Coaches, mostly HS coaches why does it seem it's becoming glorified to train hard and run too fast indoors?

Many older HS coaches from the N.Y. area have told me that you can never rely on the weather in early April so you need to run fast indoors if you want to qualify for the 4x8 or DMR at Penn Relays.

Being from section 1 you know how Jim Mitchell and a few others are somehow able to do well throughout the year.

To quote a former successful coach from one of NYs best Catholic schools, " indoor states, nationals, and Penn Relays, everything else is gravy."

Daniels and Lydiard protocols are not used by everyone.

I think it's because in places like the northeast the weather for the outdoor season is rarely ideal and now there are so many really good indoor facilities that your chance of running a really good time indoors is at least as good as it is outdoors.

Less competition overall so it's easier to run a relatively fast time that looks amazing due to less runners. ?

I lived in a region that didn't do indoors, but I if I were to coach in a region that does, I would not overdo indoor. I would prefer not to do it at all and instead use late fall/winter for recovery and base building. If I had to have athletes compete in indoor I would do heavy base work and minimal intervals and races.

I'm gonna have to disagree with this one, especially being from the northeast. The whether shouldn't make too much of a difference and there are always meets with fine weather.

Also, indoor states doesn't mean crap; it's slower and less people participate. Nationals and Penn Relays are big, but to say outdoor states is "gravy" is ridiculous.

I think it's important for MD athletes to get going a bit earlier indoors than distance athletes. I also think racing indoor is fine as long as it's just casual and used to work on things here and there. In high school, I'd typically just race off base training until outdoor.

Because that's the only way to prepare HS athlete's. Train Hard, Run Fast!

It's not a problem if the coach knows what he's doing. Honestly the winter training season just needs to look like this:

Wed - tempo run, 800's at 5k pace, or 1600's at 10k pace

Sat - race (wide range of distances & relays)

Sun - long run

Fill in the rest with easy mileage and strides

Do that all of indoor and you're not going to burn out. You'll maintain the endurance you built over the summer and fall, and the weekly racing will sharpen you up. By the indoor state meet in late February you will be very fast, especially if you've done a few 4x400, 600, and 800 races which everyone should do occasionally, even the long distance specialists.

Give yourself some extra rest the week of the indoor state meet so you can perform well.

Then recover and get back to distance training. Nothing is lost, no one should be toast, and good fun was had by racing often indoors.

....so you're ok with peaking for 2 of the 3 seasons? And you would choose X-C then Spring? All 3 seasons seem so short to me, with extended breaks between (except for your few elites) that I don't see a real problem. Carpe diem!

HRE wrote:

I think it's because in places like the northeast the weather for the outdoor season is rarely ideal and now there are so many really good indoor facilities that your chance of running a really good time indoors is at least as good as it is outdoors.

Exactly. Where else can you get perfect conditions and no wind?

SI senor, I was quoting a guy with a couple of Penn Relay wheels.

The weather is tough in the early outdoor season. Hard to run a sub 10:20 DMR or sub 8:05 4x800 when its 40 degrees with 30 mile gusts. Outdoor states isnt that important for HS seniors when it's the same day as their prom, when they've been at a few state championships.

Indoors does not matter AT ALL in high school. It's different in college, where you're on scholarship and reopen your school in a national sport.

yeah i dont know

A lot of JV kids on my team dont even run long they just do 20 mpw over the winter but no speed stuff and then we do tempos as a team and they run way faster than they are supposed to

TnFcoachW wrote:

There than excuses for running fast outdoors in April/ early may and disappearing in the championship season.

There's no such thing as running too fast, and I still can't figure out what this sentence means.

malmo wrote:

HRE wrote:

I think it's because in places like the northeast the weather for the outdoor season is rarely ideal and now there are so many really good indoor facilities that your chance of running a really good time indoors is at least as good as it is outdoors.

Exactly. Where else can you get perfect conditions and no wind?

Yeah, in the days of 11 and 12 lap indoor tracks it was different. But when you see the number of sub 4:00 miles that get run at BU or The Armory now it's a whole different world.

Indoor is the new Outdoor.