Renee on Training

Posted on March 10, 2010 by CoachJay

Renee had the most impressive workout I’ve seen yesterday as she methodically executed the plan for the workout (workout listed below). While it’s not in the top four or five in terms of cool times/paces/volumes, she simply ran hard enough to get a stimulus, but ran controlled. No guarantees in our sport and that’s the reason I hesitate to post the Wednesday before a Saturday race (and a big race in two weeks) yet she did a great job explaining how she’s evolved as an athlete.

Workout, 03.09.10
9:00 – Renee et. al. do LM, LL and MWD; out the gate by 9:15; warm as needed for the work (i.e. competition WU)

3×1,600m with 5 min recovery. Keep the first one very controlled. In all of them push the pace at 600m and 200m, but don’t use your turbo the last 60m – practice a longer kick rather then a short, ballistic kick.

3x10xHT on a 6/4 with 60 sec recovery; 2 x Vern Gambetta; HM 124, finish with MT 60 or Kettlebell short, up to you. Lionel Hampton.

Note: Lots of things changed from the assignment above (I simply cut and pasted from yesterday’s workout document). She just did a 600m push at the end of each one due to the hamstring. She just did the Helsinki routine (from Volume 1 of the DVD series) and Lionel Hampton (and maybe HM, but I forget). Also, we were running late as I wanted Brent to run with her and that, coupled with the hamstring, had us starting the workout much later than intended.

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  • Chris Puppione

    Great stuff here, Jay. It is so cool when an athlete can groove a session–find their swing, so to speak. There is nothing heroic about it, which is good, because often a hero dies–at least in the stuff I read. That's why I try to tell my athletes not to be heroes, just as we don't want them to be cowards–athletes who do not have the stomach for the fight.

    My guys team at UC Davis used to joke that we didn't want any “Howards” on our team–no heroes, no cowards, or no combination of the two. We just wanted guys who did what they needed to do to be at their best on a consistent basis by knowing what they needed and feeling it out.

    Heroism is often captured in a single moment, but as you have illustrated here with great commentary from Renee, the key is feeling it day in and day out.

    Very cool.

    One question for clarification:

    “3×10xHT on a 6/4 with 60 sec recovery; 2 x Vern Gambetta; HM 124, finish with MT 60 or Kettlebell short, up to you. Lionel Hampton.”

    HT? 6/4? HM 124? MT 60?

    Okay, that is four questions, I suppose…a little help?

    Damn, now up to five…anyway, thanks!

  • CoachAP

    Coach, this is a great interview, in particular because of its focus on relaxation. I have always emphasized relaxation with my kids from the standpoint of energy conservation and managing race anxiety, but the more I study the great coaches, the more I am becoming convinced that monitoring relaxation at pace during a workout may be more important than monitoring times or heart rates. I think this was one of Igloi's great innovations. When you have a chance, I think it would be a great topic, in and of itself, for a blog.
    Thanks for sharing so much of what you know.

  • Matt

    “How I'm feeling and how relaxed I am is more important than the number. The numbers will come.”

    +1!