Posts in the Track Category at , Page 3

A Man Finds His Home Track

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Cait — 16 Comments ↓

A baby sits on the track and watches his mom run in circles. To the infant it’s nothing more than splotches of color, the reds and greens, the lights and darks, the shadows growing longer as the sun sets.

As a three year old, this child now plays in the long jump pit while his mom runs in circles. This time though he is more concentrated on the shovel in hand and the sandcastle he’s building in the ‘sandbox.’

As a nine year old this boy waits eagerly for his mom to finish up running those fast circles, the part she calls her ‘hard running.’ He watches her cross the line of her last interval, her slender form bends forward for just a moment before she again stands upright. He rushes towards her, she looks to him and smiles, “Ready?” He merely nods the approval and then they both take off running a few circles together.

Now a twelve year old, this boy has his first pair of ‘real’ running shoes. He’s even been able to run a whole mile…which seems like an epic distance in his mind. He now looks to the track not just as a blur or reds set to green, but with dreams and goals stamped between those lanes. He likes to look at the big number ONE in lane one; he likes to think that number is meant for him alone.

At fourteen he’s learned that this running in circles is hard business. There is much more to it than merely wanting to win, and to carry out those ‘secret messages’ calling to him from lane one he’s got to be willing to run even when he maybe doesn’t feel like it all the time.

By seventeen he’s had tastes of success, they’ve made him only hungrier for more. The victories are sweet, the PR’s even more-so but his eyes are focused ahead on what lane one has in store for him.

At twenty this man has moved through the usual levels of running; college has treated him well. He’s not the fastest on the team, but he’s not the slowest either. He is unsure of what the future has in store for him, but with running he is sure. The tracks are always the same regardless of where he is, what he is, and whatever ‘life’ has him doing. Track and running are nice constants.

By thirty this man has been world traveled; though he’s always had his running shoes packed as carry-on. Yet his favorite place to run is the very same track he used to sit and watch his mom run circles around; his home track. When he can he goes there and can still watch his mom run circles, though now at a slower pace. He joins her and does his own ‘hard running’ but they always convene for a few circles together at the end.

Now forty-three this man runs circles around a track; there is the beginning of a paunch on his stomach. When that actually appeared is still a bit lost on him, it seemed like it wasn’t there last year; though he knows this is in ‘runner’ comparison and he still gets called string bean by his work friends. He pants his way through the last interval, crosses the line, bends forward slightly for just a moment, rises and casts a glance at his baby girl sitting on the track.

He is now 80. He runs in circles around this home track of his; he doesn’t run with a watch on, he doesn’t care about the time, just the action. He is drifting far into the outer lanes, it seems over the years he’s felt more comfortable in lanes five through eight, he reserves lane one for the faster runners. The young bucks with dreams in their eyes and heck bent fury in their legs; he likes to watch them and remember what it feels like to be chasing. But he’s the only one at the track tonight. He closes his eyes and then he’s not alone; his mom is running circles around the track, his daughter is zealously chasing after him with shovel in hand, and they are all home.

1) Do any of your parents run, or anyone else in your family?

2) How old were you when you were able to run a full mile without stopping, and did you think it was a distance of epic length?
I was probably in Junior High before I could cover a full mile, and I honestly thought that if a person ran a WHOLE mile a few times a week they could win the Olympics. 😛

3) Today’s Olympic Trials related fodder…so it sounds like the tie-breaker for third place in the 100 meters is coming down to a coin toss. What say you, and how would you be feeling if your Olympic Team dreams were dependent on the flip of a coin?
Seriously, a coin toss? In my mind this seems pretty wonky, one of the things I really love about running is that usually you can’t ‘luck’ your way into something like a win, a PR or the Olympics…but dang if you were waiting for a heads or tails in that position you better HOPE you’d have luck!

Summer is Your Chance: Races, Opportunities, Transitions and Plenty of Running Excitement

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Cait — 14 Comments ↓

Summer is often a time of transition for runners and non-runners alike. For the harriers of the world with the season also comes a host of opportunities, possibly new beginnings, a few ‘coming out’ parties, and always a chance to be inspired and assess what kinds of goals you’d like to achieve going forward.

Summer IS Track: Regardless of what I’m wearing (though we all know it’s probably running clothes) or doing, when I think summer visions of the track, the taste of salt, and a phantom ache in my legs magically appears. For track fans and track runners I venture to guess I’m not alone, unfortunately the rest of America needs a little track brainwashing as anyone who’s watched some European races (or the lucky guys who’ve raced there) can attest!

Thankfully it’s an Olympic year so America’s stepped up its game, the Trials will have packed stands and a nice preview to that will be starting tomorrow and going through Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic. The buzz of the big championship races has set in, but not just for the elites; late May and June bring the High School State meets, the NCAA Championships, Masters Champs, all-comer meets and everything in between.

Summer is opportunities: All those meets I just mentioned leaves prime picking for people to get their speed on. Regardless of your age, where you are, or your distance speciality it’s great to switch gears, mix up what races you run and challenge yourself. A marathoner can jump into a mile and refresh the memory of full on lactic-onslaught from the gun. Racing outside your comfort zone will translate into better racing for your target distance too.

Summer is transition: For any graduates the summer marks an upcoming transition whether it’s to college or the ‘real world.’ With running it’s usually a matter of setting yourself up to best integrate into your new team, new training schedule, new coaches and new environment. If you’re off to college it’s easy to fall victim to the ‘over-eagar Freshman’ syndrome; of course be excited and ready to set high goals but just be careful not to over-do it either…if you’ve only ever run 20 miles a week don’t go straight into 50 mile weeks. For college graduates that might mean wondering where your running fits in with your life or job…that can be scary but with anything find what makes you happy and fit everything around it. Easier said than done, yea, but runners are great multi-taskers. 🙂

Summer is a time for coming out: Back to those big races, inevitably there are always those stories that capture our attention and put us in awe of people we’ve never heard of before. It’s more a matter of a person’s hard work finally paying off at the right moment; be it at the Olympic Trials, the high school state meet, or a collegiate runner splashing onto the elite scene. For those on the cusp of a potential party, run for it like you’ve always been doing and have confidence in yourself. As spectators watch and cheer for these ‘party throwing runners’ and gain motivation from them too. They had a goal, worked hard for it and persevered.

Summer is a time to assess: Maybe you want to be the one throwing that party next season, perhaps you are entering your senior year and want to go out with a bang, maybe you are just starting training for a race and maybe you’ve just fallen into the sport. Either way, the summer’s not only about big races but after those races it’s usually ‘base training’ time and then gearing up for the next upcoming season. Here’s when you should be taking a look at your current fitness and setting some goals going forward. That could be a race, a time, a place, making a team, or just getting some more speed. Set something concrete and be willing to put in the miles. Just keep running. 🙂

No matter who you are, (But I’ll like you more if you’re a fan of running…just say…hehe.) be excited for the summer season. Whether that’s cheering, battling race day nerves, over-coming track phobia, dreaming of cake on your long runs, anticipating college or just putting your treadmill through a beating. 🙂

1) What does the word summer bring to your mind?

2) What does your upcoming summer mean for you, what opportunities do you have? What does this summer bring for you running-wise?

3) Does this summer mark a transition for you?

4) If you had to quickly assess your running and what you’d like to achieve coming up, what would you say?

5) Who else is excited for some epic track races coming up here??
ME! 🙂

Track Your Rest – What’s the ‘Right’ Way to Recover Between Intervals

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Cait — 9 Comments ↓

In training, when you’re running hard intervals the emphasis is naturally on the hard sessions. You want to hit the splits and push yourself all the way through to the end. True, these hard sessions are what are going to tear down the muscles the most so that they can repair themselves and come back stronger…get you fitter and in the end faster.

How do you 'rest'?

But what does your recovery look like between these intervals? Do you cross the line and immediately come to a stand-still, a statue frozen in place relishing every second before you have to start the next one? Do you pace around a bit to collect yourself? Do you keep running, or jogging?

While the focus should still be heavily placed on the hard parts of your interval sessions taking a look at your recovery time can influence the gains you reap from the workout overall. Furthermore, shifting and adjusting the ‘rest’ phases of your workout can change both the kind of benefits you’ll be able to get and actually to the degree of which you are able to boost your fitness.

Let’s talk rest:

* A general rule of thumb is that the FASTER you’re trying to hit those intervals the MORE rest you should allow yourself. Fast-twitch muscle fibers can only fire for a short period of time, but they fire all-out and thus need more recovery before being fired again than your endurance-based, slow-twitch muscle fibers. If your aim for the day is to improve your base speed, say you’re doing 200 repeats, give yourself enough recovery so that you can really hit those 200’s and make them fast, that was the aim after all, right? Take a really slow 200 jog between each hard 200, don’t rush the recovery here.

* Active rest vs. standing. Here is where people may have slightly different opinions, but mine is that it’s better to keep moving, even if it’s only slow jogging, between each interval. Stopping dead and standing before jumping into another interval of hard running seems akin to pulling the emergency break and then peeling out; that next hard session is a shock to those ‘cold’ muscles. I’m of the school of thought that active rest, actually jogging recovery, is better for you.

I wouldn't suggest you take your rest this way. 😉

* Define your workout. What is your goal for the workout? If it’s speed then refer above for how to attack your recovery. The LESS recovery you give yourself between intervals the MORE heavily your workout is going to stress, and hopefully improve, your cardiovasular system and endurance. Your endurance system actually needs less time to recover, (Trust me, even though you may not want to go into the next hard one, your body may be…hehe.) and the more you whittle your recovery down the closer you’re mimicking an actual race. We don’t get any rest there, do we? An example here would be that for 800 repeats, say 6-10 rep’s, I usually would suggest a 400 jog. A 400 recovery lap would also be suggested if you’re doing 4-6 x 1600 meters.

* Adjust your active recovery. How fast or slow are you taking that recovery? Distance runners can be tempted to actually run our recovery even a hair too fast thinking it makes them tougher. That can be true to a degree, but not so much so that you’re never allowing your body to recover between intervals and sacrificing those hard rep’s. Honestly, in the grand scheme of things ratchet it back and don’t feel ‘guilty’ about truly jogging slow, a red flag to go slower on your recovery is if your hard interval times start to drop and fall off pace.

* Playing around with the recovery time. As explained above, cutting down the time of your rest turns it more into an endurance workout and entering the realm of distance runners. The more experienced runners have been known to take incredibly short rests, even run the rest rather quickly, and still hammer the workout. Remember though, that you should build up to that level and make sure you can handle it. An obvious way to gauge that is if you’re still hitting the splits your want; if you are, then go ahead and test yourself to see if you can handle less rest. As you are able to progress doing that you’ll be making the workout harder and should be seeing the the results with more gains in fitness. There’s actually a really great article on Running Times with more on this topic HERE.

Are you sick of me talking about all this rest? Well good, it’s time for your next interval…GO! 😉

1) What does your rest between hard intervals look like? Active recovery jog, stand-still, pace around, etc.

2) How do you adjust or ‘prescribe’ your recovery for a given workout?

3) If you coach, how do you adjust the rest for your athletes or what do your recommend?

4) Have you even thought that much about your rest between intervals? If not, you should…hehe.

A Non-Love Letter to Quarter Repeats: I wish I didn’t feel like such a misfit stepping onto the track in anticipation of 400’s

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Cait — 11 Comments ↓

A headline jumped through my screen, grabbed this runner around the around the neck and choked out a laugh, smile, then grimace from me in that order. ‘I Love Quarters.’ Now obviously all of our minds went right to track quarters, at this point we’re all so far brainwashed that there was no question what the topic was about. You say you love quarters, eh?

Okay, to be fair to the Running Times article quarters ARE great and yes, we all know they can hone your speed. Often times the workouts we dread the most are the ones we need to do the most…but to actually go and declare that we love them, well I don’t think I could go that far. I know there are people that could, but me, I’m more in love with my long runs and tempo runs.

When I think of quarters I, just like the author, am teleported back to my high school years. What is it about high school and quarter mile repeats? It seems like across the board those are the workouts we all seemed to do all the time. Not saying they don’t work, but just a funny observation there.

The article does a great job of exemplifying how there are a few ways to attack quarter repeats depending on your event and what you’re trying to accomplish, I won’t rehash it all here because Coach McMillan knows his stuff and is ~~probably~~ surely a better resource than I. The only thing I will add is that the quarter workout I recall doing the most my senior year of high school was 10 x 400 with 1 minute recovery jog between each. For a girl with NO speed they were literally all out for me from the get-go but the goal was to run them at my mile pace.

Did I declare my love for them at the time, well, I wouldn’t take it that far but I do believe they helped a lot. Speed was always my weak point, I already had the endurance, and for the high school level this workout isn’t all that complex but one I feel will get the job done.

All that said, quarters make my stomach churn and my face get all twisted up in anticipation…so not of the butterfly variety. Instead, here is my love letter to quarters:

“Dear Mr. 400 meter,
I really wish I could be your best friend and join your cool clique of runners who have an ongoing love affair with you. You know, the fleet-footed speedsters who make rounding the bend and hitting that extra gear look beautiful and effortless. The ones who devour the track with their silken smooth legs, but the same fierce legs with definition like none other. The muscles that are powerhouses pumping full throttle just below the skin. The athletes who can actually get out of a set of blocks and not just face-plant into the track when they take off.
But I’m not, I won’t try to fool anyone, you’d out me as a poser. But I try. The first 100 meters for me is the hardest as my body is trying to grapple with the shock of attempting to sprint. The second 100 meters feels the best, it’s the point where the shock wears off and the lactic acid onslaught has yet to begin…but we all know it’s coming. Passing the 200 I promise my body I’m half-way done (let’s not think about the other repeats, duh) but the legs are starting to realize that my body has instantly gained 300 pounds…hold it together fatso. The homestretch my mind and body are at war, my eyes are locked on the finish and I promise the misery is almost done, but my body begs to differ. I’m plowing through a load of sand trying to finish this d*** quarter. The last 50 my mind drifts to the split saying, “This better be what I want it to be, all this suffering BETTER yield me results or there will be h*** to pay.
I don’t love you, and I’m sorry to be so blunt, I’ve found honesty works best; I love you when I’m done and the workout went my way, but in the end I still know I’m a poser when I step onto the track and go into 400 repeats.
Ambiguously yours,
The Arty Runnerchick”

1) Quarters…love them or hate them?

2) If you ran in high school do you also seem to recall an insane amount of repeat quarters as the basis of nearly all of your workouts?? Hehe.

3) If you do quarter repeats what’s your usual workout? If you don’t, what kind of workout do you do that is geared towards working on your speed?

4) If you have something, a particular workout, that you really don’t love but wish you had more of an affinity for, what is a short little bit you’d like to express to that workout in the manner of my little love letter?

Why All the Track Hate? Overcoming Track-Phobia

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Cait — 19 Comments ↓

Don’t fear the track, embrace it. I have to admit that after yesterday’s post I was a little surprised that it seemed I was in the far minority when it came to actually liking the track. *Gasp* Now, I know that red carpet can seem a little daunting but really, there is no need to run away. Why all the track hate?

Sure, I can see it, the track doesn’t lie. There are no hills to explain away a slow mile here or there, you can’t exactly hide either. Nope, you’re full frontal on the track…exposed. It’s easy to get too wrapped up in the splits, numbers, and monotonous laps but you can do that anywhere. To be fair, the watch doesn’t lie either.

So all this track hate, or I guess track phobia, seems to be an issue begging to be addressed. There are SO many reasons to hit up the oval regardless of whether you plan on racing on it:

* Speed. I’ll pause for you to get all the shudders and groans out if you must, but I’ll say this: it is INCREDIBLY easy to get stuck in a pace rut. Guilty as charged on that one, I didn’t get the nickname ‘One-Speed Chock’ for nothing, but the only way to get out of a rut is to push and pry yourself out of it. If you don’t ever change anything nothing will ever, well, change. Pick at least one day a week and denote it as speed play day…you don’t have to make it too regimented if that scares you off at first. Start simple: warm-up and then alternate slow/fast 200’s…start with 8 laps total and for those 8×200 meters of pick-ups let your stride open up, relax, and the let speed take over. Finish with a cool-down of course. If it feels foreign at first, that’s okay, after a while it will feel a little better…then a little bit more…etc. (Racers-For those already in love with the track and racing, this 200 meter workout can be an excellent tune-up before race day, think two or three days before…the difference is for you really do hit those 200’s fast!)

Okay, I can see why the track can be intimidating for some...but it hurts in the GOOD way! 😉

* Pace says what? If you live near a track, during one of your regular runs plan your route so you can do one of those middle miles on the track. Check to see what your pace is without looking down at the splits, try and test how well your pace gauge is. This is helpful for a few reasons: 1) if it’s an easy day you can really check yourself and see if you are in fact running the right pace for you to recover 2) you want to be able to become better at ‘sensing’ what a certain pace feels like.

* Fast finish. Doing pick-up runs, or adding in a quick, up-tempo mile at the end of some of your steady runs is an excellent way to ‘sneak’ in some quality running that won’t tax your body so much that you’ll be too tired for your next hard workout. Doing just one fast mile at the end of some of your easy runs isn’t enough ‘hard’ running to really zap your legs, and if you do that enough those ‘extra’ miles of quality will add up. Pick a day, do your steady run and end so that you can finish your last mile on the track and run it close to your 10k or half-marathon race pace.

* Tempo. Yes, do your entire tempo on a track…it can seem monotonous but there are people out there doing upwards of 20 miles on a treadmill, you can’t tell me they can’t handle circles. Not only will you probably surprise yourself with a faster time than you’re doing on the roads, this can do wonders for the ego, but you can also use this time to work on that little pace recognition I was talking about. Fine tuning that inner metronome will work wonders come race day; it can help save your race if you are able to sense if you’re going out too fast, or too slow.

Tips to get you spooning with the track…still not convinced that the track is for you?

Start to love that view!

* The Right-Away: If you do a sizable amount of running on the track, do half of it running the ‘correct’ way, counter-clockwise, and then the other half running in the clockwise direction. Be mindful if others are on the track and maybe run in the outside lanes for this ‘wrong’ way running. The reason for this is that always turning left can lead to some imbalances, and it’s good to keep things even if you can. This also can help break up the run and beat boredom.

* Sans Watch: On the track it’s easy to just run for distance so you can chuck the watch. You can then make sure you’re running true recovery pace and off of feel for your easy days and it relieves the pressure if you get too stressed on hard workouts; just run hard.

* Get company: Getting faster is possible with the track AND with people for those hard days…can’t say it enough: “If you want to get better, train with someone better than you.”

* Baby Steps. Bill Murray had it right, the only way to get over a phobia is to expose yourself to it and baby steps work. Just get your bums out there and I promise once you see the improvements through speed play in your race times you’ll start loving your track time! 🙂

1) Are you at least a wee bit more convinced you could like the track? Is there a way you can go out on a limb and proclaim at least ONE way you will utilize the track more?

2) If you already do use the track, what’s your favorite workout or run on it?
Tempo runs. I’m a dork and actually looked forward to my 10 mile tempo runs on the track…no lie.

3) Are you plumb sick of me shoving track love down your throat? If so, would I make you like it more if I added in there is Track Town Pizza in Eugene, OR you should hit up…it at least has Track and Pizza together, so maybe it will work as a little subliminal message to like both as equals?? 😉

4) What’s going on for you Monday?

A Fortune For Your Cookies, A Cookie For Your Runners

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Cait — 13 Comments ↓

Track and cookies, what could be better?

When I think of track I think of speed, splits, adrenaline, excitement, nerves, tempos, intervals, and races. There is something special about spiking up and toeing the line. The process of going through your warm-up, playing the race out in your mind a million times over, those last strides that are just as much a burst of speed as a means to expel the last remnants of doubts and nerves.

Time to get to the line. You anxiously stand poised awaiting the starter pistol and just when you don’t think you can stand one more SECOND of anticipation…CRACK…all else melts away, nerves are forgotten, and it’s you, the track, and the race.

1) Do you like track? What’s your favorite part?

2) Do you dread the track? Some people even have a bit of a phobia with it when it comes to doing a workout on the track, the track shouldn’t be scary, learn to love it!

3) What’s your favorite track event to run? If you don’t run track do you watch it, and what’s your favorite event to watch?

4) What’s the best fortune you’ve even gotten in a cookie?

Running, Racing, Tapering, Peaking and Avoiding the Burn-out Factor

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Cait — 8 Comments ↓

Bring on track season! All us track nerds and nerdettes are no doubt loving that those high energy, big draw events are kicking off, all culminating in the grand daddy of them all which we wait for every four years, the Summer Olympics. I’m partial here, but the Summer Games are so much better than the Winter ones, am I right? 😉

Still, even though Mt. Sac, Stanford, and Hayward Field are hosting some pretty big ticket track meets that always boast a quality field, awesome races, and packed stadiums, technically it is still really early in the season. We’ve yet to even hit May here and while it’s always nice to have a fast time under your belt the important thing is to be running your best at the END of the season for those championship races. (An exception can be if you need a qualifying time, which is always nice to get done earlier rather than later because it can be a huge stress reliever.)

If you missed the article I wrote featured in the May issue of Running Times, you can read it online now: “Blazing Start, Mid-Season Blahs.” No one wants to be the runner who lights up the track in the first meet of the season but never even makes it to the starting line of the championship races come June and July.

Timing your fitness, what many call peaking, is a tricky beast and there are a myriad of factors to be considered. Part of it is timing your training schedule, another is making sure you’re running your workouts at the appropriate level, adjusting volume levels, and what kind of workouts you’re doing are just naming a few.

You don't want to feel like you're dying AND still watching your times take a nose-dive.

Watching your workouts take a nose-dive as the season progresses, feeling overly fatigued and dreading each run because the miles take infinitely more effort and still are slower than you’d like is mentally crushing. This can happen even if you’re not racing in a structured season, the burn-out factor can happen to the best of us…the big question is whether you are able to turn it around and start feeling like there is some life in those legs!

The article covers some key elements to reversing the burn-out feeling, but I’ll just give you a few other thoughts here too:
* Know your body and the situation: Everyone handles training differently and a part of racing and running your best is being attuned to your body and how it adapts to different workouts, work loads, stressors, etc. There’s the ‘lag effect’ that often happens whenever you add something new to the training routine, change coaches/programs, increase volume, increase intensity, etc. The adjustment period can mean that you might actually have to take a few steps back before you adapt and then start to improve again. If you know this is going on, you can trace this to feeling burned out; the difference is here, it’s usually a case of needing to stay the course, stay patient, and wait until you crest the hill.

* Too much too fast and too soon: Getting overzealous and overly excited (it can happen!) for an upcoming season can lead people to spike their miles and hammer their workouts way too early in the season. Remember the 10% mileage increase rule (only go up that amount in mileage each week) as well as the fact that reining it in at times can be the harder, but smarter choice to ensure you last the full season.

* The glass analogy: Think of your entire season as a glass of water; the water is a combination of both physical and mental energy, both of which you need to perform at your best come the big time, late season races. You want to really only be sipping that water in the pre-season and early season races because the goal is to save the majority of that water for the championship races. For those races you’ll want enough water left over to not just take little sips, but some gulps so you can really take your game up to the next level. If the glass is already empty come that time you’re not going to be able to do that.

* Mental approach to racing and running: Over-racing can lead to mental energy being zapped too much too early; it takes a lot to talk yourself up and kick it up for a race compared to a workout. Take each race and think of how it plays into the big picture; if it’s a little meet you shouldn’t approach it the same as the national finals. Set a goal for each race depending on how it fits into your grand plan; if it’s not a major race, part of that goal is to take a more relaxed approach to it so you don’t drink too much of that water.

Time and pace your season right so you race your best when it counts the most.

That dead feeling in your legs is NO fun; honestly we’ve all starting digging ourselves into the hole of feeling burned out (physically and or mentally) at one point or another, but it IS possible to avoid digging all the way to the Earth’s core. Put down the shovel and looking up to the sun. 🙂
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In case you missed my BIG NEWS about the very first Arty Runnerchick running shirts…feel free to catch up on the announcement. 🙂
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1) Have you ever dug yourself into the hole I’m talking about? Were you able to turn it around? This applies to people who don’t necessarily race track, over-training can happen to everyone.

2) How do you distinguish the burned out feeling versus just being tired for a few runs, workouts, or days?

3) How do you save the water in your glass so that it lasts for the whole season and there is enough to drink more of it for the big, key races?

4) When’s your next race, did you race this weekend?

Plyometrics for Runners Part II – Jumps and Hops: I caught the Easter Bunny hopping away plyo style

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Cait — 4 Comments ↓

Let’s talk some plyometrics.If you’re reading this and your face is already smeared with chocolate and Peeps sugar residue, you’ve done the Easter Bunny thing right. 😉 Just kidding…Happy Easter to those who celebrate and Happy Sunday to those who don’t.

Jelly beans also work their way into those eggs! 😉

But because we have bunnies on the brain today I thought it fitting we revisit the topic of plyometrics, this time covering hops and jumps. You can read the Part I on bounds and skips.

This time of year also falls into early track season; here is a prime time to build strength by incorporating plyometrics into your training. Plyo’s, because they are intense, fast-twitch muscle focused are taxing on the body and even if you don’t feel sore right away that will usually change come the next day. Because of this you have to be careful not to over-do them and typically you’ll want to ease back on these plyos, or cut them out entirely, come peak racing season.

During base building phases and early season is your opportune time to increase you strength and work on areas you need to improve on. If you’re not racing track, or not racing at all, plyo’s are still great because they:

1) Build strength and power; this translates into speed and the ability to end your races faster with a kick
2) Build more muscle; more muscle mass and less fatty tissue is always a good thing 😉
3) Rev up metabolism;similar to interval sessions, intense bouts of plyo’s not only get your heart rate up there while you’re doing them but they create an after-burn effect where your metabolism is elevated for hours after you complete the workout

Channel your inner sprinter; plyo's will build your speed and give you that fast finishing kick! 🙂

Let’s get into the hops and jumping variety of plyo’s:

* Rocket jumps: Start standing with feet about shoulder width apart. Bend down into a squat and touch the ground with your hands and then blast up into the air, extending your arms up over your head. Reach for the sky and try to get as high off the ground as you can. Get back down into the squat and blast again. Start with one set of 10.

* Single leg butt-kicker leaps: Start balancing on your right foot and keep your left leg bent and off the ground for all of this jump. For this jump you want to achieve two things: clear as much distance as you can AND get your right leg up high into the air and kick your bum. You will look funny doing this, but that’s okay. Do 10 jumps on your right leg and switch to your left.

* Star jumps: Similar in look to jumping jacks, the star jump is different in that you will raise your arms and legs out at the same time. Start standing feet together and arms at your side; jump up into the air, kick your legs out to the sides and raise your arms up until they meet over your head. When you land you want you finish in the same position as you started. As you build power you’ll want to test yourself to see how high you can jump and how far apart you can get your legs during each jump. Do a set of 10 to start.

* Single leg step-up blasts: Find a bench that when you place your right foot on it your quad is about parallel to the ground and both knee and hip bent at 90 degrees. Start in this position and with you left leg still on the ground, step-up and transfer your bodyweight onto your right leg and swing your left leg up towards your chest as you go. Once you are standing on the bench keep the step-up momentum going and then blast off with your right leg into a jump. Try to jump as high as you can, land back down on your right leg and then lower down into the starting position. Your arms during this will swing in the opposite arm/opposite leg motion you do while running. Do a set of 10 with your right leg and switch to your left.

* Quick feet bench taps: Use a bench the same height as you did the step-up blasts; start facing the bench with both feet on the ground. Here you will alternate quickly tapping the bench with your right foot and then your left. You do this in a continued hopping motion; right tap, left tap, right tap, etc. The aim is to keep moving and to get those feet to fire off the ground, to the bench, and back down again as quickly as possible without losing balance. Your arms will follow the opposite arm/opposite leg motions you do as running. Start with a set of 20 toe-taps; that would be 10 taps for each foot.

These are 5 great jumping plyometrics to get you started in building a routine. If you’re new to plyo’s, remember it is QUALITY over QUANTITYand if you need to slow down or take longer breaks to complete them right that is better than doing more sloppily. Doing them with poor form will only re-instill bad habits and set you up for an injury. Secondly, for your first few times only do a set of 10, you may feel like it was ‘easy’ but typically you want to walk away from a session tired but not demolished; with plyo’s the fatigue sets in later and even if you don’t feel like it, the muscle tissues were broken down.

Do a plyometric routine after your hard workout day; finish your cool-down them move into those plyo's.

For runners, here are points to remember:
* Do plyo’s on days you already did a hard workout. It sounds off, but you don’t want to add plyo’s to your easy days because that will defeat the purpose, you’ll never recover and then come your hard workout days you’ll be spent and tired.

* Start with doing plyo’s only 2, up to 3, times a week with at least one day between them. Start with only 1 set of 10 for the first week, if not the first few, and work your way up to 3 sets of 10.

* Allow full recovery between each set. You want to be fully recovered between each set so you can give each jump the most power; you’re working on your explosiveness not your endurance here…channel your inner sprinter.

* Mix and Match: If you’re doing more than one plyo session a week, do jumps and hops one day and switch to the leaps and bounds routine the next time you do them. Get a good variety of what you’re doing, as with any other training philosophy.

Once you’re done with your plyo’s be sure to refuel like a champ within 30 minutes to get the recovery window!

1) What’s your favorite Easter type candy…are you all about the chocolate eggs, the Peeps, or were you one of those kids who actually looked for the real hard-boiled ones and ate those?

2) Do you do plyo’s and if so, which are your top picks? If you don’t, would you be willing to try them?

3) If you don’t do plyo’s, what do you do to work on your power and speed?

4) Anyone race this weekend?

Your First BIG Race: I remember mine, Arcadia 2000…Do you remember yours?

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Cait — 3 Comments ↓

When I read that the Arcadia Meet was happening this weekend, I admit to smiling.Yes, I’m 26 and FAR removed from high school competition (the way I act though sometimes may beg to question if that’s where I do belong though…hehe.) but for a quick minute indulge me in a little nostalgia.

Run with me...back in time for a bit...

When I was a freshman running track, The Arcadia Invite was the first really big meet I had ever been too. To me it felt HUGE, epic even…but not just because it was the first meet that was going to be run late enough that the whole place was dark minus the track illuminated by those big floodlights. Arcadia’s got two meets, the day meet and the night, the night meet is the invitational where you have to have a qualifying time to get in. Because it was pretty selective only one other girl from my school came down, Liza Negriff a triple jumper and still a friend I have today! That year was to be especially interesting because current high school senior Alan Webb was going to make an attempt to break 4 minutes for the mile.

Little side tangent here, little dorky high school Runnerchick was in awe of Alan and by chance we happened to be at the track the day before doing our shakeout runs at the same time and I felt all ‘special’ because I got to talk to him. Like one of those random people that somehow gets past the red rope and bumps into a celebrity…oh us runners and our running celebs. 😉 The even funnier part is that it turned out that Alan Webb and the rest of his relay team happened to be staying at the same hotel as us and was in fact only a few doors down…somewhere I have a picture of us all in the hotel…wow, and I think I still had braces. 😉

Back to Arcadia, this was my first big meet…okay, I said that. A few things stand out in my mind about the whole ordeal, like the reel skips and pauses in random spots. I tend to have a very photographic memory but also weird in that it’s random details I can recall exactly but maybe not the bigger things. The day passed and of course I was nervous…I hate any race that isn’t first thing in the morning because you wonder what in the heck you’re supposed to do with yourself all day! You just sit there and stew…and then you have to worry about planning out your food and what will sit okay in your stomach.

I’m pretty good at managing my nerves; I say that meaning I do get nervous as heck but I’m able to channel them to help me rather than lead to an implosion. Tip for race nerves: come up with your solid race plans (yes that’s plural because you may have to adjust mid-way through) days before, then stuff the race out of your mind two days leading up. Then only get into race game mode when you start your warm-up. As you go about your race day warm-up routine it helps calms your nerves; going through the same, exact motions brings a normalcy to the day and run and gives you something concrete to focus on.

So I get to the line, and for the first time I’m lined up next to girls I had only read about or seen on high school websites. These girls were legit, they were my high school idols, and there I was looking at them…but I didn’t wet my little bunhuggers, I toed the line for the 3200 meters and off we went.

I don’t remember much from the race, I tend to zone out during them, and because the field was so fast I didn’t have to worry about doing any thinking really…plan: latch onto some pack and try to hold on. Time was irrelevant, I didn’t even look at the clock once. I will admit, embarrassingly, that for some odd reason the whole darkness and spotlights sort of threw me for a loop and for a couple laps I wasn’t sure if I was at the 200m mark or the start/finish point! Hey, I WAS only a dumb frosh. 😉

Anyways, the whole way I did just what I set out to do, I latched onto some faster girls, not the fastest pack but another pack behind them, and dug down to stay with them. Crossing the line I was still in awe of the girls around me, but they felt closer in a way than they did prior to the start. I did after all earn my spot to race against them, even though they spanked me I was at least fast enough to line up with them, I guess I belonged on some level.

I had no clue what my time was until I saw my coach and mom jumping up and down yelling at me. I PR’ed by about 30 seconds I think…I was ecstatic.

Back to random clear and day details, we refueled that night at Claim Jumper (if you ever go there you MUST ask them for a slab, not a slice this thing is a full on slab, of their chocolate mother-lode cake.) and Liza, my mom, and I all had the loaded, stuffed baked potato. I joked that this potato literally had to be on steroids, if you’ve never been to Claim Jumper I think pretty much everything they serve is the ‘roided up sized version. 😉

So the Arcadia Invite certainly brings back some awesome and funny memories. Good luck to all those high schoolers racing, and if you’re in the position of lining up next to some of your high school idols…don’t wet yourself, instead remember that you earned the spot to line up next to them. You belong there…go out and race. And that goes for anyone, there will always be times when you feel like you’re in over your head, but chances are you did something to get there.

HERE are some race tips if you’re interested. HERE is a piece of visualization and how to use it to improve your performance. And HERE are some tips on battle pre-race nerves.

1) Do you remember one of your first races or one of the first big races you ran?

2) Do you get nervous before races or hard workouts?

3) What time do you prefer to race or run at?
Morning all the way!

4) Tip for a newbie racer?
Don’t go out too fast. 🙂

5) Do you have a running idol? Have you ever met them?

Approaching a Race: Depending on your goal going in how you run could be markedly different

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Cait — 2 Comments ↓

Who are you up against on race day, the clock or the runner next to you? Everyone goes into a race with a different goal, be it just to finish, to be a scoring member of their team, set a PR, or go for the win. The funny thing with racing is that, contrary to what some may think, it’s NOT always a test of who is the fasted on the given day. There is a strategy behind all this running in circles. (okay, or running on the roads or cross country courses…hehe.)

There’s a good read up on Running Times: “Chasing Vs. Racing” that highlights just this fact. Depending on what your GOAL is for the race the way you approach it is going to be very different.

* The clock. If you’re jut going out there and chasing a PR, you may not necessarily be concentrating on who else is in the field, you’re thinking more about yourself. Sure you can use the other harriers to your advantage and let them pull you along; there is no better way to zone out than to latch on and let others do the pacing work for you.

Zone out and daydream about the beach...don't think about the burning in your legs. 🙂

* The competition. Vying for the win could mean that time really doesn’t matter; prize money and titles on the line could mean you’re crawling at the beginning, each runner sizing the others up, playing a game of chicken, and waiting to see who makes a move. Here is the strategy we talked about. In the article Diego Estrada running for Northern Arizona said it nicely, “The stress and anxiety kick in during championship season, and you’re second-guessing yourself because you know it’s going to be tactical.”

What are those tactics? Sure there’s waiting until the last lap and finding out who has the best kick, but there are also surging techniques, and in a Prefontaine type style there are the lone soldiers who refuse to sit behind a dawdling pace and press it from the gun. The question is then if they will pay the price at the end and be out-kicked by a runner who was more conservative or sat behind them and let them do all the pacing work. There is something to be said for having patience and being confident enough to not go out guns blazing from the start…we do know negative splits work well for the body.

Sure, you may not be up front and in the position for a win but there could be plenty of other stakes on the line; you’re on a team and want to be a scoring member this time, it’s your first attempt at a new distance and you’re not exactly certain how you’ll be feeling or how you should best approach the race. That’s why going into a race with a couple strategies is important; find out what each race means to you, what your own personal goal (or multi-goals) are, and then plan for what could happen based on the variables:

* The conditions
* The competitors and the moves they may make
* How your legs are feeling on that day

There are no sure things in running, racing, and life. Be prepared for what ‘could be’ and then be ready to roll with the punches.

1) What are some of the main reasons you race or goals you have going in? (ie: time, place, etc.)

2) How do you approach the race given your goal, do you come up with a strategy beforehand or do you just ‘run’?

3) Readjusting your goal or plan during a race can be difficult but necessary at times; was there a time you had to do that and how did you make the call?
Those days that you take off and the legs feel like lead, you know it’s not going to be pleasant; in those times it’s easiest to find a person and hold on…try not to lose contact and take your mind elsewhere…just don’t let a gap between you and them occur. You may not get the PR you set out for but you can still salvage the race.

4) What kinds of races do you prefer, the tactical ones or the ones where you are going after fast times?
I hate tactical races, but mostly because any time I race I’m the person with NO kick. 😉

5) Even if you just race to run and have fun it’s nice to have some goals too! If this is you, why are you excited to be there at the starting line and then finish?