Newbie Coach wrote:
On a separate question, what should I do for the runners coming in who have never ran before? I used to attend the school that I am now working with. While I was there, we had a LOT of people quit, because the training was too hard for them.
I always roll my eyes when I hear some coaches talk about throwing freshman in with everyone else because they probably didn't run over the summer, so they have to get fit as fast as possible. You want the chance for them to get fit over the course of 4 years, not one season!
Most of us started running so long ago that we forget just how hard those first few weeks of running are (unless we've had a multi-month injury where we didn't x-train at all). I always tell people new to running that they should be prepared for a really crappy first 6 weeks, but then it gets a lot better.
I'm pretty sure the long-time coach at York HS in Illinois (who has had many legendary teams and a program with a massive number of kids) spent the first few days or week or so with new kids with this structure: Day 1, run 1 lap on the track. Day 2, run 2 laps. Day 3, 3 laps, and so on. He wanted to give them something every day that he knew they could accomplish while still feeling a sense of progress. Of course, he had a hugely successful program he could point to and say, "All the top guys did the same thing when they were new, too." He also had the luxury of knowing that it was almost certain that no freshmen would be contributing to varsity that first year, so he had plenty of time to ease them in and let their talent blossom over time.
I'm not saying you should go to the extreme of 1 lap more per day, but I think a good way to start is by giving new kids very manageable easy runs, maybe with a couple of strides here and there in the first few weeks just to get their aerobic system and legs ready for the increased training they will build into.
I've also toyed with the idea of not having freshmen do any interval workouts. Regular runs, and occasional aerobic fartleks and progression runs only, with some strides and maybe some short hill sprints to build turnover and good mechanics. They'll get enough intensity when they race, which you can have them do a decent amount their first year (which is great, because they have to learn how to race) if their other runs and workouts aren't too intense.