I decided to write another training article. I wrote it with high schoolers in mind but think the advice applies to anyone. Curious what you all think about it. Feel free to post or email me
I decided to write another training article. I wrote it with high schoolers in mind but think the advice applies to anyone. Curious what you all think about it. Feel free to post or email me
I just skimmed over it. Totally agree with what you wrote
wejo wrote:
I decided to write another training article. I wrote it with high schoolers in mind but think the advice applies to anyone. Curious what you all think about it. Feel free to post or email me
wejo@letsrun.comhttps://www.letsrun.com/news/2019/08/running-training-101-six-keys-to-becoming-a-better-high-school-runner/
this is about 10 years late you should of given youre brother these tips when he was a college coach
Wejo this is excellent advice. I think you should write more articles. However, what should a HSer do if they have a coach whose training methods go against these principles? How can they reconcile your advice with a less knowledgable coach? This seems to be the topic of many a thread.
Well done. If a runner takes that advice to heart, they're going to be 90% of the way there.
One thing that I tell a lot of runners, which is kind of implicit in your piece, is that becoming a "good" runner (which I define as someone who is making the most of what they have) is just about finding the right balance. Seems like a lot of training advice is either "you need to train harder" or "you need to back off and recover." Of course, both are true. Big breakthroughs (after a few years of consistent running) don't come without some suffering. Lots of runners reach a new level when they join a new, faster group, and suddenly they're digging deep to keep from falling off the back in workouts. But lots of runners go to the well too often, peak early, stagnate, and get injured. The art to training is figuring out the right balance for you. That's the theme of new book about Bob Larson (Running to the Edge, I think). You have to go farther and faster, but you always have to check yourself. You'll probably make some mistakes, but if you're paying attention, you'll learn; you'll get better at living right there at the edge.
The specific details of the program are far less important. I'm guilty of getting into big arguments about the merits of Daniels vs. Canova, but at the end of the day, I think that stuff mostly matters at the margins. You can have a coach with the most physiologically correct philosophy of training, but if they aren't balancing the workload appropriately FOR YOU, then you won't do as well. I happen to think that Brad Hudson's book is incredibly sound theoretically and easy to use, but it seems like when he's actually doing the coaching, he has a tendency to overload his athletes. On the other hand we also know that there are legendarily successful coaches who are far from experts when it comes to exercise science, but they have an excellent feel for giving their athletes the right workload. Gags comes to mind as someone who has really nailed the art of coaching, though I don't by any means intend to disparage his technical knowledge.
datxrunner wrote:
Wejo this is excellent advice. I think you should write more articles. However, what should a HSer do if they have a coach whose training methods go against these principles? How can they reconcile your advice with a less knowledgable coach? This seems to be the topic of many a thread.
I actually think that most of the time, you can work within the framework that a high school coach gives you in order to follow this advice. It's only likely to come up in certain situations, such as where a coach demands certain splits which aren't sustainable, leading to the positive split workout that Wejo described. But if you know those splits aren't sustainable, then you just don't do them. If you run 75s when the coach asks for 70s, what's he going to do, whip you? If you're still doing a legit workout at 75s, then it's going to show. You won't be able to talk much. You'll look like you're working. The overwhelming majority of coaches will recognize this, and they'll adjust the times for the next workout accordingly. There aren't many coaches these days doing totally inane stuff like requiring hard intervals every day. Even if you do have a "bad" coach, he's not following you around on a bicycle 365 days a year. You still have a huge degree of latitude to control your own destiny.
Bookmarked this for future reference. Fantastic!
Good article.
I'd add: Have fun. Be a good teammate. Listen to your coach(es). Learn.
Nice, but I think it goes too quickly from "run every day" to strides/easy/hard/harder/finish strong, without at least touching on the types of running you might think about doing. (Presumably long day, tempo day, whatever.)
Well done Wejo!
wejo wrote:
I decided to write another training article. I wrote it with high schoolers in mind but think the advice applies to anyone. Curious what you all think about it. Feel free to post or email me
wejo@letsrun.comhttps://www.letsrun.com/news/2019/08/running-training-101-six-keys-to-becoming-a-better-high-school-runner/
Well….good advice mostly. :) But we differ at one point …..and that point is very important I think . How to do an interval perfect? If you run it progressively faster with too much difference first and last rep the first reps are too slow and the last reps too fast to get the very best effect of the interval workout. A perfect interval is at close to even pace as possible and only the increased amount of reps should increase the pressure and effort.
datxrunner wrote:
Wejo this is excellent advice. I think you should write more articles. However, what should a HSer do if they have a coach whose training methods go against these principles? How can they reconcile your advice with a less knowledgable coach? This seems to be the topic of many a thread.
I’ve thought about that but haven’t figured out the best way to help someone with a coach who could be better. Communication is key but some of these things can be implemented on your own.
800 dude wrote:
datxrunner wrote:
Wejo this is excellent advice. I think you should write more articles. However, what should a HSer do if they have a coach whose training methods go against these principles? How can they reconcile your advice with a less knowledgable coach? This seems to be the topic of many a thread.
I actually think that most of the time, you can work within the framework that a high school coach gives you in order to follow this advice. It's only likely to come up in certain situations, such as where a coach demands certain splits which aren't sustainable, leading to the positive split workout that Wejo described. But if you know those splits aren't sustainable, then you just don't do them. If you run 75s when the coach asks for 70s, what's he going to do, whip you? If you're still doing a legit workout at 75s, then it's going to show. You won't be able to talk much. You'll look like you're working. The overwhelming majority of coaches will recognize this, and they'll adjust the times for the next workout accordingly. There aren't many coaches these days doing totally inane stuff like requiring hard intervals every day. Even if you do have a "bad" coach, he's not following you around on a bicycle 365 days a year. You still have a huge degree of latitude to control your own destiny.
Sometimes it's tough, my high school coach explicitly told me not to do more than X miles unless I could do every run faster than 7 mins/mile.
Wejo, what exactly it means to "relax" while running has sort of always been tough to understand, maybe you could say more about that.
Wish #1 had been stressed to me when I was in HS - my summer training was sporadic at best.
David S wrote:
Sometimes it's tough, my high school coach explicitly told me not to do more than X miles unless I could do every run faster than 7 mins/mile.
Wejo, what exactly it means to "relax" while running has sort of always been tough to understand, maybe you could say more about that.
Ignore that advice about 7 min miles. Easy is a feel, not a pace. And that's not including other factors to what your pace is i.e. heat/humidity, hills, wind, weekly mileage etc. As far as running relax, means not to run tense. This is where really easy runs help.
not a 28 min 10k runner wrote:
David S wrote:
Sometimes it's tough, my high school coach explicitly told me not to do more than X miles unless I could do every run faster than 7 mins/mile.
Wejo, what exactly it means to "relax" while running has sort of always been tough to understand, maybe you could say more about that.
Ignore that advice about 7 min miles. Easy is a feel, not a pace. And that's not including other factors to what your pace is i.e. heat/humidity, hills, wind, weekly mileage etc. As far as running relax, means not to run tense. This is where really easy runs help.
I'm not in HS anymore, it's been a long time :) But it's hard to go against your coach when he explicitly tells you to do something every day. Then you have to lie to him every day... tough for a high school kid.
This is excellent. And I agree with the others, Wejo, you should consider writing more about training. These general articles are great, and I could see more of them coming. I would also be interested to see some more specific articles on your 10k training and other things.
David S wrote:
not a 28 min 10k runner wrote:
Ignore that advice about 7 min miles. Easy is a feel, not a pace. And that's not including other factors to what your pace is i.e. heat/humidity, hills, wind, weekly mileage etc. As far as running relax, means not to run tense. This is where really easy runs help.
I'm not in HS anymore, it's been a long time :) But it's hard to go against your coach when he explicitly tells you to do something every day. Then you have to lie to him every day... tough for a high school kid.
Or get a private coach that knows this stuff and don’t run in high school like the Ingebrigtsens. 3:30 and 13:02 at age 18 could be the result...
Excellent piece.
That's great!...and already today me,..tried to run relaxed and end faster than begin. Will keep that one in mind now. Thanks!