Every runner needs to rest

The weekends are a great time to relax and prepare yourself for the upcoming week of training.

There are somethings one should know thought about resting. The type of resting we do while we are training is not a complete rest, but rather an active rest. Active rest meaning that you don't want to sit on a couch all day, but you need to at least stretch out your muscles while taking it easy.

When we have had a tough week of practice in week two and it is imperative that you get out and shake out your muscles over the weekend. Just do a light stretch and a ten minute jog.

By getting out and shaking out your legs and arms, it will losen you and prevent you from becoming sore.

When people begin any type of workout they tend to overdo it. As you have noticed there is no clock on the workouts. They are meant to be at your own pace, so there is no reason to overdo them in the beginning of training. The workouts are meant for your to run it at a pace that is comfortable for you, for now.

There are also the healthy benefits of rest. Research has been done that supports the theory that the immune system is at risk when over-training occurs.

So your responsibility as a runner is to take care of your body. You are the only one that has the ability to control how much you push yourself and how much you really take care of yourself. Do not overtrain and do not skip out on relaxing on your weekends. You will only be as good as you allow yourself to be.

Week two begins

The start of the second week is going to be tough. You may be experiencing some soreness and tightness in your legs, especially in the hamstring area. Make sure you stretch before you do any of these workouts. If you are too sore to do any of these workouts, do a light jog to loosen up your muscles and begin the workout when you feel you are back to normal.

When completed with any of these workouts, run a two lap cool down, stretch and then go home and relax.

Monday:

Short sprinters have a breakdown workout. The workout is, 300, 250, 200, 150, and a 100. In between each one, walk the distance you ran. After you run a 300 walk a 300. After you run a 200 walk a 200, and so on.

Long sprinters have a repeat workout. Three times 600 meters, walk 300 meters in between each one.

Tuesday:

Short sprinters have another breakdown workout. Three times 300 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters. Walk the distance that you ran.

Long sprinters have ten 100 meters. Run 100 meters (the length of a football field) and then walk back up and do it again ten times.

Wednesday:

Short sprinters and long sprinters, warm up and stretch for a good hour. Afterwards, go to the weight room and work on upper and lower body.

After weights, go outside and do four 100 meter jogs before the cooldown.

Thursday:

Short sprinters and long sprinters both have 110 meter sprints up a hill.

Friday:

Short sprinters have six times 300 meters, walking 200 meters in between each one.

Long sprinters have eight times 600 meters, walking 300 meters in between each one.

Saturday/Sunday:

Enjoy your days off! Make sure to get plenty of rest, eat healthy and try to stay off of your feet as much as you can.

Running on Grass

When you are starting to train for sprints, it is important that you start out running on grass.

Most people feel that grass is much softer and better for your knees, ankles and shins. It is a lot better to start on grass than it is to run on concrete or the track.

For the first six weeks, the workouts will be done on the grass because it helps protect you from getting shin splints.

Weight Training

Strength training, also known as weight training is very important in achieving the goal of becoming a sprinter.

Most serious athletes do some sort of weight training, but it may not work for everyone.

The great American sprinter and long jumper, Carl Lewis, said that he performed his worst in the one year that he did weight train.

It all depends on personal preference on whether or not you believe a weight program is right for you.

At FAU, we weight train three times a week. After our workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's we hit the gym for an hour long strength and conditioning session.

I will post our weight room workout in one of my future entries.

Here we go!

Week one of training begins

After you determine what sprinter you are, follow the workouts below for our first week of endurance training.

Monday:
On the grass, the short sprinters have eight times 300 meter runs, with a 200 meter walk in between each run. If you are training on a football field, a 300 meter run is approximately one lap around the entire field.
On the grass, the long sprinters have three times 800 meter runs, with a 400 meter walk in between each run. If you are on a football field, a 800 meter run is approximately two and a half laps.

Tuesday:
On the grass, both short and long sprinters have 10 times 100 meter runs with a jog back of 100 meters in between.

Wednesday:
On the grass, the short sprinters have five times 200 meters with a 100 meter walk in between. If you are running straight on a football field, 200 meters is approximately two up and backs.

On the grass, the long sprinters have 10 times 200 meters with a 100 meter walk in between. Same thing, if you are running straight on a football field, 200 meters is approximately two up and backs.

Thursday:

Both short and long sprinters go to a hill and run 10 times 120 meters up a hill, walking down on the way back to the start.

Friday:
Do complete warm-up, including drills and then head into the weight room for weights.

Are you a short or long sprinter?

When getting ready for a track season, you must start out with endurance training before you can get into speed training.

Before we begin we split up into two groups. Short Sprinters and Long Sprinters.

Short sprinters include: 100 meter runners, 100 meter hurdlers, 200 meter runners, high jumpers, long jumpers, triple jumpers, heptathletes and pole vaulters.

Long Sprinters include: 400 meter runners, 400 meter hurdlers and 800 meter runners.

Both long and short sprinters to the entire warm-up. Afterwards we split up into our groups for the workout.

The man behind the workouts

Before I give you any type of workout to do, I would like to introduce the man who is making these workouts. Coach Owen McGregor is an experienced track and field coach.

McGregor attended St. Andrew Technical High School in Kingston, Jamaica.

His accomplishments include, running one of the fastest times in the Caribbean Islands in the 400 meters.

McGregor anchored his high school 4x100m relay team to 1st place at the Penn Relays, one of the most prestigious track meets in the United States.

He was also one of the first Caribbean high school athletes to run 20.90 seconds in the 200m.

He also finished in 6th place at the Olympic Trials in the 200m.

McGregor's collegiate career includes a year at Central Arizona JC, where he was a seven-time All-American, including a four-time member of the First Team. He is on the list of Top 10 fastest 100m and 4x400m competitors at the University of Florida.

He later transferred to Arizona State University, were he competed in the 100m, 200m and 400m, and anchored the 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.

Coach McGregor came to FAU from Pheonix College in Arizona, where he was the mens and womens head coach.

He recently went to Bejing, China for the 2008 Olympics to watch one of his athletes compete in the 200 meters.

If you want to run fast and do it the right way, follow the warm-ups and workouts from Owen McGregor.

Pre-Season/ Warm Up

It's hard to just one day wake up and say "Hey, I want to run in a track meet...sign me up." It takes hard work and dedication to prepare for meets. Depending on what you are training for, a season could be up to eight to 11 months long.

Our first week of training at FAU was difficult. You don't hit the track the second you start to train. We stay off of the track and practice in the grass to make sure to protect your shins and legs from injury. We don't start off with speed either, we do endurance and distance runs.

This is how we warm up:

- Jog 2 laps on the inside of the track, on the grass

- 4 striders (100 meter accelerations)on the grass

- 40 minutes intense stretching

- 30 meter Mobility Drills x2 (High Knees, A Skip, B Skip, Straight Legs, and Lunges)

Before You Begin

There are many different things to consider before beginning any workout program. Sprinting is a intense workout and could result in injury if you do not take precautions. Stretching properly is key to not becoming injured.

Sleep, nutrition, and water intake are the obvious ways to help, but are quite frequently neglected. It's very important to not neglect these key things in order to make the most out of your training efforts.