Need Help - analyzing HS male training / performance

[quote]aHScoach wrote:

Any help would be appreciated here...

, I was told at the end of the season that he'd go to bed early (9 or 10) and not fall asleep until 2, but wake up around 6...so at some point recovery became an issue because of the lack of rest.

quote]

If your runners can't fall asleep and then wake up early, this is sometimes a sign of overtraining.

Make sure that the kid holds back on the pace of everything early season, don't let him get competitive in sessions or run faster than 7:30 for recovery runs. Bowerman used to watch while Kenny Moore would jog his easy few miles on his easy days. This kid is like that- overtrains easily, and you have to hold him back.

Just hold him back early to mid-season until he is practically begging to be allowed to run faster, even then- don't let him go all out. Let him build up some endurance and fitness, then let him loose the final month of racing, with VERY easy recovery runs.

I know a little about this- I had almost the same PRs in HS and always crumpled at the end of the season. The art of coaching isn't following the cook book, but tailoring the training to the individual. Good luck.

So your thoughts are all easy runs (7:30 or slower) until 4 weeks out from state?

He'll have to do some races, but I can certainly keep him out of most our meets, but how do you approach that?

Intervals or just threshold work?

Lots of possible things to explore here, but I'm thinking you're onto something by looking at the amount (and intensity) of racing during the season. Way too many kids turn in solid races the first meet of the season, continue doing so for a few more weeks, then come into the last two or three weeks of the season exhausted. As a rule of thumb, I figure that, if things are going exceptionally well, I can get four really good races out of a runner in a single season. So, I don't think of even pushing for one of those races from my kids until late September. We just run a little subdued until later in the season. For kids who just psychologically can't turn the dial back in earlier-season races, the plan is to hold them out two or three weekends. Even for those who can, I usually hold them out at least one weekend during the season, anyway. Generally speaking, I get kids to state at their peak of energy, not long past it. I have made some mistakes with some kids, though--mostly in not holding them out (or back) enough.

Invitational meets aren't about bringing home trophies (although we do bring some home in spite of ourselves). These meets are all about learning. Getting kids to buy into that thinking pays huge results at the end of the season.

Wow- I used to do that exact thing in HS. Only had 1 year that I ran my best at State. Most of the time I was faster early on than late.

Personally I think we ran too many races early in the year. By the time the important races came around I was raced out. There, wasn't enough time to actually train, with that much racing.

Not all runs are easy, of course. But easy days are just that, EASY (i.e. 7:30+). The other workouts are normal, and meets are fine, just keep them low-key, like a workout almost. Just look for consistency and continuity. Build up to a few harder sessions about 4-6 weeks from the goal race(s), then taper mileage and workload, with some sharpening at 400-800 pace (including races, 4x400).

His PR's are very consistent 800-3200, so you'll have to see where he fits in in relation to his preferences and competition. This will dictate the balance ratios of tempo/intervals/speed. It helps to do much of the early season workouts as off the track tempos and fartlek, without the pressure of a stopwatch.

The main thing is to keep him healthy, work hard (enough) while keeping it fun, and let the improvement come to the athlete, rather than hammering away at it.

I am considering going to very few meets, with hard days being around 10 days apart. He just seems to break down immediately upon doing anything that produces lactic acid.

Coach, I have to commend you for really sitting down and analyzing this athlete's training. It is obvious from your post that you have really looked over his training, etc.

Yeah I would definitely watch how many races he does. Junior year my whole team raced hard once or twice a week up until districts and fell apart from injury/shitty racing and didn't even make it to state. This year, we only had four races that we focused on, two invites, districts and state. It made a world of difference, as when we got to the meets that counted, we were mentally prepared and excited for them.

The rest issue definitely could be a problem too. Does he have sleeping problems off-season as well? You probably want to have his iron levels checked out as well. It doesn't sound like thats the problem, but its always a smart idea to check.

Yeah coach, I agree with jabba jude. Sounds like less racing, maybe less intense speed sessions is the way to go.

It sounds to me like he may have a very low lactate threshold. I base this off of two things: first that you mention when he goes out hard, he'll crash and burn but if he goes out easy he can still finish. Second, from that small example of the training you gave,it seems like you don't include any tempo/threshold runs.

That was one area of my training that I neglected during high school, and I had some of the same problems (going out a little too fast cost me big time at the end). Now I didn't normally peter out at the end of the season, but I never really progressed during the season either, so it was a wash. Have you ever considered maybe putting in some sort of tempo work in hs training. Nothing too frequent, as you don't want to burn him out, but over time you might try to work in some shorter tempo runs, maybe 3-5 miles at 87-90% of his goal 5k pace once every 10 days or so. This would probably be something to start trying to do during the off season, so you can concentrate on track work during the season. Other than that, avoiding overtraining seems to be the consensus way to go, don't work him too hard too often, especially on race effort stuff.

Sounds like a classic case of overtraining syndrome. The kid needs a break.

aHScoach,

We could spend hours discussing what this indivdual could change about there training, however since I only have a small amount of time on the internet I will give you ONE recommendation:

Have the athlete purchase a Heartrate monitor. Have him wear it for all of his runs. Regardless of the run or workout, have him record the amount of time it takes him to reach 120bpm at the end of each and every run or repeat. The ideal time to reach a recovery heartrate of 120bpm for any given distance is between 60 and 90 seconds.

If his heartrate is taking over 2 minutes to reach 120bpm then he needs to lower the intensity or duration of the run. This will insure the athlete will not be over trained or undertrained.

In my opinion it looks as if the athlete is actually doing to many easy runs. Regardless, if you follow my advice above this will this will allow the athlete to learn to have better sense of intensity and recovery. Best of luck!

Jeremy-(

www.therunningman.ws

)

I think doubles in the summer for a HS kid who peaks at 60-65 mpw is a waste. They are young and recover fast enough to handle singles.

My suggestion for summer training would be easy runs with a long run once a week, 6-8 strides a couple times a week and maybe the occasional real light fartlek. As in nothing longer than 3 mins, and lots of rest between. There is plenty of time once school starts to get in workouts and "race into shape".

On a side note, maybe you should just simply pull the reins back a little on the kids workouts. If he is doing workouts that some of your past kids that ran high 15's have, but he is running 17's then he is over doing them. Find some workouts some past kids did that ran 16:30's or 16:40's, and have him do them for 2-3 wks. Then see how he races and feels during racing. His race times may not come right away, but he should feel better.