Could be a mix of mental and physical issue.
He may be hyperventilating due to the race stress. What he can do and won't hurt, is to breath in through nose and make sure that he expels the air properly before next breath in.
Many times runners breath in more than they breath out, leading to lactate build up.
George Ilie wrote:
Could be a mix of mental and physical issue.
He may be hyperventilating due to the race stress. What he can do and won't hurt, is to breath in through nose and make sure that he expels the air properly before next breath in.
Many times runners breath in more than they breath out, leading to lactate build up.
Wouldn't they also blow up like a balloon?
longer tempos or 3x2M workouts could help get him used to holding a quick pace.
George Ilie wrote:
breath in through nose and make sure that he expels the air properly before next breath in.
Breathing exercises like this are fine for calming down or destressing, but during a run or race you want more air, not less. During a race especially, you want to be breathing through your mouth, in and out. This doesn't mean gasping for air, it should still be controlled, but he is running, not trying to find his happy place.
live and let die scene wrote:
George Ilie wrote:Could be a mix of mental and physical issue.
He may be hyperventilating due to the race stress. What he can do and won't hurt, is to breath in through nose and make sure that he expels the air properly before next breath in.
Many times runners breath in more than they breath out, leading to lactate build up.
Wouldn't they also blow up like a balloon?
Haha, no.
They fill 30-60% of their lungs and breathe with the rest only.
More O2 wrote:
George Ilie wrote:breath in through nose and make sure that he expels the air properly before next breath in.
Breathing exercises like this are fine for calming down or destressing, but during a run or race you want more air, not less. During a race especially, you want to be breathing through your mouth, in and out. This doesn't mean gasping for air, it should still be controlled, but he is running, not trying to find his happy place.
You don't understand what I mean.
If his lungs are always filled with air, how could he inhale more?
He needs to empty the lungs before trying to breath in again.
Imagine you have a 10 litres bucket.
You need to carry 100 litres of water from one place to another.
If you don't empty the bucket and return with 5 litres every time, you will do 20 transports, although your bucket would is capable of more.
Some decent advice here but here are a few things that nobody has mentioned;First, there is simply not enough information here for us to give an accurate reason on what could be occurring. However, you have received several good suggestions worth investigating (race stress, backing off on workouts close to race-day, mental games, slower first 1.5m).You have to remember that this kid is in school. He could be hanging with friends on Friday night drinking beers for all we know or just hanging out with friends late at night on a Friday. Or perhaps he is worried about the race and staying up. When I was in HS, I loved running miles over the summer and training but then came the school year and I was being pulled a lot of different directions. My friends who didn't run were always trying to get me to go out and do stuff and I wasn't always disciplined. It's worth asking. Also, you may want to consider picking a guy on the other team who is pretty consistent but you think Runner A should be able to beat. And just tell Runner A, don't worry about anything else but beating that guy. Sometimes giving someone a singular focus helps simplify the goal. Another thing is sounds like you act disappointed with him after races. Confidence in all sporting activities is crucial. The more he thinks he's not a racer, the the more he won't be a racer. It's important to progressively move the goals and build his confidence. After every race, I'd build his confidence. If his times go down, tell him he did great and that it was a tough course etc. You want him on the mental and physical up-tick as the season draws to a close for the more meaningful races.
George Ilie wrote:
Could be a mix of mental and physical issue.
He may be hyperventilating due to the race stress. What he can do and won't hurt, is to breath in through nose and make sure that he expels the air properly before next breath in.
Many times runners breath in more than they breath out, leading to lactate build up.
This sounds *exactly* like me in high school. Never really quite figured it out in the 2 decades since, but strangely enough, I think I'm finally getting there. I thought it was mental for the longest time, but it was just physical limitations that I'm just now starting to figure out. For me, repetitions/intervals were a waste of time and gave me a false sense of what I could do. Try to have him run 2 miles on the track at 5:20-5:30 pace with *very* even splits (the ~5:22 would probably be easier to keep track of on the track). See how long he can pump out exact 20s 100m in a non race environment.
It sounds mental. He's not pacing properly because he's put too much pressure on himself. He's a head case.
Sometimes a runner has to be "given permission to fail". In other words at the next race tell him to NOT go out and give his best (because that has him going bananas). Tell him to go out no faster than runner X on your team (or pick a rival's #3 guy etc.) for the first mile.
He's only allow to start running his own race until he's reached mile 2. Tell him to not worry about being too far back in the pack, or off whatever fast pace he expects. You won't even care if he's coming through in the waaay back of the pack.
Take every bit of pressure off the kid you can. Tell him you are more worried about his executing this plan than where he finishes or his overall time.
He's starting too fast and running scared trying to meet his own expectations. Your job as coach is to....well, it's to coach him there.. to guide him, to get him to reach his physical limits. (Which seem higher than his performance.)
George Ilie wrote:
Could be a mix of mental and physical issue.
.
Ya think?
Sounds like he runs best without a taper, I'm like that. I run my best races two days after a 17 mile long run with the last 6 miles at tempo. I feel fitter and look leaner.
I often had a problem tapering, I was pretty inconsistent when I tried to take it super easy the day before a race. So I stopped tapering as much and started racing better; my fastest PR had a 70-minute run the day before. Maybe this kid just does better off of higher mileage (like me) and needs race days to feel more like workouts? I think Josh McDougal or someone around that era (Matt Withrow?) had similar issues.
Reason being I think my form is better than my fitness and that carries me through a race efficiently. If I taper it feels like I forgot how to run and I don't feel smooth and fluid.
The original post is unreadable.
How did it get this many replies?
Because it raises the question of individual differences (seldom discussed) and the dissociation of practice and race times.