A good coach should NEVER tell a runner to "slow down" during practice

Okay, I'll actually add something productive to this other than saying that the OP is wrong (which he mostly is).

There are some workouts where you should not tell your kids to slow down. There are in fact some workouts where you do need to go to the well, push hard, and get in a racing type effort. But these workouts should be pretty few and far between.

"Slow down" maybe isn't the correct words to use. A good coach would explain the goal of the workout, at least briefly, beforehand. Give a conservative pace, and tell the kids not to run faster than that, even if they feel like they could crush the times.

In rare instances, it might be okay to alter the workout if the athlete is feeling amazing and there isn't a race coming up. This would only work in certain times of the year where you might have the flexibility to switch around workouts and not have to worry about racing every week.

But I stand by my original statement that you often NEED to tell your athletes to slow down. Especially in the beginning of the workout or race if working with underdeveloped or inexperienced athletes.

Great answer. I often yell out "relax" to my young athletes but it means the same. Yes those HS kids with 53 second 400 speed yet can't run a mid distance race properly need to slow down and go out conservatively in the 800, 1600, 3200, and in XC.

Tanner S wrote:

The430miler,

I hated you 15 years ago and i still hate you.

Good on you buddy - that's quite some commitment to hatred. Keep up the good work ?

Tim Leary wrote:

Supernova xc wrote:

This. Train hard as you can and racing will be easy.

A real coach would know how to spell acid and that it's not really a thing.

Thank you! “Go into lactic acid”? It’s like a bad tv actor throwing out random words to sound like he knows the jargon for whatever roll he’s acting. If he was pretending to be a doctor he’d be all “He’s going into defib, give me 2 cc’s of hydrozone, stat.” Just random meaningless words, and icing on the cake, spelled incorrectly.

I think you’re oversimplifying things. If a kid is relaxed, not pushing and simply having a great day, then let him go. That’s usually not the case though. Most of the time it’s highly motivated kids who push too hard. They set themselves up for injury, too long a recovery, a bad race, etc. Then yes, I tell them to slow down!

If you race during your workouts, you will workout during your races.

A good coach will want to have some control over a workout. If the workout is going to be at current mile pace then it does no good to have runners go too fast on the first rep. Take a classic 8 X 400 at mile pace with a group of 20 kids with PRs of 4:40 to 5:00. I know from experience all the 5:00s will run the first rep at below 70. In this case they will last about 3 reps and start faking an injury. A good coach will yell pace your self at the 200 split.

So ya Slow down and listen to your coach. In one season you might have 5 races where every thing hits right and you are flying. Don't take those 5 peak sessions and use them in a workout.

Maybe you should have slowed down in your workouts so you could race faster?

Michigan xc coach wrote:

I never tell my athletes to slow down during practice. I will, however, tell them to pace themself while I am on the sideline yelling at them during races because I don't want then to go into lactic asid.

What’s lactic asid?

430 is correct in certain instances.

We often do an easy 4-6 x 200 @ mile pace the day before a meet. Sometimes kids feel good and speed up a bit. Nothing wrong with a kid who runs 4:50 or something for the mile running a couple of 200s in 34 if his legs feel fresh and snappy.

Now, trying to run workouts way over your head every time you go out is another story entirely.

Based on this "go with the flow" logic, a good coach should never tell his athletes to run faster, either.

Might as not have a coach, just go with the flow.

Trackstar44 wrote:

Your Write wrote:

A good coach will educate their athletes and get the program and buy into his system

Lol. So you don't question anything in life?

There's a difference between trusting your coach and surrendering to a dictatorship. A runner-coach relationship is not a dictatorship. It's a 2 way street, and some coaches are just dumbos.

I agree, but the OP is talking about GOOD coaches, not dumbos. A GOOD coach knows that an athlete must trust him. He also knows that athletes have doubts, tears, and questions. A GOOD coach will communicate well and help the athlete through those.

Dumbo coaches behave like dictators and their athletes question everything because they don't trust their coach. These are also the kids who run their own pace durring workouts and disregard dumbo coaches paces.

But, you know, just go with the flow.

not a perfect pacer wrote:

So in your mind, buying into the program makes one able to pace perfectly at all times? The fact that my coach wants me to run my tempo run at 5:34 pace doesn't mean that I'm going to be able to hit that pace perfectly all the time. It's still helpful to have him there to let me know if I'm fast or slow every so often along the course.

No, buy in does not mean athletes can run perfect paces. But buy in means an athlete trusts his coach. And trust leads to compliance. And a good coach will teach an athlete that a specific workout pace from a chart us a starting point suggestion, not an absolute. A good coach will teach an athlete how to read their body (pace, volume, HR, respiration, etc) so they can train well.

If your coach demands you run a specific pace based on a book chart and nothing else, he is not a good coach.

I don't disagree that a coach should get buy-in and that an athlete should understand why their goal paces are what they are. My point is simply that an athlete can agree with a goal pace, but sometimes need some help hitting the right pace.

So let's say that my coach and I both agree that 5:34 is the right pace for my tempo run, then a mile in, my coach tells me that I've run 5:26 for the first mile. By giving me the split, my coach is telling me to slow down if I haven't already. That seems like a perfectly useful piece of information for the coach to convey.

It's not a matter of compliance or lack of buy-in or anything like that. It's just that an athlete might need some information from the coach in order to complete the workout as planned every so often.

Does this mean that they should give awards for great days in practice and not in races?

Jason Mason wrote:

Sorry left out the word coach.

Not only is the o.p. not wrong, but he is also not incorrect. A coach is just there for advise and nothing more. Do what your legs feel is right. Toodles

You must be racing against the430miler soon. It is a good strategy telling her not to listen to her coach. Good Luck!

You and I agree. My point for writing my response to the OP was pointed to his lack of training understanding. You are talking about giving feed back to a runner who is sincerely trying to run a workout correctly. The OP is saying that if a kid feels like running balls to the wall on a tempo day, the coach should let him. The OP is saying that that kind of coach is a good coach. I say that's the inmates running the prison.

Personally, I think kids should run with watches and use that feedback to help them make decisions. I love seeing kids take ownership of their training under the guidance of a good coach. What the OP is advocating is rubish and a recipe for over training, injury, and munity.

Your Write wrote:

The OP is saying that if a kid feels like running balls to the wall on a tempo day, the coach should let him.

Not at all what I'm talking about. You are 1 stupid pos. I do not care about tampo xc runs. I'm talking about elite track workouts on the track for track runners. I do 4 hardcore track ladder workouts per week. In spikes. Tons of 400s in 50ish and tons of 200s in 23.