Game on!

The 2010 season officially began on Aug 11 with our first training session of the year. We welcomed 13 male and 8 female runners. We were expecting 9 females but one of our prospective athletes decided not to run.

Here is our first training cycle:

1. Tempo run. We ran the first 800m at close to race pace and the rest of the run at tempo pace. The men ran 5 miles and the women ran 4 miles on this run.

2. Easy recovery type run. The men ran 6-8 miles and the women ran 5-6 miles depending upon their summer training levels. The last 800m were run at close to race pace.

3. Billat workout. This entailed a 6' all-out run in which the runners attempted to cover as much distance as possible. After a 5' recovery period, the runners attempted to cover 1/2 of the 6' distance and do it in 3' with a 3' recovery jog. They did 3 repetitions of the 3' intervals.

4. Easy recovery type run. Men were at 6-8 miles and the women ran 5-6 miles. The last 800 was run close to race pace.

5. Steady state run at a nearby dirt road. The road is quite hilly and is 8.3 mi in length. The men ran the entire distance and the women ran 7.3 miles. This is always one of our more challenging training sessions and we handled it quite well for so early in the year.

6. Easy recovery type run. Men and women both ran 40' with no particular distance requirements. They were all pretty tired from the past 5 days and definitely benefitted from a very easy day. We fnished with 6 strides of 100m on a grass football field.

7. Astrand workout. The athletes ran 5' all out and tried to cover as much distance as they could. After a 5' jog-rest, they ran the same distance as they covered in the 5' test and tried to cover it in 6:00. They had 30" recovery and repeated the runs for a total of 5 times.

8. Easy recovery type run. 40' for both men and women. They ran this run a good bit quicker than the previous 40' recovery run. I think they are starting to get their legs under them.

9. 300m repeats on a campus hill. The men did 1 easy hill run, 2 medium hill runs and 9 very hard repeats. The recovery was a jog back to the bottom of the hill. The women did 1 easy hill run, 1 medium hill run and 8 very hard repeats. This was one of our very best workouts so far. Everyone seemed in good spirits and were encouraging one another the whole time. Good team spirit today for sure.

10. Easy recovery day. 40' for both men and women. We did 6 light sprints afterwards and everyone looked quick and light footed. The runners look confident and eager to do well.

11. Long Run. We stayed on campus and ran on all of our various loops and trails and through town. The men ran 2 hours, or 90' or 75 minutes depending upon their mileage levels. The women all ran 75'.

12. OFF DAY

In the afternoons (Mon through Fri) we did core work, strength work, plyometrics and flexibility work. This did, of course, lead to a certain amount of soreness, but that seemed to have pretty much abated by the end of the training cycle. Lots of swimming probably helped a lot with that.

Overall, the first training cycle went quite well. Times were well advanced over those from other seasons, even with many of our incoming freshmen. Attitudes were quite good. The teams seem to have bonded quite well, with lots of laughing and good natured teasing going on - even though it hasn't been two weeks yet. We did have a few health issues - one sinus infection, one sore throat, one tight calf and one case of plantar fascitis, none of which proved to be very serious.

I left the first training cycle feeling optimistic about both of our squads' chances of having a successful season. If we can maintain the same team spirit and motivation, it could be one of the best seasons we have had in a long time.