I’m am not a cross country coach but actually a sophomore in high school who aspires to be one. I have put together a philosophy designed specifically to take any team to championship caliber racing as a whole. Keep in mind this is not made for individual runners, but more so for teams to get better as a whole.
The basic concept is the 3 Cs.
1) Commitment
2) Competitiveness
3) Culture
Starting with commitment, I think this one is obvious. If your runners are not committed to the sport, they will not reach their full potential. A runner who is not committed will only run when they feel like it and will probably put little to no effort into their diet. Summer training is obviously integral to success during the cross country season, and runners who aren’t committed will probably skip practices or maybe give excuses as to why they cannot run on their own time. On the flip side, if commitment is rewarded and exemplified, runners will start to see their true potential even more so as the summer progresses and the season starts.
Competitiveness is key to the success of a team. Competitive runners are the runners who are willing to push themselves to new limits not only at the end of the race, but all the way through. Any somewhat fit nobody could sprint the beginning and end of a race, but the truly competitive runners are the ones who understand the importance of race strategy. Everyone has something that works for them, whether their ideal race strategy is to sit and kick, get even splits, or even to go out harder than usual. But a truly competitive runner will not just focus on these strategies during the race, but also put time and effort forth outside of race days to learn their body and determine what the best racing method is for them. All of this to say, it is still crucial that no matter your strategy, you finish the race as fast as you possibly can. In my opinion, the last 400m of a race should be no more than 5 seconds slower than your actual 400m pace. My final point on competitiveness is planning ahead. Talk with each individual runner and help them to set goals not for time, but for things such as beating a certain runner from another team, finishing the race faster than usual, or even passing a certain amount of people in the last mile. All of these examples will boost competitiveness in runners by providing them an quantifiable, obtainable goal to meet.
My final point is on culture. Mentality plays a large role in the success of an individual, but also in the success of a team. Create a culture of winning and by doing so, you will create an expectation of success in your runners’ minds week after week. Take teams to small dual or tri meets that have a good chance to win at, and use these to build their confidence. As they learn what it feels like to win as a team, take them to larger meets and keep the same mentality. Progressively take your team to larger or more competitive meets as they learn to win. It’s important not to take your team to throwaway meets though. If you take your team to meets that they could win 100/100 times, then your team will likely not be showing their full potential. Instead, take your team to race other teams at about the same skill level. This will sharpen that competitiveness as well because they have it in their minds that they can beat the other team if they work for it. All of this builds a culture of long term success in a team. When this culture is built, once new runners come in as freshman or as transfers, this culture of success will be quickly recognized and they will work to match it. This means that you will have a team that is not dependent on individual runners that carry the team, but that the team is a group of runners working together as one to get better for their team.
So this is my basic philosophy on the development of a successful high school cross country program. Please let me know what you think and feel free to add your own advice to it.