This program is a 8 week training plan created by 3:57 miler Joey Berriatua, to help high schoolers looking to break 17:30 in the 5k their upcoming cross country season. Before the first day of practice, without direction, it is very difficult to know as a young runner what is appropriate for summer training. Coach Joey, who specializes in training high school athletes, understands the needs and the timeline of showing up to day 1 of XC season practice ready to workout. Athletes do not need to have had any weeks of training coming off of their breaks following the track season.
Breakdown of the program:
Weeks 1 & 2: Build mileage, regaining muscular coordination through strides and hill reps, establishing the weekend long run.
Weeks 3-5: Building mileage, introducing light fartlek + tempo workouts, building long run capacity.
Weeks 6-8: Mileage goals met, more established workout structure 2x / week, max weekend long run for summer training.
Coach Joey's summer programs airs on the side of conservative training, so athletes should expect consistent, simple training methods. Not only does this keep the athlete from burning out, it gets them to XC season happy, healthy, and excited for more-- but with plenty of base underneath them to train and race hard through November/ December. Through this program, not only will an athlete show up to practice fit, but be ready for established training program under high school coach.
Hammer & Axe Training was born out of a vision shared by a handful of elite distance runners. We found in our training that we ran our best when we committed to training our speed and strength equally. A focus on strength made us durable, strong, and prepared for the adversity that racing brings. A focus on speed made us confident, efficient, and ready to move when the right moment arrived. We wanted to bring this feeling of speed and strength to as many runners as possible.