Pre-season Running Session: Week #3 (July 13-July 18)

Hey Everyone:

I wanted to go over a few things regarding our team so far:

• First, we have 50 runners signed up. That's awesome! If anyone still wants to join, make sure you refer him/her to this blog site so they can sign up online and for REMIND texts.
• Of the 50 runners signed up, 41 of you logged in your minutes/miles for Week 1's Pre-season Running. That's not bad, but if you haven't started running yet, you really need to begin now.
• Of the 50 runners signed up, 25 of you logged in your minutes/miles for Week 2's Pre-season Running. Make sure to log your times from last week!

A few things about running in this summer heat:

• It's important to stay hydrated. The best way to do this is to stay away from soda, limit the amount of fruit juice, and definitely limit the sports drinks. Stick to water, and hydrate throughout the day. The best way to do this is to have water around you all the time, and take sips of it throughout the day. Once you get thirsty, you're already dehydrated. If you're thirsty before practice (when we have practice) you'll already be dehydrated and then you're not able to reach your optimal performance.
• I said a couple weeks ago that If you're on a treadmill, my suggestion would be to set it at 6.0 MPH for now, at zero incline, then hit your time you've picked for that day's workout. You are allowed to adjust this! If you are struggling, you can lower the MPH (just don't walk). At this point, we're not too worried about speed, just get your volume (hit your times). The speed will come later.
• I'm going to get personal for a moment...last week was a rough week of running for me. My asthma has gotten worse this summer (since March, actually). I'm really struggling with this pollen and it's affecting my training. If you're battling asthma, I empathize with you. So...do your best, stay hydrated, and realize that your training will get better as the season progresses!
• With that said, remember that whatever you're doing NOW to train is like getting a good head start to your season. So don't get down on yourself if you feel like you're not where you think you should be...think of it as you're already ahead of where you should be at this time of the year, and you're getting yourself ready for when actual practice starts. Make sure to practice positive thinking!
• Let me repeat what I said a couple weeks ago: you can definitely supplement your running with other cardiovascular activities, but those don't REPLACE the running you need to do. I've had runners tell me they missed a workout but 'it's okay because I did a lot of walking at Cedar Point'. Yeah...that's not the same. Any runner will tell you you cannot replace the actual act of running with other activities (as good as they may be). I love kayaking but I still get my run in if I've kayaked that morning, I don't congratulate myself on a good run after I'm done kayaking.
• This week's running is going to be the same as the last two: three days of running but you can go up to 4 days this week. Next week we're going to increase it to 5 days of running. 
• If you really want to add more to your training, then you should be involved in other cardio activities! Biking, swimming, playing other sports...this will help with your training and mobility and will complement your running (just as running will complement your other sports).
• I have to tell you all to not congregate in groups. You are advised to run individually. If you happen to run with a few friends, make sure to exercise social-distancing pre- and post-workout and avoid running in groups at all times (or spread out during your run). 

Here's this week's running times:

• Session #1     16 - 26 minutes
• Session #2     20 - 30 minutes
• Session #3     18 - 28 minutes

These times are listed as a range of times, you can pick a time in between (for example if you decide to run 16 minutes continuously you can run 8 minutes out and 8 minutes back).

When this week is complete, you can log your minutes on the Pre-season Running Log (remember it's the same log in the same blog post as the last two weeks).

Good luck, keep up the good work and don't forget to log your minutes!