For the past three years I have trained two guys on my team and every year around Championship Season they seem to fall apart while the rest of my team continues to do what I expect from them. Both of these kids have incredible work ethics throughout the season and have done all of the summer preparation that they needed to do in order to have a great year each year. Last year one of them had an iron problem near Championship Season of XC and the other was fatigued during Championship Season of Outdoor which explains those two seasons.
However, this year I took the necessary precautions to make sure that they were not doing too much and crossing the line between hard training and too much training they could not handle. They are both on iron now (they both were supposed to be last year too but one would not take it on a consistent basis) and I have had them use a heart rate monitor to regulate their Long and Recovery runs so they would not run them too fast which got one of them in trouble last year. I also have had them to use their heart rate monitor to control tempos on hot, humid days so that they did not run them too hard. I might be wrong here, but I feel that when it is 85 degrees and the Dew Point is in the 65+ range that trying to run a certain pace for a tempo run can turn it into something that it is not supposed to be. So I decided that I would base their tempo runs on percentages of their MAX heart rate. I read where Tinman said that LT is 93% of your 5K pace so I have had them run their tempo runs between 90-93% of their MAX Heart Rate. I have matched up the pace they should hit based on their 5K time and the pace they actually hit at this heart rate level and they are both very close to the same with the heart rate pace actually being a little slower. This way instead of just giving them a pace to hit no matter the weather, I am giving them an effort level they should reach so that these sessions do not turn into something that they are not supposed to be. Their tempo runs have been between 4-6 miles this year.
Each week we have also done a 7 minute mile test on the track to check their heart rate and for signs of fatigue or illness approaching. At the beginning of the summer their HR was between 178-184 for the 7 minute mile test on the track. Recently it has been in the 143-148 range consistently and it was on a Monday of the week we went to a big invitational a few weeks ago and they both ran decent but nowhere near the level they have been running all year or are capable of running. Neither one of them has been sick this season. This is the first time that neither of them has not been sick during a season that I have coached them before. They have both averaged around 44-48 miles a week for 4 months. One of them missed time with an injury because he would not buy shoes after being told so repeatedly. They have both shown improvement in their fitness throughout the season until recently.
One of them has been out of it mentally for about a month and a half and the other one has really been out of it the past 3 weeks. They both seem pretty uninterested in their performances when they are actually racing but both talk a great game of wanting to do well and acting like they care and their overall work ethic backs this up too. After our meet a few weeks ago, I gave them two easy days of recovery after the race and travel from the meet we went to so they would be ready for our last VO2 Max session of the year. To say they bombed the workout would be an understatement. Afterwards they didn’t really seem bothered by their performances and during the workout they didn’t make any effort to push harder. After this workout I decided to rest them heading into our Conference meet so that hopefully the rest would help them bounce back and respond. I included a tempo run of 4 and 2 miles for them and two days off. They also had some light fartleks mixed in for about 5 mins at the end of one easy run.
Unfortunately it did not help at all and one of them actually ran slower than he did last year when his Iron was low on the same course on a cooler day. This was the first time all year that he ran slower than he did at any point last year. The other one ran slower on the same course we went to 3 weeks ago. Everyone else that was at the same meet ran faster.
I am at a loss as to what I need to do in order to help these two. Physically I would like to train them harder but neither one of them can seem to handle it due to either fatigue or injury issues. I have discussed diet with them and the types of foods they should be eating, making sure they are eating enough, have discussed recovery with them countless times, have them wear compression socks nightly to help recovery, and we have a dynamic stretching routine after they run that should also help promote their recovery. I have coached several All-State runners and have done half the amount of things for them that I have for these two simply because I have evolved as a coach. Everything that I know to do to help them physically I have done and I do not know how to help them mentally without making it seem they are head cases which at this point I believe they are.
My question to coaches or anyone out there is simply this: How do you help those who work hard, but then when championship season comes around turn into complete head cases and perform nowhere near their ability level?