new coach crushing my kid

Four hard work outs per week is absolutely too much. I think only a small percentage of H S coaches really know what there doing. So I would think nothing of telling the coach that your daughter can not run every workout. I would keep your daughter on the team, but skip a hard workout per week and have her do an easy run instead. Also I would tell your daughter to take it very easy on one of the workouts.

2:15 is fantastic and is worth a scholarship somewhere

soulcrushingcoach wrote:

How do you break from an abusive coach in HS?

Unbelievable how many worthless posts this generated. I knew how to break with a coach when I was in HS. I did not agree to be coached by them. Never showed up their practices, never asked them for advice, never met them. Didn't care what they thought. Didn't know what their training philosophy was. Although I was not relevant on the world scene, I was by far the best distance runner in the School District. That may not be saying much but it still means I was better than the losers who 'went out for track' (I think that's how they said it then). Why no one has figured this out since about 1985 is a mystery to me. Is there now a law that if you live in a school district and run you must join a school-affiliated team?

You are just lucky you were born when you were and had all the magazines, websites, books, and new knowledge

to rely on. Those of us born in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and early 80s were not so fortunate. We had to do what the

coach said because he was the only one in the district who knew anything. You do realize that the NYC Marathon

debuted in 1976? There was a very long period of time when training was pretty much guesswork.

Now someone who wants to know how to train can find out in a few weeks what to do if they really put in

a little bit of time. It is a very relavant post.

Wow some serious brutal posters out there, but also some solid advice.

Mr. helicopter post-When your kid goes from full scholarship times to walk on performances it is at a serious cost. It is not over-involved.

Mr. its all about me- I move where the government sends me. Most don't berate me for it but thank me for my service. I already feel like crap for moving her into this situation. Bummer I could not research the coach. I guess I just suck as a parent.

Doubters- Her 1500 and 800 times are outdoor track times, but its okay to question. it means you know your sh#t.

Crappy coaches- 4 times on the track is just lazy coaching. Maybe a coach or two will read this and wake up and mix up the work-outs and realize it's not normal or okay.

Decent folks-Yes the US system is a bit brutal, excellent suggestions on self-regulating, valid comments on too early to worry, but its after a dismal XC season with this coach, maybe it is puberty. Some nice insights once you get through the hacks.

MERRY XMAS

I don't blame you for worrying, if the coach is giving obnoxious workouts. This is your child, and she obviously cares about the sport if she has run those times. I wish you'd give us a week of training, to give us an idea if it is crazy, ridiculous. As for all the posters blaming it on puberty... stop it! Yes, that does happen, but it's not the only reason why a female slows down. I could run similar times to this girl, when I was in high school. I went through I bad patch my junior year. I went through the whole xc season running slower and more labored than the previous track season. A few of the other girls on the team thrived off the workouts, but I needed more recovery between workouts and a slightly different emphasis. It was very difficult, but I talked with my coach about my concerns. Luckily, I had a coach who cared, and recognized that I seemed to need more time between hard efforts. Hopefully your daughter has a good relationship with the coach. If so, she should go talk to him.

You said Givernment but service members never call it the Government, they refer to the service that they belong to so I doubt your sincerity. If you are a civilian, you were not required to move.

I couldn’t find a sophomore last year with those times but she would be about 15th in the country. The thing that is more questionable is the timing now. I am unaware of any Schools doing those type of workouts in December. I am guessing you are in the NE though so you have plenty of schools in the area that you can move to if you are that concerned. If you cry about losing $20k on the transactions, then you are thinking too narrowly because your daughter could get a scholarship worth $200k. You are approaching this all wrong by coming here complaining instead of acting immediately. Your other alternative is to have her compete unattached.

Is the coach trying to manage large numbers by himself? If so, try to volunteer or get your spouse to volunteer. Some coaches can only manage small groups, especially if they don't know what they're doing or can't plan. If the coach is overwhelmed they will appreciate an extra set of eyes. Large numbers and very little planning equals everyone on the track, especially in the winter.

Sneak in extra mileage. Get to practice early and start warming up before everybody else. You can get in 1.5 miles while everyone else is messing around. Long cooldowns - coach is trying to manage everyone else, your daughter is just doing easy running.

Just because you are on the track doesn't mean the workout is meant to be hard or that your daughter is blasting all the time! 8*400 at mile pace with 400 easy jog, for example, is not crazy hard. Your daughter needs to stay under control to survive. Research the Igloi system and learn about how 400 types are trained with easy tempos on the track. Easy tempo for a sprinter is totally different than a "tempo" run. 20*100 @ 60% with 20 seconds rest is a recovery day.

You have the weekend to recover and get in easy mileage to recover. If Friday's workout was easy and your daughter is feeling okay, Saturday would be a great time to get in a nice progression run.

Do what you can to help, work within the system, don't treat every track day like a race.

Merry Christmas

Concerned Parent: You are correct, junior track times are VERY important in terms of the recruiting process - the most important season of you HS career. You are also correct, 4 track workouts a week + 1 race is not advisable. I always error on the side of slightly undertrained and fresh if there is a question as to whether something is too much. I am not sure how you rectify that as most coaches have egos and may not be receptive to constructive advice. Maybe set up a one on one meeting with the coach and start the conversation this way: I cannot imagine how difficult it is to coach 60+ young adults of various abilities and commitment levels. I want you to know I am new to the area and you have my support as you have a very difficult job. I wanted to give you some background on (insert your daughters name here) and what has been successful for her in her past training as we both want her to excel and help the team as best as she can..... and then you go on respectively about prior training that works for her (avoid using her prior coach did this etc.) Hopefully her prior training looked like:

2 track workouts a week

3 easy/recovery days with 2 of those days finishing w/ 6 80M strides

Long run or a track meet on the weekend

a day off

Another thing that caught my attention is she has two older brothers who were successful runners. This leads me to believe she has been a runner for several years (she did not start her freshman year - just a guess) So, she may have peaked her sophomore year due to starting at an earlier age? I see this a lot in recruiting HS female distance runners (maybe as many as 40% run their PR's their 9th and 10th grade years) whereas the boys continue to improve throughout HS for the most part. This maybe the case? May not. Regardless, in terms of training, fresh and well trained (not over trained) will yield the best results in my opinion. I wish you and your daughter all the best.

Great advice! It's refreshing when a knowledgeable coach or experience and successful runner gives meaningful advice.

You need to go to Phuk U.

If what OP wrote is true, then it is absolutely the coach's fault. In race weeks, where the race effectively replaces a workout, high school distance runners should only be running one full-length track workout. Unless "on the track" is just referencing striders, 3+ workouts per week plus racing is clearly too much intensity and not enough recovery, especially for a 16-17 year old.

Maybe you burned her out? Is she eating ok or is she not eating enough. Some girls slow down and plump up. Why don't you post a normal week workout so we can see if you're just another over the top dad

I couldn't find a junior who ran similar times as a soph that has run slower this season. Most of the facts are probably fabricated.

Daughter top 20 in country and then moves and daughters career takes a dump so may as well blame coach. Father of the year not so.

Should have avoided the reply. Cat ... or should I say troll is outta the bag now.

Merry Christmas.

No one at the high school level's running weekly races in track in December.

One more thing I wanted to add, have her dr. check her iron levels and vitamin D levels. Even if she is on an iron supp. her levels maybe low? Improper dosage or she is inadvertently mixing it with something that neutralizes it (multi-vit taken with iron basically eliminates the effects of the iron) If she is on an iron supp. she should take it at night with no other pills. Take it with some vit C but no calcium in the vit C. Low iron is very common as 50% of my female runners are on a iron supp. It maybe as simple as this. Regardless, the training is still an issue

zcxvzxcv wrote:

Merry Christmas.

No one at the high school level's running weekly races in track in December.

HS kids are racing twice a week during the winter. Wake up francis. That's the way it is. Yes, there may be times when they have 8 days in between meets but for the top kids most are racing twice a week. Bye-Bye.

Still doubting wrote:

I couldn’t find a sophomore last year with those times but she would be about 15th in the country.

Stalker Alert !!!!!