About Hometown Hopefuls Hometown Hopefuls follows Atlanta Track Club Elite Team members Abe Alvarado, Brandon Lasater, Keturah Orji, Yolanda Ngarambe, Jarryd Wallace and Allie Wilson as they continue their journey toward Olympic glory. Be there every step of the way from training camp to the Olympic Trials and to Tokyo with every workout, every split, athlete reflections and coaches' comments too. Six athletes. Six months. Six shots.
Lasater reflects on his training period between March 1-14 in this post. To learn more about Lasaterclick here.
Workouts for the Week: March 1-7
Monday: 12 miles at ~6:44 pace. Ran with Wilkerson and Ricky for most of it. First practice after the drive back from camp. We did loops at the River to keep it on a soft surface.
Tuesday: A bit over 6 miles at 6:59 pace. Ran at the River again. Ran into Abe halfway and finished with him.
Wednesday: 8 miles on the day. We had our first track workout of the season at Life University. The workout was 3 sets of 5x300m with 100m jog. I only made it through a set and a half before the hamstring started to feel off. I did a minute on/minute off fartlek after to make up for workout mileage. The 300 splits that I finished were 44, 46, 45, 46, 47, 44, 46 and then I moved to the fartlek. Saw Robin Rogers for a massage to try and get ahead of this.
Thursday: 7 miles easy at 7:09 pace. Ran easy at the River.
Friday: 6 miles easy at 6:58 pace. Ran easy at the River. You’ll probably see the majority of my runs be at the River.
Saturday: 7 miles on the day. Another mile pace workout at the Life University track. The workout is the 100m version of what we call the Vigil [named after the famous coach]. You do 100m at mile pace, 100m of jogging, 200m at mile pace, 200m of jogging, 300m at mile pace, etc. until you can’t hit pace anymore. I went to 400m without much of an issue but then about 400m into the 500m rep my hamstring became a bit iffy so I stopped and did 8x200m with 75 seconds rest instead. Splits were 14, 29, 44, 59, 58 (not quite 400), then 200s: 28, 29, 30, 29, 30, 29, 29, 29. Saw Robin again for a massage.
Commentary and Reflection on the Week: March 1-7
A bit of a frustrating week. Both workouts were centered on running mile pace which I’m having a hard time doing without irritating my hamstring, so I end up cutting the workouts short before I get to the point it hurts. Andrew and Amy say I’m still gaining fitness so I try to not think about missing out on reps.
It’s nice to be back from camp and see my wife, Paige, and my dog, Jeeves. The lack of Paige is definitely one of the biggest negatives of going to camp. She helps to keep me centered. This camp did go by very quickly which may have been aided by having less mileage and not being at altitude.
Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: March 1-7
Brandon continues to make progress! It has been a long road back after some injuries sidelined Brandon in 2020. Brandon is a veteran on the team, so his communication is spectacular. This allows the coaches to make informed decisions.
Our goal this week was to do as much of the prescribed workouts as possible and then do some aerobic work after the hamstring starts talking to him. He looked smooth on Wednesday! He didn’t make it as far as he wanted to make it, but he was able to do a good volume of work at 5k pace afterward. The 5k work isn’t as sexy as mile paced intervals, but it is an essential part of success. Traditionally, Brandon looks smooth at race pace, and looks less fluid as he slows down. The good news is that all the PT work has him looking good no matter what pace he is running.
On Saturday, Brandon ran well! We told him to stop as soon as his hamstring started to change. We know he can push further, but the risk isn’t worth the reward. We were able to get a mile worth of 200’s at mile pace after his workout, so it was a good day!
It’s all about where we are in June. When Brandon made the Pan Am team, he pulled his quad a few weeks before nationals. This gave him a little extra rest, and did some extra aerobic work. The result was a great national meet. We need to help Brandon keep his eye on the prize as he comes back.
To learn more about the coaches click here.
Workouts for the Week: March 7-14
Monday: 8 miles easy at the river at about 7:30 pace. This is probably one of the slowest runs I’ve had in a while but it was a good recovery day leading into a 3 workout week.
Tuesday: Just over 7 miles of running on the day. Track workout at Life University. Today was meant to be 800m pace work. What I ended up finishing was a 500m, 3 minutes rest, 300m, 5 minutes rest, and then just under a mile of tempo. The splits were 65, 39, then 4:45 for .9 miles.
45 minutes of biking later in the day.
Wednesday: A bit over 6 miles at 7:11 pace. Ran at the River with the team. Ricky, Avery, and I got coffee after and sat outside for a bit talking which was nice. Saw Robin for a massage.
Thursday: 8 miles of running. Workout for the day was 3 x Mile with 3 minutes jog at the River. Splits were like clockwork 4:46, 4:46, 4:46. Probably the best job of pacing we’ve had on one of these workouts. Today was Ricky’s first day doing the same workout as everyone back from his injury. 45 minutes easy later on the bike and lifted with the coaches.
Friday: 6 miles easy at about 7:05 pace at the River.
Saturday: 8 miles of running on the day. Today was 3 sets of 600m breakdown which consists of 600m - 2.5 min jog - 400m - 2.5 min jog - 300m - 90 sec jog - 200m with 5 minutes between sets. Splits were 1:29, 58, 44, 27, 1:29, 59, 42, 26, 1:33, 59, 42, 26. I’m really happy to have finished this workout even if I didn’t manage to cut down at all. I was a bit worried after the first set that I wouldn’t finish just given how I felt but the rest was enough to make it through. Post workout I was on the ground for a solid amount of time.
Commentary and Reflection on the Week: March 7-14
I’m really happy with this week. I was a bit frustrated after Tuesday but being able to run pretty comfortably at 52 second 400 pace with what I’ve done so far was a good sign. Thursday and Saturday I managed to finish the workouts which is a pretty big thing for me at the moment. Definitely helps me be more confident for when we race in the coming weeks. Post Saturday I was a bit of a zombie but we don’t workout again until Wednesday so I have a big recovery window. Just need to stay on top of my recovery/strength activities so I can continue making it through workouts.
Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: March 7-14
Brandon’s hamstring made it through the week and that was a huge step forward. He is stronger than ever, but the hamstring has been in the way for a couple weeks. He is still progressing, but couldn’t push himself to the edge yet. This week was a turning point.
On Tuesday, Brandon was able to do most of the workout. We don’t do a huge amount of volume at 800 pace or faster, so it was great that his hamstring could handle the work even this early in the season.
Thursday looked like he was out for a Sunday jog. Abe, Brandon and Avery are very different people, but are learning to work together in workouts. They each have different strengths and weaknesses, and they have to help each other fill in the gaps. You can see that starting to happen, which is very exciting!
Saturday was a huge workout for Brandon! He made it through 3 sets of 600 breakdowns! He might have been bent over waiting to throw up at the end of the workout but he had a great week. He is looking like his old self. We start racing in two weeks and we like where he is at right now.
To learn more about the coaches click here.
