Lane Tech junior Maggie Scholle (in yellow singlet) rolling at last year's Niles West State Sectional (Mark Capapas photo)
When you think of a traditional long distance runner often times the LSD approach comes to mind. In many cases the long slow distance route is best for kids who want to have successful cross country seasons. Or is it? But what about the long-term health of the athlete? Well, coach Jeff Bryant has done something that perhaps no coach in America and certainly not in Illinois would dare to do with a distance runner who loves the 2-mile and cross country such as junior Maggie Scholle of Chicago Lane Tech. Coach Bryant has taken the speed development route to building a more well rounded athlete. Scholle dropped her 3200m personal best down to 11:04.22 and a 13th place finish in 3A state championship this past spring. Scholle is aiming to improve on her 43rd place (17:43) finish at the state meet last year.
6/8-7/12:
During the summers we decided to take an unorthodox approach with Maggie which we started last year. She loves cross country just as much as track but I advised her that if she wanted to be better in the “long run” she would need to focus more on a speed based approach during the summer rather than the traditional build-a-base approach. At the time we had no idea if it would work for her but it did.
Yes, we train her like a mid-season 400m runner for the first 4-5 weeks. Most of the workouts we do are of my own design but I do get a lot of inspiration from Clyde Hart’s workouts. The emphasis is on getting her foot speed faster. We are not concerned with how fast she can run a 1600 or a 3 mile race at this point. We are concerned more with her pure speed and speed endurance.
Maggie typically starts after taking 2-2.5 weeks off of training after the state meet. We want the body and mind to fully recover before she starts to run again. Plus I feel that it gets her hungry for the upcoming season. During the 4-5 week period she probably does no more than 15 miles in a given a week. She will eventually build up to 35-40 miles per week towards the October/November. We talk about that the goal is November and possibly December. She is also lifting weights 3 x a week during this time and doing 2 different core circuits on the other days. Her body is learning to run tired and sore during this point of training.
This training may seem extremely unconventional and unheard of to many but it works for her and she has seen major gains from season to season. And hopefully those gains will continue into this Cross Country season!
Week 5: 7/13-7/19
Her training is transitioning now. She is starting to train like an off season 400m runner mixed with a touch of additional endurance training. Allergies and humidity has been affecting her breathing in the previous weeks but looked much better this week.
Monday: 1 mile WU, 2x600m @ (2:06) w/15 min rest, 3x300m @ (66) w/1 min rest, 2x300m @ (54-55) w/5 min rest, 1 mile CD, Lifting (Power & Speed)
Tuesday: 1 mile WU, 6x800m @ (3:15) w/60 sec rest, 1 mile CD, Lifting (Upper Body)
Wednesday: 25 min run, 4x100m strides
Thursday: 1 mile WU, 10x200m @39-40 sec w/90 sec rest
Friday: 30 min run, 4x100m strides
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Week 6: 7/20-7/26
We are very slowly increasing her mileage as the summer continues. More of a continuation of week 5 but we had to switch Tuesday to Wednesday because it was too difficult to go consecutive days. The main goal is to keep her healthy as she continues to add more volume to her training.
Monday: 1 mile WU, 1x600m @ (2:06), 1x700m @ (2:27) w/15 min rest, 3x300m @ (66) w/1 min rest, 2x300m @ (54-55) w/5 min rest, 1 mile CD, Lifting (Power & Speed)
Tuesday: 25 min run, 4x100m strides (Circuit)
Wednesday: 1 mile WU, 4x1000m @ (4:00) w/60 sec rest, 1 mile CD, Lifting (Upper Body)
Thursday: 1 mile WU, 12x200m @39-40 sec w/90 sec rest (Power,Speed, Stability)
Friday: 35 min run, 4x100m strides (Circuit)
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Week 7: 7/21-7/27
Maggie’s training is going very well. All her runs are easy. The focus is on feel rather than pace. We have discussed that someday 7:20-7:30 may feel easy and others it may feel very difficult so just learn to listen to the body. We wanted to go to 5x1000m today but the allergies wouldn’t allow it. Otherwise she is progressing nicely. Slowly introducing that 6th day or running into the program as well.
Monday: 1 mile WU, 2x700m @ (2:27),w/15 min rest, 3x300m @ (66) w/1 min rest, 2x300m @ (53-54) w/5 min rest, 1 mile CD, Lifting (Power & Speed)
Tuesday: 30 min run, 4x100m strides (Circuit)
Wednesday: 1 mile WU, 4x1000m, 1x500m @ (4:00) w/60 sec rest, 1 mile CD, Lifting (Upper Body)
Thursday: 1 mile WU, 12x200m @39-40 sec w/90 sec jog between reps(Power,Speed, Stability)
Friday: 40 min run, 4x100m strides (Circuit)
Saturday: 15 min run
Sunday: Off
7/28-8/2
This week is a recovery week. Time to let the body rest and heal a bit since her first race is a bit over a month away. Only did 2 days of lifting and no days of the circuit. She is starting to feel good and notices the strength she has gained over summer training.
Monday: 30 min run, 4x100m strides
Tuesday: 1 mile WU, 4x1000m @ (4:00) w/60 sec rest, 1 mile CD (Circuit)
Wednesday: 30 min run, 4x100m strides
Thursday: 1 mile WU, 10x200m @39-40 sec w/90 sec rest (Circuit)
Friday: 35 min run, 4x100m strides
Saturday: 15 min run
Sunday: Off
8/3-8/7
The final week of training before we go into full cross country training. She is at the this point in summer where she was last year in October. It is family vacation time for her so that will be a good time to start to accumulate some mileage and do more aerobic running. Also just throwing in a mile time trial so she knows where she is at during the summer.
Monday: 30 min run, 4x100m strides
Tuesday: 1 mile WU, 5x1000m @ (4:00) w/60 sec rest, 1 mile CD
Wednesday: 20-25 min run, 2x200m @ 39
Thursday: 1 mile time trial, Goal Time 5:25 (Actual Time - 5:21.4 -78.5,80.4,81,81.5)
Friday: Six Flags Great America Trip
Saturday: Off
