HS team pacing problem

This is always a problem when you have a small team or when some of the athletes didn't do their summer work.what I do, when I want my team to run together, is have the better athletes do a fartlek while the other ones maintain a steady pace. Have your better athlete(s) pick up the pace for 30-45 seconds and come back to the group. I also have days where my better athletes do a long easy run while the others do a tempo thus for a few miles they can run together. Although it is ideal to run and race as a pack your team is not ready for that YET. Don't have them do all their runs together.

I had my girls do alot of workouts on the track or on a field, even though the real purpose was to get in a long run.

ie Have them run a 2-3 mile warm up. Then have them do 8-12 laps around the track where they do pickups on the back stretch, then send them out for a 3 mile cool down. Essentialy, they just got in a 7-9 mile day, but you kept them together and feeling like a team. If you took the same team and sent them out for a 9 mile run, the fast ones would never see the slow ones.

Look for opportunities to run on a loop courses - even if it is a 1 mile loop x 6-10. This way, they can train "together" but also at their optimium pace. Also, ask the athletes to determine their goals. If the fun runners are out for that, it's ok, but they cannot take resources from those who wish to be better.

At our school, the slow ones tend to f*ck around during workouts (I'm always catching them at 7-11 sampling the slurpees), so I have the faster ones go off on their own.

I try to do other things to create unity for the team such as meeting at the house for breakfast after a run, swim parties, and things like that.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure what you mean by having the better athletes fartlek- after they pick up the pace, do they actually turn around and run back to the group, then turn around and go forward again? Sounds a little disconcerting to be running back & forth like that, but if it's worked for you, it's worth a try.

Of course they should be able to train on their own, you can't just throw everyone together. Making athletes do a long run on the track? Come on, you need to have some trust in your runners.

yeah, I actually have them turn around and run back to the slower runners or sometimes they find a little loop in the park and run around it until the slower runners catch up and then they run together for a while it works as I have run with them of course the beginners don't know what the heck is happening at first but it allows all your athletes to train together once in awhile. It's a good bonding experience for the team to stay together if just for a few minutes

We place the kids on levels based on current fitness. Then each level is assigned different distances in a workout. This works out great because everybody tends to finish at the same time. Your level is evaluated at the end of each race.