Damn snow

    Posted In: Training Theory

        • Participant
          madisonflash on February 11, 2008 at 8:35 pm #14338

          I coach HS girls in WI, where we currently have about 2 feet of snow on the ground. Practice starts the beginning of March, but I’m really doubting the track will be clear by then. We have no indoor track, so any running is either done outside, in the gym, or the school hallways.

          Any ideas for ways to train those first week or two when outdoor workouts aren’t really an option? I used some stair workouts last year, but I want to limit them as they’re tough on the legs. The team is predominantly young, with little/no lifting experience. I know 2 weeks of lifting 3x per week won’t do a lot for their strength, but it would be an opportunity to teach basic lifts, and set up a base for more in-season strength work.
          That said, I don’t want to put my girls 2 weeks behind in an already short season.

          Ideas? Focus on strengthening until the track is clear? Head outside for some endurance work? Hills? Stairs? Speed work in the gym/hallway?

          stupid wisconsin winter…

        • Participant
          mortac8 on February 11, 2008 at 9:35 pm #68393

          What events are you dealing with? Everything?

        • Participant
          madisonflash on February 11, 2008 at 9:40 pm #68394

          100-400, hurdlers, relays, TJ

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on February 12, 2008 at 4:48 am #68419

          I coach HS girls in WI, where we currently have about 2 feet of snow on the ground. Practice starts the beginning of March, but I’m really doubting the track will be clear by then. We have no indoor track, so any running is either done outside, in the gym, or the school hallways.

          Any ideas for ways to train those first week or two when outdoor workouts aren’t really an option? I used some stair workouts last year, but I want to limit them as they’re tough on the legs. The team is predominantly young, with little/no lifting experience. I know 2 weeks of lifting 3x per week won’t do a lot for their strength, but it would be an opportunity to teach basic lifts, and set up a base for more in-season strength work.
          That said, I don’t want to put my girls 2 weeks behind in an already short season.

          Ideas? Focus on strengthening until the track is clear? Head outside for some endurance work? Hills? Stairs? Speed work in the gym/hallway?

          stupid wisconsin winter…

          Like you said its a great chance to do some teaching in the weight room. Also you can increase ur plyo volume, sled pulls and more short sprints and when you move outdoors change over to more med to long sprints. Also for you lactic work you could try turnaround sprints, spilt runs etc. Just be creative because there are many things you can do for that short time period.

        • Participant
          madisonflash on February 12, 2008 at 4:59 am #68420

          I hadn’t thought of the sled pulls, we’ll definitely do a bit of that.

          I guess I’m just nervous about the unforgiving nature of the hallways/stairs. Better to keep the running in the gym to avoid killing their legs?

        • Participant
          utfootball4 on February 12, 2008 at 5:06 am #68421

          I hadn’t thought of the sled pulls, we’ll definitely do a bit of that.

          I guess I’m just nervous about the unforgiving nature of the hallways/stairs. Better to keep the running in the gym to avoid killing their legs?

          With your current situation esp early season you could probably do sled work twice a week for your short sprinters also i dont see anything wrong with the hallways/stairs just dont get stupid.

        • Participant
          Josh Hurlebaus on February 12, 2008 at 6:48 am #68422

          I’m in WI too and we used to use hallways when it was too cold/snowy. It didn’t feel any harder on my legs than a track does at 10 degrees.

          I don’t know what your training looks like but have you considered using any circuits to mimic tempo days?

        • Participant
          hscoach on February 12, 2008 at 8:05 am #68423

          madisonflash: i am in the same situation. 00Scoots suggestion would be good for recovery days and sled pulls and accels and weightroom work well for m-w-f. it is tough training hs athletes in the north country – but work on their strength and accel technique during that time. as for tile hallways – avoid them if possible. some kids can handle it but many cannot. do you have a runway mat? if not – then order one for next season. we have two and we use them every accel day.

        • Participant
          Josh Hurlebaus on February 12, 2008 at 8:31 am #68425

          You know what works great instead of a runway mat that most schools in the north already have? One of those huge roll out winter floor mats that soak up the slush and the salt. Roll it out and flip it over and run on the back rubber. A few in a row and you have 40m worth of usable surface.

          We’ve actually done this before and it works great. We even used out spikes on them for starts and it was like being on a track.

        • Participant
          hscoach on February 12, 2008 at 8:37 pm #68428

          how long are those winter floor mats?

        • Participant
          Josh Hurlebaus on February 13, 2008 at 7:16 am #68429

          We have some really huge ones that get rolled up onto carts. I would say around 30-50 feet each and they weigh so much that it takes a few people to move them on the cart

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on February 13, 2008 at 10:36 am #68432

          Haven’t been following the thread but “Damn Snow” is right. It took me 50 minutes to make my usual 10 minute ‘over-the-mountain’ drive home tonight because of the “Damn Snow.”

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Member
          Avi S (tkxii) on January 8, 2009 at 8:40 am #76347

          i’m in boston, and we have snow too sometimes, not as much, but my coach has made us do a lot of blocks and starts in the gym

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