TheRunZone

AP pace is about 95% of VO2 max pace. VO2 max paced workouts are harder to recover from than CV or AP workouts, because they are faster. I think Tom says that CV is the most "bang for your buck" if you are trying to build stamina, because you get most of the benefits of training at VO2 max pace but ...

Volume would depend on the kid. My veteran kids would do 6-7x 600 at AP pace. YOunger ones might only do 5. The recovery is usually just 200 jog. Younger ones or the ones who aren't as fit might walk 50, jog 150. After the 600s my kids would do 3x 300 at 800 pace with slow 300 jog in between (or slo...

I would not normally do CV reps prior to doing AP reps, unless I used a CV rep to ensure they are warmed up before beginning the AP reps. I would follow the AP reps with some faster race pace work, maybe a breakdown set of 300-200-100, with the 300 at 800 pace, 200 at 400 pace, 100 quick and relaxed...

I would agree that too much LT training doesn't agree with athletes who are more skewed to the shorter events. And usually, these athletes hate tempo runs or LT runs, in my experience. My runners who are more 800 oriented prefer CV or Aerobic Power (from Tom's calculator) based stamina work, and I u...

This article might be of interest. There is also a linked checklist of symptoms that come from dysfunctional breathing patterns. This guy works with NOP athletes as well as U of O athletes, and I heard him speak at NXN this past weekend. Lots of good resources on his website also for strength and co...

Kevin, I haven't really done any serious racing or training in a while. I just can't seem to focus on my own training while coaching my high school and youth teams. I jumped in an indoor mile last indoor season and ran 5:45, not great but not awful considering how little I was running. I also ran a ...

Kevin- Drew is looking for a low key, local race end of October and then will run a 5K race on Thanksgiving, probably in California. He is going to be spending November out in Boulder and Flagstaff.

Thanks everyone! Glad you all were so confident while watching! We weren't...he looked pretty rough and felt bad the whole race! At 1200 meters, I thought, no way is he going to get this today. Thanks to good fitness (thanks, Tom!) and guts, he was able to suck it up and finish strong.

Drew has worked quite a bit in the weight room in the last couple years, doing a combination of things, mostly to make him more durable and less likely to become injured, but he has also done some more traditional (and probably useless except for aesthetics!) lifting like bench press and biceps curl...

OK, Tom...I won't share your skills with the world! As Tom said, our boys team did pretty well- we won the meet on the 6th man tie breaker. Despite Drew's finish, I was pretty disappointed that it appeared we had been CRUSHED by one of our local rivals, who had 4 boys under 16 minutes in the race. W...

Why not think in 2 week cycles instead of weekly cycles? Then you could do 5 workouts in a 2 week period, and maybe even incorporate a "longish" run in there as well. Or make sure a couple of your harder workouts are quite long with big warm ups and cooldowns, and just forget about adding a longish ...

As a 52 year old female, I am always wary of taking too much time off. I almost always get hurt after a lay off. If I am consistent and "keep the ball rolling" as Tom says, even if I have days where I only run for about 10 minutes (!) it helps me stay healthier. I am finding that just trying to run ...

Monster walks are just a hip and glute exercise. You squat slightly, then take repeated lateral steps, keeping the feel parallel and only bringing them back to about shoulder width in the middle. Then you go the other direction. Works even better with an elastic band around the knees or ankles. You ...

This was a very good article with only a few minor mistakes (unusual, trust me...) If anything, they didn't give Tom enough credit but I think that was because they interviewed me pretty early in the summer before Drew was into his summer build up. Tom is writing Drew's training this season, and pro...

Had this happen again this week and did something else inside that worked well. We went in the wrestling room. I had about 48 kids total. I put the kids in groups around each circle on the mat (there were about 6 or 8 wrestling rings on the mat). We were in our socks. I had them do a series of bodyw...