One of the top returning runners from the Northeast region of the country is Darien High School (CT) rising senior Alex Ostberg. Ostberg is coming off a fantastic end to his outdoor season in which he won the New Balance Outdoor Nationals 5K title in a new PR time of 14:16.61. Ostberg also ran under 9 minutes for the first time in the 3200 with a runner-up 8:52 performance at the Loucks Games in New York in early May. Last fall, Ostberg was a runner-up at the New England Championships and finished his season with an 11th place All-American showing at the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego. Ostberg is certainly a threat to not only win the Foot Locker Northeast Regional this year, but also to should be up in the mix for first place at Balboa Park in December.
ALEX OSTBERG (CT) TRAINING BLOG
Week 1 (6/30-7/6) - Week 2 (7/7-7/13) - Week 3 (7/14-7/20) - Week 4 (7/21-7/27) - Week 5 (7/28-8/3) - Week 6 (8/4-8/10) - Week 7 (8/11-8/17) - Week (8/18-8/24)
June 30-July 20 Summary
After the outdoor season wrapped up for me at New Balance Outdoor Nationals I shut down my training for 2 weeks. During the long sustained outdoor season beginning in March, it was crucial that I devote myself fully to every aspect of training to perform at my peak ability. Once the season concluded, I found it very important to take some downtime to decompress and forget about running briefly. Transitioning into summer training, my coach and I discussed following a similar training program as last year, because we like to stick with what's working for me.
My summer training plan is essentially an 8 week buildup of intensity and mileage to the beginning of the school year. I've always been a "lower" mileage type guy, because a few year ago I was very susceptible to injuries. Every week I'll be running 6-7 days, and occasionally I'll replace a 7th run with a session on the elliptical machine to reduce the impact while still getting the aerobic benefit.
The training program builds up from about 35 miles to 60 miles per week. The important factor that I'm juggling with this year is that my biggest races won't be for many months down the road (November and hopefully into December). It's difficult to maintain a high level of focus and intensity for nearly 6 months, so I'm planning on keeping the mileage high into the school year, rather than hitting a peak now and then backing off in September.
Finally, like every distance runner, I try to go out on a long run (anywhere from 9-13 miles) once a week. Aside from the physiologic benefits, I think it puts you in the right mentality for cross country. Sometimes the XC races seems to drag on for too long, and doing a long run helps the 5K seem much more manageable.
So far this summer I've trained for 3 weeks and have totaled 118 miles. I kept my mileage lower initially to avoid picking up nagging aches and pains like shin splits. After 2 weeks when my body adjusted back to the running, I felt comfortable increasing the mileage and beginning the harder efforts. I would typically follow each run with barefoot running or barefoot strides, core, light plyometrics, or some stretching. My goal is to continue to work on my form over the summer through drills and exercises so that I will enter the XC season as durable and efficient as possible. That sums up my first few weeks, in future weeks I'll continue to keep posting updates, and I'll have more of a day by day breakdown too.
The purpose of this week was to just get my body adjusted to running. I didn't do any hard efforts, I just focused on making the transition from resting to training as smooth as possible.
Summer Total: 31 miles
Summer Total: 69 miles
Summer Total: 115 miles
This week I was fortunate enough to be invited out to Beaverton Oregon for the Nike Elite Camp. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience. I was able to get to know and train with some of the best distance runners in the country. Nike put on a great show for us and one of the coolest parts of the week was seeing some of the elite athletes such as Rupp and Centro. It was a great way to get pumped for the upcoming XC season!
Monday 7/28: 6 miles AM on trails and grass, easy pace. 4 miles PM hilly terrain.
Tuesday 7/29: EZ 4 mile recovery run on the roads. Drills and barefoot running after.
Wednesday 7/30: 6 mile around the nike campus with Hannah Debalsi and Mikey Brannigan. Easy pace followed by a pickup the last mile with Mikey. 6 barefoot strides after
Thursday 7/31: Track workout with Alberto Salazar. 2 x (600,400,300,200). It was hard to hit the actual splits, pace was almost always too fast. I didn't kill it, considering my speed is not very important at this time of year, and just tried to stay consistent. Only really pushed the last rep, closing the last 200 in 25.9 seconds, so that was fun. 20 minute cooldown. 6.5 miles on the day.
Friday 8/1: 8 mile run at Mt. Hood. Ran at altitude today, which was a new experience for me. The trails we ran on were beautiful with a great view of the peak. One of the nicest places I've ever run no doubt.
Saturday 8/2: 3M "Race" in morning. Ran with John Dressel, kept the pace easy the first lap (1.5 miles) then cut the pace down to 5:05-5:15 the second loop. Finished in 14:55. Decent effort, but more of a tempo than a race. PM: Aqua Jogging workout
Sunday 8/3: Travel Day, didn't have time to run
Monday (8/4): Easy 35 minute run followed by 6x200 meter pickups. Core and form work afterwards
Tuesday (8/5): 25 minute tempo AM, ran this one of the basis of effort not time, I'd guess pace was around 5:35 pace. 30 minute run PM. Strength workout afterwards.
Wednesday (8/6): 5 mile run AM, pace was moderate. 4 miles in the evening, easy pace.
Thursday (8/7): Today I did a fartlek workout. I did a 10 minute slow warmup and then did 8x2min hard followed by 1 min easy. In this workout I did tempo effort for the first minute
and then picked up the pace to a controlled sprint the second minute. I did this because in this type of fartlek workout, I've found that I've gotten very fatigued by the end because I exerted too much energy early on. This method was very effective for pace control. 10 minutes cooldown
Friday (8/8): 5.5 mile run, weather was insanely hot, heat index was 107, was planning on going longer but simply couldn't because of the heat.
Saturday (8/9): 4 miles AM, 3 miles PM. Morning run was just to get moving, mostly for recovery. The evening run was a progression run on hilly terrain.
Sunday (8/10): 75 minute long run. Pace was around 6:40. Stuck to mostly grass and trails today. Strength workout in evening focusing on hip extension and glute activation.
Week 6 Total: 52.5 miles
Summer Total: 257 miles
This week was another week of building my mileage up. I had a great hill workout, and I actually did a 100 mile relay race with some teammates. I am really beginning to feel like all the different parts of my training are starting to complement one another. The strength aspect and the hill work really helped me get through the hilly sections of the 100 mile relay. And the fartleks and tempo runs have given me an excellent grasp of pacing.
Monday (8/11): 7 mile evening run at 630-645 pace. Barefoot running and strides on the grass afterwards
Tuesday (8/12): Hill workout AM. 8x400m hill with minimal recovery. Pace got faster each rep. Felt stronger than last hill workout. In the evening, went for a slow 4 mile jog.
Wednesday (8/13): 4 mile recovery run. Weather was really rainy, so kept the run shorter.
Thursday (8/14): 7 miler on rolling terrain. Did one pickup the last mile and hit sub-5 pace. Did some strides working on form after on the turf.
Friday (8/15): 30 minute cardio session in the fitness center in VT. In total hit 4 miles. Did some stretching and foam rolling afterwards.
Saturday (8/16): 100on100 relay with teammates. First leg was uphill (gained almost 800 feet in elevation over 5 miles). Was able to maintain 5:45 pace. Second leg hit 5:15 pace on flatter terrain, got some bad stomach cramps unfortunately. Then on the last leg of the race (I was the anchor) I hit about 5:13 pace for 5 miles on hilly terrain. Overall, the day left me exhausted, but it was something I would definitely do again.
Sunday (8/17): Rest day. After hitting close to 17 miles yesterday, I'm giving my body a few days at really low intensity to recover from yesterday, but also to freshen up for the start of XC.
Week 7 Total: 50.5 miles
Summer Total: 307.5 miles
This week I used to just get ready for the official start of cross country. We typically do 2 workouts and a time-trial the first week of school (because we don't have races yet) so I wanted my body to be rested for that. My easy runs were very easy this week, but my quality sessions were still hard.
Monday (8/18): 8.5 miles easy recovery day. Legs are still a little beaten up after the relay I did on Saturday.
Tuesday (8/19): 4 mile recovery run
Wednesday (8/20): 5 mile progression run. Started at 7 minute pace for a couple miles, then picked it up to about 6 minute pace by the end. Hilly terrain.
Thursday (8/21): Hill workout. 8x400m hills. I hovered around 78 seconds for the reps. Closed in a 72 which was a good way to simulate kicking. Workout was effective because I took no rest in between reps at the bottom. Once I got to the low-point, I turned around and went right back up. Barefoot cool-down. 7 on the day.
Friday (8/22): 5.5 mile run AM on the trails. 3 mile evening run.
Saturday (8/23): First official day of XC! Did a 10 miler today, on both pavement and trails. First few miles were slow, probably 7:30 pace but pace averaged around 6:50 by the end. Core and hip workout after. Good to be back with the team again.
Sunday (8/24): 7 mile run @ 6:55 pace followed by 6x100m strides. Core session in the weight-room after.
Week 8 Total: 52 miles
Summer Total: 307.5 miles
