How to do an SUU Cross Country Practice
- Nate
- Jul 23, 2020
- 3 min read
Wake up and get ready
The start to an SUU Cross Country practice is the same as any other day, you get up and get ready. There are somethings that make getting up different however. Because practices are starting at 6:30 in the morning, you have to get up a lot earlier than what you are used to. This means getting up anywhere between 5:30 and 6:00, so that you will be ready and able to take on whatever the practice brings at you. After getting up, it is important to get some energy into your body so that you will be fueled for the practice. For some people it may be coffee or eggs, my go to snack before a practice is either a banana or a granola bar.
Here is a link that I found that gives some great advice on what you should and shouldn't eat before a run.
Warm Up
Once you arrive at the track, you will wait around for a few minutes depending on what time you got there, but at exactly 6:30 the team will start warming up. To start off our warm ups, we will jog half a lap, we will then alternate through different dynamic stretches. These different stretches include things like high knees, a-skips, karaoke, and butt-kickers. Each dynamic stretch will take course over 100 meters, and once we are done with the dynamic stretches we have gone around the track about 3 times.
After completing the dynamic stretches we will go into some static stretches. You can complete these stretches at your own pace. The overall goal is to feel loose and ready for the run. Some of the static stretches we will complete are things like quad pulls or toe touches. After completing the stretches you can grab a drink and wait for instructions on what we are doing for practice.
If you do not know the difference between dynamic and static stretching here is a link that does a great job explaining:
The Real Practice
Now that you have completed all of the stretching/warm ups, you are ready to take on the practice. The coach has a variety of different runs and workouts to complete, so you never really know what you are going to get for the day. It could be one of the most difficult track workouts, or it could be a slow recovery run around town.
The most common run that we will complete is called a 50% run. A 50% run is supposed to be about 50% of your effort for 10 miles. The typical mileage that we will run for a day is 10 miles. A 50% will have a pace anywhere from a 6:15 to a 7:30 mile pace. There are countless other runs that we will do, and we usually call those work outs. Workout will be much more difficult, whether is be long and fast or shorter and really fast.
Recovery
After a hard workout one of the most important things you can do is properly recover. If you do not do a good job recovering you will not get the benefits that you want. This means you will go to the training room directly after practice to get what you need. Whether is be a massage, icing, or stretching, you need to get in here to be sure that you will be ready for the next day.
There are several different things you can do to recover, but this website lists a few that can be very helpful.
Congratulations, you have made it through an SUU Cross Country practice!
コメント