Week #5--Monday Practice

A few things before the practice information:

1. I want to let you know that I was quite impressed by the amount of people who made it all the way to the waterfall on Saturday. I know a few of you managed to get lost, but still ended up running at least 10 miles. Well done!!! It was also nice to see how many of you were heading out together for breakfast--AS A TEAM! Very Cool!!

2. DyeStatCal has published the College of the Canyons Race from last Tuesday. It also appears that our two varsity runners, Aayush and Sean, have received recognition. Go here to view. Also, scan down the list to see Anton's name in position #80--still, a great time and place considering there were nearly 400 runners. Soon, Anton will get noticed! I plan to head out there again on Thursday for week #3. I hope to see more of you out there--what do you say, people? Let's talk it up during practice tomorrow evening.

3. REMINDER: Have you made your doctor's appointment yet? You have to be cleared before our official week of practice--only 5 weeks left! Download the form now! (There's only one side.)

4. If any of you need me to make an announcement on any future posts, please let me know! I'll be happy to get that out for all to read.

Week At A Glance--42 miles

M=6.3...distance run--Steady State run
T=4.2...technique drills--on the track
W=10.5...distance run on the roads
Th=4.2...morning surprise; evening race (optional but recommended)
F=6.3...hacky-sack hill
Sa=10.5...waterfall run

Monday Evening's Practice
Groups assembled...a few of you will need to have watches for this so you can time your group's Steady State run. This is explained below.

Steady State:

In basic terms, you will keep the same pace for the entire run after the warm-up. You will warm up for 10 minutes and then visually record where you start your run (maybe throw a shirt down off the sidewalk, or remember an address, or some kind of landmark). This is also where you will want to start your watch. Then you will begin pushing the pace for 10 minutes. As soon as the 10 minutes goes by, turn around and head home, still running at the same Steady State. Then, as you come back to the starting point (the place where you threw down your shirt, or where you found a landmark), hit your stop watch. Your goal is to be as close to 20-minutes as possible. If you are within 30 seconds, either too fast or too slow, then you have managed to achieve a good sense of pace. More than that means you will need to work on your pacing. How fast should your steady state be? This should be at a pace that is between 70-100 percent of your maximum aerobic capacity. Huh? Well, to exceed your aerobic capacity would be to go faster than your race pace or to go into an anaerobic state. Again, huh? You will want to run at a pace that is faster than your normal jog/practice pace. If you feel like you're racing (meaning breathing too hard), then you are going too fast. If you are running and you are not feeling like you have a need to focus (at this pace you would be able to discuss whether or not Obama has foreign policy experience or why Heath Ledger makes a better Joker than Jack Nicholson) then you're going too slow.

We will run our Steady State on a flat-ish surface. The plan is to run along the sidewalks of Linda Vista--out and back. Please bring a watch!!!

See the map.