800m: 6-8 x 600m descending rest series.
As above, you will perform this same workout once a week for three consecutive weeks. Week one will have a rest period of 90 seconds, week two – 75 seconds and week three – 60 seconds. The 600’s should be run at the same time each week. Try to work your way down to about 8 seconds under your PR in the 800m for the 600m.
TRACK AND FIELD TRAINING - What To Do When The Cross Country Season Is Over
I have been asked numerous times over the past couple of weeks what to do in regard to training after the cross country season concludes. Obviously, you will need some downtime to ensure you physically and mentally recover from the season. However, you need to balance this with not losing the fitness you acquired over the past several months. I used to give our runners two weeks completely off and then would spend the next six weeks ascending to full volume. Over the years, I learned that if we stayed active during the first couple of weeks after the season that our runners stayed healthier and maintained greater levels of fitness. It always seemed that our runners would start experiencing pains and/or developing injuries while we were in the middle of complete rest. It just never seemed to work effectively for us. So, I changed the phase name from Rest & Rejuvenation to Active Rest. I would prescribe a small shakeout run the day after the last meet and then have them take 2-3 days off. After that, our runners would run 30-35 every other day to finish out the week – the pace assigned during this period of time was embarrassingly slow. To transition out of light running every other day, we would run two days in a row – then rest one day, run three days – rest one and then start up again. Our first week after our Active Rest phase was typically 50% of their goal volume with two days of easy strides – around 10k pace-ish at the fastest.
Below is our first two weeks after the conclusion of XC
WEEK ONE
Monday 35 minutes easy
Tuesday off
Wednesday 35 minutes easy
Thursday off
Friday 35 minutes easy
Saturday 35 minutes easy
Sunday off
WEEK TWO
Monday 35 minutes easy
Tuesday 30 minutes easy + 4 x 100m strides
Wednesday 35 minutes easy
Thursday off
Friday 35 minutes easy + 5 x 100m strides
Saturday 40 minutes easy
Sunday 35 minutes easy
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING - Fast Track Recruiting...off to a quick start!
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING by Willy Wood
This week has been a great week for Fast Track Recruiting. Several of our senior track and field / cross country athletes have made verbal commitments and will be signing early with some of the nation’s top academic schools and college college track and field programs. We have young men and women headed to Dartmouth, University of Chicago and the United States Naval Academy. We are making a noticeable difference with our junior athletes as they are receiving numerous phone calls from coaches all over the country.
Over the past week alone, our athletes have heard from the following schools:
Alabama, American, Bradley, Brown, Bryant, Bucknell, Chicago, Colgate, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Drake, Duke, Elon, Emory, Fairfield, Fordham, John’s Hopkins, Harvard, Haverford, Kentucky, Louisville, MIT, Missouri, North Carolina State, NAU, Penn, Princeton, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, TCU, UCSD, UNC Charlotte, Washington University, William & Mary, Xavier, and Yale.
Fast Track Training is also flourishing. Every runner currently training in our program has run a significant PR this fall. Two of our runners are ranked #1 in their state for their particular grade level. In addition, we will soon be partnering with a technology company to vastly and uniquely enhance this service.
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING - Are Recruiting Services Needed?
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING by Willy Wood
Frequently Asked Questions –
Does my son or daughter really need a recruiting service to get recruited? Probably not - all they really need to do is run fast or jump or throw really far. If not, all they have to do is to initiate contact with enough college coaches. On the surface it seems as though the process is simple enough. Running is simple as well, very simple – we have been doing it for years. However, to run faster or faster longer or to jump or throw further or to vault higher, one would certainly benefit from a knowledgeable coach. Does my son or daughter really need a coach to run fast? No, not if they are naturally fast. But, they do need a knowledgeable coach to run faster. That is what we do. Are we needed – probably not? Many, many high school student-athletes are recruited annually without using a recruiting service – just as many, many 100m runners run fast without adequate preparation or training. However, if you want to run faster…if you want to get into a school one rung higher than you initially anticipated, if you want to get more scholarship money than you thought possible, and if you want to be exposed to programs and colleges that would be great fits for you, but you currently know nothing about – that is where we come in. Are we needed, no. Will we make your experience better, YES! Will you end up with more and better choices and more lucrative offers, YES!
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING - Some of the Nation's Most Diverse School
College-bound student-athletes who prioritize studying with people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds may want to consider the following school/programs:
EAST – Amherst, Columbia, Dartmouth, MIT, Northeastern, Saint John’s, Swarthmore
SOUTHEAST – Duke, George Mason, John’s Hopkins, Maryland, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Virginia Commonwealth
SOUTH – Emory, Georgia State, Houston, Miami, Nova SE University, Rice, UT-Arlington
MIDWEST – Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, Chicago, Northwestern, Vanderbilt
WEST – Biola, Harvey Mudd, Stanford, University of San Francisco, UCLA, UNLV
5 BULLET FRIDAY - What to Read, Watch, Eat, Ponder and Discover!
What to Read – Check out legendary coach, Clyde Hart’s training methodology for the 400m. His training schedules are not for the faint of heart. The schedules require a lot of volume for a sprinter, but if you make it through relatively unscathed you will run very fast! - https://www.usatf.org/groups/Coaches/library/2007/Sprint%20Training/Clyde_Hart3.pdf
What to Watch – Nick Symmonds briefly discusses training for the 800m. It is a short video but gives some insight into the plan he followed. The video may be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Y3ZBFHx9w
What to Eat - Olympian Kate Grace discusses how to eat like an elite runner here https://www.runnersworld.com/eat-like-an-elite/eat-like-an-elite-kate-grace
What to Ponder – “The voice inside your head who says you can’t do this is a liar” – unknown
What to see on Social Media – Ever wonder what a long run with the Colorado XC team looks like? https://twitter.com/CUBuffsTrack/status/920683355225673729
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING - Some of the Nation's Most Beautiful Campuses!
Undoubtedly, you will consider many factors when deciding where to further your academic and athletic pursuits. One aspect that will have a potential significant impact on your decision will be the campus of the schools you are considering. Here is a list of several schools that have been listed by numerous sources as the prettiest in the country. Obviously, there are many. many more and much will depend on your personal preferences.
EAST
Princeton University - Ivy League School. NCAA I. Very Competitive Athletics
Amherst College - NCAA III. Highly Selective Academics. Good Athletics
Penn State - Big Ten. Power 5. Public with Strong Academics. Very Competitive Athletics.
SOUTHEAST
University of Virginia - ACC. Power 5. Public with Highly Selective Academics. Very Competitive Athletics.
Wake Forest University - ACC. Power 5. Highly Selective Academics. Very Competitive Athletics.
Emory College - NCAA III. UAA Conference. Highly Selective Academics. Very Good Athletics.
SOUTH
University of Mississippi - SEC. Power 5. Above Average Academics. Highly Competitive Athletics.
Sewanee: The University of the South - NCAA III. Above Average Academics. Moderate Athletics.
Furman University - NCAA I. Extremely Competitive Distance / XC Program. Mid-range Academics.
MIDEAST
Notre Dame - ACC. Power 5. Highly Selective Academics, Highly Competitive Athletics.
Kenyon College - NCAA III. Well Above Average Academics. Moderately Competitive Athletics.
Indiana University - Big Ten. Power 5. Public. Moderately Strong Academics. Highly Competitive Athletics.
MIDWEST
The University of Chicago - NCAA III. UAA Conference. Highly Selective Academics. Above Competitive Athletics.
University of Wisconsin - Big Ten. Power 5. Public. Strong Academics. Highly Competitive Athletics.
Washington Univerity (St Louis) - NCAA III. UAA Conference. Highly Selective Academics. Competitive Athletics.
WEST
Stanford University - PAC 12. Power 5. Highly Selective Academics. Very Competitive Athletics.
University of Washington - PAC 12.Power 5. Public. Selective Academics. Very Competitive Athletics
Lewis & Clark College - NCAA III. Moderate Academics. Moderately Competitive Athletics.
TRACK AND FIELD TRAINING - The Week Before We Won the Ivy League XC Title
Monday - 65 minutes easy + 6 x 100m
Tuesday - am 0 - 30 minutes easy / pm @ BAKER: 16 x 400m in 67w/ 200m rec
Wednesday - 70 - 85 minutes easy
Thursday - 50 - 65 minutes easy
Friday @ VCP: 8 x 1000m w/ 2’30 rest
Saturday - 50 minutes easy
Sunday - 1:30 - 1:45 easy
FAST TRACK TRAINING - WORKOUT WEDNESDAY
This is a workout we did exactly one week after our surprise win at the Norte Dame Invitational in 2013. On Tuesday of this week, the guys ran 15 miles with the middle 10 at 5:30 pace. On Friday we did a MILE in 4:35 - jog 3 minutes - 4 miles at 5:10 pace - jog 3 minutes - MILE in 4:25. This was done 6 weeks prior to the NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.
TRACK AND FIELD TRAINING - Grant Fisher and Sean McGorty, 800m Repeats
Check out FloTrack's WOD featuring Stanford's Sean McGorty and Grant Fisher doing 800m repeats last fall over UVA's cross country course. They performed 7 - 9 x 800m with 90 seconds rest. The goal was to start at 10k pace and work down to 5k pace. Fisher went on to finish 5th at the NCAA National XC Championships while McGorty finished 24th. Stanford finished 2nd as a team. Note how under control they stay.