Thomas Shilgalis Displays His Summer Training Journal


Milesplit IL Summer Running Log

-The initial breakdown-

Post Track: Once I finished my track season I took some time off of training, only going on runs once every 3 days or so. This allowed me to take a mental and physical break from running, also making me feel fresh for the upcoming xc season. Once 2 weeks passed by I felt ready to start up training again.

Week 1 (July 2-8): Very settle training to get into things. Easy 30 minute runs and some fartlek days for a change of pace. This week was only to get into the groove of things. Only about 25 miles in total.

Week 2 (July 9-15): Started up some serious training. I may have jumped into this type of training too fast as I was excited to get good workouts in. Lifting, hills, tempo, all beat me up pretty bad throughout the week. Felt like trash and was extremely sore throughout, 45 miles in total. This was quite the jump and I definitely should have built into this training more.

Week 3 (July 16-22): This week was a huge change of pace. Worked on a lot more aerobic training than anything else: 5-8 mile runs at around 6:40 pace most days, I doubled three times this week to get my miles up a little more too- 50 miles in total.

Week 4 (July 23-29): This is what an average training week looks like for me during the summer/ in the season. Workouts may vary but this is a good example of an average week.

-Weeks 4 & 5 Daily Breakdown-

Monday (July 23) -
AM- Mondays are almost always workout days. We start off the day with a mile on the track to warm up. We lifted for about 30 minutes before our workout while the weight room is open. 400's on grass today. 15 minute warm up and drills. We had a range of 8-10 of them, the pace was supposed to feel about 15 seconds over your mile PR with double rest in between. Started out slow on my first couple but gradually worked my way down till my last interval. Afterward, we had 4 uphill strides, a light cooldown, roll, and stretch. Overall a pretty good workout felt pretty sluggish at first but eventually got in the groove of things.

PM- Easy afternoon run by myself; about 30 minutes at 7:20 pace with strides and stretches afterward. These runs are usually to shake out from the run in the morning and to get a couple extra miles in.

Tues (July 24) -

AM- Today was paced recovery aerobic type run as well as a day to recover from speed work. We started off with core in our groups before we headed off on our run. I planned to do 6 miles paced and an easy mile before and after. Hit the first mile with my group at 7:25, then picked it up to find a good pace, preferably in between tempo and recovery. I found my groove at around 6:00 flat pace, felt very smooth and relaxed for the full distance. We logged an easy mile back and was done after a couple of strides, hurdle drills, ladder drills, rolling and stretching.

Wed (July 25) -

AM - Today was a lighter workout since yesterday wasn't full recovery. It was 1k's at tempo, probably my two favorite things combined. We did some core before we headed off to our grass interval area; did our drills and some strides before we lined up with our group. My goal was to hit all 8 intervals with an even or negative split. During my first kilometer, I just felt out the pace, hit about 3:18, which is just around where I should be, only a tad quick. My next couple got faster and faster as I got a lot more comfortable. After my 4th circuit, my coach allowed me to combine my next intervals into a 2k to see if I'm still comfortable with no rest. I split those evenly with 3:14s. Hit my last 2 in 3:12, 3:11. It was a very good workout overall, felt extremely relaxed and controlled. I did several uphill strides before our cooldown back to school. We concluded the session by rolling and stretching.

PM - Easy 25 minute afternoon run.

Thurs (July 26) -

AM - Today was more of a pre-meet/ speedwork type day. 20 minute warm up with drills right after. We did 4x40's, walking 5-minute rest. These are pretty fun, pretty much going all out and racing them with your friends then just walking and chatting while waiting for the next one. 15 minute cool down after followed by hurdle drills, rolling, and stretching.

Friday (July 27) -

AM - We had a time trial in the morning for those who weren't running Detweiller at Dark, so I went to cheer them on and went on a small run after, only 20 minutes.

PM - Detweiller at Dark was my main run for the day. Simple race day routine, 15-minute warm up, drills, strides, race, cool down and stretch. I wasn't racing it but I felt very smooth throughout the whole race. I was happy to finish at 15:11 with how comfortable I felt. We finished with some strength work after our cooldown. Overall I was happy about today other than the fact that I accidentally won the race, long story if you haven't heard about it (The Detweiller at Dark Curse).

Saturday (July 28) -

AM - 80 minute long run with a friend. We felt pretty smooth and averaged 6:54, 11.6 miles in total. This was the longest wrong I had all summer and was good aerobic training. Strides and stretching afterward.


Sunday (July 29) -

PM - Easy 40 minute run with some friends just to get a couple extra miles in at the end of the week.

Week overview -

58 miles in total, definitely on my high end of weekly miles. I felt very good throughout the whole week allowing me to get good quality miles in.

Week 5 (July 30-Aug 5) - This week was a down week due to high mileage and tough training last week. Workouts should have the same intensity but mileage should be a bit lower overall.

Monday (July 30) -

AM - Fartlek workout to start the week off. Did core, warm up, and drills before we started. Each fartlek had a different range of time, 4-3-2-1-3-2-1-.5 minutes with equal rest in between. Each fartlek should end at the same difficulty so paces change throughout, but the short ones were a lot nicer. Felt good on this workout and was nice to hit a lot of different gears. Cooled down and did some strength work before we stretched.

Tuesday (July 31) -

AM - Recovery run today, easiest and simplest day there can be. About 45 minutes with our group at an easy pace, which is about 7:15 pace. About 6.2 miles of almost effortless running.

Wednesday (August 1) -

AM - Typical tempo workout. Started with some core before going into our warm up. 15 minute warm up with drills after. Went for about 25 minutes of tempo. I felt extremely sluggish and could only hold 5:40 pace for that long, usually, I hit about 5:25 or below for a good tempo day. Finished with some quick 200's before we ran our cooldown. Ended with some strength work and stretched.

PM - Easy 30 minutes to shake out from the tempo. Felt a lot better than this morning.

Thursday (August 2) -

AM - Today was a speedwork day, which is typically just as easy as recovery runs. Core before our warm up then drills right after. 4x40's with 5-minute walking rest, then 3x100's quick but comfortable, you can see why this is easy. These intervals are a good time to work on fixing your form. Cool down and stretching to end the day.

Friday (August 3) -

AM - Upbeat recovery with my group today. I'd usually split with my group and run these by myself because my pace is a bit faster but I decided to just chill with my group. Easy first mile, 40 minutes upbeat, easy last mile. Hit some uphill strides afterward then stretched.

PM - Mountain Dew 800, just a fun little competition we do with our team. Jug a Dew within a minute, finish an 800 within 3:45, and repeat the process until you either run out of time or throw up. I'm no good at these competitions and threw up after my 4th can. Top 3 gets to take home a good amount of the remaining cans, I wasn't nearly as close to that.

Saturday (August 4) -

AM - Easy long run with my group. We went about 70 minutes since it was a down week. The very easy pace of about 7:30. We found some pretty fun trails in a forested area which made it a lot of fun, other than the fact that I got poison ivy all over my ankles so I was insanely itchy for the rest of the day.

Sunday (August 5) -

Off

Week overview -

Hit about 50 miles this week, which is still pretty solid. Felt a bit sluggish some days but luckily it was a down week and most days were pretty adaptive on how you felt.