developing a kick in HS athletes

4x200 after a threshold workout isn't bad. 200 jog recovery. Not all-out, but fast. They should have their best form during these, as far as effort. Descending one second after each one (ie 33-32-31-30). It lets you hit a fast stimulus after an already-effective workout.

How often are you doing strides at the end of your runs?

When on the track, if you have them doing active rest, try having them flow back into their workouts by eliminating the stop-start. This is a lot easier to do with, say, 400m jog recovery than 3:00.

When I was in HS we used to do a workout of 150m uphill sprints - these are meant to be run HARD. Their conditioning and mileage should determine the number of intervals.

In college and in HS we also did strides; 100m or so starting out fairly hard and building to a full sprint so that the last 10m or so are all out. Do these once or twice a week after easy runs.

I've always been a big fan of drills. I hated them as an athlete but I think they added a lot of string. Things like bounding, quick feet (sprinting in place), and some others that I'm sure you can find by looking up online.

good luck!

Assuming they're all aerobically fit, there could be two problems: you either aren't doing enough work at sub races paces late season or their pure speed is weak.

If the lactic acid bear is jumping on their backs at the end of races, you need to incorporate more workouts at mile pace or faster in the last 6-8 weeks before their peak. Two of these workouts a week is good for HS runners, i think. In Dainels' book the pace is know as "reps".

They also need to develop pure speed/leg strength. A lot of coaches ignore this for HS runners, but I think it should be developed from a young age. Relaxed 200s run with good form and full recovery are great during base (for a 16 min 5ker this would be 4x200 in 30-32, I'd think.) And then some harder hill workouts during a "pre-comp" phase. Maybe 10 x 200m hills as fast as possible while being relaxed, plus 3-4 x 100m hill bounds. I've found success with regular hills and year round light 100s-200s once a week. I've seen kids go from 58-60 type 400m speed to 52-54 speed. The real studs can get down to 50.xx. Improvement in the 400 leads to better performances at all distances. Leg strength and good form is at the root of 400m speed, assuming the proper base and "rep" work is being done.

Right now I have HS runners doing a week sorta like this: (in a 3-4 weeks we'll transition into harder reps, so thi could be considered "pre-comp". They're coming off of an 8 week base of 40-60mpw with a weekly 20min tempo and a weekly 6-8x200m at mile pace w/ full recovery.)

m- 6-8miles easy

t- 6x 800m at 5k pace 400m jog recovery

w- 6-8miles easy

t- 6x Hill Reps w/ 3min jog recovery (sprint 200m hill, jog half way down, bound up, jog down, sprint 3x 30sec on/30sec off at the base of the hill.)

f- 0

s- race or 6-8miles easy + 6-8x200m

s- 10-12miles easy

3 or 4 of those hill workouts make a world of difference.

tell them not to go out too fast. most of them have great kicks, they simply burn them up in the first 600m.

Hills are a great way to develop speed, and especially kicks. I did it all throughout high school and have always had good closing speed and have had a kick. I was a 2 miler but I could close often at 26. Even just under 50 meters sprints on hills. It doesn't have to be seriously steep either because sometimes it may deter the from wanting to do the reps on their own or giving full effort.

"Hills are speedwork in disguise" Frank Shorter

you won't be able to kick if you've been going hard the entire race. it's as simple as that isn't it? tell them to back off a little, or tell them to just stay with the leaders instead of trying to burn the kick out of the leaders.

Just to clarify, I assume you are talking about a "kick" in the XC context since that is the season at hand. A kick on the track is a very different thing to me.

In XC, the pace is such that even the fastest high schoolers rarely run sub 5:00 pace (except maybe on some of those flat, track like courses). So, a good kick in XC is picking it up from say 5:00 pace to 4:40 for the last 400 meters of the race. While the passive observer might say "wow, what a kick," in truth the winner is usually simply stronger since a 70 seconds quarter is rather mundane for your average XC state champion.

Coach, this is why so many folks are telling you to work on their strength--hills, threshold, VO2max, etc. Your guys will arrive at the end of the race with more in the tank.

If you want to develop a "true" kick, the answer is in pure speed work and the ancillary work that helps build pure speed.

The best website for the above is Jay Johnson's stuff.

Let me know if you have questions.

Kicking at the end of a race, esp with HS kids is as much mental as it is physical. Some kids just get it in their heads that they do not have a kick and dread finishing - no exctiment to be finishing = no kick.

The solution to this (and it is a big battle so do not expect results immediatly - since it take a while to get rid of bad habits) is to combine workouts like the ones suggested above that work on both holding your form as well picking it up when tired with a good visulization plan. Before a kid can kick at the end of a race the kid has to believe he/she can kick at the end of the race.

To build that belief have the kid always finish runs a little bit faster (not an all out kick but just pick it up a bit) and in workouts the last interval should always be the fastest one. That helps ingrain the proper mindset. Make sure that in workouts they are visualizing having a good kick and passing people. Sometimes in a less competitive race you can hold them back a bit and then have them kick it in. The better you can replicate the psychological enviroment and ingrain a positive outcome the better your chances of a kid reacting the way you want them to in a stressful, pressure filled environment (like big meets)

Good luck.

I would strongly recommend repeat hard 50s (with a 50 jog), sometimes at the end of workouts--for example, a variant of a Bowerman workout: 3x1200 at date or race pace; 5-8 miles moderate; 10x50--or the whole of a workout (I used to run 32x55 [this is the old days, in yards]). I discovered this as a senior in high school--our coach was not particularly good, so we tried to go our own way as much as we could--and I was able to kick with guys who previously I would get buried by in the last 220. Please believe me--this really does work, and it's also fun, because relatively easy.