3x(4x150m)… 50m b/reps, 400m walk b/sets (8min)… goal time 21’s

Will – 21.3/21.4/22.9/21.1, 19.4/21.1/20.5/20.1, 20.7/21.6/20.9/19.9

Eric – 21.3/21.4/22.9/21.1, 19.4/21.1/20.5/20.1, 21.2/21.6/22.5/20.9

Chris - 21.3/21.4/22.9/21.1, 19.4/21.1/20.5/20.1,20.7/21.6/20.9/20.3

Marcell – 21.2/22.4/21.8/21.3, 20.1/20.9/20.3/20.8, 21.2/21.6/20.9/20.3

Devon – 21.2/22.4/21.8/21.3, 20.1/20.9/20.3/20.8, light strides 3^rd set

Will’s avg per set: 21.7, 20.3, 20.8 … overall avg. 20.9

Eric’s avg per set:  21.7, 20.3, 21.6 … overall avg. 21.2

Chris’s avg per set: 21.7, 20.3, 20.9 … overall avg. 20.9

Marcell’s avg per set: 21.7, 20.5, 21.0 … overall avg. 21.1

I told them all that my first observation was that the second set was their fastest, and the first rep in the second set was their fastest as well. What this told me is that they still were warming up throughout the first set. I told them that their competition warm-ups would have a little more high-level activity (some short sprints, etc.) following all the other stuff we do, so that they come into their race as they did beginning the second set. Third set was just slightly slower average, but that was to be expected as a little fatigue sets in. Very consistent throughout the workout, though, and they were able to pick it up at the end over the last two, so showed me that they weren’t hitting it too hard and just trying to hang on. A little bit of the distance coach in me, but I prefer seeing that (especially this time of year) rather than the workout getting progressively slower or them tightening up trying too hard to finish. I think the volumes/intensities were right this week.

Will is looking very smooth and relatively strong throughout the two workouts we’ve done this week. This upcoming week I’ll be transitioning him into doing more 800m type training, with an emphasis on developing his ability in the 1500m as well. We’ll be doing fartleks twice a week in the mornings, in addition to the other stuff he’s doing in the afternoons. I’ve outlined a real brief deal of what he’ll be doing below.

Eric is looking still kinda weak throughout these workouts (the 300’s on Wed and 150’s on Sat), which obviously has to change given that he’s a 400m/400h. I may need to spend a little extra time with him developing before we get into more difficult workouts.

Chris is still a little perplexing. The last few of these he’d start off a little slower for 50m but then pick up the straightaway and look strong. In my experience when people are tired but need to hit times they try to sprint to begin and hold on. And given that he’s probably the short sprinter of the group, it’s also extra surprising that he’d run these in that way. So trying to figure out what that means… Don’t get me wrong, he does have good 400m ability, too. But didn’t expect him to be that ‘strong’ to be able to run those like that.

Marcell has legs from hell. He was a stud in HS but like I may have mentioned I think tore both quads and didn’t know it until they had balled up and scar tissue galore. He’s got very little flexibility, is a little backsided with his running, and I think has pretty weak hamstrings. I think he may be a good candidate to take a little extra time to develop before we really crank the workouts. For example, I think that he and Eric may be better off doing some form of the 20/20, 18/18 type workout on Saturdays instead of the faster 150’s right now. Something where they are running a decent pace with little rest and can fatigue their muscles without getting them to a speed that may induce ‘failure’ of any kind.

Devon had to stop after the second set because he was feeling a little something in his hammy and I didn’t want to go any farther with the workout. I felt around in it and could feel a rope of tightness and it was tender. He was saying that he had a little numbing sensation in his foot as well (perhaps pinching on a nerve). I think he would also be very benefited by doing what I outlined for Eric/Marcell.

For Will, I think this would be my rough outline of his training:

Monday – AM off / PM speed + steady run + speed + oly weights

Tuesday – AM short-segment Fartlek (70 pace) / PM cutdown run + strides; BB weights

Wednesday – AM light or off / PM 60 pace reps (build from 20x200m to 3x1000m)

Thursday – AM light / PM long segment fartlek (80 pace) + BB weights

Friday – Easy running + hills + oly weights (possibly in AM, only one training session today)

Saturday – 50 pace reps (build from 8-10x200m to 3x500m) + BB weights or extra GS / PM off

Sunday – off/light

This provides him with 8-10 training sessions each week. In this type of instance I’m essentially hitting each of the 5 paces (under-under/under/on/over/over-over) once each week. In looking how I spread it out (Tuesday AM … Wed PM … Thu PM … Sat AM) I think that it may be feasible if the volumes are kept lower since quantity is this high. If I find this to be too much, the first fix will be moving the Tue AM fartlek to the Monday AM run; this will keep it with the same theme of a neuro-muscular day and will decrease the density of the workouts.