Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West) junior standout Lindsay Graham was already an emerging talent when she transferred from cross county rival Glenbard East in the fall of 2013. Graham proceeded as an individual force for the Hilltoppers. The damage that Graham created was to the tune of two state all-state honors in cross country and track. The Hilltoppers copped the team title in the 3A classification as well. Lindsay has been training well and injury free. As a result she agreed in kind to share some of her summer running experience.
POST TRACK:
At the end of my track season, I took two weeks completely off from any training. I usually enjoy this time to catch up on sleep, hang out with friends, or just chill out! This time is really important for me because it gives me a break mentally as well as physically. Once this time is up, I am ready to ease back into running again. My focus for this summer is to get into good shape without running too many miles. I had an injury my sophomore cross country season and I would like to avoid that.
WEEK 1
The first week of running after my break is always rough. I feel sore and achy even though I’m not doing a lot of running! That’s okay though, I prefer to take things slow and my body adjusts to restarting my training.
06/09/2014: 4 mile run, 4 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening. Strides are about 100m run at about your 1600 race pace. It’s a comfortable sprint meant to help work on turnover and form.
06/10/2014: 4 mile run, 4 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
06/11/2014: 4 mile run, 4 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
06/12/2014: 4 mile run, 4 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
06/13/2014: 5 mile run, 4 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
06/14/2014: 4 mile run, 4 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
06/15/2014: Day off! Well deserved after the first week back.
WEEK 2
This week was especially hard. My family took a vacation to Florida this week and it was very, very humid and hot. Even when we got up at 6:00am, the heat was already a factor and there was about 90% humidity! Although I was tired from a lot of walking around, starting my day off with a run was a great way to wake up!
06/16/2014: 5 mile run, 5 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
06/17/2014: 5 mile run, 5 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
06/18/2014: 5 mile run, 5 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
06/19/2014: 5 mile run, 5 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
06/20/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
06/21/2014: 5 mile run, 5 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
6/22/2014: Day off. I like to take a day off each week because it helps my body feel better, and it’s nice to be able to sleep in!
WEEK 3
If you didn’t notice the trend, I’ve been adding a mile to my runs each week so I can gradually build up to a normal amount. The running camp at Glenbard West started last week, but I couldn’t attend because I was in Florida! Although I’m not able to go that much because of my summer job, it is nice to be able to see my teammates and run with them! At this point, the only hard running we have been doing has been in the form of non-conversational runs. We do them a couple times per week, and they’re comparable to a tempo run. You aren’t running terribly fast, but you couldn’t talk to the person next to you.
06/23/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
06/24/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
06/25/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
06/26/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
06/27/2014: 7 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
06/28/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
06/29/2014: No training today. After a decent week of running, I’m ready for a relaxing day!
WEEK 4
This week was pretty fun because I had a race on schedule for the 4th of July! It was nice to see what kind of shape I’m in after some base training. I was able to push myself in a low-stress race and I was looking forward to a good party afterwards. I also got to run with my buddy Lisa Luczak a few times this week so that was really fun!
06/30/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
07/01/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
07/02/2014: 7 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
07/03/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
07/04/2014: Fourth of July Race!!!
07/05/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
07/06/2014: Day off.
WEEK 5
At this point, we are still doing a lot of the same thing: easy running with some non-conversational runs, and strides. You may be wondering what I mean by dynamic drills and strengthening. Basically, dynamics are exercises that help improving running form and they are a good stretch. For strengthening, we do a variety of exercises for the arms, legs, and core to make sure we work on getting strong.
07/07/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
07/08/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
07/09/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
07/10/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
07/11/2014: 7 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
07/12/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening
07/13/2014: rest day.
WEEK 6
Now that you have basically been reading the same thing for the past few weeks, we finally switch it up! We still continue with mostly easy running and some non-conversational runs, but the team has added a hill workout that we do on Tuesdays.
07/14/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic, drills, arm and core strengthening.
07/15/2014: Hill workout, dynamic drills, core strengthening. We don’t have to do leg strengthening today, hills take care of that!
07/16/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
07/17/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
07/18/2014: 7 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
07/19/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
07/20/2014: Day off! Definitely felt it in the glutes/calves/quads/everywhere after the first time doing hills this week! My foam roller and I spent a lot of time together.
WEEK 7
You may have noticed at this point that I am not adding any more mileage. After dealing with an injury, I have learned that less is more. Instead of a lot of running, I enjoy doing some cross training too when I feel like I need it!
07/21/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
07/22/2014: Hill workout, dynamic drills core strengthening.
07/23/2014: Here is where I could replace some running with cross training. If I’m feeling achy or sore, I’ll go on the stationary bike, elliptical, or pool and do that for an equivalent amount of time.
07/24/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, arm and core strengthening.
07/25/2014: 7 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, leg and core strengthening.
07/27/2014: 6 mile run, 6 strides, dynamic drills, core strengthening.
