Clara Grandt's training

I'll go a little further with what W said and stress the importance of Easy Mac, Arbys and Chicken Wings (Keglers only)!! These are key essentials for any runner
on the road to success . Another good point is the fact that it wasn't any one thing that Clara did over the past few weeks leading up to Cross Nationals that helped her run what she did. It's been a lot of hard work, strong will and consistancy over the past 3 years that have helped propel her to the level she is running at today. There is no single day or week or even month of training that is more important that the ones that have come before.

Clara has been a high mileage runner for the past couple of years and she has also become infamous for running really hard on her regulars runs. She does between 80-100 miles a week with morning runs.

SUMMER-

After finishing up outdoor track last year Clara took a break and then ran on her own for the summer just logging miles and getting fit. Since she runs everything pretty hard there were no workouts really needed, but she does do a 2 hour long run every Sunday which is huge component in the training. Most of the girls follow a similar schedule in the summer when getting ready for Cross Country, just logging miles and doing a Sunday long run. The long runs are never missed and continue year round. They range from 1:20 to 2 hours for different runners (usually about 20% of your weekly mileage)


FALL -

When she got to Cross Country Camp at the beginning of the fall, Clara showed she was pretty fit during a team tempo run. After that she started her workouts for the fall cross season. Her and Marie-Louise did 1 workout a week for the whole fall all the way up until NCAA Cross Country Nationals. Since Clara runs all her runs so hard, and the fact that Cleary didn't trust her to be recovering, he kept her at one workout a week the whole season. If she raced, that counted as her one workout of the week. These workouts were usually pretty huge and could get intense. Clara and Marie were the only ones on the team who worked out just once a week though. The others like Keri, Ahna, Kate and Kaylyn all worked out twice a week but they did the same Tuesday workouts listed below only at different paces. They would cycle through these workouts and come back to the same one every month or so. Every time they came back to the same workout the goal was to always do it better than the last time they did it. It's all about progressing through the season through these
set of workouts.

- 10 mile Tempo Run progression run. She would start at like 6:50 min pace and then gradually get faster every 10 min or 1 mile (by dropping the mile pace 10 seconds) so that they would finish the last couple of miles at 5:20 pace or faster. They did this workout quite a few times on the exact same course so that they could compare and the goal was to be able to get faster each time they did it. The last one she did with Marie they ended the last 5 miles at 5:55, 5:45 5:35 5:25 and 5:12 to give you an idea of how the progression works. In the other group with Kaylyn and Kate and Ahna - they got down to being able to finish these off at under 5:30 pace by the end of the season.

- 10x1000 at steady pace on the track with 1 min rest. Like W said the worst workout in the history of workouts and I block all memory of them from my head. These aren't all out. The effort should be similar to that of a steady tempo run. When on the track it's usually faster than 10K race pace. Each time they come back to this workout the goal is to run them at faster pace than they did before (providing forces of nature allow it).

- 3x 2 mile on the tempo loop with 3 min rest. Each 2 mile repeat getting a little faster Clara did this a few times but the main group didn't do this as much.
She recently did this workout on the indoor track and ran and ran 11:30 - 10:50 - 10:30. This is just another example of the tempo type workout they do though.
These huge strength workouts are all similar in nature and pretty much get the same thing out of the runner.

- 4 mile Tempo - Ah the 4 mile Tempo Run on the Tempo Loop. I don't know how much of a True Tempo this is for Clara, like some of the others this workout usually turns into an all out effort at the end. Which is fine. (fastest average pace for her in the fall was was 5:18). Again all of the girls did the 4 mile tempos through out the season. Most of the time Kaylyn, Kate, Ahna and Jess would run together as a group going speeds that would more closely resemble what you would consider a real tempo.

Clara didn't do the 2nd workout of the week like the others on the team. Keri, Kaylyn, Ahna, Kate and Jess would all come back on Friday to run another workout (or race, which counted as the 2nd workout). This workout would be a chance for them to run some stuff at or faster than the speeds they would be racing at. It's very important for them to get a chance to get this little bit of "speed" in. If they are not racing then they'll typically do a fartlek workout on grass surface. And when it says "speed", it doesn't necessarily mean repeat 200's all out. It means they are working at a pace faster than that they race at. Anything at mile or 3k or even 5K pace would be considered speed work in cross country since it's all faster than their actual race pace for a 6K. A few example of these workouts are below:

- 90,60,30,15 Fartlek. 4x 90 seconds hard then 90 seconds honest pace (no plodding) right into 4x60 seconds hard then 60 seconds honest pace then right into 4x30 seconds hard 30 seconds honest pace then right into 4x 15 seconds hard and 15 seconds honest pace. The pace gets faster and faster as you progress through this workout. This is a non-stop fartlek run - and is probably one of my personal favorites to do. You get a chance to really get going on the faster sections. It's sometimes better to do this workout alone so that you can do your own thing and your not relegated to running someone else's pace. It's usually done in a grass field or on a cross country course so you can get used to going faster speeds on that type of surface. You are allowed to haul ass on this. They do this workout a ton too. It's one he goes back to a lot in the fall, and everyone seems to enjoy it, unless it's run in the mud. Then they complain.

- 10x500 with 1 min rest. On the track, and these usually are done at 5K pace but they can get going quicker sometimes. If you can't get on a track then you could do do a similar fartlek style run like 10 x 1:30 hard with one min. jogging recovery.

WINTER -

The previous schedule is pretty much what the majority of the girls stayed on all the way until the end of Cross Country season. Some took a break after the season with a few days off and some light running and didn't workout until Dec. Clara kept training but didn't get back to working out until the begining of Jan. Once she was back she started into a routine that was very similar to the fall. For her it was one workout a week and then every other week she would add in a 2nd speed type of workout. All the girls that were doing indoor went back to a similar routine on the track as they were in Cross Country. One big workout at the beginning of the week followed by a race or speed workout later in the week. Clara's workouts branched off from the rest of the team who were getting ready for indoor track. Since she had planned on doing winter Cross, which is 8K, she still stayed on the longer Tempo type workouts similar to the one's in Cross Country. In her one workout a week she would be out on the Tempo loop doing a 4 mile Tempo or doing the 3x2 mile cutdown workout inside. Sometimes she jumped in the big Monday workout group and went with them Another workout that was added in was:

-3 mile tempo on the track - First 800 at 2:28 pace. Then alternating every 400 with one lap at 90 sec pace followed by one at 72-73 pace. This back and forth speeding up and slowing down continues for 3 miles and they are allowed to rip the last 400 if the want.

Every other week Clara would do a speed workout which was usually 400's at mile/3K pace with short rest. She continued this for the month and a half leading up to USA Cross. Right before she went she did a workout with the rest of the distance crew who were doing cutdown miles on the indoor track. She went 5:45, 5:35, 5:25, 5:15,5:05, 4:57 with 3 min rest in between. This was the first time she had ever gone under 5 min at the end of that workout so the confidence and fitness were at an all time high leading into USA Cross Nationals.

The rest of the group who are now focusing on indoor track started back working out lightly (light tempos and fartleks) over Dec. and once school started back they got back into their normal routine. They do the big cutdown workouts early in the week (Monday usually) and then come back later in the week with speed or a race. Again like Cross Country they cycle through the same few workouts over and over and come back to the same workout every 4 weeks or so. When they come back to the workout they try to go one deeper on the cutdown workouts or run a faster pace on the steady state workouts. Here are the workouts that they do for the big Tuesday workouts

- 5 to 6x mile cutdown - with 3 min rest. They will start out a slower pace and each mile will get faster until the last couple are really ripping it. Kaylyn
Christopher recently did this workout in 5:45 5:35 5:24 5:15 5:06, 4:56 while Keri Bland went 4:53 where Kaylyn went 4:56 and then did another one at 4:45. That's getting pretty intense since 4:44 is a provisional qualifier for D1 Nationals.

- 5 to 6x 1200 meter cutdown - with 3 min rest. This is similar to the mile cutdowns. They get rolling at the end of these.

- 10x800 or 10000 at a steady pace with 1 min rest. No cut downs on this they just have a set pace that they run for all them.

After the huge Monday workout they get a break until the weekend where they either race or do some speed stuff. If they race it will be a shorter distance than the
race that they are focusing on during the winter. If Keri Bland and Kaylyn Christopher are focusing on the mile indoors (it's the event they want to run
at Nationals) then the majority of the indoor races they will run will be shorter faster races like the 800 or 1000 or the 1200 on the DMR. They use these to sharpen the legs and get them going speeds that they don't really get to hit in practice. If someone is focusing on the 3K indoor, you will see them run a lot of miles or 1200's on the DMR and stuff in that range to set them up for that big race. Someone like Clara who is focusing on an 8K will run a lot of 4 mile tempo loops which count as races since she gets that intense on them If they don't have a race and instead do a
speed workout there are a few different ones that they do. They haven't really gotten into these too much yet since they have been racing quite a bit but here are a few workout that are done for speed.

- 12 x 300 with jog recovery back to start. These get faster as you so the last ones are faster than mile pace.

- 12 x 400 Cutdown sets. First 4 done a little faster than 5K pace with 1 min rest. Then after that set you rest 2:30. Next set of 4 is done at a little
faster than 3K pace with 1 min rest. Then after that set you rest 2:30. Last set is faster than mile pace with 1 min rest.

A lot of these ladies have plans to keep things going all the way into outdoor, so it becomes highly important that they keep their mileage and long runs up and
stick with these huge strength workouts all through the winter and spring where they'll start getting into more speed workouts. This is a yearly plan that they are
on not a seasonal plan so the whole year is taken into consideration. If the runner sits down with Sean and says, "The one thing I want to do more than any other thing
this year is to win the 5K at NCAA Outdoor Nationals." Then everything that person does is one big set up for that race. The fall and winter races and workouts are one big set up for this Ultimate Goal for outdoor. They can still be successful in Cross and during Indoor but he will not let them sale their souls to do so. The real goal is for that outdoor title so some sacrifices will be made to obtain it.

Ok this is long enough so I'm stopping. Please do not point Sean in the direction of this post. He'll kill me. I'll be relegated to cleaning up his bagel crumbs at Panera for months.

Casey Batey

In response to this arictle morgantown runner Jay Dolmage had this to add. I agree with this 100% and it's certainly something that has to be emphasized. I actually had a section of this article that talked about this, but it was getting long enough already so I cut it out.

"I think it is important to mention something here. I agree that it is always interesting to see people's training. But interesting is different than useful.

As Casey would surely agree, none of this means anything without the close attention and knowledge of a coach. And no coach is better at understanding athletes mentally and physiologically than Sean.

Sean never gives any workout without taking time to talk to his athletes and gauge where they are at.

Because of this, all of this information is equally likely to get you

A) a p.b after two years
B) nothing at all
C) injured quickly

A good coach subtly tweaks everything for every athlete. So, you might be able to do all of the workouts listed here. But it doesn't mean much unless you know yourself incredibly well, and you understand the sport in a sophisticated way.

For instance, I can bet you that Sean is able to predict the actual finish times of any one of his athletes in a race, given their training and the other mental and physiological cues he picks up on, down to the second. That kind of expertise is rare, while the workouts Casey listed are actually pretty common.

All of this goes towards saying that what Casey has posted should be very interesting to any runner, but it isn't a magic ticket, and it doesn't represent even 50% of what has gone into Clara's success. Much more important are things like her mental focus, her pattern of consistent lifestyle choices, her interaction with and trust of her coach, and so on.

Jay Dolmage"