We all know that Ext tempo should be done on grass, would it be a horrible idea if one tempo session was done on the track if we wanted to run some longer distances?
I was thinking about doing some longer ones on grass inside lane one like Charlie said he had BJ do.
Yeh, my track doesn’t have that - may just keep the runs @ 100-200’s.
If you have a high school nearby, or the right collegiate facility, in which multiple outdoor practice fields are adjacent to each other you will easily be able to run at least 200yds in an uninterrupted straight line.
Between that or some sort of park I would be sure to exhaust all possibilities before you resort to the track simply in order to avert the pounding.
Post from PJ:
Just to clarify, I’ve never used 3x800 or 3x600, but stuff like 800-700-600. As for 300s, we use to 5 x 300. All this on track, 200s we do either on grass or track.
The first time i used 600m with one of the guys, he was so afraid he did not sleep the night before, but after he ran it, he said “that’s all?”. However he slept very well the following night!
If the athlete has a total of 4 running sessions per week, 2 speed on grass, 1 easy tempo (10x100) on grass, 1 harder tempo (5x300) on track, I don’t think it would be a major problem.? If the athlete did 2x300-200-100 the 300’s could be done on track and 100-200 on grass.
I agree. My point is that if there’s a grass area available, that would be my first choice.
I have done 200m tempo runs on a football field. Just run from one end-zone to the other, then turn around and run back. Yes, there is some accel and deccel in the middle, but no biggie. IIRC, this is how they are presented in the GPP video.
Seems like this same technique could be applied to longer runs. Only problem is that it is hard to get a nice rhythm for the longer runs.
How much rest are you taking between your longer tempo runs, is it similar to HSI (longer run)?
RB,
I guess my question to you is why make the change? what would you be looking to get out of a track tempo session as opposed to grass? I would then ask are the benefits to it outweighing the potential for impact issues down the road?
You are always trying new stuff out. I do like that very much.
It’s not really a change because I played around with it last gpp - Mon/Fri - Grass speed, Tue - grass tempo, Wed - CSW on track, Thur -Tempo on track. I love the benefits from the longer tempo runs and feel like the 100-200 runs don’t challenge me enough. Also when coaching on the D1 level I won’t have much time to train, I remember PJ saying when he’s pushing for time he would perform longer tempo session (800-700-600).
I’m gonna do 4 minutes this week.