Local H.S X-C coach has the team running 800m repeats on the track on Mondays following a hard Saturday race. I'm not a XC coach but this seems ridiculous. Then follows up with another hard Wednesday workout-then another Saturday race. Last I checked XC races were not held on all-weather tracks. The workouts seem more in line with a high volume marathoners workout. Thoughts?
well what's the actual workout? Not out of the ordinary at all to do 800m repeats on the track for HS XC training. Depends on the pace and rest.
Sounds like a pretty typical schedule for a high school team. 800 repeats is one usual workout. A lot of teams do some workouts on the track, for a number of reasons: Getting accurate times, nowhere near campus to run the workout, etc.
It sounds like the coach knows what he/she is doing.
8x800m - 16x400m type workouts
Yep, very typical high school XC workouts.
How many injuries does the team have? What is the history of the team- performance/injuries?
Certain times of the season the work loads are increased/decreased to attain the stimulus the coach is looking for. HS teams traditionally race very often and coaches find it difficult to fit in all the training sessions they desire. I personally enjoyed racing, it was the reason we train, and our coach was able to find a way to cram in the hard workouts and let us race almost every weekend. Some weekends we might have been a tad bit tired, but that was just another way to test ourselves and push to new heights.
Sure, it all has to be balanced, but we have to train hard to race hard. Kids and parents/on-lookers now days are getting soft.
XC is Sexy wrote:
Sounds like a pretty typical schedule for a high school team. 800 repeats is one usual workout. A lot of teams do some workouts on the track, for a number of reasons: Getting accurate times, nowhere near campus to run the workout, etc.
It sounds like the coach knows what he/she is doing.
HS XC coach here, agree this sounds pretty normal. The only variation is I think a lot of hs teams do their workouts on Tues/Thursday. This coach has chosen to do mon/wed, but really, that is 6 of one, half dozen of another.
If we have multiple weeks in a row of races, we will usually cut one of the weekly workouts every other week to unload them a bit, or we will change the workout to an easier fartlek or tempo.
Whatever you do, do not ask the coach directly what his plan or philosophy is. You are much better off ranting on internet message boards.
Oh, and don't forget to call the AD to complain, also. Just make sure to get your anonymity guaranteed, first.
Um yea, very normal unfortunately. HS coaches feel the need to cram in workouts.
Overracing is and misguided training is an integral part of typical US HS and collegiate distance running.
You either have to adjust your race efforts, your workout efforts or more likely, both. Rarely is it possible to train hard and race hard at the same time.
Teams and individuals most vulnerable to self-destruction are those on the bubble for sectional regional or state championship qualifying, as they need to race harder to advance and will be most incentivized to overtrain.
The track workouts you describe are either brilliant, useful or destructive based on your decision-making.
No rant. Dude, Why the hostile attitude? Just curious if this was normal H.S XC training. To me it seems like there is not enough recovery after a hard Saturday race to follow up with 8x800m on the track on Monday- Week after week. A lot of the kids are getting injured. Thus, my original question. That is all.
Longshanks wrote:
No rant. Dude, Why the hostile attitude? Just curious if this was normal H.S XC training. To me it seems like there is not enough recovery after a hard Saturday race to follow up with 8x800m on the track on Monday- Week after week. A lot of the kids are getting injured. Thus, my original question. That is all.
OK, it wasn't a rant. Sincere apologies.
Now, get off of the internet and set up a phone call with the coach. Ask him what you asked us, and report back.
It's incredibly normal for a HS XC Monday workout. It's NOT normal for high volume marathon workouts like you said. Why would you do 800 repeats on the track for a marathon, and even if you did why would you call that high volume? And no rest? What do you call Sunday?
Longshanks wrote:
No rant. Dude, Why the hostile attitude? Just curious if this was normal H.S XC training. To me it seems like there is not enough recovery after a hard Saturday race to follow up with 8x800m on the track on Monday- Week after week. A lot of the kids are getting injured. Thus, my original question. That is all.
If kids are getting injured its a pretty bad idea. I can't say that this is an atypical kind of setup by any means. The volume is kind of high for after a race though, and most high school seasons are starting to approach champs season so it is a little odd.