Measured fartlek for Will … goal:

Will – 5x3:30 on/2min off + 1x2min on/off + 1x1min on

Workout done on a nicely manicured grass soccer field, 333m around.

Workout 5x1000m + 666m + 333m w/333m jog b/reps @80-85 … goal time 3:20-3:32

Will – 3:23/3:23/3:20/3:21/3:24 … 2:08 … 50

last wk – 3:27/3:32/3:31/3:26/3:19 … 2:10 … 55

Will’s averages

1k’s – 80.8 pace (3:22) … 82.8 (3:27) last wk

666m – 76.8 pace … 78.0 last wk

333m – 60.0 pace … 66.0 last wk

What I was most excited about was that the entire workout took 4min fewer than last week, meaning his average rest went way down. Last week his average rest between everything was 3:50, and this week it was 3:15. For him to cover the 6k of work in 30sec faster than last week while also cutting down his rest by that much. Still has a way to go to getting the rest down to where I want. His first 333m jog was 2:20 and looked pretty good, but then they got slower from there.

Workout 1111/1212/1313/1212/1111 w/50m walk b/reps & 200m walk b/sets

Marcell/Chris – 13.7/14.3/14.4/14.7, 13.4/28.6/14.1/29.1, 14.7/43.5/14.5/43.2, 14.3/28.8/15.3/29.0, 15.7/14.3/13.6/13.0

*Chris’s 300’s were 45.0 and 45.2, and his last 200m were 30.3

Averages

Marcell – 14.3

Chris – 14.5 … didn’t do last two 1’s

Devon – 14.4 … did 1111/1212/13 (hamstring)

Eric – 14.2 … did 1111/1212 (calf starting to tight)

Rob – only did 1111 (hamstring)

So it appears that some of our cumulative training is catching up with them and their bodies are starting to feel some of the effects finally. I haven’t heard anything about soreness, really, to this point, despite all of the volume we’ve been doing. While I’m not immediately concerned about injuries, per se, I definitely am going to take this opportunity to back off a little now to avoid having to halt any future training altogether. I was a day or two away from doing this anyway, so might as well start it now. Looking back, there were some signs I probably ‘noticed’ but just needed to pay better attention to. Like the speed of their moving between routines, the way they carried themselves a little slower, etc.

Today’s workout specifically, I also think that I haven’t dictated to them well enough what I wanted from the 1111 workout. They are trying to be pretty aggressive with it, as opposed to being smoother and having this be a little more of a tempo/rhythm type day where they are recovering while running fast. I didn’t notice them having any problem last week because they were only a week into my training and much fresher. So 14.5’s was probably very rhythmic for them at that point. But this time, especially because of the 300’s in there, this workout seemed to be much more taxing. I actually had anticipated that it would have been easier for them this time, because there was only 5 sets of work instead of 6 as with the last 1111’s, since the total distance run (2800m) was the same in both. That was incorrect…

Another thing I noticed about today, was that their rest was MUCH longer than the last time we did this workout. Instead of 45s and 3min for the rest, they were taking more like 60-75s for the 50m walk, and 4-5min for the 200m walk. That, too, seems to be an indicator that they are 1) running too fast specifically in this workout, and 2) that their bodies are just a little more run down.

Ultimately… scrapping the 3x300m workout tomorrow and starting a little mini-recovery cycle from now until the end of this weekend (wed/thu/fri I have them… sat/sun are off). We will do some accels on Monday, and the test on Tue with them… then Wed-Sun as they head off to Thanksgiving break will be our real recovery cycle (esp. since they’re on their own)… They should come back fresh that next week, which is our first indoor meet. We’ll get that full week of training in, then a half week the following week before they head off to home for Winter Break (Dec. 9-Jan 4).