HIGH SCHOOL COACHES: Post your distance team's practice schedule here.

Honestly, time wastage is their concern, not yours. If they feel running 55 mpw is worth their time, then they are not wasting it.

This is a good thread! Let's keep it going.

Recovery run for my team today. 30-40 minutes. Yesterday they had a hard ladder workout - 1600, 1200, 800, 400 + 6x200m.

First week for my high school athletes always beings like this:

Monday 20min w/u, mile time trial, 20min c/d (This is how i estimate paces)

Tuesday 30-60min easy plus 4-8x80m based on background etc

Wednesday 20min w/u, 1-4xmile(200m jog) at threshold pace plus 4x400(200m jog) at mile pace or 200s at 800m pace, 20 c/d

Thursday same as tuesday but plyos/sprints after

Friday 30min w/u, 8x200m hill, 20min c/d

Saturday 30-75min easy plus 4-8x80m based on background etc

Sunday OFF

This is generalized volume wise as some kids that are new or injury prone do less. That 30min run for a new kid may include some walking. I just ask them to keep moving and eventually get to a point where that can run for 30min without stopping before we increase the time running.

Well, if they are injury prone your schedule will weed them out quickly.

Good thread. Girls distance, 2nd week, no base group. The one with base runs about 20% more.

M- 45 mins moderate

T- 25 mins + striders

W- 5x600 hill repeats hard

Th- 25 mins + striders

Fri- 20 mins + Striders

Sat- Meet + 20 min cool down

Sun- Rest

I may be the most conservative coach on the entire board! I can't afford to go through athletes like some of you must??

Coach JB wrote:

Good thread. Girls distance, 2nd week, no base group. The one with base runs about 20% more.

M- 45 mins moderate

T- 25 mins + striders

W- 5x600 hill repeats hard

Th- 25 mins + striders

Fri- 20 mins + Striders

Sat- Meet + 20 min cool down

Sun- Rest

I may be the most conservative coach on the entire board! I can't afford to go through athletes like some of you must??

you are not alone

2nd week, non base group

mon- 40 minutes /6 x strides

tues 25 minutes / drills

wed. 6 x 1 minute on/ 1 minute off

thur. 25 minutes / drills

fri. 40 minutes 8 x strides

sat. 6 x 1 minute hill @ 80%

sun. off

kids who raced conservatively in indoor and continued training after:

Monday - 45' @ conversation pace + strides

Tuesday - 5 x 150m hills @ 800m effort, 5 x 100m hills @ 400m effort, 2' rest b/w reps and 6' b/w sets

Wednesday - 35' recovery

Thursday - 45' progression run + strides

Friday - 1600, 2x800, 4x400, 5k, faster than 5k, 3k pace

Saturday - 60' @ conversation pace

If you send me your email I'll give you a link to our training.

False. HS has duals every week.

Our first invitational of the season got canceled due to very low temps, so I kindly gave my entire distance team the day off. Meeting tomorrow for a long run, which will be anywhere from 6-13 miles depending on the individual runner's experience and ability level.

Week two usually looks like this:

Monday 20min w/u, 1-4xmile(200m jog)(@Threshold pace) plus 4x400(200m jog)(mile pace) or 200s after (or 1200s instead of miles) This workout not on track, 20min c/d

Tuesday 30-60min easy plus 4-8x80m

Wednesday 20min w/u, 1-4mi tempo plus 4-6x200(200m jog) or 150s, 20min c/d

Thursday same as tuesday but plyos/sprints after

Friday 30min w/u, 5-8x300m hill, 20min c/d

Saturday 30-75min easy plus 4-8x80m

Sunday OFF

Everything is based on their background/history and only the 3rd/4th year kids are hitting the high end volume wise etc. I dont let my kids double as i believe the sleep is more important at this age and Sundays always off. First meet is usually the 3rd week of practice and we follow this workout pattern for 3-4 weeks before we switch to specific phase where the 800, miler and 2 milers break up more. If a meet it replaces the hill workout day.

Yeah, they might have a dual meet in there in the spring. Some (not all) of them warmup, race and cool down once or twice on a Tuesday. Not all of the athletes will run in the dual meets, and I know that some will throw in a medium-sized run after their race. Also, they just ran all winter, and in the winter schedule there were no dual meets, just the Saturday meets, and that schedule is right on what most of the distance guys did (though a lot of them only did one workout a week during the indoor season, opting instead to do a long run on the day that turned into a workout day once outdoor started.

I don't know why this is met with such disbelief. There are a ton of top runners here in Ohio who never run a dual meet at all so that they could either get in a super long run or a workout and race only on Saturdays. Lots of the guys aiming at the state meet and beyond don't run dual meets.

The best programs in Ohio have the distance guys do weeks equivalent to or even more intense than that.

This is my top 1600m/3200m group's training this week (no meet).

M: 2-mile warm up, 8x400m @ goal 1600m pace, 1-mile cool down, weights

T: 8 miles easy, strides, postural strengthening

W: 8 miles easy, hill sprints, plyos

R: 2-mile warm up, 3.5-mile tempo run @ 85% of 3200m pace, 1-mile cool down, weights

F: 8 miles easy, strides, postural strengthening

S: 11-mile progressive long run

Total: 52.5 miles (we do a 1-mile team jog at the beginning of practice with the whole track team)

American Hospitality wrote:

How are you guys training when you have a Tuesday Dual/Saturday Invite/ Tuesday Dual/Saturday Invite

4 meets in 14 days or any kind of variation. Maybe a Wednesday Dual instead of a Tuesday?

I have spent 5 years trying to figure out how to navigate a month of Tuesday/Thursday meets....other than hope one is cancelled, I have found that you think of it like a workout. So I alternate groups running the 3200 and the 1600 or 800 and a 4x400 split. I give them tempo targets for the first 6 laps of the 3200 and let them race the last 800m. These take place of the VO2 workouts and special endurance work for that week.

Does your athletic director not let you run less meets? I mean i went to mine and stated we arent running these meets here and here anymore and he ask a couple questions and said okay. Saves him money on bus and with budgets shrinking it shouldnt be that hard. Makes it easier when you ask for new equipement.

citius5000 wrote:

Does your athletic director not let you run less meets? I mean i went to mine and stated we arent running these meets here and here anymore and he ask a couple questions and said okay. Saves him money on bus and with budgets shrinking it shouldnt be that hard. Makes it easier when you ask for new equipement.

Our head track coach doesn't like weeks with no meets. So he schedules two/week in our early season when weather is an issue. Problem is, when weather is good, we have a TON of meets. Ideally, we'd have one every 2 weeks for the first 6 weeks, then 1/week until we enter the last 4 weeks of the season.

You also have to factor in that some kids need the meets as a carrot to get them through the tough months of training. The idea of going through practice for 2 weeks straight with nothing to look forward to is hard for high schoolers to understand. You get better effort if you can mold what you want from a workout stand point, within a track meet framework. Kids get to compete, you get to see the work done in real settings. It has taken a few years to figure out the balance of it.

Girls 3200/1600 group

M: 30-40 min Tempo

T: 40-45 min easy

W: 6x600 @ 5k pace/ or 8x400

R: OFF or x train

F: 40 min

S: Descending ladder session

S: Long run 65+

Mid-week day off has worked very well for us. Small team, even smaller distance group. With dual meets & invitationals, this set up has kept us w/ the least amount of injuries over the past 3 years.

Toying with moving to a Tuesday/Thursday workout setup for XC, so we'll see.

citius5000 wrote:

Does your athletic director not let you run less meets? I mean i went to mine and stated we arent running these meets here and here anymore and he ask a couple questions and said okay. Saves him money on bus and with budgets shrinking it shouldnt be that hard. Makes it easier when you ask for new equipement.

The only problem with that (and it is a big problem for many schools) is that if you get rid of dual meets, only the top 2 (and sometimes top one) per event will be able to compete on a Saturday. That means that many of the kids will never get to compete. This can thin the team down over time. Also, some of the younger kids need a place to learn to race and prove themselves. How can you ever know what they can do if they aren't given a chance to race or jump or throw?

Got some super star runners who would benefit more by training on a dual meet day, then fine, have them do that...but let the non-Saturday meet athletes compete. At our school, it's $150 pay to play plus $45 to the boosters plus paying for the uniform. A lot of parents would be pissed if their kid never got to compete. Good way to ruin a program.

hp wrote:

Coach JB wrote:

Good thread. Girls distance, 2nd week, no base group. The one with base runs about 20% more.

M- 45 mins moderate

T- 25 mins + striders

W- 5x600 hill repeats hard

Th- 25 mins + striders

Fri- 20 mins + Striders

Sat- Meet + 20 min cool down

Sun- Rest

I may be the most conservative coach on the entire board! I can't afford to go through athletes like some of you must??

you are not alone

2nd week, non base group

mon- 40 minutes /6 x strides

tues 25 minutes / drills

wed. 6 x 1 minute on/ 1 minute off

thur. 25 minutes / drills

fri. 40 minutes 8 x strides

sat. 6 x 1 minute hill @ 80%

sun. off

It's nice to see at least one other coach in the country thinks a 20 mile week is just fine for the second week of practice. I hope a lot of coaches on here are just posting make believe workouts, or just the workout their State XC Champion who trained all winter is running. Just being realistic, if I threw some of that at my team, I'd have no team. Keepin' it real among all the 13:30 guys who are coaching a stable of 15:00 HS runners.

In actuality, some of the other workouts here are probably actual, but not for the majority of the team. So to help everyone out, specify that please.