getting ready for a workout

The hill block continues!

Summer Reading

This workout block is inspired by The Science of Running by Steve Magness and Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald. Both of these books are good resources to have. They also look longer than they are so don't get intimidated if you pick one up. Both have sample training plans and tables and what not which all take up a lot of pages.

GVH officially meets three times a week for workouts. Unless otherwise noted, all runs start and finish from Fleet Feet Sports, 615 2nd Street, Davis, CA. If you are new, introduce yourself so we can watch out for you.

This week:

We'll take advantage of the not-stupid-hot weather and run an oldie but a goodie: The Mona. 20-minutes of hard, fast running. In the future, if you're ever short on time and need to get in a good workout, then the Mona is always a great choice.

This is a good workout to have saved in your watch if you have one where you can program workouts. Set up your watch so you can see your overall distance for the fartlek and try to improve that over time. Your average pace for the 20-minutes should be around your half-marathon pace. At the end, it should feel like the end of a XC race.

8/6/2019 Tuesday Workout - Community Park

5:45 pm - Meet at FF

5:50 pm - advanced team leaves. Shorter warm up goes up B street. Longer warm up goes up College Park.

5:55 pm - second team goes

6:10 pm - Meet near the water fountain by the pool

6:15 pm - 2 x 90sec fast/90sec float, 4 x 60sec fast/60sec float, 4 x 30sec fast/30sec float, 4 x 15sec fast/15secfloat

6:45 pm - Cool down: jog back to the store. Long workout so be careful about leaving stuff at the store.

7/11/2019 Thursday Workout

14 x 30sec @ 5k effort w/30sec jog rest

7/13/2019 Saturday Workout

10 mile progression run

Brandon's Previous Message About The General Outline of Training Plans:

A) Most Tuesday workouts will fit into a 60min window including warm up and cool down so people can get on with their evenings. If you want to add on or do more intervals, then you can do so.

B) Once a month, there will be a "bigger workout" that will in some ways simulate a race and get some of that VO2 max/racing stimulus our systems need, especially if we're not racing that much. This monthly workout may last more than 60min (especially if we do the Michigan or Putah Creek drill) but may still fit in the window (if we do Deeks Quarters or a 3200m time trial). It will depend.

The schedule will look something like this:

1st Tuesday of the month: fartlek lasting between 20 minutes and 30 minutes

2nd Tuesday of the month: long intervals + short intervals (ex. 5x3min @ 10k + 5 x 200m @ 800m)

3rd Tuesday of the month: A mix of tempo and faster stuff (ex. 10min tempo, hills, 10min tempo)

4th Tuesday of the month: Race simulator (ex. the Michigan, SOB 2K)

*Rinse and Repeat

Hill Sprints, why?

1) Sprinting is a healthy skill to maintain

2) Sprinting increases your "pool of recruitable muscle fibers." What does that mean? I'll make it simpler: hill sprints = more muscles (not bigger muscles), more muscles = more endurance

3) A healthy diet of hill sprints helps prevent a lot of running injuries

4) Sprints improve the connection between your brain and your muscle fibers

5) A lot of the speed you "lose" as you get older is really just a consequence of not playing ball sports where you spring all the time

6) Helps maintain muscular and neuromuscular strength that otherwise deteriorates with age

Why so few hill sprints? We'll increase them, but right now most of us aren't strong enough to do more, so we don't want to overdo anything. If you regularly lift weights or do hill sprints, then you can do up to 8 sprints with full recovery.

Why no jogging during the rest? Your body needs about 2-3 minutes of mostly standing rest to restore the creatine-phosphate that you use during a sprint. When you jog, you don't recover this system.

I'll not be there because I'll be at the gym in Vacaville lifting weights and then doing my sprints at the end. Right now it's best for our schedule to lift weights on Tuesday nights, so, unfortunately, that means that right now we're mostly going to miss Tuesday evening workouts.

These are the regular workouts that occur just about every week:

Tuesday nights - 5:45 p.m. - The Speed Workout

This workout changes every week, but it usually includes a 1 - 2 mile warm-up, 2 - 4 miles of tempo or intervals, and a 1 - 2 mile cool down. If you are a slower runner, you can usually keep up with the warm up and cool down, then adjust the speed portion to your ability. If you want to become a faster runner, this is the workout to make. The specific workout details are announced on club e-mail distribution list or the website.

Thursday Morning - 5:55 a.m. (TBD)

This group meets at Mercedes and Grande in North Davis and departs promptly at 5:55 am. The workout usually has a 2 mile warm up, a 2 - 3 mile tempo, and a 1 mile cool down. We try to be finished by 7 am since most of us have to go to work.

Thursday nights - 5:45 p.m. (meeting time); 5:55 p.m. (departure time)

These tend to be easy mileage and/or recovery runs. There are two standard loops of 6-7 miles. The main loop goes on the west UC Davis campus, and the "winter loop" goes East into Davis on a route that has good lighting and light traffic. Occasionally people will do hill repeats or another workout but start at the same time/place.

Saturday mornings - 8:00 a.m.

The standard distances are 7 or 10 miles, usually at a social pace. Marathoners often tack on additional miles before or after. GVH members will receive emails on runners wanting to meet early to tack on extra miles.

Additional workouts: GVH members receive notices by email of meet-ups, trail runs, racing, social events, retreats, and trips.

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