Frosh (HS) runs 9:11 3200 off 18 miles a week

Seems to me he is doing a great job of holding himself back and staying healthy. I would let him progress at his own rate. If he's only running 40 MPW when he's a senior- who cares as long as he is both progressing and enjoying himself?

And the varsity guys just have to deal with the fact that people vary in their degree of talent.

Nice schedule, CoachB. That's almost exactly the same progression I'd have him shooting for. There's a freshman in my area who's similar to this kid: 4:22, 9:30 so far. He's not even 15 yet apparently and his coach (who ran 9:10 in HS about 10 years ago himself) has held his mileage back as well. This kid s extremely race-savvy too and won all but 2 or 3 races last fall before the state finals. He's been schooling the sub-par group of local upperclassmen this spring.

CoachB wrote:

No, actually I wasn't kidding.

I was thinking that after cross, he could take a break, then go up to 30 to prep for sophomore track season

Then to 36-40 to prep for Junior year in XC

Then 45-50 building up for Junior year in track.

Then 50-60 building up for cross as a senior.

Then 55-70 building up for track as a senior.

Excellent advice, CoachB. And, like most good coaches, I imagine that you would not be averse to adjusting the planned mileage slightly upwards (or downwards) based on how the athlete is responding.People around here forget (or don't know) that Bob Kennedy won FL Nats as a senior off of 30 miles per week. Not every high school athlete needs high mileage to be successful and, like Bob Kennedy, they have a whole athletic lifetime to bump up their mileage progressively throughout their career. Just because some of you run 10:30 for 3200 meters off of 70 miles per week doesn't mean that it's impossible for some kid to run 9:11 off of 18 miles per week.

CoachB wrote:

No, actually I wasn't kidding.

I was thinking that after cross, he could take a break, then go up to 30 to prep for sophomore track season

Then to 36-40 to prep for Junior year in XC

Then 45-50 building up for Junior year in track.

Then 50-60 building up for cross as a senior.

Then 55-70 building up for track as a senior.

CoachB wrote:As a matter of fact, whenever I have a talented freshman or new runner that beats my varsity guys in races, I feel like I will have a mutiny on my hands from the older runners. Their logic is something like this, "he beats (or keeps up) with us in races, why doesn't he have to train as hard as us?"

It's interesting to hear you say that, coach. None of my 5 HS and college coaches ever told their runners which groups to run with in workouts as far as I can remember. The best of my coaches, who coached many HS and college All-Americans, used to send out four (coed) groups of runners every afternoon, and always told us to pick the group we wanted to run with.

It was pretty rare for good runners to opt for one of the slower/shorter workouts unless they were injured, sick, or truly not up to speed. There was virtually no "abuse" of the honor system.

In my experience, it is much more common for good HS runners to push too hard than to slack off. Have you ever considered leaving it up to them a bit more to decide how hard they should push themselves?

As for MacQuitty, pretty damned impressive. I've seen a few cases of what seems like freakish natural talent like that. It's usually tied to a long and successful history of aerobic training in another sport (esp. swimming).

Kennedy also ran in the crappy era when 30 miles a week was all anyone did. If he were running in 2006 and doing that, he would not have even won a Footlocker regional.That said, for a kid who has been injured already, CoachB's caution is a good thing, and if all goes well he would still be at 70 mpw heading into college, which is a fine place to be.

how hard is he running everyday?

how hard is he running everyday?

how hard is he running everyday?

kennedy won ncaa xc as a true freshman... i guarantee you he'd have won footlocker 2006 with ease.

Unfortunately, I have had a few years of runners who will go out and walk or run so slow that they are not even getting a workout. I was very relaxed during the first part of the track season about distances, paces, etc... until I figured out what was going on out on the roads (I am also the head track coach, so I work with the sprinters, high jumpers, hurdlers and vaulters.) It got to the point that I had to get some alumni to go out and spy. Any kid that was caught walking would be kicked off the team. when they all started running every day, guess what? They improved

the 5-6 group deal is based on ability level and training history. Maybe I will go back to having them run a little more independantly.... I don't know. I like knowing what the athletes are doing and monitoring their times against known courses. It helps me see if they are going too hard, or to easy.

Unfortunately, I have had a few years of runners who will go out and walk or run so slow that they are not even getting a workout. I was very relaxed during the first part of the track season about distances, paces, etc... until I figured out what was going on out on the roads (I am also the head track coach, so I work with the sprinters, high jumpers, hurdlers and vaulters.) It got to the point that I had to get some alumni to go out and spy. Any kid that was caught walking would be kicked off the team. when they all started running every day, guess what? They improved

the 5-6 group deal is based on ability level and training history. Maybe I will go back to having them run a little more independantly.... I don't know. I like knowing what the athletes are doing and monitoring their times against known courses. It helps me see if they are going too hard, or to easy.

[quote]Dan Onymous wrote:

Kennedy also ran in the crappy era when 30 miles a week was all anyone did. If he were running in 2006 and doing that, he would not have even won a Footlocker regional.

That said, for a kid who has been injured already, CoachB's caution is a good thing, and if all goes well he would still be at 70 mpw heading into college, which is a fine place to be.

[quote]Trollie McSockpuppet wrote:

Kennedy vs the last 3 guys (all in San Diego)

1987 Kennedy 14:59

2004 Cormier 15:22

2005 Acosta 15:02

2006 Hall 15:20

Well, the kid himself went on Dyestat to say that the 18 miles a week thing was wrong and that he typically ran 21-25 miles a week. Still pretty minimal, but not out of line for a freshman with limited running background and a history of minor injuries. He also said that he was planning on upping the running this summer.