Craig Lutz' coach - WTF

He ran those 4 races in 4 straight weeks?

I don't think that is excessive but the travel would be draining and the emotional strain to get up for two national championships is probably not good for a junior.

When people talk about overracing though, he might have had a very limited schedule during the high school season to prepare for this. Zach Wills didn't race much during the regular season.

However is it any different than a fifth man on a good high school team trying to keep his spot. They must have to be pretty much all-out every race for a month straight at the end of the season. What's the difference. A great runner who is fit like Lutz is going to recover a lot quicker.

Wasn't the NXN regional meet in there somewhere also?

You are suppose to give him guidance and keep him from doing dumb things (like all these races).

And you are supposed to know that supposed is spelled "supposed."

LIFE ISN'T PERFECT.

actually it was, in successive weeks:

1. District

2. Regionals (??)

3. State (Austin, TX)

4. NXN regionals (Houston, TX)

5. FL south regionals (North Carolina)

6. NXN nationals (Portland, OR)

7. FL nationals (san diego, CA)

This is absurd with the amount of racing he is doing. Add in the fact that he was INJURED FOR MOST OF THE SUMMER and did not really get to build a base...

2009-09-05 15:13.00 Marcus I Invitational - 5K

2009-09-12 15:20.90 Southlake Carroll Invitational - 5K

2009-09-26 15:04.00 Marcus II Invitational - 5K

2009-10-01 16:06.48 Metroplex Challenge Invitational - 5K

2009-10-10 15:35.70 Nike South Invitational - 5K

2009-10-30 14:50.49 District 6-5A Meet - 5K

2009-11-07 14:37.00 Region I Championship - 3 MILE

2009-11-14 14:45.20 Texas X-C State Championship - 5K

2009-11-28 14:34.00 Foot Locker South Regional - 5K

2009-12-05 15:09.20 Nike Cross Nationals - 5K

2009-12-11 15:29.60 Foot Locker Nationals - 5K

Holy crap ... he is racing ~15 min per week!

1. District

2. Regionals (??)

3. State (Austin, TX)

4. NXN regionals (Houston, TX)

5. FL south regionals (North Carolina)

6. NXN nationals (Portland, OR)

7. FL nationals (san diego, CA)

Hmmm. Don't hate the playa. Hate the game.

I don't know if its absurd. It looks very similar to what most top runners in high school in the '70's and early '80's were doing. You ought to see what guys like Alan Scharsu and Craig Virgin were running week in and week out all year round.

Nowadays people seem to focus more on training than racing. Maybe that is smarter at the high school age. Rather than tearing after 8:50-9:00 week after week like the old way, you'll probably see Zach Wills rarely break 9:15 until the big meets post state.

Maybe Lutz likes to run fast every time he runs. But I agree, as a junior his coach might not be conservative enough for Lutz's best future interests.

Is he over racing? Lets look at what the best runners in the world do when they can set their own schedules.

Bekele - 9 races total

Defar - 10 races total

Lagat - 7 races (3k or 5k) not counting 1500/mile

Goucher - 7 races

So Lutz's coach has running more races in a single cross country season than the best runners do in an entire year, even if we throw out his less than 100% effort races.

So is he running too many races - I say yes he is.

Runners develop and progress the best through long periods of training. Racing each week makes that difficult.

Maybe instead of marveling at what a great specimen he has in this kid and studding him around at races, his coach should be helping him get to the next level instead. he can do that best through long blocks of training and periodic races, not the other way around.

plenty of elites have raced a lot. Bill Rodgers raced all the time. If they're not all "all out" efforts, races can be workouts.

I bet Lukas paid his coach to run his 15 times, and burn him out !!!! o the scandal. I bet if we trace this back to him we can get him disbarred from further competition in the US... we have done it.

a$$holes, dude runs a 3 mile races, probably not even all out half those times. AND even if they were, he had over a weeks rest in between them... Come talk to me when he is running 15 races in a day, then we'll have something.

Races can be really good workouts.

As one of the top NCAA runners back in the day, my best indoor track season consisted of 13 races. I think a lot of runners actually under-race. Racing is what makes it fun.

I would imagine that the over-racing that occurs in high schools is more detrimental to the slower guys than it is to the best guys in the country. If you're an 18 minute guy, you pretty much have to go all out on every race. There is no saying "I'll just win easy today" if you aren't capable of winning at all. If you're a 15 minute guy, you can basically walk through half of your races. The end of the season might be a bit tough, but I doubt Lutz ever had to break a sweat in a dual meet.

I'll type this slow so you can be sure to understand it.

Research has been done that clearly shows that you get very little more physical training benefit from a 100% effort race as opposed to a 90% effort workout. Yet that same research shows that the recovery period needed from a 100% effort race is twice as long as a from a 90% effort workout.

Lets say it takes these kids 1 easy day to recover from a workout but 2 days to recover from a race before they are ready for another workout.

Then by running only a race every other weekend as opposed to every weekend during a cross country season they are getting in 6-8 additional workouts in. That can make a real difference in fitness. Multiply this by 3 season a year and you have the additional fitness from 20+ additional workouts per year under your belt by having a more modest racing schedule. Multiply this by 4 years of school and that makes a world of difference.

This doesn't even factor in the additional travel time, disruption of training routine and stress that racing every week causes.

It pretty clear which is a better way to go about it.

As for Bill Rodgers, ask the man yourself as I have done first hand. 90% of those races he did were nothing more than good 90% effort tempo runs for him, he just happened to get paid for them.

But Lutz last 6 weeks before Foot Locker National were all 100% efforts for him and he looked like it in the last mile at Foot Locker.

grow up wrote:

Holy crap ... he is racing ~15 min per week!

If you're going to race... then race... don't complain.

"Give me a ping, one ping only"

AMC last night, good movie

I think there are a few things to think about here

1) He clearly didn't over-race by much if he did over-race...he beat Rosa, who everyone was starting to think was unbeatable...and i don't recall hardly anyone thinking Lutz would win that race. So clearly up to that point he was not over-raced, and peaked very well.

2) As others said, most of those races he wasn't all out

3) What do you suggest...he just not run in any of the important races? He did what EVERY single other guy in Texas would have to do in the same situation no? So it has nothing to do with his coach

4) It's not like he did horrible at nats. He got blown away by a guy who seems much stronger than Lutz to begin with, and then he faded and others past him. The mental let down of having someone just run away from you like that and not being able to respond despite trying,could have had just as much impact as his tired legs.

5) If he hadn't won the race at Team nats and Rosa had blown him away..would we even be having this discussion? The only reason we are is BECAUSE he/his coach did such a great job peaking and not over-racing....which counters the point that he over-raced...

I would say that the only races that required a hard effort were Nike Nationals and foot locker.

Even at state he won by some 20 seconds.

I bet that Lukas could do what he did at nationals every 3rd day of the week. But for every other athlete, it was ALL OUT.

give Lutz his due: He got blown at his state meet last year, falling to 10th, and now is getting blown at Nationals, falling to 4th.

This kid is tough, and will continue to improve.