Run Training
"Working out every day is not the same as training. Training is pathway you take. It is journey that coaches, athletes and teams embark upon for a set amount of weeks and months or sometimes years. Training answers the journalist's five W and one H questions. It is the who, what, where, when, why and how of sport."
Training with Coach Meadows
Training under the direction of a coach, even well educated, deep thinking, thoroughly experienced professionals requires both the athlete and the coach to forge a deep set of agreed upon values and thought processes. I believe communication and dialogue are equal to periodization and training theory when it comes to a college coach/athlete relationship. Therefore, as a part of my coaching philosophy I always seek to provide open communication on the training plans every athlete receives each season or macrocycle. I believe that college runners should have input into their training schedule and while the coach is the final executor on building a plan, it will be the athlete completing the work. Thus, it is much better if there are open lines for dialog so that athletes understand the training and mentally prepare for the long road of 24 or more weeks of a macrocycle.
The Training Calendar
For the college athlete working with Coach Meadows, a 52 week, yearly training callendar is usually going to be broken up into a pair of training cycles commonly referred to as macrocycles. Each macrocycle will be around 20-24 weeks depending on the needs and time available to an athlete. One macrocycle will focus on training for cross country (May through November) and the other would focus on track events (December through May). If you do some quick math that would only be 40-48 weeks out of 52 weeks in a year. Those extra weeks would be used as full withdraw from training or weeks of unstructured time where the athlete can run as much as they desire with no quality or fast running required.
Each macrocycle will have several mesocycles that will feature a specific training effect or focus for a series of time, usually 4-6 weeks. Those mesocycles will usually include a base building cycle (6 wks), a pre competition cycle (6), competition cycle (6-8) and a final championship cycle (3-4). Then each week is sometimes referred to as a microcycle that is broken up into 7-10 days with 14-20 workout opportunities available.
Quick training calendar review:
- 52 weeks in a year
- 2 x 20-24 week macrocycles (1 XC, 1 T&F)
- Each macrocycle features several mesocycles
- Basebuilding
- Pre-competition- little or no racing
- Competition- early to mid-season races
- Championship- conference, regional or national meets
- -8 weeks off from focused training
- Usually after track season in May and in November/December before track season begins
Training Philosophy Elements
Specificity
- Training to elicit the physiological adaptations required for 6 & 8k runs on varied surfaces
- VO2 Max, running economy, lactate system development, aerobic capacity, bone loading, race surface exposures, individual & team race strategy development for those distances
Balance
- Create the necessary balance in scheduling workouts, college life, sleep and diet for the athlete
Progression
- Individualized progression in total training volume, total and individual workout intensities, complimentary cross training sessions
- goal setting to reflect the meeting of these healthy progressions and a balanced life
Overload
Creating a training structure that pushes an athlete to go beyond previous levels of training
- More total volume in single workouts, in a micro, meso and macro cycle
- Exposure to higher quantities of quality workouts
- Exposure to higher intensities in individual workouts
Adaptation & Recovery
- Progression and overload are only as effective as recovery allows them to be within an meso and macrocycle
- Adaptation must occur for improvements in competition and fitness
- Well planned recovery work or off days are just as important as what an athlete does on a quality day to provide adaptation