I have been coaching a high school team that averages (for varsity) about 45-55 mpw for the last 2 years. they have run respectable times but want to try and work harder/smarter this summer for a chance to win the state meet. I am looking for coaches who have made changes to normal summer schedules and have had success. Anyone try Summer of malmo?
do it!
the biggest problem with most kids is running during the summer ... their training usually starts the 2nd week of august.
More mileage? I improved a lot when I started doing 70mpw (previous year did only 40)
flounder wrote:
the biggest problem with most kids is running during the summer ... their training usually starts the 2nd week of august.
This is the truth. If you have a large group of kids already doing 45-55 mpw, you are well ahead of the game. If only have a few kids who run those miles or run 55 on one week then 15 the next, you are coaching a pretty normal HS team.
We get on forums and everybody claims to be running big miles....which may be true. But you have to remember that the people that get on letsrun (or any other running forum) are going to represent a skewed data set. The ones on here are the ones that are putting in the miles. The ones that don't have enough invested in the sport to run the miles, won't be on here anyway.
In my experience, it is very difficult to get a team to train consistantly during the summer, unless you hold organized practices daily. This has its own drawbacks, however, in that many of your kids will be sick of cross country by the time you actually get to the important races at the end of the season.
So, if you have a group of kids that is willing to work, yeah give the Summer of Malmo a go. Or simply have them bump their mileage up gradually. 70 is a good goal to shoot for. Kids like nice round numbers like 10 miles a day. Either way, the goal is to get a big group of kids emotionally invested in what they are doing so that they will come together and build off each others energy.
We've had some reasonable success over the years, and, honestly, the mileage commitment is key.
We use our own adapted version of Summer of Malmo, meeting four times a week; the kids also get together on Sundays for their long run.
I'd be happy to give you any information on what we do.
Dave Frank
Central Catholic HS