Is my coach an idiot? Should I run unattached?

Yes your coach is an idiot and that is not a good training program for long term development

Run unattached. The coach is an idiot. Like a total idiot kind of idiot. If you really want to represent your school then try to negotiate your own training.

Right, but racing is important, so are there any good races that anyone can enter in that are like track races?

Sounds easier than what my indoor coach did. I would've loved to only have to do that. But on the bright side my outdoor coach had every other day as an easy day so I guess I can settle for a tougher indoor.

I'm sure there are people who don't need easy runs and they progress but I'm sure there are many who get injured during all hard days

I was once told by a sprint coach that "training distance is easy. It's the same as the sprints you just add distance."

He also said cross country kills speed.

He also lied and told everyone he was an Olympian.

All that said I am sure that training may work for someone. But one in a million isn't worth it.

Put 3-4 easy running days between each of these workouts and they're not half bad.

If I didn't want to do these workouts I would run local open road and XC events and forget high school competition.

Your coach is probably doing the best she can. Don't make this a political issue.

Run for the team and do the workouts

Or

Don't

Stick with your team. Your coach is an idiot, but you've only got one chance to run for your HS team. Don't tell the coach she's an idiot, and don't tell the other runners that your coach is an idiot, but you need to find a way to maximize your fitness while working with what you've got.

So pick your workouts. One week, run your Monday and Wednesday workouts seriously. The next week, run Tuesday and Thursday seriously. Race seriously every week.

On the other days, dial back your effort so that you're relaxed and recovering. Don't run 8x200 all out the day before a race. Turn those into 8 long strides with gradual accelerations and decelerations.

Keep track of your weekly mileage. You may have too many high-intensity intervals, but not enough running miles. You may need to add some easy warmup or cooldown miles. Maybe throw in some longer steady running/tempo running if you get a chance somewhere.

Good luck.

Right, thanks for the advice, I'm not going to run for my team, I read Jack Daniel's distance running formula, and I think I have a good idea of what training I need to do, obviously nothing like what a good coach knows. The good thing is my cross country coach is great, so I still can compete with them, and with track there are a few races that I can enter in individually. I was confused about phases 2 and 3. Should I just do reps in ph 2 or do both reps and interviles, and then ph 3, would i just to intervilles. Also, what strength training/ lifting should i do? Does anyone know any good plans?

Ur coach is an idiot

What distance are you running on the track? It's kind of important to know that before making a judgement on the coach.

Pilgrim Scott wrote:

What distance are you running on the track? It's kind of important to know that before making a judgement on the coach.

Ya, sorry, primary the 3200, but the 1600 as well.

Uh

You should do everything possible to run with your team. You're only in HS once. Talk to any elite runner and they'll tell you that the experience of being on the HS team is the memory they treasure.

Now, the training is not ideal. But presumably you are on your own until track starts, correct? You can do Daniels during that time. Then you can talk to your coach and explain that you really want to continue Daniels during the season, and it won't interfere with the team at all. You'll just do Monday and Thurs with the team, and aerobic runs (don't call them easy runs) on the other days. This would give you a decent shot at replicating phase 4, since you can treat the 4x8 as cruise intervals and the other as intervals or reps. You may need to adapt a bit but it should work. If you present this properly it should be fine. If you act like a know-it-all it won't work. Explain that you think her training will be great for the track but that you want to maintain and build some of the aerobic foundation from xc also.

Also, please drop the idiot talk. It's disrespectful. Some people think the idea of running reps in base phase is wrong. That doesn't make Daniels an idiot.

Also, please drop the idiot talk. It's disrespectful. Some people think the idea of running reps in base phase is wrong. That doesn't make Daniels an idiot.[/quote]

I get that you're trying to defend a fellow coach here, but come on. The OP's coach is a fool.

Yes you should quit. People are saying that HS running is going to be your best memory or some shit. The best memories I have from high school track are from when I won stuff. Which only happened when I got a new coach that actually had us train. It's sounds like you won't get lucky like I did, so if you actually want to be fast then ditch your team and run on your own. If you don't care that much and you just like the fun then just keep doing your idiot coach's program and chill out with your friends, which can be just as fun. Not as much stress to perform because it's just something you like to do.

Understand your point about not being disrespectful- but come on- can the coach just read one book, or one chapter, on how to train HS runners and it would be so much better. I don't understand coaches that just make stuff up- and miss the mark by so much. This is not an innovator or somebody ahead of his/her time- it is somebody who is uneducated and thinks they know a lot. Or else does not care to learn. Tyson, Newton, Mick Grant, Daniels, Magness, Hudson- so many good books out there...no excuse for being uneducated.

I'm not defending the training. But a kid who starts out by calling his coach an idiot is headed down the wrong path. I suggested an adult way to approach this that would salvage both his season and his training. Running unattached is not a good solution for 99.9% of HS athletes. He needs to look for ways to improve the situation. If that doesn't work, then that is a different story. But he has from now until late Feb to train on his own.

The coaches get mad if like you aren't dead at the end of every single workout, so it'd be tough to work with them. I don't mean to be disrespectful to her, I ran on her team last track season, so I'm not just starting out calling her an idiot. Why dont you think it's a good solution to train on your own?

Realhscoach wrote:

I'm not defending the training. But a kid who starts out by calling his coach an idiot is headed down the wrong path. I suggested an adult way to approach this that would salvage both his season and his training. Running unattached is not a good solution for 99.9% of HS athletes. He needs to look for ways to improve the situation. If that doesn't work, then that is a different story. But he has from now until late Feb to train on his own.

Unattached? wrote:

The coaches get mad if like you aren't dead at the end of every single workout, so it'd be tough to work with them. I don't mean to be disrespectful to her, I ran on her team last track season, so I'm not just starting out calling her an idiot. Why dont you think it's a good solution to train on your own?

What do you hope to accomplish by running on your own, and not for your high school team? Racing opportunities will be very limited. Sure, you can do local road races, but who the heck cares? You will *not* be recruited. You won't have varsity athletics to put on your college applications. You won't have the opportunity to be a team captain. You're not going to learn how to improve circumstances if you just quit instead of working out a mutually satisfactory compromise with your coach.