training

My 7th grade daughter ran in her first ever track meet Friday night. She place 3rd with a 7:25. Her best time in practice (total of 8 days of practice) was 7:55. Her team practices early mornings and afternoons are voluntary. I have been trying to help her in the afternoons, but I'm an old discus thrower and know nothing about the mile. Her best all out quarter is 1:20. Her first lap of her race was 1:36, but I didn't get the time of her other 3 laps. She did't have much of a kick at the end. She has average speed. Should she try to increase her speed a little each lap. I was hoping she could mantain the first lap speed in the 2nd and 3rd, then increase on the last lap. Any thoughts on race strategy and training.

Thanks

Ags Win With Class

[This message has been edited by WestTxAgFan (edited 2/26/2006 12:37p).]

My 7th grade daughter ran in her first ever track meet Friday night. She place 3rd with a 7:25. Her best time in practice (total of 8 days of practice) was 7:55. Her team practices early mornings and afternoons are voluntary. I have been trying to help her in the afternoons, but I'm an old discus thrower and know nothing about the mile. Her best all out quarter is 1:20. Her first lap of her race was 1:36, but I didn't get the time of her other 3 laps. She did't have much of a kick at the end. She has average speed. Should she try to increase her speed a little each lap. I was hoping she could mantain the first lap speed in the 2nd and 3rd, then increase on the last lap. Any thoughts on race strategy and training.


if you're daughter ran a 7:25 mile, then it means she's averaging 1:49 per lap. this means in practice once a week you should have her do 400 repeats at roughly 1:35-1:40 pace. doing this will help her in the race because she will know what a 1:35 feels like and should be able to roughly continue this for 4 laps.

it's not something to worry about too much as it was her first ever race, and she'll grow with experience. the thing you don't want to do is overload, so if she is going to work out twice a day only do light things that involve promoting flexibility.

a good week of workouts for a mile would include: distance work on monday (mileage), 400 repeats on tuesday (see how much she can do, but ideally at least 4 or 5 of these with a couple minutes rest in between), light mileage on wednesday, meet prep on thursday. also, if you can get her to do a jog on saturday to flush out her body from the track meet, then it would be beneficial.

good luck, and if she really starts to enjoy it look into a local summer track club. it's how my career really took off and there are myriad of meets all over the state of texas throughout june and july!

Thanks low,

just got back from the track and she ran 7:09.

Had her run the first lap a litle slower and maintain it on the next 2. Her last lap was her second fastest, just a couple of secs off the first. She had a little more kick at the end today. I am surprised she has knocked off over 50 secs in one week.

Ags Win With Class

I coach middle school and high school distance runners. This may be long, but here is some advice for ya....

Sure she can drop 50 seconds in one week, but don't be suprised if this never happens again. It's the Law of Diminishing Returns. At first, when she begins to develop her aerobic capacity, there is usually a pretty quick drop. As time goes by, it will be harder and harder to drop those times.

Try to focus on developing her aerobic capacity first. Distance runners do not get fast by doing speedwork all the time. They need to develop their base first. So I would emphasize just doing easy long runs for the first 2-6 weeks, depending on how long the season is. Then you can begin doing some interval stuff. At this age (7th grade), unless she is super competitive, it might be a good idea to keep the intensity at 60-75% in workouts. Just let her have fun with running, and don't let her get burnt out at a young age. Pushing her too hard at a young age may just do that.

The other guys suggestion of the repeat 400s at her race pace is a good idea, especially early in the season. This allows her to get a "feel" for her pace. The main focus should be on economy, good form, and not killing herself in these workouts. Some mixes of 200s and 400s at this pace is a good workout. Just because these are "short" intervals doesn't mean they have to be "fast" intervals. Also allow for a near complete recovery with these, up to four times the interval length. If she takes 1 minute to do an interval here, give her up to 4 minutes to recover. Keep these types of workouts at 5% of weekly mileage. In other words if she runs 20 miles a week, 5% of 20 miles is 1 mile, 1 mile is 1600 meters of work, or four 400s, or eight 200s.

She will also need to do some longer intervals like repeat 800s (maybe 4 of them). Early on, keep the recovery and the intensity low. Recovery should only be about 1 minute. This will be a very tough workout, don't start out too fast. This type of workout is designed to increase the runners tolerace to lactic acid, known as their lactate threshold. Try to keep this at about 8% of her weekly mileage.

Another workout I do that kids respond to well is fartlek (speedplay) workouts. This is all based on time and not distance. Try running 2 minutes hard, 1 minute easy, 1 minute hard, 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy. Then repeat this as many times, but probably no more than twice for your daughter. Again this should be about 8% of her weekly mileage.

These three types of workouts are good for early season after the base work. After a few weeks of this stuff, increase the intensity a little bit on the 800 workout, but add a little more recovery, up to the length of the interval. So if the interval takes 3 minutes, give her up to 3 minutes to recover, but make the intensity of the interval a little higher. Also, continue with the shorter interval workout mentioned above. You can be creative with the distances (200,300,400,600) and the number of repeats, but try to keep the mileage at about 5% of her weekly total. You can allow her to do some of these faster now. She has done some work and her body should be able to handle some speed without getting injured.

The last few weeks of training should go back to the first types of workouts. Keep the short intervals from before and the speed. Return to the low recovery, moderate intensity type of workouts. You don't want to kill her legs the last few weeks of competition. This is when she should be looking to run fastest, or "peak." You can slightly back off mileage, but I like to try and keep it somewhat consistent. Maybe only a few miles less per week for her.

Try to get on a routine of working out on the same days. What day are her races? If she races on Thursdays, then try to get a workout in on Tuesdays, and maybe something light, not too intense, on Fridays. Fridays can also be used for an easy run if I feel they need it. I do this with my middle school boys. When we don't race on Thursday, we substitute a quality interval day, with an easy day on Friday. So their schedule is something like this, Mon - easy run, Tues - intervals, Wed - easy run, Thur - race or intervals, Fri - light intervals or easy run. The weekends are their own. They can run if they want to.

I think that practicing twice a day is a bit much. Only have them run once a day at this age. If you do want to practice twice, then the other guys suggestion of working on flexibility is good. Good mechanics and coordination is very important.

Most of what I have told you I have learned from years of running. I also learned a lot from Jack Daniels (not the alcohol but the Dr.). Check out his book "Jack Daniels Running Formula." It goes pretty in depth, and you may have to read it a few time to comprehend it, but it is a wealth of knowledge.

And last of all, good luck. Have fun. Allow your daughter to love running and she will stick with it.

email me if you want: cdonlee@sbcglobal.net

[This message has been edited by cdonlee (edited 2/27/2006 10:54a).]

Thanks cdonlee

Ags Win With Class

What my coaches always tell me to do for track season is,"Take care of your body."

I could always tell the difference between a week of eating good and a week of eating bad. I might be young, but trust me, it helps.

First of all , thanks for the good info. For those of you that are interested, my daughter ran in her 2nd meet Friday night and won the mile by passing 1 other girl just after the final turn and finishing strong. Her time (7:20) was 12 secs slower than her best time in practice. However it was a crowded race and she got blocked out in the back of the pack at the start. She ran a smart race and had more kick left than anyone else. I was just hoping for a 3rd or 4th after her start. She kept a solid pace and passed all but 1 coming into the last turn. I had her jog 1.5 miles on Sat and rest today. After her 3rd in the first meet, the coaches showed more interest and had her doing a lot of things that ya'll suggested. By the way she cleared 5.5 ft in her first ever pole vault competition to get second behind a teammate who cleared 6.5. We have a former state high school champ from New Mexico coaching the vaulters and he has done wonders with them in just 9 practices. I guess you can tell I'm one proud Papa.

Ags Win With Class

[This message has been edited by WestTxAgFan (edited 3/5/2006 8:52p).]

good job




I tried pole vault before. I almost killed myself.



Luck is when hard work meets opportunity.

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That is how football is supposed to be played. WRECKING CREW!


[This message has been edited by agclassof2012 (edited 3/6/2006 9:32p).]

Dang 5.5 for a first time girl pole vaulter is very good I vaulted in middle school and started a 6' and amde my way to 10'. Good joba nd good luck.

Congratulations!

Thanks McJulie, and congrats to you on holding down the most important job in the world. She ran into tougher comp this last meet. PVed 5.5 again and placed 4th. Ran her best time in the mile (6:58) and placed 4th also.

Ags Win With Class

I was a 400m runner in track, but we had to run the mile to test for football. My PB in the mile was 5:30. I always liked to get out in front early, that way not to get caught up in the pack back there. Run the first 600m pretty hard, and then take it down a notch for the next 700-800 meters. The last 200-300m were always a dead sprint for me. To me, the mile is about guts, and deploring your body of all available energy. I felt like dying at the end of every mile I ever ran.