Forums >General Running>I'm getting ready to start training for track and I have some questions
I'm a female high school athlete, and after missing the better part of my XC season due to a stress fracture, I'm really hoping to have a great season in track.
First question: What range of events can I optimally train for, and which should they be? I would run every single race from 200m to 3200m if I could, but of course I have to choose.
Current PRs:
200m-- 30-31.xx
400m-- 73
800m-- 2:46
1600m-- 6:14
3200m-- 14:10
Most of these are from when I was primarily training for the 1600. I never actually raced anything under 800m. Also, I think my 800 really should have been around 2:43, but the fastest I've actually run is 2:46.
Last year during track season I averaged about 12 mpw. My absolute highest weekly mileage is maybe 30 mpw but I'm easily injured so I've never successfully maintained much mileage. I'm working on hip strengthening stuff to hopefully reduce the injuries, but I still need to be careful with the mileage.
If I train for distance, my goals are to run about 5:50 for 1600, 2:35 for 800, and sub-13 in the 3200. I really want to run the mile but I think I might be better and less injury prone as a sprinter-- can I realistically train for both?
Second question: How to train for distance? If I do sprints then I'll run with a coach, but if I want to do distance then I'm on my own.
Right now my plan to train for distance (8/16/32) is to do pretty easy runs 3-4 days a week and sprint work once a week. The sprints are supposed to be for improving basic speed and shouldn't be lactate threshold type workouts, so I'll be using pretty generous recoveries for those and focusing on improving my maximum speed, not my endurance to hold the speed.
Basically, my plan is:
20-30 minutes 3x a week + 1 sprint workout (3 weeks)
30-40 minutes 3x a week + 1 sprint workout (2 weeks)30-40 minutes 4x a week + 1 sprint workout (1 week)
30-50 minutes 4x a week + 1 sprint workout (3 weeks)
40-60 minutes 4x a week + 1 sprint workout (2 weeks)
40-60 minutes 3x a week + 2 days of hills/sprints/intervals (2 weeks)
40-70 minutes 3x a week + 2 days of hills/sprints/intervals (4 weeks)
This brings me from the end of XC season to the first race of track season, roughly. After that point I'll probably be training under a coach.
Third question: I'd like to keep these runs pretty flat for the most part, is that a bad idea? Due to where I live, it's either really flat or all hills. Since I'm injury prone I don't think running all hills is a very good idea.Those are my main questions, but any other advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
What year are you?
When you say you're injury prone, what does that mean? Do you run into the same injuries, or are they different? Do you have something every season? Do they happen in the off-season?
First: Train for what you want to train for. What events do you like to run? It sounds like you enjoy the mile. You can successfully train for that if you start to pay attention to what your body tells you about your training and injuries. I believe it would be difficult to train for both distance and sprints and get the maximum effectiveness out of the training, and that's why I suggest you train for what you want to run.
Second: Have you talked to your coach about how to train? Has your coach suggested what you should do over the off-season? If it were me training in the off-season, I would be doing something a little different from what you have planned. The easy runs are a good idea, however, in the off-season, I would be doing the lactate threshold and tempo work rather than sprints and intervals. If you want to run fast, you can do a few strides on your easy days. I think your goal should be to work on aerobic fitness if your interested in the mile and distance events in the spring. And for something even more radical , you could just run all easy runs of varying distance without worrying about workouts. Honestly, I think that would be a safer and possibly just as helpful route to go. In general, it's the faster stuff that leads to injuries, and I believe that's especially true if you try to do that for extended periods of time. My guess is that your track season is long enough that you'll be able to get in plenty of fast workouts without worrying about doing them in the off-season.
Do you have practices before the week of your first meet? You say your plan will bring your to the first race of your season, roughly. It seems like your coach would start you on workouts a couple or few weeks before your first meet.
Third: I wouldn't run all hills either, but I think it would be good to have hills incorporated into your runs. They will help make you stronger. If you think that hills are a cause or exacerbate injuries, then you definitely be careful.
Disclaimer: It's hard to say how much or what exactly you should be doing without knowing more details of your training history and your injury history.
There was a point in my life when I ran. Now, I just run.
We are always running for the thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill, searching for the thrill of it
I'm a junior (third year) but it's only my second year as a runner.
Last year for cross country I think I probably had shin splints. This season I got diagnosed with a stress fracture in August, but I'm not sure how long I had it. The first time my foot went numb while running was back in February though. I made a separate post awhile back about my injury issues if you want more details. The doctors and I were thinking I might have exertional compartment syndrome so the stress fracture was a surprise. My injuries have been pretty consistently lower leg injuries and the major trigger for them is regular, continuous running for more than a few minutes (this is probably why XC doesn't work very well for me haha).
Track workouts are less likely to exacerbate injuries than continuous running for me. If I run distance then that would be primarily the 8 and 16, which is why I wanted to include the sprint workouts. I do want to run sprints, as well as the mile. Would 4/8/16 training work or is that too spread out?
Last year my track training was basically two interval workouts a week, plus a race, plus a 30-40 minute run. The 30-40 minute run was the most difficult for me because my legs would typically be burning or my feet would be numb the entire time.
Some some more details on the coaching:
Around January the main distance coach will start having us run workouts, but those workouts will be significantly easier than what I've planned, assuming my training goes well. If I didn't train until then, I'd probably be at risk of injury. I wanted to train myself up to the first race and then decide if I want to train with the head coach, the varsity coach, or on my own.