There is a family that mine is very friendly with and their son is getting interested in track. For years I've thought this kid would be a great runner, he'd rack up touchdown after touchdown just by out sprinting the field in football. He's a little too thin at 140-145 lbs (5'10 or so)though at just age 16, and he's seen me running and heard the stories that go along with it. We all attend a campground where there's a mile race (1.1 miles) that is on gravel roads up and down very steep hills which I hold the C.R in. He wants to run it this year and that has transformed into him liking running.
The kids father ran the 440 and mile in HS and was a natural stud before dropping out and going down the wrong path. I've seen this kid sprint, and there's no doubt in my mind that with reaction training he could compete with the best in the state at the 100M-200M in a year or so. We went for a 5 mile jog together (his first run over a mile) at about 7:30 pace on some hills w/the last mile in 6:30 or so and he seemed fine. Then we did some strides, this kid is a natural.
I'm only going to coach him until the fall (or the winter if he doesn't run cross), and then just kind of help him along a little after that, give him encouragement and run with him here and there. Should I coach him at the 100M-200M distance range or should I try to get him to go 400, 800, or the mile given his light weight and his dad's running? If I am going to coach him to pick up sprinting, could someone please post a schedule example of what he would do? I was thinking 4 x 100M (all out) with 5-10 minute rests, lots of drills, 60 and 80 meter reps, 200M reps for strength, maybe some light lyometrics, long runs of 5 miles with about 15-25 mpw. Any help would be great, thanks.