Sub 9:30 runner and the HS coach provides no winter training guidance. I was thinking of just telling him to follow the applicable Daniels training by phase and see how that goes. Otherwise he knows enough to do a speed day, a tempo run, and a long run each week, but that doesn’t seem targeted enough for base phase winter training and he probably will overdo the speed work without structure. He’ll probably do one indoor race to get an Arcadia time then have Arcadia as his first important race.
He’ll want to mix in some cross training cardio.
Any other ideas?
He needs the best coach we have here at LR, the wizard JS !
Actually I am JS.I am not a wizard , I am a lying scammer.
Mileage and tempo runs with strides afterwards. Keep it simple.
^This, and also, it would be good for his parent not to be a helicopter parent. The kid likely has access to the internet and can do his own research about how to train in the winter.
take a look at Pete Magill's Fast 5k book. It has a 16-week plan to get you ready for a 5k. Pete has lots of experience with young people in particular. he's a HS coach in CA and hangs out on LRC once in a while. Good guy.
OP, how dense is the training/racing once the season starts? Are they racing a lot and running a lot of race specific sessions? This is what the majority of high school coaches do. If so, I would encourage a minimal amount of race specificity in the off-season because your kid will get plenty during the season. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be workouts, they just should focus on areas of fitness that are further away from eventual race pace/intensity.
I would recommend incorporating elements that will relentlessly develop these three areas:
1. Basic aerobic function - build solid overall volume of running, including a long run every 7-10 days. Start with whatever your kid has been doing for the past month, and increase incrementally. If you can get to the point where they are doing 50-60 minutes on "easy" days and a 90 minute long run, that will be great.
2. Thresholds (Aerobic and Lactate) - Workouts consisting of tempo reps, tempo runs, progression runs, fartleks where the offs aren't just jogging, and even just longer "steady" runs.
3. Neuromuscular Strength/Power/Engagement/Speed - Hit the weight room (squats, deadlifts as a starting point) and do core work a couple times per week. Within every 2 weeks or so, include 10 second steep hill sprints with full recovery, and flying 30's.
If you do these things, your kid's fitness will progress substantially, and they will not be burnt out to start the season.
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