Bored X coach, willing to give unwanted advice

Generally, how would you develop high school runners from freshman year through their senior year?

How much emphasis on speed workouts vs. endurance workouts?

What kind of work do you think leads to a burnout?

What would an ideal summer plan for high school cross country look like?

How would you deal with racing two meets a week on Tuesday and Friday?

1) mileage. Slow growth over 4 years. 10 miles more a year breaks down to 2.5 miles every three months. That's 16-18 minutes extra a week every 3 months. Aka not much. 2)when workout time comes focus on endurance. That being said, you néed to sprint at least once a week with long rest. workouts do not lead to burnout. Kids not having fun anymore, or not running faster lead to mental burnout. 3) workouts do not lead to burnout. Kids not having fun anymore, or not running faster lead to mental burnout. 4)Every athlete is different so there isn't one ideal plan. Keep it fun in the summer. Play beach volleyball with the team or basketball. Remember these kids can do anything in the summer you have to make them want to be there. Make them want to not miss practice. I know of teams that had 5 sub 10 min 2 milers who never ran over 30 miles a week, there coach just made it fun and had 70 kids on the team. 5) I don't. Long term development means you don't race twice a week all season.

goobtron wrote:

Generally, how would you develop high school runners from freshman year through their senior year?

How much emphasis on speed workouts vs. endurance workouts?

What kind of work do you think leads to a burnout?

What would an ideal summer plan for high school cross country look like?

How would you deal with racing two meets a week on Tuesday and Friday?

What is it about racing that much that hurts long term development?

It's not the racing, it's the time it takes away from training.

X.coach wrote:

Day 5 advise

Mid week long run.

It doesn't have to be hard, just get the miles in. Take your long run and cut it 10-15%. This is what your mid week long run should be. Do this the day after a workout, but not the day before a workout.

Not saying this as a pro or con, but this comment could be straight out of Pfitzinger's Advanced Marthoning. Certainly has helped me with Marathon training, but are you saying you would advocate this for every level of runner as well as those training for shorter distances?

I advocate nothing for everyone.

Miler and above I've never seen a mid week long run not help. Out of all my sub 1:50 800m runners only 1 didnt run a mid week long run.

X.coach wrote:

It's not the racing, it's the time it takes away from training.

Building on this, as I am in my first year of college running I can say not racing as much definitely helps for more than just the reason X.coach said above. Mentally, racing every week takes a toll on runners, even if the races are not "supposed" to. In college I look forward to racing--it is the time when I get to see what all the training I have done has done for me. In high school, half the time I dreaded it, as the pressure from my coach to run PRs just wore me down.

Side-note: I'm surprised no one has tried to identify who this X.coach is based off the info he's given.

college noobie wrote:

Side-note: I'm surprised no one has tried to identify who this X.coach is based off the info he's given.

Part of me wants to know - seems like someone giving decent advice though (troll or not), so another part of me doesn't want them found out and run off the board.

Some things are better left unsaid.

coach, do you ever respond to emails?

What type of training would you recommend for a high school runner who is better suited for distances well over 3200? I plan on moving up in distances after high school and I want to know what would help in my long term development. Should I focus more on my speed or on my endurance if my speed is my weakness but I will eventually be race longer stuff like 10k then marathon. I still want to run fast in high school but not if it means my lifetime prs will be slower.

I think I have responded to all emails so far.

you sir wrote:

coach, do you ever respond to emails?

X.coach wrote:

Too short? How long are your strides? Sprinters do 10 and 20m sprints and it helps them a ton.

It isn't a fascination, it is about keeping your speed all year along, so when speed work comes you didn't take steps back. Strides and short sprints should be in any competitive runners arsenal weekly.

50-100m, usually. Sprinters are sprinting so it makes sense that they sprint. Distance runners aren't sprinting so to me it makes no sense.

I mean too short as in, not at all relevant to 5ks/10ks. I'm never ever sprinting in a 5k/10k until the very end, and then I'm too fatigued to properly sprint like I would a sprint at the end of an easy day. So it's not speed that's the problem, so why work on it all the time?

So I really guess I don't understand. How do you lose speed in the first place to the point where you have to 'practice' it with 50m strides? What kind of speed are we talking about and how is it in any way relevant to anything over a 400 where speed is never a limiting factor?

As an 800m guy, when should I be doing plyos and when should I be in the weight room? When I was running for a team, we'd really hit the plyos hard at certain times and other times we'd do some work in the weight room, but I never really knew why we were doing the particular strength/power exercises that we were doing.

Should I be doing both concurrently? Should I be hitting the weights harder at one time during the season and the plyos harder at a different time?

When you are running sub 14 and better everyone closes in sub 60. Sprinting makes a big difference. We are calling on our fast twitch daily with a lot of rest to be ready for that kick. It takes 10 minutes out of your day and very little out of your body. This keeps you more athletic and allows you to work on form.

Also I had my guys do 30-60m sprints once a week.

CoachB wrote:

I'm sensing this is a very well done troll.

If the trolling is "well done", that must mean the advice isn't too bad. If the advice isn't too bad, then what does it matter?

i'll bite:

i'm in my second year at a middle-of-the-road d1 school, and the amount of decent races i've had since i've been here can be counted on one hand. i was a sub 4:20 guy in high school but have only come close to that once. my mileage is 15-35 (65-85) a week higher than it was in high school, i'm running it faster, and my workouts are comparable too. but for the life of me, i would love to remember what it's like to feel strong while racing...

so what do you think? have I fallen victim to the overtraining paradox that encompasses our college system? or is it just a game of waiting for the racing to eventually catch up to the training?

X.coach wrote:

When you are running sub 14 and better everyone closes in sub 60. Sprinting makes a big difference. We are calling on our fast twitch daily with a lot of rest to be ready for that kick. It takes 10 minutes out of your day and very little out of your body. This keeps you more athletic and allows you to work on form.

Also I had my guys do 30-60m sprints once a week.

It still has nothing to do with a sub 60 last lap (which isn't a sprint in the first place).

And I'm still confused as to how you really think doing strides helps with a 'kick' when doing strides after an easy run has nothing to do with the specific endurance necessary to kick off a sub 14 pace. Again, speed is NEVER the issue with a kick. Never.

So it honestly just sounds like a complete waste of time in regards to running specificity, even if it's only 10 mins a day.

Speed is never an issue? So if two people have the same 5k PR.Runner a 400m PR 55Runner B 400m PR 53You don't think runner A is gonna have an issue that last 200? Runner A obviously has better endurance, and in your theory means he should win the race. 9/10 times he won't, speed maters. Hey not to be a jerk, but you probably don't need to do strides since you are putting in the time to win a local road race. When you are a 53 400m runner and you are trying to be an All-American every tenth you can improve your 400, the better chance you have to be competitive in a kickers 5k race, which most championship style races are. Don't do strides, anyone you talk to have them do the same. Anyone I coach or have ever coached will be happy that you did that.