What to tell a kid who blows up in a race?

Some people just aren't good at xc. Tell him track is coming up and to just treat xc as a strengthening season for track (while still doing all the workouts and races).

If they are seriously mad or upset, give them a little time to cool off first. Later on, reinforce that even world record holders have bad races and DNF's.

If it is simply a case of a kid feeling down, do your best to be supportive. Praise effort if it was there.

I will agree that this is one of the hardest things about coaching runners. I think it gets easier with experience but even so I feel clumsy a lot when dealing with these issues.

American runners tend to spaz after bad races-- change future racing goals, revamping training, getting demoralized and throwing in the towel.

After training with East African runners, I learned not to take dud races so personally. They don't "go back to the drawing board" or obsess over something that might have caused a bad race. They know a bad race is not the norm for them and they focus on what's next. Very short memory of the last race, good or bad.

You have to figure out whether this is a physical problem or a mental one or a little of both.

There is nothing in the world for instance you can tell a runner who is suffering from Lyme Disease, mono, or anemia that will get them to run faster in their next race.

Does your athlete get nervous before races, anxiety issues, etc.?

You should get to know your athlete's personal situation. Kids who have recently divorced parents, bad break ups, bad grades, etc. can have performance issues.

I've had runners who had horrible issues with anxiety. In one case it did not matter what I told her because mom and dad were there to pile the pressure right back on her. She was great in the small meets but in the championship races she couldn't run fast.

Northern Pike wrote:

American runners tend to spaz after bad races-- change future racing goals, revamping training, getting demoralized and throwing in the towel.

After training with East African runners, I learned not to take dud races so personally. They don't "go back to the drawing board" or obsess over something that might have caused a bad race. They know a bad race is not the norm for them and they focus on what's next. Very short memory of the last race, good or bad.

+++

I help coach middle school kids so take the following with a grain of salt.

We teach the kids to win slowly. It's an idea that the high school head coach, a great guy and good runner himself in the day, promotes. Great runners don't develop in a season, but over a bunch of them. Along the way, setbacks are normal and we expect them to learn and grow from them.

One of my better runners had a tough year. At the final meet this season, I told her if she did great, it was because she had worked so hard. If she bombed, it was obviously my fault for screwing things up. I also gave her permission to run me over with a truck when she turns 16 if I did screw up.

Changing the time line from right now to a longer perspective helps but it's something that we've been building for a while. It's not words at the end of one race but all the others in between.

It's hard, very much so, to watch the athlete struggle. If you can convince them to trust the process and you and themselves, you're more than halfway there.

"Sorry, buddy, but maybe you really aren't as fast as you think you are. You need to show it in a race. Next week we're slowing down your paces in workouts. Prove me wrong, kid. Prove me wrong."

otter wrote:

You have to figure out whether this is a physical problem or a mental one or a little of both.

There is nothing in the world for instance you can tell a runner who is suffering from Lyme Disease, mono, or anemia that will get them to run faster in their next race.

Does your athlete get nervous before races, anxiety issues, etc.?

You should get to know your athlete's personal situation. Kids who have recently divorced parents, bad break ups, bad grades, etc. can have performance issues.

I've had runners who had horrible issues with anxiety. In one case it did not matter what I told her because mom and dad were there to pile the pressure right back on her. She was great in the small meets but in the championship races she couldn't run fast.

Yes, I can think of two (hs juniors) for whom anxiety is def an issue and their parents have told me as much. (Parents are anxious themselves.) They get so anxious before races they make me anxious just to be around them. They go to demanding schools and put a crazy amount of pressure on themselves and they have this "I can do everything" kind outlook.

Their times last year were actually faster (low 17s) now they are creeping back up.

Any advice for reducing their anxiety? Breathing techniques, visualization, different sleeping suggestions etc? I feel like I am half therapist here.

When I read the thread title, I figured you were trying to figure out what to say to the middle eastern kids on your team.

Don't step on the mine next time.

Don't do that again.

coach 101 wrote:

Any advice for reducing their anxiety?

Stop making a big deal out of nothing.

Ignore it.

Focus on their many succcesses.

C4 for Allah wrote:

When I read the thread title, I figured you were trying to figure out what to say to the middle eastern kids on your team.

lol

Just wondering, do you have a breakdown of the splits of their races? Starting too fast? Too slow? Just an entirely crap race?

On another note, I don't think you can really succeed in running if you are trying to everything else in school and maintain excellent grades. I see kids breakdown just from trying to work a full time summer job in addition to maintaining their summer base. I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to do everything, but just be at peace with your times even if they are less than satisfactory.

That happened to me a few years ago. My coach gave me a piece of gum before the next race and told me that gun is the magic remedy for that. I took it and had a great race. From then on, I asked him for his magic gum before every race. It was not until the banquet my senior year that he told me the truth that the gum was to distract his mind from jitters. You might try the same thing with your kid.

Tell him to CRANK THE DIESEL!

coach 101 wrote:

Yes, I can think of two (hs juniors) for whom anxiety is def an issue and their parents have told me as much. (Parents are anxious themselves.) They get so anxious before races they make me anxious just to be around them. They go to demanding schools and put a crazy amount of pressure on themselves and they have this "I can do everything" kind outlook.

Their times last year were actually faster (low 17s) now they are creeping back up.

Any advice for reducing their anxiety? Breathing techniques, visualization, different sleeping suggestions etc? I feel like I am half therapist here.

I had anxiety issues my junior year of high school, too. I fixed it by forcing myself to think the race was just another hard workout. I was having good workouts, so I figured I would just take out the anxiety of a race and imagine I'm about to start a workout. When the gun went off, for about the first lap, I would think to myself, "who cares, it's just practice."

That might seem really bad and negative, but it worked for me because as the race went on my competitive urges came back naturally, what with all the shouting from my coaches and teammates. The only difference was I wasn't nervous, just amped up to compete.

These days I'm the same way, but I'm able to allow myself a bit more nervousness as I toe the line. It's under control, though. Just enough to give me some adrenaline, but not enough to make me worry about anything. I also don't have to tell myself "who cares, it's just practice" anymore.

Maybe you could just reassure the athlete by saying, "Hey, you're having great workouts. So just imagine this as a really hard workout, and your fitness will show up just like it does in practice. Don't worry about it."

I would tell him exactly what I have told dozens of high school runners "you went out too fast.."

^^