The Bakersfield Track Club

The donut shop group is a rather loose assortment of runners that has grown over several decades. Several of the founders are still there... some now walk, some run at somewhat slower paces (Dorsh Sanders, Leslie King and Ray Miranda among those). We now have a core group that in the past 5-10 years has formulated a training regimen breaking the year into four meso-cycles of roughly 12-14 weeks each. We have 2 cycles with the full 12 weeks scheduled, culminating in a spring race (Carlsbad 5000) and a late summer race (Paso Robles 10K from 2003-2007 and 2011-12, the Smokey Bear run in Bass Lake from 2008-2010, which is part of the Valley Runner of the Year Series).

In between are less structured periods, with emphasis on still maintaining an element of speed, some racing with focus on base mileage. In the Fall/Winter we've sometimes blended that with half marathon training. The heart of all the programs is the Donut Shop classic Country Club 11.2 miler. We'll be including that in some of the longer endurance runs seen on the program. You have to finish that course to earn the "Donut Shop" shirt our runners are seen wearing in races.

Monday, 1/14/2013 starts our structured 12 week program focusing on speed and racing, culminating in the Carlsbad 5000 (5K) April 7. Click here for more info on the race. Anyone who wishes to join us for this program, feel free (Click here to see the program). The standard meeting times of 5AM for Tues/Thurs at the donut shop are followed most of the time, the other days vary depending upon the workout. We have let that slide to 5:30AM or later for some work outs, Bruce will keep anyone on the mailing list informed of the meeting times. If you are interested in receiving emails about where and when we'll be meeting, you can contact Bruce Deeter at bejayde@bak.rr.com .

A bit about the program. It has evolved from a program Bruce obtained from Rick Mayberry, Highland High School's Cross Country coach used to train his runners for 5K cross country season. Originally it was followed as is but has been toned down since most of the runners, competitive as they may be, are many years past high school age and have tailored the program to suit their needs. In recent years Bruce and Pam Boyles have been tweaking the program and added favorite workouts from many sources getting to what you find now. It is intended for those interested in racing.

This year is the 3rd year of a major departure from these origins to the program. In April 2010 Running Times Magazine published an article written by Pete Magill entitled “Solve the 5K Puzzle: An Effort Based Route to Success”. A new program has been designed using this article as its basis. Pete Magill holds three American age-group records and is the oldest American to break 15:00 for 5K, when he ran 14:49 at age 47. As the article indicates, this programs focus is effort based with much of the running dealing with time on task at perceived effort, the majority at 5K effort. Less effort is on specific distance vs time over the distance be it on aerobic endurance type runs or intervals. Here are some interesting points from the article.

It begins with:

"The 5K is the race where runners come to meet. It's the race where real distance runners drop down, taking a break from the usual smorgasbord of 15Ks, marathons, and 24-hour relays to snack on an event that seems nothing more than a sustained sprint. And it's the place where middle-distance runners go up, figuring to grit their teeth and hang for three miles, then streak past all the slow-moving shufflers like cheetahs picking apart a herd of gazelle.

The 5K is where these two distinct groups of runners face off and where a third group, the 5K specialists, are likely to steal the show. Because the 5K specialist knows what neither the mileage junkie nor the speed racer seems to grasp: The 5K is a unique effort that demands a full range of physiological and psychological preparation.

And blending the correct components of that preparation takes more than marking down miles in a training log or recording splits during an interval session. It takes collecting and then putting together all the pieces of the 5K puzzle.”

Later, it breaks down the key components:

“For our 5K puzzle, we assemble pieces to create these six islands:.

* Stride Efficiency

* Aerobic Endurance

* 5K-Specific Endurance

* Intermediate Fast-Twitch Endurance

* Versatile Race Pace Efficiency

* Post-Run Recovery & Injury Prevention

On race day, we join these islands to complete our 5K puzzle. Voila! Our task is done beforehand.”

All these components are addressed by the various elements of the new program. Stride efficiency is addressed by including short hill repetitions and technique drills. Pete has a good video which you should all watch which shows these drills, click here. Aerobic endurance is addressed through a mixture of short, medium and long aerobic endurance runs based on time. You’ll note the program indicates a range of distance for a given time, the time on task is the more important of the two. 5K specific endurance is addressed when we depart from the typical pace vs distance based intervals and run time based intervals at a specific effort, in this case, 5K effort. These are similar to our previous segment workouts and in recent weeks I have actually included these in our interval training, an example are the 4-5 x 4 minute intervals at 5K effort with 2 minute. The article goes into much more detail about these workouts on how to approach them. We do get a few track type workouts toward the end of the program to sharpen our fitness. Intermediate Fast-Twitch Endurance is addressed by doing long hill repeats, again based on time, initially they start out at 30 sec long working up to 90 sec intervals. Versatile Race Pace Efficiency is addressed when we increase our effort and do some faster than 5K effort intervals. Post-Run Recovery & Injury Prevention is accomplished by the things we should always be doing after the run but is often overlooked. Stretching, hydration, glycogen replacement, etc. Click here to watch a video of a good post-run routine.

Another component of all our running, which is often overlooked, is warming up before the workout. Old convention used to advise static stretching. A good article in the same April issue of RT discusses 7 dynamic stretching exercises that take about 10 minutes and should be done before our workouts. Click here to read about these exercises; hopefully we can also fold these into our routine.

A Few Links to articles and videos
Article: 5 Traits of Successful Runners by Greg McMillan (Running times 4/2010): Click here
Video on hill running: Click here
Video on form and technique drills (Drill baby, drill): Click here
Videos from Anna, some core and other supplemental exercises
Jiggle free arms: Click here
Abs Workout: Click here Booty blast: Click here

Enjoy and happy running!

Revised 12/07/2012