SRR Track

You must be a SRR member to participate in the workouts regularly but if you are considering track/SRR and would like to check us out, you are welcome to come to a session as a guest.

During the spring, summer, and fall (March - November), we meet at the Tufts outdoor track (the “Ellis Oval”) on Tuesday evenings. at 7:00 PM

During the Winter Session (December - February) we meet at The MIT Indoor Track, located inside the Zesiger Center Building on the 3rd floor. Just enter the building (no earlier than 7:00) and tell the attendant at the main desk that you are with the Somerville Road Runners for the track workout. They will allow you past the desk. From there you go up the steps to the 3rd floor. We meet at the far end of the track from the door. There is a bathroom on the way up the stairs, next to the area that overlooks the pool.

Please contact Coach Joe O'Leary if you have any questions about track workouts.

Pace chart is located here. Look up your 5k race time or pace on the far right and you can see your complete list of recommended paces

About our pace terminology:

We use the pacing system designed by legendary coach Jack Daniels. It assigns each runner 3 sets of paces corresponding to a desired intensity. The paces are:

THRESHOLD - About your one-hour race pace

INTERVAL - VO2 max pace. About the pace you could hold in a race that lasts 10-15 minutes

REPEAT - About the pace you could in a race lasting 3-4 minutes

You can determine your pace set using one of the many online calculators. For example, go here and enter a known race distance and time. Then click on the “Training” tab below to see your paces. (I suggest ignoring the “Easy” tab. We don’t use it in workouts and frankly, I find it faster than I like to run on most days)

Tuesday, April 1 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

The “Deek” workout.

This workout is basically a 5k Pace session.  It is one continuous run in which you  alternate the pace between your 5K race pace (for 400 meters) and your “float” pace (for 200 meters).  Just keep running, all in lane 1 (unless passing) and keep alternating the pace.

“Float” pace is basically an easy, recovery-day training pace.  Not a warmup jog, not a shuffle, but relaxed and easy.

The total volume to do is up to you.   You can think of this either in terms of total distance or mentally break it up into “blocks” of 400 fast/200 float

4800 meters (8 blocks)

5400 meters (9 blocks)

6000 meters (10 blocks).

Tuesday, April 8 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

Step-Down Miles

Start out this workout like a normal, Cruise-Interval workout; Run 1 mile at THRESHOLD and take a 1 minute rest.

But the next mile you should run 10 seconds faster than THRESHOLD pace. As a reward, you get an extra 30 seconds rest (so 1:30)

The next mile should be run 20 seconds faster than THRESHOLD.

At this point you can consider yourself done. This is not an easy workout. But if you are one those people who just cannot get enough and really want a challenge, take 2:00 rest and try one more, mile, 30 seconds faster than threshold.

Tuesday, April 15 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

The “Lou Ristaino” workout

To me this is the perfect workout to do a week before a marathon. Those of us who are not running a marathon at the end of the week can add on a bit if we want

The “Lou” is a continuous run of 4800 meters (6 x 800) in which you increase the pace every 800 meters. Run the first 800 right at your goal marathon pace. Then run the next 800 four seconds faster than the previous (four seconds total so 2 seconds faster per lap). Each successive 800 will be four seconds faster than the previous one. By the end you will likely be going faster than your threshold pace. But it should be manageable.

At this point, Boston Marathoners are done. Actually anyone who feels that was enough workout is done. But if you want more, take an easy, 800 meter jog around the outer lanes and then add on 2 x 800 at INTERVAL pace with an easy 1 lap jog between.

Tuesday, April 22 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

Descending Ladder . Details TBD

Tuesday, April 29 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

  • A: 5 x 1000 at INTERVAL with 2:30 rest

  • B: 2 x 1000 at INTERVAL with 3:00 rest
    3 x 800 at INTERVAL with 2:30 rest

  • C, D 6 x 800 at INTERVAL with 3:00 rest

  • E, F: 7 x 600 at INTERVAL with 2:30 rest

Tuesday, May 6- 7:00 PM at Tufts

Mix of Interval and REPEAT paces

Tuesday, May 13- 7:00 PM at Tufts

  • Groups A, B: 8 x 400 at REPEAT (400 jog recovery - but make it an 800 jog after rep #4)

  • Groups C, D: 5 x 300 at REPEAT (500 jog but an 900 jog after #4). Then 6 x 200 at REPEAT (200 jog).

  • Groups E, F: 10 x 200 at REPEAT (200 jog, but make that a 600 jog after #5

Tuesday, May 20- 7:00 PM at Tufts

Deek Workout. 4800, 5400 or 6000 meters continuous alternating the pace between 5k Race pace (for 400 meters) and “float” pace (for 200 meters).

Tuesday May 27 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

Packard Ave Hills

Tuesday, June 3 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

You have your choice of workouts tonight. Either Cruise Intervals or the Frank Horwill Miler’s Workout

Frank Horwill was the founder of the British Milers Club and one of the most renowned middle-distance coaches in England. He was also the creator of what is know as the "Five Pace Training Theory", a system used by several Olympic gold medalists

Obviously this workout is not something that really fits into the Daniels philosophy. Furthermore, this workout would normally be a part of a comprehensive, long-term middle-distance training plan which we obviously cannot do for the club. However I feel this is a good changeoup for us so I have attempted to adapt it to suit our purposes

This workout is very tough in that we run REPEAT pace for longer distances than we normally do and that our rests are much shorter than normal. However the volume is quite low and you get a big rests between sets

This is not a workout in which you need to worry too much about hitting the paces right on Maybe you’ll hold REPEAT, maybe you won’t. The point here is try to hit the paces without breaking down.

All Groups: 1 x 800 at THRESHOLD with a 400 meter jog. Then 2 sets of the following

Groups A, B

  • 1 x 400 at REPEAT (1:00 rest)

  • 1 x 800 at REPEAT (2:00 rest)

  • 1 x 400 at REPEAT (up to 5:00 rest - how much is up to you)

Groups C, D:

  • 1 x 400 at REPEAT (1:00 rest)

  • 1 x 600 at REPEAT (2:00 rest)

  • 1 x 200 at REPEAT (up to 5:00 rest - how much is up to you)

Groups E, F

  • 2 x 200 at REPEAT (1:00 rest)

  • 1 x 400 at REPEAT (2:00 rest)

  • 1 x 200 at REPEAT (up to 5:00 rest - how much is up to you)

Tuesday June 3 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

TBD

Tuesday, June 10 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

TBD

Tuesday, June 17 - 7:00 PM at Tufts

Track PR Night