Summer Vacation: Training for the Worlds Part 2

All-American David McNeill is running Monday, August 17 at the IAAF World Championships in Germany. He took some time off from his training to give Lumberjack fans an update on his summer and preparation for the Worlds. This is the second of three blogs by McNeill before his return to Flagstaff for the 2009 cross country season.

Hello Friends, Family, and fellow Lumberjacks,

I’ll continue the account of my European trip where I finished up in Cork. Following an easy 12 miler on the morning after the race, I headed back to base camp in London. The next three weeks would provide a small, but uninterrupted block of training ahead of a 5k race in London. I had two new training partners now – Collis Birmingham, the recent Australian 10,000m record setter, and Adrian Blincoe, a New Zealander and former NCAA champion with Villanova.

To my fellow athletes, you will surely appreciate an account of my training over the 3 weeks from July 6 through to July 23 – the day before my race. To all other friends, family, and fellow Lumberjacks, bear with me on this blog, as I bore you to death with an account of splits, reps, times, and the ecstasy of completing 4x 2000m. Training definitely proceeded well during this time. I was always conscious of not over doing it, and avoiding trying to keep up with my older, and more accomplished training partners. To a large extent, a maintained control of this, and never finished a session needing to be peeled from the track. There is a time and place for pushing the pain button, and a month out from a world championship was not such a time to do that. Nevertheless, the splits I was running were very satisfying, and gave me a lot of confidence going into my 5k race in London. Here is my training diary. Enjoy.

Date	Session	Comments
Mon 6	AM: 7miles	Easy run
	PM: 8.5 miles	10mins easy, 30mins at a bit below lactate threshold (LT) effort, 10mins easy
Tues7	AM: Track – 9lapper, 4lapper, 4x800m	9 lapper: first four laps in 71s, next 3 laps in 68s, last 2 laps in 65s; lap jog; 4 lapper: 68,67,66,65; lap jog; 800m in 2:11, 2:14, 2:13, 2:12
Wed 8	AM: 9 miles	Easy run
	PM: 4.5 miles	Easy run
Thurs 9	AM: 8 mile LT	39:56
	PM: 4.5 miles	Easy run
Fri 10	AM: 7 miles	Easy run
Sat 11	AM: 6x 3min hills	About a 4min jog back down (shortcut back to start) recovery between each
Sun 12	AM: 15miles	Easy long run
Mon 13	AM: Track – 4lap, 3lap, 2lap, 4lap, 3lap, 2lap	4:34, 3:14, 2:04, 4:15, 3:13, 2:02. Lap jog between each rep; each rep tried to progress in pace with each lap. VERY TOUGH SESSION
	PM: 4.5miles	Easy run
Tues 14	AM: 7 miles	Easy run
	PM: 4.5 miles	Easy run
Wed 15	AM: 10 miles	Easy run
Thurs 16	AM: 8 mile LT	Same course as last week – 39:57
	PM: 4 miles	Easy run
Fri 17	AM: 7 miles	Easy run
Sat 18	AM: 4x 2k on the track	5:29, 5:33, 5:30, 5:43. First 2 reps alternated laps between fast and slow; 3rd rep got faster each lap, last rep at a more comfortable, even pace.
	PM: 4 miles	Easy run
Sun 19	AM: 13 miles	Easy long run
Mon 20	AM: 7miles	Easy run
	PM: 4.5 miles	Easy run
Tues 21	AM: 2k, 800m, 5x200m	5:52, lap jog, 2:03, lap walk/jog, 30, 30, 29, 29, 27 (all 200m reps with 200m jog between)
	PM: 4 miles	Easy run
Wed 22	AM: 8 mile	Easy run
	PM: 4 mile	Easy run
Thurs 23	AM: 5 mile	Easy run
Fri 24	PM: Race 5k	???

I’ll start my next blog with an account of my 5k race in London. Until then, happy training, and safe travels back to Flagstaff ahead of the new semester!