Differences in training high school girls from boys

my experience is the opposite -- less testerone = less ability to handle high intensity.

Treat then the same as a boy with the same PR. And I do not mean make fun of him. If the girls are kinda ok fast 2:30 800 or faster I think that would work. For girls slower then that I am not really sure except look to you background and see if there are similarities in past boys, I am sure if you have been coaching for a while you have had boys who could not run much faster than a 6 min mile, do what you did with him. Also one more thing girls follow directions better than boys if you say run 6 miles at x pace and they are more likly to follow your directions, so don't try to build in some sort of "factor" into your workouts. And not just for the girls cut the social stuff during workouts off right away, it will make your life happer. Stay out their personal lives but that goes for boys as well and don't think every girl who is skinny has a eating problem.

I coached girls in the mid to late 70s, we concentrated on running longer distances than the boys, but lower intensities. Typical training weeks would have a 14 miler and a couple of 8 milers, but at a pace where the girls could carry on conversations. Most track work was to develop a sense of pace. for example: If a girl was targeting a 12 minute 2 mile, she would run 1/4 miles on the track at 88-90 seconds with a 60 to 90 second rest between. usually 8 to 10 of these in a session after an easy 4 mile warm up run. Girls definitely follow directions well and are very coachable. Do not underestimate their ability to excel, their aerobic ability is a great asset and if you build their mileage slowly, but steadily, they can surprise you with how strong and fast they are.

Looking at Marc Bloom's The Harrier magazine you'll see that very few programs have nationally ranked boys and girls Cross Country teams in the same years (Los Alamos and Smoky Hill come immediately to mind) and some perennial powers among the boys (York, Mead, Woodlands) never have successful girl programs. Why and Why not? My guess is that the programs at the successful schools, both coached by runners out of Joe Vigil college programs, create very different programs and workouts for their men and women - and the great boys programs that don't do well by the girls follow the advice given above ("do what the boys do if they're that talented...").

Why this is so is probably summed up in two words: "athletic amenorrhea." 26% of women runners have it, and contrary to popular opinion, it is not a product of anorexia and eating disorders alone (all anorexics are amenorrheic but many more women runners are amenorrheic than have any kind of eating disorder). Girls without periods have lower bone mass density (BMD) which leads to stress fractures in the legs, hips, and spine as well as auto-immune problems, blood disorders, etc, and, of course, osteoporosis in the "long run." Estrogen is essential to BMD and "no periods" means injuries now and injuries later.

The solution is to recognize the incredible differences in the maturing bodies of adolescent boys and girls. Boys really just get bigger and stronger between age 14-18 and it's pretty rare for an 18 year old runner not to be able to beat a 14 year old runner. Girl runners, though, relatively speaking, are often "better runners" at 14 and 15 than at 18. I think the reason is gender blind, politically correct coaches run girls hard at 14 and 15 if they show much potential before they have the aerobic muscle strength to handle this - which causes amenorrhea - which causes injury and illness - which causes burnout, eating disorders (as girls try to remain the twiggies they were as pixies), and ennui at best about running.

All this to say, "please don't coach the girls as if they were slower boys." Follow the Vigil trained HS coaches who have great success with boys and girls teams; stage the girls programs so the younger girls - whatever their ability - run 25 mpw maximum, a level that rises each year. No amenorrhea, no injuries and birnout, and more girls peaking as athletes as seniors than as freshmen.