How They Train! Alyson Churchill and Megan Churchill

September 2015

Age

  • 13

Did you compete in high school cross country or track?

  • We run for Swift Creek Middle School.   

How many years have you been running?

  • We’ve both been running for about one year.

Lifetime personal records

  • Alyson
    • 5K – 19:24
    • 2 Mile – 12:26
  • Megan
    • 5K – 20:48
    • 2 Mile – 12:36

What running events do you train for or what are your training goals?

  • We train for school XC meets, school track meets and 5ks on our own.  
    Allyson: Last track season, I ran 1600 and 800.
    Megan: Last track season, I ran 400 and 800 with an occasional 1600.

Consider your training over the past 6 months to one year.  How many miles a week do you typically run when not injured and consistently running?

  • During cross country and track seasons and when we’re training for them, we run between 15 and 20 miles/week.  On the off seasons, we compete in GWTC 5ks and run on our own in preparation for them.  In addition to running, we play travel soccer.  Training in these two sports complements one another.

What does your typical week of running look like?

Typical Week for this summer:

  • Monday:  4 miles trail running pretty hard
  • Tuesday:  Sometimes hills, sometimes 1200 repeats.  This is a hard practice day.
  • Wednesday:  Sometimes 2 miles hard, as a time trial. Sometimes 800 repeats.  Sometimes hills.
  • Thursday:   Soccer training
  • Friday:  Friday: 1/3 mile interval relays
  • Saturday:  Sometimes off, sometimes race, sometimes trail run for 3 or 4 miles
  • Sunday:   Usually off

How does your training vary over the course of a year?

  • We run less in the winter.  We run harder during spring, summer and fall for track and XC seasons.

Do you take recovery or down time?

  • After state meets, we do take some time off.

Do you peak for certain races?

  • We try to peak for championship meets.

How much sleep do you usually get at night?

  • 9 hours

What time of day do you normally run?

  • We run in the afternoon or evening for school practices.  Our days are such that we have lots of  time and space to run on our own.  This isn’t training, but we run for fun on our property, with our dogs.  We are active people.

What injuries have hampered your training over the past year? 

  • Thankfully none.

Do you take any dietary or medical supplements?

  • No supplements, but we are vegetarians for the love of animals, not for health reasons. 

What type of running shoes do you prefer?

  • We both like to run barefoot, but when shoes are necessary… we both run in New Balance.

Do you use weight training?

  • No

Do you stretch? 

  • Yes – Dynamic stretching before running.  Static stretching afterward.

What are your favorite running routes?

  • Alyson: Alford Greenway trail to Piney-Z and Cadillac trail
    Megan: Miccosukee Greenway trails and Redbug trail

What examples can you give of specific training methods, and what were the results?

  • Megan: Track intervals have helped me get past plateaus.
    Alyson: Trail running has been the most helpful for me to develop endurance and strength.

What advice do you have for beginning or experienced runners to help them with their training?

  • We are relatively new to running ourselves, but for us if running starts being not fun, sometimes a break is the most helpful thing and you will come back stronger. We think a key to our success is that we really enjoy both the training and the races.