Joe Rubio/ JK question

Keep the easy days EASY. If the pace feels like it's a joke, just run an extra mile or two. When you have to race 8,000m several times in a 9-10 week period (and possibly a couple of 10,000m races after that), it's hard to recover adequately if the easy days are all done at a "medium" pace. Additional mileage at a somewhat slower pace is more beneficial.

Have a workout (or two, if it's a non-race week) each week which involves running the high end of aerobic effort. These sessions can take the form of continuous runs or repeats with very short rest periods. "Progression" runs are good as continuous outings. These start at a crawling pace and use the first couple of miles to slowly warm up. The next couple of miles are used to GRADUALLY work the pace down toward the high end from the SLOW side. Then about 3 miles are spent locked in at the high end. This pace should actually feel GOOD and should NOT involve any struggling. Again, the RACES cover the base of "hard" continuous runs, so doing the high end workouts at anything faster than a MEDIUM effort would hamper recovery and could potentially be ruinous. If there was no race in the last several days, the final half mile of a progression run can be smoothly accelerated until the pace is really FAST by the last 20 seconds. A short cool-down jog can follow. Sometimes, 4-6 short strides can be added in the middle of the cool-down jog (usually done if the last half mile of the progression run was NOT picked up). Some continuous high end runs should be done on the road for consistency in footstrikes and rhythm; others should be done on a X-C course with some long flat sections and some hills. The pace will be slower on the grass, but pace should not be as much of a concern as finding the high end of aerobic effort.

REPEATS at the high end can be of almost any length (i.e., anything from 15-20 x 1 min. all the way up to 3 x 15 min.) but the rest periods should be SHORT. As with the continuous runs, a comfortably fast, floating feeling is the goal. If short distances are used (such as 1 min. runs with 20-30 secs. rests), the pace will be a little faster than it would be on longer repeats (like 5 x 7 min. with 2 min. rests), but the same "steady state" feeling should be achieved. That is, a workout like this is a MEDIUM effort and is not intense or anaerobic at all. Some workouts of repeats at the high end can be done on the X-C course and others on a track to get a little faster pace.

Do not drop the mileage too early in the season. When the training volume is reduced, it obviously becomes easier to recover from shorter, faster sessions, but the drawback is that conditioning will also be lost. The tendency for most college teams is to place too much importance on early races and to therefore start cutting back the mileage and introducing hard, fast workouts too soon. It's better to keep the "hard" workouts at more of a medium intensity and to wait until October to drop the mileage. You should, of course, be doing SOMETHING about your speed once or twice per week, but this should usually take the form of SHORT strides (less than 200m). These strides can be done up or down hills if desired.

Most of the "hard" repeats (done only once per week at most) should be 2-4 min. at at pace between 3,000m and 5,000m race pace, with nearly equal rest-to-run ratios and with about 15-20 min. total time spent at pace. Examples would be 8-10 x 2 min. on/2 min. off or 5 x 4 min. on/3:30 off. This format works the respiratory muscles, improves the ability of the left ventricle to deliver more blood per stroke, induces maximal oxygen uptake, and provides a small (but not excessive) degree of lactate tolerance. The speeds are also faster than 8,000m race pace, so the runners should feel a little more comfortable when they drop back to race pace. As with the high end repeats, these "VO2max" repeats can sometimes be done on the X-C course and sometimes on the track.

An OCCASIONAL really high intensity workout such as 8 x 400m FAST (1:30-1:40 rests) can be performed. Do these on the track to avoid stepping on uneven footing at a fast, tying-up pace. These sessions which cause rigging out should be limited, but they aren't ALL bad. Include about 4-5 such workouts during the whole season. Keep the reps at 45 secs. to 2 min. and spend 6-10 min. total at these fast speeds during the workout. Rest periods should be about 1.5 times the run periods. Examples: 8 x 300m with 1:15 rest or 5 x 700m with 3:30 rest.

Do not race every week. Only schedule about 4 or 5 races up through the conference meet (about a 9-10 week period from the start of school). A couple of the races should be unimportant ones in which the team "packs it up" and deliberately runs negative splits. This will leave the runners feeling fresher than if they had torn out of there during the first mile and spent the rest of the race laboring.

Thanks JK as usual that was very insightfull!

JK thanks for all of the helpful info. I appreciate your time.

Shaq,

Got lucky to see this as I haven't been on this message board in a while. I guess the easiest way for me to address your question is to just list out what I have planned for this coming fall's XC season. Here's the outline I've drawn up for the locals here in San Luis Obispo in preparation for USATF Fall XC Nationals in Rocklin on 12/14 (http://www.resultzone.com/xcnatls/). Most people on it are middle-long distance track and road types who are post collegiates, so please take into account most are in their mid 20's through their early 40's. Whatever their real ages, their training ages are 8 years or more, except for Hesch who is on #4 running-wise and 8+ if you count triathlons. This is also the basic schedule I send the Aggies. It's essentially a 6 month multi paced program based almost entirely on Vigil's model. He's put a heck of a lot more thought and research into this than I ever could, plus I understand the theory behind it and it makes sense to me, so I stole it (with his permission of course ;). It should also look very familiar to those with Hazen's book on XC as well. Vigil and Hazen refer to paces each month as percentages of max, I just converted those percentages into race paces because that's how my brain works. It follows a progression of keeping the volume of work at pace X relatively consistent throughout the season but decreasing the recovery each month. So if you're doing stuff at 5k pace, in month #1 it's 400's x 16 w/ 400 recovery (4 miles worth of work at 5k pace with 4 miles recovery), in month #2 it's 800's x 8 w/ 400 recovery (again, 4 miles worth of volume with ½ the recovery of month #1 - 2 miles), in month #3 it's 1600 x 4 w/ 400 jog (4 miles worth of work with only 1 mile recovery). Not rocket science, but it helps me keep tabs on where we should be at each month in an easy to follow format. I have people do this for all speeds, 1500 pace, 3k pace, 10k pace, tempo pace etc. Same volume of work at pace X, decreased recovery each month. I start with the volume of work I want done at pace x during the last month and work back from there. So in the above case of 5k work, I expect the guys to be able to tolerate 4 x 1600 at 5k pace with 400 jog, from this I worked backwards to where we are now. Some ask about goal pace and date pace. I tend to work on date pace as the use of multi paced training means you are doing work at goal pace somewhere along the standard 2 weeks rotation of workouts, it's just done at a volume of work and with a recovery period appropriate to the athlete's fitness at that particular point of the season.

We're just getting started with the hill reps in stage 4 right now. An added element that doesn't appear on the outline, but I am strongly suggesting to the middle distance types is taking one day each week (Monday or Thursday) and doing something along the lines of the following: 30-40 minute run, then 4 laps of stride the straights/jog the turns, then run a good, solid 400. Untimed, but a good effort (ie 1500 effort) focusing on great form with good turnover and a forceful pushoff. 15 minute warm down to follow. Irv uses 100's w/ a 300 jog, I've used 150 accelerations on the diagonals of a football field in the past. This is just another way to get the same effect. As we go forward I will make it a point to work with acceleration ladders, plyo's etc on this day. It'll act as our speed/form enhancement day. I stole the controlled 400 idea from Jeff Johnson. Seems like a good idea, so I took it. Keeps the chimps in tune with their wheels without having them go to the well to get it done and it packages it in a format that's not too hard to swallow.

Another idea I've started using with the locals that I did myself in my marathon days and am bringing back based on my readings of the Portuguese middle distance guys program are the long warm ups. They do 30 min warmup and 15 min cooldown with a second run of the day of 40 minutes or so. I did the same thing except with a 30 min warmdown in my marathon days with good results. I'm having the locals do the Silva/Portuguese method this season to add a bit of volume in there without them realizing it.

Here's the outline. Like anything else, it's not written in stone, it can and will be changed. Still, it's pretty close to what we will do from now through 12/14, which is real similar to what I've had people do the last 4-5 years or so. No exact, but close. Finally, Hesch and Aeron will continue with an additional 4-6 weeks of prep after 12/14 for indoors. Just a good period of multi paced training focused around 1500 speeds. Please let me know what questions you have or if you want to know what the heck was going through my head when I wrote up certain sections. Hope it helps. Best of luck the coming season.

Joe (joe@venuesports.com)

SLO Fall training schedule 2002.

Emphasis: XC, road, fall track endurance work

Goals: To methodically build aerobic endurance through progressive workloads. Athlete's health is of primary importance. Improvement within the season and beyond previous season's is the hallmark of success. Ideally want the athlete to exhibit the greatest focus on the championship meets, specifically PA's and Nationals.

Overview:

6/9-6/22: Stage 1: Recovery period (2 weeks):

-Goal: Recover from previous season's work.

6/23-7/6: Stage 2: Transition (2 weeks):

-Goal: Re-establish consistent training into the routine.

7/7-8/4: Stage 3: Easy base (4 weeks in length - week #4 is an easy week)

-Goal: Get back on the miles.

8/4-8/31: Stage 4: General Conditioning I. (4 weeks - week #4 is easy)

-Goal: Reintroduce some intensity, while maintaining the weekly miles.

-Workouts: Hill reps, negative splits.

9/1-9/29: Stage 5: General Conditioning II (4 weeks - week #4 being an easy week)

-Goal: XC training and higher weekly miles

-Workouts: Mile reps at tempo, 400's at 5k pace, steady run at marathon pace, fartleks at 10k effort

9/29-10/26: Stage 6: XC Specific training. (4 weeks - week #4 being an easy week)

-Drop the miles slightly, increase the intensity.

-Workouts: Mile reps at 10k, 400's at 3k pace, longer tempos, grass loops at 5k.

10/27-11/24: Stage 7: Final push (4 weeks - week #4 being an easy week)

-Focus on higher intensity work.

-Workouts: Mile reps at 5k, 400's at faster than 3k, 800's at 3k, Wake Forest drill

11/25-12/14: Stage 8: Taper, sharpening. (3 week at declining levels).

SLO Fall training schedule 2002.

Detailed write up:

6/9-6/22: Stage 1: Recovery period (2 weeks)

2 weeks no more than 4 days of running per week, no more than 30-40 minutes per run. Can supplement easy cycling or swimming on days not running.

6/23-7/6: Stage 2: Transition (2 weeks)

Get back into a training routine. Gradually get back into the groove of consistent training.

* Long Run: 50-60 minutes easy

* AE: 30-45 minutes easy.

* Strides following an easy 30-40 minute run one day of the week.

7/7-8/4: Stage 3: Easy base (4 weeks in length - week #4 is an easy week)

Get back on the miles. Spend this month with one goal in mind, get your miles up approximately where you want them for the next few months. Nothing heroic pace-wise, just get the miles in. As a guideline if you're thinking 70 MPW for the goal by the end of the month, then go 40, 55, 70 followed by an easy week of 55. Another guideline, add no more than a 10-15% increase over the previous year's weekly high mileage mark. For instance, if the highest mileage you handled safely within the last 12 months was 80 MPW, make the goal for this season no more than 88-92 MPW. As much as possible, keep the runs in this stage on soft surfaces such as dirt and do these runs in the hills.

* Paces: Keep the paces on your run in check. The goal here is not intensity, it's on volume. If you hit a day where you feel good and smooth, go ahead and press the pace, don't force it though. Strides one or two days a week is cool as long as you feel up to it. Don't force anything at this stage.

* AM or Lunch runs. To achieve the mileage goals you'll most likely have to add some double days in there. Start adding second runs to the days you are planning on doing your harder effort days first and foremost, then add them to the other days of the week. 3-5 days a week of doubles should be expected. If you plan on doing your hard workouts on Tuesday and Friday the coming season, start adding doubles to Tuesday and Friday first before adding them to the other days of the week. In this way we can start making the two days proportionally harder than the rest of the week, which is a cornerstone of the program.

8/4-8/31: Stage 4: General Conditioning I. (4 weeks - week #4 is easy)

Reintroduce some intensity, while maintaining the weekly miles. The weekly miles should be roughly at the level you intend to maintain throughout the next 2 months of training program with stage 4 and 5 being the highest mileage months of the program. If you're thinking 90 MPW as the high for this coming fall, you should be in mid 80's at this point and look to build on this over the next 8 weeks. The workouts through the next 8 weeks are not supposed to be super hard. The goal here is moderate intensities and lots of miles. Maintaining the higher level of miles while trying to hammer your workouts will lead to only one thing being hammered and that's you. Keep the paces conservative.

* Long Run: Should be 90-120 minutes based on experience, try to make it roughly 20-25% of your weekly mileage.

* AE days: approx 45-60 minutes. Aerobic Endurance runs (AE) are simply runs where you start at a very easy recovery pace and run with the primary goal of covering the distance. As your fitness improves the pace at the end of these runs can become fairly brisk. If this happens to you, feel blessed and go with the flow. This isn't the type of run where you force the pace at all, rather you run on the easy side of life and as you warm-up you naturally pick up the pace.

* Double days: 25-35 minutes easy. Again, add these on hard rep, hill run or tempo days first and foremost

* Recovery days: make one - two days very easy recovery days. A 30-45 minute jog or a DNR or active recovery such as swimming that sort of thing. The other option would be 2 x 30-40 minutes easy (on in the AM and one in the PM), just easy. Just make sure that a recovery day includes nothing over 45 minutes and is at a butt slow pace.

* Strides: Before the main workouts for the week. 4-6 100m efforts at mile race pace effort on grass if possible. 30 + seconds between each.

* Add a mid week run at an easy to moderate effort. Ideally 12-15% of your weekly mileage.

Workouts. 2 per week. All the following workouts should be proceeded by a 20-30 minutes AM/Lunch run.

* Negative split run: A 30-40 minute run followed by 20-30 minutes at tempo type, marathon race pace effort at the fastest (add 20 seconds per 400 onto your 1500 race pace or take 80% of your 3k-5k time). No hands on the knees stuff. 1-2 mile warm down. Do this once a week. We'll meet at 5:00 on Fridays at the Avila Pier in front of the Custom House/Mr Rick's to do this. Out and back on the bike path, then out to Port San Luis and back for the uptempo portion. Pete's Pierside for fish taco's afterwards.

* Hill reps: We'll be meeting at Fairbank's and do the hill from the eucalyptus trees to the top of KB which is a gradual smooth dirt uphill 300m long. We will run up using the best form you can think of and jog back down. Quick turnover with a good, strong push off. This is NOT meant to be real hard, we only want to develop some strength in you hip flexors, quads, calves and feet, without getting you broken. For the total time of hill rep, start your watch at the bottom, stop it at the top and don't reset. Restart at the beginning of the next uphill rep. All times will add up and the first session should equal approx 10 minutes of uphill running. Add 60 seconds each successive time you do this. We want a good 30-40 minute warm up to add some miles to the hill rep day. In weeks #3 and 4 we may consider offering the option of the radio tower hill. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We want some strides before this workout. 4-6 light 100m efforts at mile race effort. Full recovery between each.

* Hill runs: one other day of the week, you should do a run such as Poly Canyon. A good, solid 60+ minute run with some heavy hills in there. One or two of these a week is ideal with one being equal to 12-15% of your weekly mileage that will work as your mid week longer run. Keep the paces in check here! I know how group runs up Poly Canyon can get, so heed a word of warning, there are a handful of guys who've made it through a steady diet of killing everyone each week on that run. Just keep it in your shorts.

How all this would look in standard week:

Sun: Long run. AE effort, 20-25% weekly mileage

Mon: AM: easy 20-30 min. PM: 45-60 min AE run in hills

Tue: AM: 20-30 min. PM: hill reps

Wed: Mid week long run. AE effort, in hills (Poly Canyon?). 15% weekly mileage.

Thu: AM: 20-30 min EASY PM: 35 min EASY

Fri: AM: 20-30 min. PM: Negative split

Sat: 45 min EASY or DNR or bike or hike

Easy Week (last week of above stage): Cut back mileage 20-25% on all runs: recovery, AE, long runs. Cut back number of reps the same % (ie, if doing 6 x 3 min on/off, cut it back to 4 x 3 min on/off)

Races: You can race a low key race or two during this stage. Good for determining fitness and paces to be run the following stage of training. Not to be a real big deal, simply see where you're fitness is at. You want to do these races with a long warmup. So for instance, if you're running Wharf to Wharf we'd ask you to park near the finish and run back to the start timing it so that you arrive pretty close to the start of the race. Then you'd run the race at a solid effort and get in a 2 mile cool down. For a 5k, a 40-60 minute run beforehand is not out of the question. Feeling good is not the point, getting fit is.

9/1-9/29: Stage 5: General Conditioning II (4 weeks - week #4 being an easy week)

Races: Paso 10k on Sunday 9/29. Easy week precedes this.

GGP 4 mile XC race. Only if you're super antsy and want to race.

This is where we start incorporating aspects of XC training with the highest weekly mileage. It's really just another progression up from last month. Again, workouts are to be done on effort, not absolutes. Doing the higher volume of weekly miles leaves you flat and a bit mileage weary, therefore the times in workouts tend to suffer. This is why I prefer athletes to do stuff fartlek style where the pressure of hitting split times is greatly reduced. Sure 400's can be done on the track, but it's ideal if you can do the tempo work, mile reps and 1k's on the grass, dirt or roads. 5-10 seconds off what you expect to be doing them in is fine and acceptable. Consistency is what we're after here not PR workout performances.

* Long Run: Should be 20-25% of weekly mileage, probably 90-150 minutes depending on experience.

* AE days: approx 50-70 minutes.

* Double days: 25-40 minutes easy again on hard rep, hill run or tempo days first and foremost

* Recovery days: Make one - two days each week very easy recovery days. A 30-45 minute jog or a DNR or active recovery such as swimming that sort of thing. The other option would be 2 x 30-40 minutes easy (on in the AM and one in the PM), just easy. Just make sure that a recovery day includes nothing over 45 minutes and is at a butt slow pace.

* Strides: Before the main workouts for the week. 4-6 100m efforts at mile race pace effort on grass if possible. 30 + seconds between each.

* Mid week run should be at 15% of weekly mileage.

* Longer warm-ups and cool downs. We want a 20-25 min warm-up and cooldown on all workouts (except the tempo).

Workouts:

* 4-6 x 1600 with 3-4 min recovery at tempo effort. We'll do this on the dirt loop at Fairbank's. 25-30 min warm-up and cool down.

* Tempo Run: 40-50 minutes run straight into 4-6 miles at marathon race pace (15-20 seconds per mile SLOWER than tempo pace), 1-2 mile cool down. Will be done at Avila.

* 12-16 x 400 at 4-5 seconds per 400 faster than 10k race pace w/ 400 jog. 20-25 min warm-up and cool down. We will do this on the flat 400 dirt of Fairbank's.

* 6-10 x 3 minute on/2 off at 10k XC effort on the grass loops at Poly. We'll meet at Mando's office and go to the grass fields at Poly for this one. 25-30 min warm-up and cool down.

How all this would look in standard week:

Sun: Long run. AE effort, 20-25% weekly mileage

Mon: AM: easy 25-40 min. PM: 50-70 min AE run

Tue: AM: 25-40 min. PM: mile reps or 400's at Fairbanks

Wed: Mid week long run. AE effort, 15% weekly mileage.

Thu: AM: 25-40 min EASY PM: 35-40 min EASY

Fri: AM: 25-40 min. PM: tempo at Avila or 1k's at Poly.

Sat: 45 min EASY

Easy Week (last week of above stage): Cut back mileage 20-25% on all runs: recovery, AE, long runs. Cut back number of reps the same % (ie, if doing 6 x 3 min on/off, cut it back to 4 x 3 min on/off). Also, plan on racing (if possible) at the end of the easy week to get a solid handle on your fitness.

9/29-10/26: Stage 6: XC Specific training. (4 weeks - week #4 being an easy week)

XC Races: Sierra College 10/12.

Shoreline 10/26. Easy week precedes this.

Roads: Humboldt ½. Easy week precedes this.

At this stage we start making the jump up the intensity ladder. As such it is advisable to drop the weekly mileage 10% or so. It just doesn't work well when you combine your highest mileage week of your life with some increasingly difficult workouts. Just to ease your mind, this is exactly what Meb and Deena do when they go from high miles and low intensity to higher intensity. Doesn't make it right, but there is a solid precedent for doing so.

* Long Run (20-25% weekly mileage): 80-135 minutes easy to moderate

* AE days: approx 50-70 minutes.

* Double days: 25-40 minutes easy. You may now be getting to the stage where you feel good on these runs. If you feel strong, run the AM run at a progressively faster pace running the last mile or two at speeds approaching marathon race pace.

* Recovery days: make one - two days very easy recovery days. You can choose to do one at 30-45 minutes jogging or a DNR or active recovery such as swimming, that sort of thing. The other should be 2 x 30 minutes easy.

* Strides: Before the main workouts for the week. 4-6 100m efforts at mile race pace effort on grass if possible. 30 + seconds between each. Can add at the end of a recovery day as well.

* Mid week run . You can maintain this if you like, others may want to run a 50-70 min AE run instead.

Workouts:

* 4-7 x 1600 with 3-4 min recovery at 10k effort. We'll do this on the dirt loop at Fairbank's. 20-25 min warm-up and cool down.

* Tempo Run: A 15-20 minutes warm-up then 2 x 3-4 miles with 1 mile jog. First 3-4 miles at marathon pace, second 3-4 at tempo pace (15-20 seconds a mile faster than marathon race pace), 1-2 mile cool down. Will be done at Avila.

* 8-12 x 400 at 4-5 seconds per 400 faster than 5k race pace w/ 200 jog. 20-25 min warm-up and cool down. We will do this on the flat 400 dirt of Fairbank's.

* 6-12 x grass loops w/ 2-3 min jog recovery at 5k-10k effort. We'll meet at Mando's office and go to the grass fields at Poly for this one. 20-25 min warm-up and cool down.

Easy Week: Cut back mileage 20-25% on all recovery, AE, long runs, reps etc..

10/27-11/24: Stage 7: Final push up the fitness charts (4 weeks - week #4 being an easy week)

XC races: PA Champs 11/24.

Roads: Clarksburg 11/10

Workouts:

* 4-7 x Adams State miles with 3-4 min recovery. Fairbanks

* 4-6 x 800's at 3k pace, on grass if possible.

* 6-8 x Wake Forest Drill. Fairbanks

* 6-10 x 400 at 1500-3k pace w/ equal standing rest. 20-25 min warm-up and cool down. We'll meet at Mando's office and go to the Poly oval for this one.

11/25-12/14: Stage 8: Taper, sharpening. (3 week at declining mileage levels).

Races: USATF Fall XC National Championships 12/14.

Last 3 weeks of workouts after PA's.

11/24-11/30

* Wake Forest or tempo

12/1-12/7

* 400 at 1500-3k pace w/ equal standing rest. 20-25 min warm-up and cool down. We'll meet at Mando's office and go to the Poly oval for this one.

* Adams State miles or 800's at 3k

12/8-12/14

* 800's at 3k pace or in/out 400's

* 4 x 300's

12/14: Nationals

JK and JR, Thank you for taking the time to give such thorough responses. JR, what is a Wake Forest Drill?

old guy2,

It's a workout I stole from John Goodridge who was the former distance coach at Wake Forest and is the current coach at Eastern Michigan. If it seems I steal all my stuff, you wouldn't be far from the truth there. In any case we were talking about tempo work and he gave me a workout he used to have his guys do while at Wake. The example he provided was from Nolan Swanson. What the workout is is using a smooth gradually uphill dirt section approx 800m in length. You run the uphill portion at 5k effort (NOT 5k pace) and when you hit the top of the hill, you immediately turnaround and run the downhill portion at a tempo effort (NOT pace). When you get to the bottom of the hill, you immediately turn around and run the uphill at the harder 5k effort. Up and back = 1 rep. The total run is continuous, so 4 sets is really a 4 mile run broken up into 800m sections - 800 uphill at 5k effort, 800 downhill at tempo effort. Sounds easy but is very difficult. You want to shoot for the downhill section to be about 15-20 second each slower than the uphill sections. Just an FYI, Goodridge had Swanson doing upwards of 10 reps in under 50 minutes. Probably explains why he was racing so fast. If I can get a middle distance guy to work up to 8 set's, I'm doing a good job. It is a tough workout and takes a long time to complete the workout, but it does build some serious tempo strength on top of what's been established the previous 3 months.

The other workout listed in my previous post are Adams State Miles. Another idea I stole. This one was from Joe Vigil. He has people run mile reps on a slight downhill section at the end of the season with the idea being to increase turnover at the end of the season. Here on our local XC course we have a 1500 meter loop starts about 200m from where it finishes. The grade is gradual and it's on dirt. We start by doing the first 1500 uphill. We take a 2-3 min recovery and then hammer the downhill mile. The guys will generally run 20-30 seconds faster on the downhill versus the uphill. In most cases the uphills will be 4:25-30 for the in shape good males and the down hills will be done under 4:00 (again that's for 1500m). We always finish with a downhill one. This is great at developing efficiency at racing downhill portions of XC courses. Funny thing about XC courses, they go up AND down. Most runners only focus on the ups, but our regionals are always held at Golden Gate Park which is a 2 mile loop and has a gradual .75 mile downhill section on it. Doing these Adams State Mile reps develops the ability to run fast on this downhill section which is a big bonus. The people who do these AS miles, tend to recover on this section. Those that don't tend to over extend themselves here only to be dropped on the grass uphill section 800m after.

Hope this helps. If not, let me know and I'll see if I can confuse it further.

Joe

Bumping this up.

I wonder if JK's and Joe's advice has changed since?

summer training bump