Future High School Training

Everyday until 3 weeks before championship race would be..

Guys

AM - 5-10 miles

PM - 5-10 miles

Some guys can be running 70 miles/week. Some guys can be running 100+ miles.

Girls

AM - 3-9 miles

PM - 3-9 miles

Some girls will get 36 miles. Some will be as high as the boys.

Looks really good. Though i would change the 1600m repeats to either 45-75 min threshold workout. or repeat 1600m's @ threshold pace.

Looks really good otherwise!!

Thanks for taking my thread seriously, but you gave yourself away with the 36 miles for girls when 7x3x2=42

Maybe they run just once on the weekend days.

Run once on weekends as in once saturday and once sunday?

The saturday night run will be a non-meeting run, I guess "optional" but suggested for them to do the run.

As devoted as my kids are I can never get them to run 2 a days except in the summer.

Do a lot of teams run doubles? Do you meet as a team for both runs? My team is very dedicated and put in a lot of time, but I have a hard time asking H.S kids to come in the morning.

Thanks

I would hope a lot of teams do doubles, our high school team did. Yes meet as a team, because you can't trust high schoolers to be disciplined to do their morning runs like you can college runners. Ask them if they want to fully reach their potential, if they say yes, then how can you not ask them to meet before school for a run?

High schoolers do not need to do doubles unless they are at the very top. Most high schoolers would either get injured or quit. 70-90 miles per week will only work for a few kids. You either need to get a job at one of the 10 best cross country schools in the nation, or you need have more realistic training programs.

I agree with halfman -- if you run your kids 70MPW you will be in trouble. They will need to be elite to be running that much. I have coached a couple of stud kids who were not running more than 50 MPW.

You can supplement miles by doing other things like hurdle drills, form drills, circuits etc. I think you need to adapt to the age and talent level. Are all of your athletes running 70 MPW? -- that would destroy a freshman. The only way this could be successful is if you are taking over York and have 200 kids on the team who can step up once the next kid gets a stress fracture or burnt out.

I would also take into account the dedication level of the team. You won't have much of a team if you have AM practices everyday... and doubles on sunday? Good Luck -- sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but i have been there and done that.

"Freshman will likely do a lot easier workouts just trying to build mileage, Sophmores will do the lower end of the typical schedule and Seniors the upper end of the mileage."

If you ask your team and the beginning of the year if they want to fully reach their potential and they say yes. Is it really that hard to have them run in the mornings before school?

I understand not every high schooler should go that high, some may remain at 70, but if the goal is to have them reach potential and do well in college (where they will likely run 100MPW) is it outrageous to go up to 90 MPW?

Actually I thought about it some more...

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(not exact but a typical schedule)

giving 63 miles per week and that would be for Sophomores, so probably 70 for Juniors and 80 for Seniors

It should probably be noted that we have really good turnout for middle school cross country and track teams

Word of advice...INDIVIDUALIZE...that includes mileage...

As a guy whose coached top nationally ranked individuals and team, don't get caught up in total mileage.

I'm an aerobic development guy so I can see the temptation. But you are dealing with individuals who are developing.

For my national level guys, Ive had some top out at 50ish when seniors, while another ran in the mid 90's.

You have to adjust.

Future High School Coach wrote:

I understand not every high schooler should go that high, some may remain at 70, but if the goal is to have them reach potential and do well in college (where they will likely run 100MPW) is it outrageous to go up to 90 MPW?

Yes, it is absolutely outrageous to have high schoolers do 90 MPW. There is a big difference in the development of a senior in high school versus a sophomore in college (I pick sophomore because it is highly unlikely that any college program would have a freshman run 100 MPW unless that freshman is an immediate potential All-American). High schoolers cannot handle that mileage.

I have seen countless people not improve at all in college because they did too much in high school. Many very good high school runners don't do well in college because they did too much too soon. Your peak for running isn't until your late 20s/early 30s. Doing all of that mileage when you are in your teens is detrimental to your future as a runner.

I dunno what high school you went to but you are off your rocker if you think at a run of the mill highschool you will have athletes left by the end of the season with that plan. Quit,Injury,never join because they heard how ridic the time commitment is.

Half of your team will be a pile of shinsplints by week 3-4.

Dude honestly I came into my current coaching position with a big written out plan but you really don't know what you have to work with until the first day and more than likely you have a few up front and a ton of back runners who will quit soon enough anyways. The ones that are doing it to run fast will take to your program easy but you have to make the back runners get into it before you throw an intense workout at them or they will quickly hate it and skip out. This is especially true when you are at a smaller school like 1a or 2a. Most school systems only allow second year and up coaches to coach, they don't want bad performances in the classroom to be related to coaching unless its a special situation. So my advice would be during that first year help the coach at the time and try to get your students out to make the team as big as possible. Good Luck

Lets Runner wrote:

I am a believer in Lydiard.

Given that you are; I would like to suggest including some speed training for younger runners. I'm not talking about repeats or threshold type workout--which I believe is one of the biggest misconception when talking about Lydiard training.

One day a week, you should have them do some sort of fartlek; do some hill exercises--bouding and springing; do some drills; do some sprint works...etc. to sork on suppleness and technique.

Speed development, not anaerobic (or whatever the term yu choose to use) development, is VERY important to young runners as well as aerobic development with lots of easy running.

Good luck.

New Coach Myself wrote:

Dude honestly I came into my current coaching position with a big written out plan but you really don't know what you have to work with until the first day and more than likely you have a few up front and a ton of back runners who will quit soon enough anyways. The ones that are doing it to run fast will take to your program easy but you have to make the back runners get into it before you throw an intense workout at them or they will quickly hate it and skip out.

Great point! I remember, way back in the 80s, when I was helping out high school team, the way I applied the Lydiard type long run was to do it time-based. It could get a bit tricky and you need to be creative but the aim is to run, say, 1:20. Everybody goes out for 40 minutes and turn around. That way, theoretically, everybody would run 1:20--some may be longer, say, 11 miles, and others, slower ones, might do 8. But they all do 1:20. Most likely, everybody, even slower kids, would try to keep up and hit the wall hard. But hopefully they'll learn after a couple of times of this that they can go on their own pace. Soon afterwards, you'll have a several groups--and you'll know it. Then you can assign one person to keep his/her eyes on a watch and yell; "Turn around!"