I love putting science into the training I do with my athletes. We know what works and what doesn't based off of years of laboratory testing, studies, and research. A coach who blindly follows a training program without knowing the science is the same as closing your eyes while riding a bike. Sure, you will get somewhere, but the end result probably won't be that noteworthy (for the good reasons!).
That being said, show me a coach who has been around kids even just a couple of years and I will show you a person who understands that the human body doesn't perform the way science always says it will. Psychological factors should be considered in training because an athlete doesn't always have the same level of desire to execute workouts in the manner it is prescribed. This obviously has to be worked out by the coach, and hopefully that athlete will come around, but we all understand it is an issue at least occasionally. If an athlete looks to be "hurting" in a workout on a day they should be fine, you need to understand something else may be going on there, and forcing the issue to continue isn't always the best choice.
The big one on my mind right now, though, is stretching. Now of course, by today's standard you have tons of different techniques such as static, dynamic, active isolated stretching, etc. If you wanted to right now, you could go on Google and find research that both supports and rejects all types of stretching. Nothing is exactly clear cut once you start looking into the studies, so what do you do? Well, I've done simple trial and error, not only with myself but with my athletes, and I know what helps me and them feel prepared to run well in a workout, or what helps us feel more recovered after a run. Sometimes it is a static stretch, sometimes a dynamic. You get the picture. Use the science as a guide, because it is usually founded in some good research, but you can't trust everything because not all studies even work with athletes. What is good for a sedentary population may have no effect on an athlete. Be mindful of what you do, but use your intuition where the lines of science are grey.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Optimal Training For Youth Athletes
As I had stated before, I wanted to write a post about training middle school athletes effectively for their LTAD (long term athletic development). There is a lot of literature on the subject and it is very controversial, especially when you consider that there is still a wave of non-productive efforts going into training our young athletes.
Brian Mackenzie does a great job of breaking down the phases of LTAD on his website. One of the hardest things for coaches and parents to understand is that the larger the general base of athletic fitness and skills, the easier it is for the athlete to excel. The middle school athlete would fall into the category of "learning to train" and "training to train", which would mean practice is still a fundamental process of development, but by this time many athletes have competed endlessly without regard to developing skills. The cycle of club sports (club sports are not bad, but the clubs that emphasize all competition and no development stunt athletic growth) which is basically a money grab (I've heard of parents spending thousands of dollars over the summer for travel baseball) keeps the athletes from excelling long term and by the end of high school they have not developed the necessary skills to compete on a higher level.
Now someone may ask the question, "why wouldn't competition be a great learning environment for an athlete?" Well, it is. For learning to compete. But you wouldn't expect your car mechanic to learn his skill when you show up, would you? So why would you expect an athlete to master a sport only in competition. And the reason is, you need to learn your sport, and your body needs to learn (through training) how to excel at the sport. Repetitions in practice give a child far more opportunity to learn how to hit a ball than 10-20 pitches in a game which are spread out over several at bats. Repetitions of shooting free throws is going to give an athlete far more confidence when it comes game time, rather than waiting for a few free throws in competition only. But as far as learning about how to overcome adversity and learn to work under pressure, the competition aspect is important and it is why we don't only practice.
So now that I've done ranting, how should athletic training be structured for middle school athletes? Well, I hope you didn't think I would spell out a specific formula because one doesn't exist. Each child is different and therefore a coach needs to evaluate strengths and weaknesses and adjust the training accordingly. But mostly we must remember that we need a broad base of training at the younger ages without large amounts of specific work. Body weight strength training should be started at this point and the focus should be on form and fundamentals. Aerobic capacity is still not fully able to be developed yet, but studies show it can still be a great starting point in training for future success. Also, I would suggest doing training and exercises that target the whole body, and keep the specific training for the older high school and college athletes especially.
And finally, a word of advice. Be wary of the coach or personal training who approaches coaching youth athletes the same as coaching adult athletes. Don't confuse that with coaches who expect a young athlete to be able to handle moderately intensive and extensive training, an athlete is still an athlete who needs to provide an adequate stimulus in training to improve. But when a coach wants an athlete to focus simply on one aspect (such as only pitching) and expects that athlete to compete at a high level several times a week, or week in week out without a break, you have to consider the motives of the coach.
To sum up, the middle schooler is still in major development, not just as an athlete, but as a human being. To expect a young person to to devote themselves to only one aspect of their training hurts the long term development, regardless of if that specific aspect is the defining characteristic of the athlete. Build a large base, work on coordination and strength, and you will set the middle school athlete up for long term success.
Brian Mackenzie does a great job of breaking down the phases of LTAD on his website. One of the hardest things for coaches and parents to understand is that the larger the general base of athletic fitness and skills, the easier it is for the athlete to excel. The middle school athlete would fall into the category of "learning to train" and "training to train", which would mean practice is still a fundamental process of development, but by this time many athletes have competed endlessly without regard to developing skills. The cycle of club sports (club sports are not bad, but the clubs that emphasize all competition and no development stunt athletic growth) which is basically a money grab (I've heard of parents spending thousands of dollars over the summer for travel baseball) keeps the athletes from excelling long term and by the end of high school they have not developed the necessary skills to compete on a higher level.
Now someone may ask the question, "why wouldn't competition be a great learning environment for an athlete?" Well, it is. For learning to compete. But you wouldn't expect your car mechanic to learn his skill when you show up, would you? So why would you expect an athlete to master a sport only in competition. And the reason is, you need to learn your sport, and your body needs to learn (through training) how to excel at the sport. Repetitions in practice give a child far more opportunity to learn how to hit a ball than 10-20 pitches in a game which are spread out over several at bats. Repetitions of shooting free throws is going to give an athlete far more confidence when it comes game time, rather than waiting for a few free throws in competition only. But as far as learning about how to overcome adversity and learn to work under pressure, the competition aspect is important and it is why we don't only practice.
So now that I've done ranting, how should athletic training be structured for middle school athletes? Well, I hope you didn't think I would spell out a specific formula because one doesn't exist. Each child is different and therefore a coach needs to evaluate strengths and weaknesses and adjust the training accordingly. But mostly we must remember that we need a broad base of training at the younger ages without large amounts of specific work. Body weight strength training should be started at this point and the focus should be on form and fundamentals. Aerobic capacity is still not fully able to be developed yet, but studies show it can still be a great starting point in training for future success. Also, I would suggest doing training and exercises that target the whole body, and keep the specific training for the older high school and college athletes especially.
And finally, a word of advice. Be wary of the coach or personal training who approaches coaching youth athletes the same as coaching adult athletes. Don't confuse that with coaches who expect a young athlete to be able to handle moderately intensive and extensive training, an athlete is still an athlete who needs to provide an adequate stimulus in training to improve. But when a coach wants an athlete to focus simply on one aspect (such as only pitching) and expects that athlete to compete at a high level several times a week, or week in week out without a break, you have to consider the motives of the coach.
To sum up, the middle schooler is still in major development, not just as an athlete, but as a human being. To expect a young person to to devote themselves to only one aspect of their training hurts the long term development, regardless of if that specific aspect is the defining characteristic of the athlete. Build a large base, work on coordination and strength, and you will set the middle school athlete up for long term success.
Do You Have Purpose?
I enjoy reading about different training programs of different schools around the country and the different philosophies of the coaches. You'll find schools that have completely opposite approaches who have similar national caliber teams under their wing. One team may do low volume and high quality, while others may do high volume with lesser intensity, and some may seemingly do high quality and high volume at the same time (I am not condoning a specific method here, only noting team training varies highly).
One thing you don't find with any of these teams, though, is a coach who doesn't understand why he prescribes those workouts. You may have two teams doing the same exact training each day, but the team who has the coach who understands the reasoning behind the training will always produce the better performances.
Why? Well mainly because the coach understands what the training is accomplishing, not just that it "gets you better." It's not just understanding that doing squats or flying 30s gets you in better shape, it's also has to do with knowing specifically what adaptation is occurring.
So the question is, when you get out to the track or to the gym or to the field, do you have purpose with the training you have planned for the day, or did you just get the workout off of a magazine or blog? In what way will your training for the day make you better prepared, specifically, over just a broad generalization by saying "you are faster" or "you are stronger." Part of being an effective coach is getting to know these things. Your team will never reach it's potential without it.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Being Great
A few months back I had to explain to one of my athletes of the importance of recognizing when you are great at something and realizing when you have a talent. Now talent manifests itself in many fashions. Some people are talented with math and can understand complex problems within a matter of seconds, others can learn to play musical instruments with ease, and some can take to a sport and excel without putting in as much work as many of their peers. Understanding when you are blessed with a talent is a key to being something special.
So few people explore their talents today because they are distracted by television, consumerism, and the internet. Those who do find their talent have to hope they have also been blessed with finding an outlet to reach their potential. Think about how many Einsteins are living in third work countries right now, or how many future Usain Bolts are working menial jobs because they were not given the proper circumstances to excel.
When you think about this you understand that so few people actually get a chance to be great at something due to all the circumstances that must fall in line first. Not every kid will be a pro athlete, nor will every one be a scientist, but when we find talent in the youth, we must do our best to foster that talent and give that child direction. That is how we will help the average child be anything but average.
So few people explore their talents today because they are distracted by television, consumerism, and the internet. Those who do find their talent have to hope they have also been blessed with finding an outlet to reach their potential. Think about how many Einsteins are living in third work countries right now, or how many future Usain Bolts are working menial jobs because they were not given the proper circumstances to excel.
When you think about this you understand that so few people actually get a chance to be great at something due to all the circumstances that must fall in line first. Not every kid will be a pro athlete, nor will every one be a scientist, but when we find talent in the youth, we must do our best to foster that talent and give that child direction. That is how we will help the average child be anything but average.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Rainy Day Workouts
Today, like many days in Louisiana, we had a nice thunder storm. Many teams across the country would have cancelled practice or have done a little jogging around the gym and left. As a coach, I can't be happy knowing that every day we didn't do what we needed to do to be as prepared as possible for our next competition. Speaking of that, our next competition is the state meet on May 3rd so we have plenty of work that needs to be done.
To give you an idea of what we do when it rains, first we start off with our warm up jog in the gym and dynamic flexibility drills that we do everyday. We follow that up with some short strides across the gym to open up a little bit. For the main body of our workouts we can do a few things including an aerobic circuit routine which intersperses jogging/running with strength exercises. We can also do a jumps routine which starts off basic, i.e. jumping jacks, and gradually gets more dynamic and intense. We also do resistance drills such as sleds pushes and partner pulling with ropes. Most of the team usually does their weight lifting at PE with the other football players, but if they don't lift then we will go in the evening.
Basically, there is a whole host of things you can do even if you don't have access to an outside training area for a day or two. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box and try and figure out what you can do with what you have, even if it isn't much. You would be surprised how much work you can get in with little space and little equipment.
To give you an idea of what we do when it rains, first we start off with our warm up jog in the gym and dynamic flexibility drills that we do everyday. We follow that up with some short strides across the gym to open up a little bit. For the main body of our workouts we can do a few things including an aerobic circuit routine which intersperses jogging/running with strength exercises. We can also do a jumps routine which starts off basic, i.e. jumping jacks, and gradually gets more dynamic and intense. We also do resistance drills such as sleds pushes and partner pulling with ropes. Most of the team usually does their weight lifting at PE with the other football players, but if they don't lift then we will go in the evening.
Basically, there is a whole host of things you can do even if you don't have access to an outside training area for a day or two. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box and try and figure out what you can do with what you have, even if it isn't much. You would be surprised how much work you can get in with little space and little equipment.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
No-Excuses Weight Training for Track and Field
One thing that will almost always fall to the wayside in track and field, especially for distance runners and female athletes, is strength training. For the most part, distance runners don't go to the weight room because they feel intimidated by the football players or because other sports have priority over the weights and girls rarely have access either way. Then on the other hand coaches tend to decide that more running is more of a benefit to the athlete than using that time to life weights, and if you are talking about lifting for hypertophy (or in other words, gain in muscle size) you may be right, but I'm not. I'm talking about getting in the work necessary when running is the focus, but the benefits of ancillary training can't be ignored. Take a look at Meb here; he isn't big by any standards, but you can tell he takes strength training seriously.
Track athletes need to focus on the entire body. It may seem counter intuitive, but you need to train your upper body as much as the lower body. Sure, you want strong legs and a great torso, but remember you need strength in the upper body to maintain posture and help establish your presence in tight packs in the distance races. Also, none of this training has to an overwhelming amount of time. Even as little as 5 minutes a day will do far more than nothing. The fact is that strength training means you are more resistant to injury, you can handle more training, and you are more powerful with each step. During running, the body feels ground reaction forces equal to several times the runners body weight, so a weak body will not hold up well to extensive training.
So this brings us back to the situation where you don't have a weight room, nor do you have much time to train with weights. Well two days of the week you could do a core routine that includes planks, Australian crawls, pedestals, mountain climbers, bridges, etc. You can easily get the work you need with just those exercises, but throw in med ball throws, Russian twists and more if you feel the need to get extra work in.
Now if you are still thinking you don't have the time or space to do this, I want to mention that there is a local team from an all girls school that finds a way to get it done. They obviously can't get into the weight room at school, if they even have one, but the coaches bring out 3 standard bench press/squat bars to the track each day and the girls do squats and snatches and other exercises right there on the side of the track. The moral of the story is that you can do it if you really want to.
So finally you can add lunges, squats, pushups, dips, calf raises and other body weight exercises if you don't feel like being over zealous and bringing weight training equipment to your practice. The key is get a baseline strength training program started for your team which will pay dividends sooner rather than later.
Track athletes need to focus on the entire body. It may seem counter intuitive, but you need to train your upper body as much as the lower body. Sure, you want strong legs and a great torso, but remember you need strength in the upper body to maintain posture and help establish your presence in tight packs in the distance races. Also, none of this training has to an overwhelming amount of time. Even as little as 5 minutes a day will do far more than nothing. The fact is that strength training means you are more resistant to injury, you can handle more training, and you are more powerful with each step. During running, the body feels ground reaction forces equal to several times the runners body weight, so a weak body will not hold up well to extensive training.
So this brings us back to the situation where you don't have a weight room, nor do you have much time to train with weights. Well two days of the week you could do a core routine that includes planks, Australian crawls, pedestals, mountain climbers, bridges, etc. You can easily get the work you need with just those exercises, but throw in med ball throws, Russian twists and more if you feel the need to get extra work in.
Now if you are still thinking you don't have the time or space to do this, I want to mention that there is a local team from an all girls school that finds a way to get it done. They obviously can't get into the weight room at school, if they even have one, but the coaches bring out 3 standard bench press/squat bars to the track each day and the girls do squats and snatches and other exercises right there on the side of the track. The moral of the story is that you can do it if you really want to.
So finally you can add lunges, squats, pushups, dips, calf raises and other body weight exercises if you don't feel like being over zealous and bringing weight training equipment to your practice. The key is get a baseline strength training program started for your team which will pay dividends sooner rather than later.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Recovery Periods
If you are a coach who likes to train year round you ultimately come to a point where you consider how long you are going to give your kids off after each season. You want to give the kids a mental break from the sport for a bit, but you also don't want to waste valuable time, especially if you have cross country in the fall. There is no fast and easy answer though because every team is different and every team has to think about their goals and what it will take to meet them.
For cross country teams, I don't know a single program that doesn't start their summer workouts at least by June (I'm sure the states where the state meet is in June start a bit later than that though). Some meet six days a week, some five, some only three but the main point is they are back to work within a month of when they finished the previous season. One path I like to take is to give more shorter breaks throughout the year rather than two or three longer ones for the simple reason of staying in touch with the kids and making sure their grades are staying in order, etc. Also these athletes are competing in four seasons between cross country, indoor, outdoor, and summer track so smaller breaks more often fits better into the training.
You also need to make sure your goals are aligned with your training philosophy. If your goal is to win state and you wait till August to start training, you may be in for a rough year. July may even be late for most state caliber teams. But if your goal is simply a top ten finish at state, perhaps that isn't too late to start.
For sprinters who finish their summer track season at the beginning of August and don't play a fall sport, you need to consider if you compete in indoor track or outdoor only. For indoor track you may want to be up and training in October or November while you can wait till January at the latest for outdoor track.
For cross country teams, I don't know a single program that doesn't start their summer workouts at least by June (I'm sure the states where the state meet is in June start a bit later than that though). Some meet six days a week, some five, some only three but the main point is they are back to work within a month of when they finished the previous season. One path I like to take is to give more shorter breaks throughout the year rather than two or three longer ones for the simple reason of staying in touch with the kids and making sure their grades are staying in order, etc. Also these athletes are competing in four seasons between cross country, indoor, outdoor, and summer track so smaller breaks more often fits better into the training.
You also need to make sure your goals are aligned with your training philosophy. If your goal is to win state and you wait till August to start training, you may be in for a rough year. July may even be late for most state caliber teams. But if your goal is simply a top ten finish at state, perhaps that isn't too late to start.
For sprinters who finish their summer track season at the beginning of August and don't play a fall sport, you need to consider if you compete in indoor track or outdoor only. For indoor track you may want to be up and training in October or November while you can wait till January at the latest for outdoor track.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Good Resources for Coaches
As a coach develops he needs to find places to learn and challenge his training philosophies to turn him into the best coach he can be for his athletes. I have come across some of the best coaches in the sport through their websites and I want to share them with you so hopefully you can learn something from them as well. These athletes have endless hours of knowledge for you to enjoy.
1) http://www.scienceofrunning.com/ - Steve Magness, a 4:01 miler in high school and former coach with Nike offers insight into coaching runners with science and reason
2) http://www.sportsscientists.com/ - Another website based on science, two physiologists study performance and training and modern sport.
3) http://www.elitetrack.com/ - This website is a series of blogs that deal with sports training in general, although there is a focus on track and field in many of the posts.
4) http://sacspeed.com - Boo Schexnayder's website for his company SACSpeed. He is a track and field coach of the highest quality and may be the smartest man in the sport.
5) http://www.athletesacceleration.com/ - This website has access to a lot of coaching material and practical coaching advice.
1) http://www.scienceofrunning.com/ - Steve Magness, a 4:01 miler in high school and former coach with Nike offers insight into coaching runners with science and reason
2) http://www.sportsscientists.com/ - Another website based on science, two physiologists study performance and training and modern sport.
3) http://www.elitetrack.com/ - This website is a series of blogs that deal with sports training in general, although there is a focus on track and field in many of the posts.
4) http://sacspeed.com - Boo Schexnayder's website for his company SACSpeed. He is a track and field coach of the highest quality and may be the smartest man in the sport.
5) http://www.athletesacceleration.com/ - This website has access to a lot of coaching material and practical coaching advice.
Finding Support
As a coach you will often find yourself in positions where you need to be in several places at the same time or coaching two different kids for different events and need to find a way to coach both successfully. Now if you are a coach with over a dozen kids who all need equal attention you will really find yourself in a bind. You don't want to sacrifice the time one athlete has with you for another, but you need to figure out the best strategy. Well, consider your options for getting a bigger staff together.
First, talk to your school about the budget for another coach. Some schools can offer a decent stipend which will attract good coaches to help your program. Allow that coach to take control of the events he coaches and he will feel like he can implement his plan for success (as long as it fits into the team model) and will be more likely to return to help you in future seasons. Sometimes schools can only offer a few hundred dollars for support coaches but this is better than nothing and may still attract young, eager coaches.
You can always work with other teams to help build a strong corps of athletes to push each other. Especially for distance runners, meeting up with members of other teams can offer competition in training which they may not be getting enough of with the members of their respective teams. Sometimes, if you know a coach for a certain team is very good in a specific event and you have expertise in another event, working with each others athletes may benefit each other.
Finally, parent support is big. If you can find parents that are willing to help out, even if it isn't in a coaching capacity but more in a team management function this may free up some of your time. Maybe they will help get drinks for the athletes or will help bus athletes to the track. Either way, the more help usually the more free time for actual coaching. Follow my blog with Bloglovin
First, talk to your school about the budget for another coach. Some schools can offer a decent stipend which will attract good coaches to help your program. Allow that coach to take control of the events he coaches and he will feel like he can implement his plan for success (as long as it fits into the team model) and will be more likely to return to help you in future seasons. Sometimes schools can only offer a few hundred dollars for support coaches but this is better than nothing and may still attract young, eager coaches.
You can always work with other teams to help build a strong corps of athletes to push each other. Especially for distance runners, meeting up with members of other teams can offer competition in training which they may not be getting enough of with the members of their respective teams. Sometimes, if you know a coach for a certain team is very good in a specific event and you have expertise in another event, working with each others athletes may benefit each other.
Finally, parent support is big. If you can find parents that are willing to help out, even if it isn't in a coaching capacity but more in a team management function this may free up some of your time. Maybe they will help get drinks for the athletes or will help bus athletes to the track. Either way, the more help usually the more free time for actual coaching. Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The Post Season Peak
The peaking process is always one that is tough to plan out for coaches. You want your athlete to be fresh for the championship meets but at the same time you know that you can't have them peak for their district meet and then hope to have them running at the top of their game again a month later. How do you approach the peaking process for post-season competition?
First, you want to drop volume by up to 10-20% (but no more, especially for sprinters) each week from the first post season competition to the last. You want to maintain the intensity of your workouts though. Therefore if your 400 runner had been doing 5x300 on their volume day, you will want to drop one 300 but maintain the pace that you had run before. Dropping off the intensity is a mistake many coaches make hoping to "save" the hard efforts for the race or "not wanting to tire the athlete." The truth is if you have recovery days built in the appropriate places already this will not be an issue.
Next, you want to make sure they are doing their post workout rehab such as cooldowns, icing if necessary, etc. This can often go overlooked during the season but you don't want to have any snags late in the season because an injury can derail the goals the athlete has with their post season competition.
Lastly, remember that the athlete needs to have the proper mentality to peak as well. Competition will become tougher and more meaningful as the post season progresses so if the athlete does not have the confidence to race, they will definitely not fair well. You must remind the athlete of where they stand and give them the moral support to be able to compete at their highest level. An athlete that doesn't believe they can qualify rarely does.
First, you want to drop volume by up to 10-20% (but no more, especially for sprinters) each week from the first post season competition to the last. You want to maintain the intensity of your workouts though. Therefore if your 400 runner had been doing 5x300 on their volume day, you will want to drop one 300 but maintain the pace that you had run before. Dropping off the intensity is a mistake many coaches make hoping to "save" the hard efforts for the race or "not wanting to tire the athlete." The truth is if you have recovery days built in the appropriate places already this will not be an issue.
Next, you want to make sure they are doing their post workout rehab such as cooldowns, icing if necessary, etc. This can often go overlooked during the season but you don't want to have any snags late in the season because an injury can derail the goals the athlete has with their post season competition.
Lastly, remember that the athlete needs to have the proper mentality to peak as well. Competition will become tougher and more meaningful as the post season progresses so if the athlete does not have the confidence to race, they will definitely not fair well. You must remind the athlete of where they stand and give them the moral support to be able to compete at their highest level. An athlete that doesn't believe they can qualify rarely does.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Long Term Athletic Development
Long Term Athletic Development or LTAD is at the core of what we, youth coaches, is how we should be gearing up these athletes that we train. The development of skills an athlete will take with them once they leave your care is a very important part of what defines a good coach from a poor one. It bothers me when coaches try to do a quick fix with a young athlete and either add in copious amounts of volume or intensity when that person simply is not ready for it. Sometimes it also comes in the form of the parent who means well, but pushes a child past the amount of training that is necessary for a certain age.
Fundamentals and technique in sport are starting to fall away from the training programs of many youth athletes at an alarming rate for several reasons. The rise of travel league teams in nearly every sport has taken a wrong turn in the direction we should be taking the future of our respective sports. Now, it is not uncommon for teams to rarely practice but play in two tournaments a week and never really learn to develop baseline athletic ability. Also, the play in tournament all the time method also leaves little time for an athlete to learn the rules and strategies of a sport. Many travel tournaments are called "Showcases" now and the promise of college coaches and recruiters to be on site is listed for most these events. Sure, the child is getting exposure which is never a bad thing, but we must remember that simply showing up to these events with the prior preparation does little good.
If we really want to develop the younger athletes for success in the late high school/college years we must remember to lay the foundation for success early. The younger the athlete, the less specific the training should be. How to train middle school athletes has been an important question of mine since I started working with them a couple years ago and I think there are lots of good training that doesn't have to drain them or burn them out at a young age. It all just needs to be applied smartly. In the next few weeks I will make a post in regard to middle school athletic training to address how we can help get these athletes safely and smartly to the next level.
Fundamentals and technique in sport are starting to fall away from the training programs of many youth athletes at an alarming rate for several reasons. The rise of travel league teams in nearly every sport has taken a wrong turn in the direction we should be taking the future of our respective sports. Now, it is not uncommon for teams to rarely practice but play in two tournaments a week and never really learn to develop baseline athletic ability. Also, the play in tournament all the time method also leaves little time for an athlete to learn the rules and strategies of a sport. Many travel tournaments are called "Showcases" now and the promise of college coaches and recruiters to be on site is listed for most these events. Sure, the child is getting exposure which is never a bad thing, but we must remember that simply showing up to these events with the prior preparation does little good.
If we really want to develop the younger athletes for success in the late high school/college years we must remember to lay the foundation for success early. The younger the athlete, the less specific the training should be. How to train middle school athletes has been an important question of mine since I started working with them a couple years ago and I think there are lots of good training that doesn't have to drain them or burn them out at a young age. It all just needs to be applied smartly. In the next few weeks I will make a post in regard to middle school athletic training to address how we can help get these athletes safely and smartly to the next level.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Mental Preparation
There is no such thing as luck. The more prepared you are, the easier it becomes to succeed. Preparation makes it less likely that your strategy will not work. When I hear people say, "The other team got lucky" I would love to tell them that perhaps if other team was more prepared it would never have been close.
For coaches, we need to arm our teams with knowledge. They need to know their competition's strengths and weaknesses. They need to know how to execute their strategy and how to change on the fly should something go wrong. A coach has to plan for events that may never happen, but if they do, the team will know exactly how to operate. Coaching is not simply about "teaching kids how to work with others" or "working towards a goal" (although these are two of the most important aspects), but it is also majorly about showing the athletes how to organize an effective strategy so they can emulate that themselves when they are off on there own.
For athletes, preparation comes in the form of having all the essential items necessary to succeed. Something as simple as bringing the proper uniform should be a part of the list every athlete has to check off before competition. Eating well, sleeping enough, and envisioning the goal are also important to success and no athlete is going to fully prepare themselves for sport if they don't take those aspects seriously. If you really want to get a leg up on the competition you need to mentally beat them before the competition has even started.
For coaches, we need to arm our teams with knowledge. They need to know their competition's strengths and weaknesses. They need to know how to execute their strategy and how to change on the fly should something go wrong. A coach has to plan for events that may never happen, but if they do, the team will know exactly how to operate. Coaching is not simply about "teaching kids how to work with others" or "working towards a goal" (although these are two of the most important aspects), but it is also majorly about showing the athletes how to organize an effective strategy so they can emulate that themselves when they are off on there own.
For athletes, preparation comes in the form of having all the essential items necessary to succeed. Something as simple as bringing the proper uniform should be a part of the list every athlete has to check off before competition. Eating well, sleeping enough, and envisioning the goal are also important to success and no athlete is going to fully prepare themselves for sport if they don't take those aspects seriously. If you really want to get a leg up on the competition you need to mentally beat them before the competition has even started.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Training the 800 Runner Pt. 2
So in the last part we looked at the types of athletes that may have to train in the 800, now we will go over a bit of how you should train these athletes. Remember that every runner is different and just because they look like they should fit a certain training mode, it may require some trial and error to optimize their training.
Sprinter Types: Not only do these athletes have the physical build of a sprinter, but most importantly they will have the psychology of a sprinter and remembering that will be important. If the sprinter type is doing mainly longer workouts, distance runs, etc., he may become disinterested and upset with the training. I remember reading about a Russian study from a couple decades ago where the scientists took sprinter type 800 runners and put them on a high volume distance program. Not only did they not improve (to be fair, they ran the same times) but the runners noted they did not "feel" as fast despite running the same times. Psychology is a huge part in trying to move a sprinter up in distance. They are far more apprehensive than a distance runner. These athletes should do sprint work (short repetitions) or speed endurance (repetitions up to 300 meters) with the sprinters. For their longer workouts they may run some over distance with JV distance runners doing workouts such as 3x1000 at about 10-15 seconds slower than race pace for each lap which will most likely be mile race pace for your JV runners. Those workouts develop aerobic power and lactate tolerance. Finally, remember to give these runners adequate recoveries in both workouts and training weeks. They are doing more volume than other sprinters, but don't have the training background of most distance runners and can't handle as much as them. Focus on quality over quantity.
Tweener Types: Once again, these guys are a bit rare compared to the other two types but still have to be trained according to their abilities. These guys are jacks of all trades, but won't wow anyone in a sprint workout or distance workout. Like previously stated, these guys are usually pretty tough, and many guys fitting this mold are wrestlers who have a good aerobic background but mainly are strong as a football player and have that same toughness. I like to train these guys with a relatively high volume of specific workouts with intervals ranging from 150-600 meters (and given appropriate recovery). They won't be able to do quite as much volume as the distance runners, but can usually handle quite a bit of quality compared to the sprinter type. Early season they may be able to bang out 10-12x200 at a quick effort (not an all out sprint) with a 100m walk recovery and by mid to late season might be able to run this workout as an 8x200 with 100m walk recovery at 800m race pace. Give these guys a steady distance run once a week up to 30 minutes, and get them in the sprint work days with the distance runners. They may have to do a sprint workout with the sprinters once every other week to be challenged. Remember the toughness of these guys because it goes both ways. They will tell you they can go on when they are hurting and you need to see if they should end their workout or keep going.
Distance Types: Depending on what part of the country you live in, distance types may be the majority or the minority of 800 runners but either way, these guys need to show at least a flash of speed before you decide to put them in the event. Usually, if they aren't at least an alternate in the 4x4, they probably don't have the speed to run the 800. On our boys team, we have had 5 athletes place in the top 3 at the state championships in the past 3 years and all 5 had split no worse than 51 at some point on a 4x4 relay with 2 going under 50 so while distance runners bring in the big aerobic background, you need to have a bit of quickness. Surprisingly though, these distance runners mainly just continued to train as milers/2 milers and their natural speed took over in the shorter events. The bread and butter of these runners are their aerobic "house" as Renato Canova puts it. It is there natural speed that allows them to be great 800 runners. Have one speed workout every 10 days or so while maintaining their distance training and that should be a good enough to keep in touch with the sprint speed. Also, getting these guys in a 4x4 as a few meets will help that as well. Remember, meets (before the championships) are training too!
So that should give you a good overview of how to work with these athletes. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Sprinter Types: Not only do these athletes have the physical build of a sprinter, but most importantly they will have the psychology of a sprinter and remembering that will be important. If the sprinter type is doing mainly longer workouts, distance runs, etc., he may become disinterested and upset with the training. I remember reading about a Russian study from a couple decades ago where the scientists took sprinter type 800 runners and put them on a high volume distance program. Not only did they not improve (to be fair, they ran the same times) but the runners noted they did not "feel" as fast despite running the same times. Psychology is a huge part in trying to move a sprinter up in distance. They are far more apprehensive than a distance runner. These athletes should do sprint work (short repetitions) or speed endurance (repetitions up to 300 meters) with the sprinters. For their longer workouts they may run some over distance with JV distance runners doing workouts such as 3x1000 at about 10-15 seconds slower than race pace for each lap which will most likely be mile race pace for your JV runners. Those workouts develop aerobic power and lactate tolerance. Finally, remember to give these runners adequate recoveries in both workouts and training weeks. They are doing more volume than other sprinters, but don't have the training background of most distance runners and can't handle as much as them. Focus on quality over quantity.
Tweener Types: Once again, these guys are a bit rare compared to the other two types but still have to be trained according to their abilities. These guys are jacks of all trades, but won't wow anyone in a sprint workout or distance workout. Like previously stated, these guys are usually pretty tough, and many guys fitting this mold are wrestlers who have a good aerobic background but mainly are strong as a football player and have that same toughness. I like to train these guys with a relatively high volume of specific workouts with intervals ranging from 150-600 meters (and given appropriate recovery). They won't be able to do quite as much volume as the distance runners, but can usually handle quite a bit of quality compared to the sprinter type. Early season they may be able to bang out 10-12x200 at a quick effort (not an all out sprint) with a 100m walk recovery and by mid to late season might be able to run this workout as an 8x200 with 100m walk recovery at 800m race pace. Give these guys a steady distance run once a week up to 30 minutes, and get them in the sprint work days with the distance runners. They may have to do a sprint workout with the sprinters once every other week to be challenged. Remember the toughness of these guys because it goes both ways. They will tell you they can go on when they are hurting and you need to see if they should end their workout or keep going.
Distance Types: Depending on what part of the country you live in, distance types may be the majority or the minority of 800 runners but either way, these guys need to show at least a flash of speed before you decide to put them in the event. Usually, if they aren't at least an alternate in the 4x4, they probably don't have the speed to run the 800. On our boys team, we have had 5 athletes place in the top 3 at the state championships in the past 3 years and all 5 had split no worse than 51 at some point on a 4x4 relay with 2 going under 50 so while distance runners bring in the big aerobic background, you need to have a bit of quickness. Surprisingly though, these distance runners mainly just continued to train as milers/2 milers and their natural speed took over in the shorter events. The bread and butter of these runners are their aerobic "house" as Renato Canova puts it. It is there natural speed that allows them to be great 800 runners. Have one speed workout every 10 days or so while maintaining their distance training and that should be a good enough to keep in touch with the sprint speed. Also, getting these guys in a 4x4 as a few meets will help that as well. Remember, meets (before the championships) are training too!
So that should give you a good overview of how to work with these athletes. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Training the 800 Runner Pt. 1
This will be a two part series on the 800 runner I will talk about what exactly you should look for when determining your 800 runners and the training methods you should take. This part will be about talent identification and types of 800 runners and the next post will be about training consideration.
There is a lot that goes into figuring out who will run your 800 for you and here are some things to note: What is the order of events in your state if you plan on having this athlete double or triple? How long of a time will I have to train this athlete before post season competition? What is the training background of this athlete? If you can go through these questions and you think that you have a candidate for the 800 then your next step is to figure out what category the runner fits into. One note that I will put forth is that in my opinion, 800 training takes the longest time to develop so an athlete with limited amount of training time may not be a good candidate.
The sprinter type: This athlete may not have the amazing 100 or 200 speed but can run a good leg on the 4x4 and has good rhythm when he/she runs. This athlete may not have a spot on the team as a 400 runner so has to look for another event to earn a spot. Sprinter types tend to do best off of fast early paces to negate the fact that their last 200 will be their slowest. The fist lap must be calculated properly, though, because the athlete still needs to worry about not having a tremendous positive split.
The tweener type: This athlete demonstrates a good natural ability to run hard for a reasonable amount of time, shows toughness, but is not very competitive in either a 400 or a 1600. These are rarer than the sprinter or the distance type, but occasionally you will find an athlete with no distance background that can only 54 second 400 speed but can run an 800 in 2:00-02 with good training. This athlete will be best with even splits but is more like a jack of all trades and cannot afford much of a fast start, nor will they have the strongest finish.
The distance type: These athletes may only have the same speed as the tweener, but have the distance background that allows them to maintain their speeds better. While the tweener may drop off to a 4:40 mile or more, the distance type may be able to run 10-15 seconds faster in the 1600. This shows that the athlete will probably have their strength in the closing 200 compared to the others.
Now that you have established that the athlete can compete for you in the 800 and have established their fitness type, we will move on to training protocols in the next part.
There is a lot that goes into figuring out who will run your 800 for you and here are some things to note: What is the order of events in your state if you plan on having this athlete double or triple? How long of a time will I have to train this athlete before post season competition? What is the training background of this athlete? If you can go through these questions and you think that you have a candidate for the 800 then your next step is to figure out what category the runner fits into. One note that I will put forth is that in my opinion, 800 training takes the longest time to develop so an athlete with limited amount of training time may not be a good candidate.
The sprinter type: This athlete may not have the amazing 100 or 200 speed but can run a good leg on the 4x4 and has good rhythm when he/she runs. This athlete may not have a spot on the team as a 400 runner so has to look for another event to earn a spot. Sprinter types tend to do best off of fast early paces to negate the fact that their last 200 will be their slowest. The fist lap must be calculated properly, though, because the athlete still needs to worry about not having a tremendous positive split.
The tweener type: This athlete demonstrates a good natural ability to run hard for a reasonable amount of time, shows toughness, but is not very competitive in either a 400 or a 1600. These are rarer than the sprinter or the distance type, but occasionally you will find an athlete with no distance background that can only 54 second 400 speed but can run an 800 in 2:00-02 with good training. This athlete will be best with even splits but is more like a jack of all trades and cannot afford much of a fast start, nor will they have the strongest finish.
The distance type: These athletes may only have the same speed as the tweener, but have the distance background that allows them to maintain their speeds better. While the tweener may drop off to a 4:40 mile or more, the distance type may be able to run 10-15 seconds faster in the 1600. This shows that the athlete will probably have their strength in the closing 200 compared to the others.
Now that you have established that the athlete can compete for you in the 800 and have established their fitness type, we will move on to training protocols in the next part.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Training Videos, Etc.
It will be a slow process but as I find time I will be filming or taking pictures of certain things we do at practice, maybe some interviews with our athletes of John Curtis, Southern Athletics, and Vintage Performance, and some general coaching advice via Youtube. Sometimes just reading about a subject is not enough and you actually have to see it happen to understand. Currently up on my Youtube site I have the Lunge Matrix done by a friend and state championship winning coach Micah Simoneaux of Archbishop Shaw and a couple of sprints from the blocks done by the sprinters at John Curtis. Take a look at them, enjoy them, and hopefully I will have a lot more of this in the summer when I have more time. If you have any requests, just let me know. Check it out at Vintage Performance Youtube.
Earning Scholarships and Being Recruited for College
Over a dozen athletes from our program at John Curtis signed (or will be signing shortly) a scholarship to compete in sports next year at the college level and at least half a dozen should follow suit next year. One thing a high school and club coach should be aware of is how to get your athlete noticed and get him or her a scholarship to the next level.
First and foremost is grades. This may seem a bit elementary and overt, but with the rising standards of the NCAA and the rising competition for scholarships, grades will play a factor. Two kids who are even in ability and skill may come down to who has the best GPA in order to earn the scholarship because that athlete is less of a risk to be on academic probation.
The athlete should also come up with a list of reasonable schools they could gain admission to and their athletic ability fits into the ability level of the team at that school. They should also consider how much of a scholarship is necessary to fund the cost of education at that institution. Some schools might require a full ride, while others might only require a partial.
Next, coaches should develop relationships with the coaches in the local area and find out what positions and events are needed for the upcoming signing class. A certain athlete might not be as highly touted as another, but the position he plays or event he competes in might be a higher priority for the team. Coaches should also find out what the school can offer in terms of amount of money for scholarships. Some schools might say full tuition but fail to note that housing and books are several thousand dollars not included in the scholarship.
Finally, unless you have been offered a full ride, everything is paid for, scholarship seeking can be a bit of a game, but you shouldn't always pass up a good deal because another offer may never come. If you are looking for a nearly full scholarship, but most your offers are only books, and one offer is a half scholarship and you are one month away from graduation, it might be time to highly consider that half scholarship. Yes, there is a chance a school will come along in the summer and offer you a full if they have an academic non-qualifer that drops from the recruiting class, but that is the exception and not the norm.
Usually, at most public institutions, if you can earn at least books, combine that with your money you get from filing your FAFSA, plus possible other academic scholarships and you will most likely not owe much at the end of each semester, and that should be a main goal of getting a college education.
First and foremost is grades. This may seem a bit elementary and overt, but with the rising standards of the NCAA and the rising competition for scholarships, grades will play a factor. Two kids who are even in ability and skill may come down to who has the best GPA in order to earn the scholarship because that athlete is less of a risk to be on academic probation.
The athlete should also come up with a list of reasonable schools they could gain admission to and their athletic ability fits into the ability level of the team at that school. They should also consider how much of a scholarship is necessary to fund the cost of education at that institution. Some schools might require a full ride, while others might only require a partial.
Next, coaches should develop relationships with the coaches in the local area and find out what positions and events are needed for the upcoming signing class. A certain athlete might not be as highly touted as another, but the position he plays or event he competes in might be a higher priority for the team. Coaches should also find out what the school can offer in terms of amount of money for scholarships. Some schools might say full tuition but fail to note that housing and books are several thousand dollars not included in the scholarship.
Finally, unless you have been offered a full ride, everything is paid for, scholarship seeking can be a bit of a game, but you shouldn't always pass up a good deal because another offer may never come. If you are looking for a nearly full scholarship, but most your offers are only books, and one offer is a half scholarship and you are one month away from graduation, it might be time to highly consider that half scholarship. Yes, there is a chance a school will come along in the summer and offer you a full if they have an academic non-qualifer that drops from the recruiting class, but that is the exception and not the norm.
Usually, at most public institutions, if you can earn at least books, combine that with your money you get from filing your FAFSA, plus possible other academic scholarships and you will most likely not owe much at the end of each semester, and that should be a main goal of getting a college education.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Putting on Quality Events
Something that irks me to no end in the sport of track and field is shoddily run meets. One issue I feel keeps kids from running track in the spring in routinely having meets that last 8 hours or more from start of the field events to the ending 4x4 relays. On one hand, this is the nature of the sport and we will most likely not see any changes at the high school level or below anytime soon. There is limited amounts of help for many meets and schools must do what they will in order to keep the meet efficient.
One thing that I have done with my cross country and track teams is to host expedited meets where there are a limited amount of events, but all types of athletes will be able to compete. One or two sprints, distance, jumps, and throws events keep the meet short and timely and makes the competition more fan friendly, but allows all to perform.
You will regularly go to full blown meets with all events if not extra, specialty events as well and these meets can take a very long time. Coaches, I highly recommend you find a strategy that makes these meets cut down on the time between events and between heats. In order to keep track and field on par with the major sports the athletes and coaches must feel that when they attend a competition it will be run professionally like a football or basketball game. Let's keep our sport respectable and put on quality competitions for these athletes!
One thing that I have done with my cross country and track teams is to host expedited meets where there are a limited amount of events, but all types of athletes will be able to compete. One or two sprints, distance, jumps, and throws events keep the meet short and timely and makes the competition more fan friendly, but allows all to perform.
You will regularly go to full blown meets with all events if not extra, specialty events as well and these meets can take a very long time. Coaches, I highly recommend you find a strategy that makes these meets cut down on the time between events and between heats. In order to keep track and field on par with the major sports the athletes and coaches must feel that when they attend a competition it will be run professionally like a football or basketball game. Let's keep our sport respectable and put on quality competitions for these athletes!
How to Effectively Share an Athlete
Okay so you want that basketball player to be your high jumper, or the soccer player on your 4x4, or base runner on the baseball team to run the 100, what do you do? This is a common issue at the high school level and it will happen, especially to track coaches. What is an effective way to get that athlete compete for you?
First, you need to gauge any interest in being on the team. There is a reason that person is doing another sport and not track at the time, so the interest might not be there. But also, perhaps the athlete doesn't know if they would be competitive, so discuss that with them.
Next you need to consider team rules for the other sport. Do they allow athletes to participate in other sports? Most schools do, but some don't so be sure to discuss that with the coach of the sport.
If all is well so far, and the athlete will work with you in preparation for competition, you now have to come up with an effective training program. Here, you need to consider how many times a week that athlete will practice with you, what is the best training to do on limited time, and how to keep the athlete healthy. There is no easy way to figure that out. You have to work to figure out an optimal arrangement and it may be tough. Keeping the athletes you have involved, and trying to get new athletes in the fold is a crucial ingredient for most coaches, so do your best to see that you can effectively share athletes from other sports.
First, you need to gauge any interest in being on the team. There is a reason that person is doing another sport and not track at the time, so the interest might not be there. But also, perhaps the athlete doesn't know if they would be competitive, so discuss that with them.
Next you need to consider team rules for the other sport. Do they allow athletes to participate in other sports? Most schools do, but some don't so be sure to discuss that with the coach of the sport.
If all is well so far, and the athlete will work with you in preparation for competition, you now have to come up with an effective training program. Here, you need to consider how many times a week that athlete will practice with you, what is the best training to do on limited time, and how to keep the athlete healthy. There is no easy way to figure that out. You have to work to figure out an optimal arrangement and it may be tough. Keeping the athletes you have involved, and trying to get new athletes in the fold is a crucial ingredient for most coaches, so do your best to see that you can effectively share athletes from other sports.
Friday, April 5, 2013
The Time Crunched Coach
There are almost 20 events in track and field depending on what state you coach in, and all of which require a little to a very large amount of technical skills as well as a well thought out training program. On top of that, a school is lucky to have 3 coaches or more which usually means a lot of coaching in various events that have unrelated training. If you find yourself in a position where you have many events to train and have minimal help, don't despair. There are ways you can plan your training schedule around a reasonable training program and still get nearly optimal results. Here are five that may help you:
1) First, you must communicate with the athletes and stress the importance of self sufficiency on days when they can do work without a lot of time taken up by technical coaching, etc., such as distance run days for the distance runners and volume days for the sprinters (or short sprint days). By teaching the athletes how to do the workouts on their own, it will allow you to focus on smaller groups each day.
2) Alternate workout days. If the sprinters workout hard on Tuesday and Thursday, have your distance runners workout Monday and Wednesday. The other days the athletes can be doing recovery training which should be simple enough to work on their own.
3) Make workouts simple. Instead of getting fancy, if you make your workouts concise and time efficient it will reduce the time you are spending with one group and may be able to work with another within the same practice. One workout a local coach gave me for his middle distance runners that is really time efficient and works well in season is the 4 minute mile workout. 8x200 meter sprints done every minute (supposed to be 30 seconds on/30 off and is best for athletes around 2:00 or better for the 800) and the workout is over while another group may still be warming up! Another one that is self sufficient is 30 meter sprints for sprinters. Have your sprinters do 8x30 meter sprints from a standing start at max effort with 3-4 minute recovery. This should not take up too much of your time.
4) Coach outside of practice. Now this is a bit more difficult for many coaches, but some teams practice on Sundays or have 1-2 morning distance runs each week to make sure they are getting the training volume in. Be careful with this because you need to take into account the athlete not mentally getting burned out by constant training.
5) Group your athletes the best way possible. A good setup for training may be 100-200 runners and jumpers in one group, 400-800 runners in another, and distance runners in the last group. Some teams may split the 400-800 group into the distance or sprints, but just be careful that group is getting the training they need. Grouping makes the workouts more clear cut in the goals for the day and will allow a coach to focus on larger groups.
1) First, you must communicate with the athletes and stress the importance of self sufficiency on days when they can do work without a lot of time taken up by technical coaching, etc., such as distance run days for the distance runners and volume days for the sprinters (or short sprint days). By teaching the athletes how to do the workouts on their own, it will allow you to focus on smaller groups each day.
2) Alternate workout days. If the sprinters workout hard on Tuesday and Thursday, have your distance runners workout Monday and Wednesday. The other days the athletes can be doing recovery training which should be simple enough to work on their own.
3) Make workouts simple. Instead of getting fancy, if you make your workouts concise and time efficient it will reduce the time you are spending with one group and may be able to work with another within the same practice. One workout a local coach gave me for his middle distance runners that is really time efficient and works well in season is the 4 minute mile workout. 8x200 meter sprints done every minute (supposed to be 30 seconds on/30 off and is best for athletes around 2:00 or better for the 800) and the workout is over while another group may still be warming up! Another one that is self sufficient is 30 meter sprints for sprinters. Have your sprinters do 8x30 meter sprints from a standing start at max effort with 3-4 minute recovery. This should not take up too much of your time.
4) Coach outside of practice. Now this is a bit more difficult for many coaches, but some teams practice on Sundays or have 1-2 morning distance runs each week to make sure they are getting the training volume in. Be careful with this because you need to take into account the athlete not mentally getting burned out by constant training.
5) Group your athletes the best way possible. A good setup for training may be 100-200 runners and jumpers in one group, 400-800 runners in another, and distance runners in the last group. Some teams may split the 400-800 group into the distance or sprints, but just be careful that group is getting the training they need. Grouping makes the workouts more clear cut in the goals for the day and will allow a coach to focus on larger groups.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Training the Basketball Player for Track
It happens on nearly every team, especially at mid to small size schools. Well into the track season, the basketball team finishes their season and a few matriculate over to the track team with just enough weeks to put together a halfway decent performance at district or conference but are generally still behind the guys who have been working since indoor. What do you do with these athletes and how do you train them?
Well first you need to look at what the athlete offers the team, and what the team needs are. He may be a 6 foot high jumper, but if you already have two 6 foot high jumpers there may not be a reason to train him for that event, or at least spend a large amount of time on him. Look for signs of natural endurance or flexibility. These athletes may be able to fill in for you as hurdles, 400, or even 800 runners if you are low on numbers.
Another good placement strategy is putting them on you relays. As long as there is not a huge dropoff between fitness, these latecomers may be a good person to place on the 4x1 or 4x2 to free up another leg for an open event. You really must consider what events the teams are most needy at, then explain to the athlete that in the best interest of the team they should train and compete for that event. You will always have your athletes that are dead set on a specific event, regardless of how competitive they are in it, so you will not be able to please everyone, but using the team angle you may eliminate some kids giving up on the sport.
Well first you need to look at what the athlete offers the team, and what the team needs are. He may be a 6 foot high jumper, but if you already have two 6 foot high jumpers there may not be a reason to train him for that event, or at least spend a large amount of time on him. Look for signs of natural endurance or flexibility. These athletes may be able to fill in for you as hurdles, 400, or even 800 runners if you are low on numbers.
Another good placement strategy is putting them on you relays. As long as there is not a huge dropoff between fitness, these latecomers may be a good person to place on the 4x1 or 4x2 to free up another leg for an open event. You really must consider what events the teams are most needy at, then explain to the athlete that in the best interest of the team they should train and compete for that event. You will always have your athletes that are dead set on a specific event, regardless of how competitive they are in it, so you will not be able to please everyone, but using the team angle you may eliminate some kids giving up on the sport.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
The Training Blueprint for Small Cross Country Teams
The following is taken from an article I've written in the past few months for Louisiana Running, a Milesplit website. This training is great for small teams like the one I coach which has around 20 runners both boys and girls from K-12. This training, while very basic, is great for small teams and girls programs. Large boys teams like those who have 40+ high school runners may have the ability to test higher mileage training, but for most high school teams keeping the athletes healthy is the main concern, and this addresses those teams.
I have only been coaching for around three and a half years now but in that time I have been lucky to work with coaches and athletes from a wide variety of events and training philosophies. Between coaching sprinters and jumpers at my alma mater, Archbishop Shaw, and aiding coach Micah Simoneaux for a season of cross country at the same school, to my experiences coaching distance runners and a couple young throwers and jumpers alongside coach Preston Curtis at John Curtis Christian school, I have come across a good bit of interesting training observations and coaching advice. I have spent some summer mornings watching the St. Thomas Aquinas cross country team prepare for their season, and I have also piqued the mind of several other top coaches including Mike Cambre who trained Pat Gavin, as well as listened to the talks of Pete Boudreaux and Ryan Gallagher at coaching clinics. The more you listen, the more you understand how deep training an athlete holistically can be.
Some coaches prefer one training method to another and I have personally witnessed what I feel works and doesn't work for athletes here in Louisiana. I have tried mileage based training and high quality based training, and I feel neither fully address the needs of the athlete. In order to help spread more information to the coaching ranks of Louisiana I present to you my own opinions on training the distance runner properly and maximizing the potential of an athlete. At the very end I will present sample schedules that coaches or individual athletes can use as guides to reaching the heights of their ability level using all ideas and workouts which have been actually used by athletes I've coached or used by myself.
To train the whole athlete is exactly what it sounds like, training an athlete in all aspects of his running, but this concept can be adapted to any of the demands of the sport the athlete is involved in. In this case we are talking about distance runners so lets look at what the distance runner needs to be successful: endurance (obviously), coordination, foot speed, strength, flexibility, and rest. When a coach approaches training to touch on all these aspects, he will produce athletes that will run at a high level.
The endurance runner has his corner stone of fitness built into his/her ability to perform at a high level for a longer time than his competition. Here in LA both boys and girls must compete at 3 miles for the state meet which for the average runner will take around 17-18 minutes for boys and 21-23 minutes for girls. Therefore, the first goal of endurance training is the ability for the athlete to complete the distance, soon followed by the goal of racing the distance, not just surviving it. The first goal is usually accomplished within 2-3 weeks depending on ability level, athletic history, etc. The next step is psychological. If you can complete the distance, you can race the distance, but the athlete must mentally prepare for the competition by learning how to be aggressive and giving an honest effort into pushing their body to its maximum. If you have an overly passive athlete, challenge them to move out from their comfort zone to see what they are capable of.
Coordination is important for the distance runner. Proper running mechanics is a big determinant in high school racing and mastering it can take some time for the young runner. Practicing arm carriage and arm swing will help the runner understand what they should feel during proper running mechanics. This can be done simply by sitting down and having the athlete pump the arms back and forth. Keeping the head forward and chin down will help the athlete keep their focus on the race as well as teach them to maintain good mechanics and not exert too much energy in unnecessary directions.
Foot speed is often overlooked by coaches, but this is a huge factor in distance running. We aren't talking about sprinter foot speed, and for most distance runners not even 400 meter sprint speed, but all athletes need to be challenged on their speed to help make them quicker runners. The best way to incorporate some speed work is doing 4-6 strides after runs, when the legs are already tired, to teach the body to move quickly even when it has already exerted itself during a full run. These don't even have to be terribly fast. Paces as quick as mile race pace for a 50-100 meter stride is usually more than enough to get the athlete pushing hard, especially in the cross country season when speed work is usually put to the side for more mileage.
Strength, while probably the least necessary of the items on the list, still has a place. Some coaches prefer to run more than add strength to their routine, but I find that five minutes of strength 2-3 times a week can pay dividends and rarely take away from runs. Many runners worry about putting on extra weight with strength training but you must assure your athletes that a little strength can go a long way. A good routine to follow is a burnout set (one set till you cannot complete the exercise again) twice a week of push ups, crunches, prisoner squats, dips on a bench, and finish it off with a standard plank. The core strength picked up from even a small routine like this will help the athlete maintain form during the competition.
Flexibility is the main cog in injury prevention. It almost always come down to an athlete being too tight when an injury crops up and stretches are almost always advised by a physical therapist. I prefer some leg swings and some sort of trunk rotation before exercise to loosen up the muscles deep in the hip girdle and lower back, and then some static stretching for hamstrings and glutes after the run will help as well. Also, stretch the calves at least once a day. Tight calves can cause issues ranging from heel soreness, shin splits, and reduction of ankle flexibility.
The last but not least part of training the distance runner holistically is rest. For young athletes, a normal distance run might be as hard as workout for them, and even more experienced runners will break down without ample relaxation after a tough session. Monitor your athletes and make sure they take enough easy/off days as necessary. Some athletes will be able to pound most days of the week without recourse, while others may need three days to recover from a hard workout.
So if you put all those ideas together you will most likely have a fit, fast team ready to race in the fall, or even spring. But how do they all tie in? I decided to write up a sample seasonal schedule to give you an idea of what you can do as a coach or athlete to train for cross country. I often found that most coaches got their training advice from successful coaches in New England or other parts of the world where they didn't have to deal with Louisiana heat which made it very difficult to follow their training to a T. I have tinkered with different training methods and have come up with a solid fall training guide for runners to adhere to. Here are a couple sample schedules to give you an idea of how to keep your athletes ready to go. Once again, these are all plans that I have actually used, and with a degree of success, either coaching adult individuals or at the respective schools I have coached at.
Early Season/Base:
Monday- Long intervals. Some teams do mile repeats this day. I find mile repeats are difficult to do in the heat, so I've done 3-4x2-3 minutes at race pace with a standing recovery (until the weather changes)
Tuesday- Easy jogging and strides.
Wednesday- Tempo run day. Depending on athlete, 2-3 miles at 3 mile race pace plus 20-30 seconds per mile.
Thursday- Easy day. Focus on stretching, recovery, and prepping for the weekend race (if there is one)
Friday- Pre-Meet or speed day. Easy jogging plus strides. Keep the strides relaxed, don't race them.
Saturday- Off or early season competition for advanced runners.
Sunday- Off or easy jog.
One thing you'll notice is that there is no long run in this training. Many coaches will disagree, but I find a long run in the summer in LA might mean the next two days of training will be difficult to achieve any quality, so if you plan on doing a long run, do it on a day that you can recover the following day by either taking off or doing some easy training. For those worried about mileage, you'd be surprised that some of the countries best teams, including some that qualified for NXN, only ran 30 mpw for the majority of the year.
Mid-Late Season:
Monday- Medium intervals. The weather should be changing and this is a perfect time to do a fartlek style interval session. Increase the number while decreasing the pace (should be working on goal race pace for the championship meets). A sample workout would be 6x500 @ goal race pace with a 100m very easy jog recovery or 8-10x300 with a very easy 100m jog recovery.
Tuesday- Easy jogging, same as before.
Wednesday- Tempo run day. The athletes should move towards all completing 3 miles instead of 2, and pace should be around 20 seconds per mile slower than race pace.
Thursday- Easy day, same as before
Friday- Pre-Meet, same as before.
Saturday- Cross Country Meet
Sunday- Off
The goal of this part of the season is to use the two workouts and the race to hone in on sound racing tactics and gain a sense of race pace.
The Peak:
Monday- Short intervals. 200s, 300s, and 400s. These are run faster than race pace with a short recovery. An 18 minute 3 miler might run 8x400 in 1:25 with 35-45 seconds standing recovery.
Tuesday- Same as before, more focus on the recovery and checking to make sure legs are feeling fresh.
Wednesday- Tempo runs are dropped in favor of a harder effort. Think 3x4 minutes at race pace with either 3 minutes standing recovery or 4 minutes jogging recovery or a time trial.
Thursday- Same as before.
Friday- Pre-Meet
Saturday- Late Season Meet
Sunday- Off
The peak should be timed right and should have a continuation of intensity up until the last week. Give yourself 3 weeks at least, 4 weeks at most for the peaking process to work under a training schedule like this. Don't abandon all workouts the week before the big meets though. Do your last good workout about 3-4 days before your final competition.
For the top athletes, a training program like this can hit around 40 miles a week during the early season period which is optimal for most high school athletes. It can be tweaked and beginner runners can run as low as 15-20 miles a week while they gain fitness. Once again, not all coaches will agree with a training schedule like this, but I encourage coaches to try it out and see for themselves how effective a simple program such as this can be.
Chaz Caiado is the distance coach at John Curtis Christian School and was an All-State Cross Country runner at Archbishop Shaw high school. You can reach him at ccaiado@tulane.edu
I have only been coaching for around three and a half years now but in that time I have been lucky to work with coaches and athletes from a wide variety of events and training philosophies. Between coaching sprinters and jumpers at my alma mater, Archbishop Shaw, and aiding coach Micah Simoneaux for a season of cross country at the same school, to my experiences coaching distance runners and a couple young throwers and jumpers alongside coach Preston Curtis at John Curtis Christian school, I have come across a good bit of interesting training observations and coaching advice. I have spent some summer mornings watching the St. Thomas Aquinas cross country team prepare for their season, and I have also piqued the mind of several other top coaches including Mike Cambre who trained Pat Gavin, as well as listened to the talks of Pete Boudreaux and Ryan Gallagher at coaching clinics. The more you listen, the more you understand how deep training an athlete holistically can be.
Some coaches prefer one training method to another and I have personally witnessed what I feel works and doesn't work for athletes here in Louisiana. I have tried mileage based training and high quality based training, and I feel neither fully address the needs of the athlete. In order to help spread more information to the coaching ranks of Louisiana I present to you my own opinions on training the distance runner properly and maximizing the potential of an athlete. At the very end I will present sample schedules that coaches or individual athletes can use as guides to reaching the heights of their ability level using all ideas and workouts which have been actually used by athletes I've coached or used by myself.
To train the whole athlete is exactly what it sounds like, training an athlete in all aspects of his running, but this concept can be adapted to any of the demands of the sport the athlete is involved in. In this case we are talking about distance runners so lets look at what the distance runner needs to be successful: endurance (obviously), coordination, foot speed, strength, flexibility, and rest. When a coach approaches training to touch on all these aspects, he will produce athletes that will run at a high level.
The endurance runner has his corner stone of fitness built into his/her ability to perform at a high level for a longer time than his competition. Here in LA both boys and girls must compete at 3 miles for the state meet which for the average runner will take around 17-18 minutes for boys and 21-23 minutes for girls. Therefore, the first goal of endurance training is the ability for the athlete to complete the distance, soon followed by the goal of racing the distance, not just surviving it. The first goal is usually accomplished within 2-3 weeks depending on ability level, athletic history, etc. The next step is psychological. If you can complete the distance, you can race the distance, but the athlete must mentally prepare for the competition by learning how to be aggressive and giving an honest effort into pushing their body to its maximum. If you have an overly passive athlete, challenge them to move out from their comfort zone to see what they are capable of.
Coordination is important for the distance runner. Proper running mechanics is a big determinant in high school racing and mastering it can take some time for the young runner. Practicing arm carriage and arm swing will help the runner understand what they should feel during proper running mechanics. This can be done simply by sitting down and having the athlete pump the arms back and forth. Keeping the head forward and chin down will help the athlete keep their focus on the race as well as teach them to maintain good mechanics and not exert too much energy in unnecessary directions.
Foot speed is often overlooked by coaches, but this is a huge factor in distance running. We aren't talking about sprinter foot speed, and for most distance runners not even 400 meter sprint speed, but all athletes need to be challenged on their speed to help make them quicker runners. The best way to incorporate some speed work is doing 4-6 strides after runs, when the legs are already tired, to teach the body to move quickly even when it has already exerted itself during a full run. These don't even have to be terribly fast. Paces as quick as mile race pace for a 50-100 meter stride is usually more than enough to get the athlete pushing hard, especially in the cross country season when speed work is usually put to the side for more mileage.
Strength, while probably the least necessary of the items on the list, still has a place. Some coaches prefer to run more than add strength to their routine, but I find that five minutes of strength 2-3 times a week can pay dividends and rarely take away from runs. Many runners worry about putting on extra weight with strength training but you must assure your athletes that a little strength can go a long way. A good routine to follow is a burnout set (one set till you cannot complete the exercise again) twice a week of push ups, crunches, prisoner squats, dips on a bench, and finish it off with a standard plank. The core strength picked up from even a small routine like this will help the athlete maintain form during the competition.
Flexibility is the main cog in injury prevention. It almost always come down to an athlete being too tight when an injury crops up and stretches are almost always advised by a physical therapist. I prefer some leg swings and some sort of trunk rotation before exercise to loosen up the muscles deep in the hip girdle and lower back, and then some static stretching for hamstrings and glutes after the run will help as well. Also, stretch the calves at least once a day. Tight calves can cause issues ranging from heel soreness, shin splits, and reduction of ankle flexibility.
The last but not least part of training the distance runner holistically is rest. For young athletes, a normal distance run might be as hard as workout for them, and even more experienced runners will break down without ample relaxation after a tough session. Monitor your athletes and make sure they take enough easy/off days as necessary. Some athletes will be able to pound most days of the week without recourse, while others may need three days to recover from a hard workout.
So if you put all those ideas together you will most likely have a fit, fast team ready to race in the fall, or even spring. But how do they all tie in? I decided to write up a sample seasonal schedule to give you an idea of what you can do as a coach or athlete to train for cross country. I often found that most coaches got their training advice from successful coaches in New England or other parts of the world where they didn't have to deal with Louisiana heat which made it very difficult to follow their training to a T. I have tinkered with different training methods and have come up with a solid fall training guide for runners to adhere to. Here are a couple sample schedules to give you an idea of how to keep your athletes ready to go. Once again, these are all plans that I have actually used, and with a degree of success, either coaching adult individuals or at the respective schools I have coached at.
Early Season/Base:
Monday- Long intervals. Some teams do mile repeats this day. I find mile repeats are difficult to do in the heat, so I've done 3-4x2-3 minutes at race pace with a standing recovery (until the weather changes)
Tuesday- Easy jogging and strides.
Wednesday- Tempo run day. Depending on athlete, 2-3 miles at 3 mile race pace plus 20-30 seconds per mile.
Thursday- Easy day. Focus on stretching, recovery, and prepping for the weekend race (if there is one)
Friday- Pre-Meet or speed day. Easy jogging plus strides. Keep the strides relaxed, don't race them.
Saturday- Off or early season competition for advanced runners.
Sunday- Off or easy jog.
One thing you'll notice is that there is no long run in this training. Many coaches will disagree, but I find a long run in the summer in LA might mean the next two days of training will be difficult to achieve any quality, so if you plan on doing a long run, do it on a day that you can recover the following day by either taking off or doing some easy training. For those worried about mileage, you'd be surprised that some of the countries best teams, including some that qualified for NXN, only ran 30 mpw for the majority of the year.
Mid-Late Season:
Monday- Medium intervals. The weather should be changing and this is a perfect time to do a fartlek style interval session. Increase the number while decreasing the pace (should be working on goal race pace for the championship meets). A sample workout would be 6x500 @ goal race pace with a 100m very easy jog recovery or 8-10x300 with a very easy 100m jog recovery.
Tuesday- Easy jogging, same as before.
Wednesday- Tempo run day. The athletes should move towards all completing 3 miles instead of 2, and pace should be around 20 seconds per mile slower than race pace.
Thursday- Easy day, same as before
Friday- Pre-Meet, same as before.
Saturday- Cross Country Meet
Sunday- Off
The goal of this part of the season is to use the two workouts and the race to hone in on sound racing tactics and gain a sense of race pace.
The Peak:
Monday- Short intervals. 200s, 300s, and 400s. These are run faster than race pace with a short recovery. An 18 minute 3 miler might run 8x400 in 1:25 with 35-45 seconds standing recovery.
Tuesday- Same as before, more focus on the recovery and checking to make sure legs are feeling fresh.
Wednesday- Tempo runs are dropped in favor of a harder effort. Think 3x4 minutes at race pace with either 3 minutes standing recovery or 4 minutes jogging recovery or a time trial.
Thursday- Same as before.
Friday- Pre-Meet
Saturday- Late Season Meet
Sunday- Off
The peak should be timed right and should have a continuation of intensity up until the last week. Give yourself 3 weeks at least, 4 weeks at most for the peaking process to work under a training schedule like this. Don't abandon all workouts the week before the big meets though. Do your last good workout about 3-4 days before your final competition.
For the top athletes, a training program like this can hit around 40 miles a week during the early season period which is optimal for most high school athletes. It can be tweaked and beginner runners can run as low as 15-20 miles a week while they gain fitness. Once again, not all coaches will agree with a training schedule like this, but I encourage coaches to try it out and see for themselves how effective a simple program such as this can be.
Chaz Caiado is the distance coach at John Curtis Christian School and was an All-State Cross Country runner at Archbishop Shaw high school. You can reach him at ccaiado@tulane.edu
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Is the Training Pyramid Optimal? Part 2
So we’ve discussed some forms of quality in the last post, but this post will have the meat of the subject in it. So I’ve claimed that the pyramid isn’t the most optimal design, so I’m going to discuss that, but first I want to get into the two best forms of quality that can take an athletes training to the next level. Some may be accustomed to these ideas but it may be new to others. Threshold/tempo training and interval training are the two methods that, if you haven’t incorporated them already, will enhance performance more than any other training options.
Well take a look at tempo training first. Tempo training goes by many names and some people may call it anaerobic threshold training, lactate threshold, etc. Basically what a tempo workout involves is exercising for a predetermined amount of time or distance at a relatively high intensity but not a maximal one. A common tempo workout is 20 minutes of exercise at a pace that would roughly be a maximal performance for 45 to 60 minutes. Marathoners often do a run leading up to their race which would look something like 10 miles at an easy clip and then 10 miles at goal marathon pace. This is another form of tempo training, but there is no specific time, distance, etc for a tempo workout. It is basically just a high intensity effort but one that can be completed well within the athlete’s ability. This will help the body will learn how to more efficiently get rid of the unwanted metabolic waste that accumulates in your body during intense exercise. The importance of tempo training cannot be undervalued.
The other form of training we will discuss is intervals. Intervals are segments of higher intensity training followed by a recovery period. Intervals can be done in many forms. Fartleks, are a form of interval training that involves various lengths and intensities and can be structured or unstructured. Tabata intervals are good for people who are extremely pressed for time. These will mostly help those athletes who are involved in disciplines that require a short to medium length bout of high intensity effort such as a half miler or miler in track.
The type of interval I want to go a little more in-depth with is more focused on the speed endurance athlete whose competition will last from at least 2 minutes but no longer than around 20 minutes. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible for the majority of ones training to consist of quality aerobic training without brutalizing the body and the central nervous system. Many people will say this is impossible but that is because they have a vision of intervals being the "don’t stop till you drop, keep on trucking till you die" type espoused by many high school coaches during conditioning for most sports. While it’s true they those are intervals, those are not the intervals I am talking about. Herman Verheul coached several athletes in the 70s and 80s that ran very competitive times and ran for many seasons with a training program that was completely based on intervals. Six days of the week some form of intervals were done. The difference between his methods and common American interval training methods was that his intervals were done at a pace that was easily repeated the next day if necessarily, essentially, a form of quality running that was not so taxing on the body that it was too difficult to run a strong effort the next day. The mileage these runners ran was far smaller than their competition yet they hung with, and sometimes beat them. I believe this is a testimony to the fact that higher volumes of quality can, and should, be done to achieve optimal performance. The reduced training load also offers the decreased likelihood of injury or over training fatigue. His athletes, following that plan, enjoyed success even at much farther distances than can be completed in 2 to 20 minutes as well. Like the tempo run, this type of training helps the body get accustomed to faster paces and does wonders for improved performance because of physiological factors. This method can really be applied to almost any sport that requires speed and endurance to complete.
So now that I’ve discussed the various methods of quality work that can be done, now let me get back to my point about the pyramid and why it isn’t optimal. Shalane Flanagan, a top US distance runner, admits that she previously used to only do speedwork in specialized phases until she switched over to John Cook as her head coach (he has coached a world champion 1500 meter runner) and began to do speed training year round. Instead I recommend one giant macrocycle in which you continuously rotate between microcycles which in themselves are sub divisions within a mesocyle. Traditionally you have a base phase, a phase for forms of quality, and a competition phase with high quality and lost of recovery. These phases all looked completely different from each other and once you were out of one phase you wouldn’t enter back until the next season rolled around which could be 3-12 months. What we find in the macrocycle is somewhat similar but vastly more integrated. You will still have “general” phases which include the base, general quality, specific quality, and competition but they will all touch on some facet of training that you normal wouldn’t find in an antiquated, unoriginal training plan most coaches dole out.
So how do I get quality work, integrate the training, and remain successful and healthy? Well first, the focuses of each phase will remain the same as would a traditional training plan. Base is for general fitness and will include the slowest (just a relative term) running and highest volume of training. General training will move into a phase that focuses on volume of quality with a little less focus on pace than the next phase, specific quality. That phase will focus on the threshold one wishes to perform at for their final competition. The final phase is obviously for competition. One must remember that the quality has to be within ones own abilities. Too much stress and over training will wear down the central nervous system and actually cause deterioration of fitness. Although, even high volumes of training can be completed with a large focus on quality with no injuries and mental burnout when completed properly. Much rationality must be used in training and a general rule is if it feels too hard, it is.
I hope this has given you a better idea for training year round and preparing to compete at a high level, as well as set personal records along the way.
Well take a look at tempo training first. Tempo training goes by many names and some people may call it anaerobic threshold training, lactate threshold, etc. Basically what a tempo workout involves is exercising for a predetermined amount of time or distance at a relatively high intensity but not a maximal one. A common tempo workout is 20 minutes of exercise at a pace that would roughly be a maximal performance for 45 to 60 minutes. Marathoners often do a run leading up to their race which would look something like 10 miles at an easy clip and then 10 miles at goal marathon pace. This is another form of tempo training, but there is no specific time, distance, etc for a tempo workout. It is basically just a high intensity effort but one that can be completed well within the athlete’s ability. This will help the body will learn how to more efficiently get rid of the unwanted metabolic waste that accumulates in your body during intense exercise. The importance of tempo training cannot be undervalued.
The other form of training we will discuss is intervals. Intervals are segments of higher intensity training followed by a recovery period. Intervals can be done in many forms. Fartleks, are a form of interval training that involves various lengths and intensities and can be structured or unstructured. Tabata intervals are good for people who are extremely pressed for time. These will mostly help those athletes who are involved in disciplines that require a short to medium length bout of high intensity effort such as a half miler or miler in track.
The type of interval I want to go a little more in-depth with is more focused on the speed endurance athlete whose competition will last from at least 2 minutes but no longer than around 20 minutes. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible for the majority of ones training to consist of quality aerobic training without brutalizing the body and the central nervous system. Many people will say this is impossible but that is because they have a vision of intervals being the "don’t stop till you drop, keep on trucking till you die" type espoused by many high school coaches during conditioning for most sports. While it’s true they those are intervals, those are not the intervals I am talking about. Herman Verheul coached several athletes in the 70s and 80s that ran very competitive times and ran for many seasons with a training program that was completely based on intervals. Six days of the week some form of intervals were done. The difference between his methods and common American interval training methods was that his intervals were done at a pace that was easily repeated the next day if necessarily, essentially, a form of quality running that was not so taxing on the body that it was too difficult to run a strong effort the next day. The mileage these runners ran was far smaller than their competition yet they hung with, and sometimes beat them. I believe this is a testimony to the fact that higher volumes of quality can, and should, be done to achieve optimal performance. The reduced training load also offers the decreased likelihood of injury or over training fatigue. His athletes, following that plan, enjoyed success even at much farther distances than can be completed in 2 to 20 minutes as well. Like the tempo run, this type of training helps the body get accustomed to faster paces and does wonders for improved performance because of physiological factors. This method can really be applied to almost any sport that requires speed and endurance to complete.
So now that I’ve discussed the various methods of quality work that can be done, now let me get back to my point about the pyramid and why it isn’t optimal. Shalane Flanagan, a top US distance runner, admits that she previously used to only do speedwork in specialized phases until she switched over to John Cook as her head coach (he has coached a world champion 1500 meter runner) and began to do speed training year round. Instead I recommend one giant macrocycle in which you continuously rotate between microcycles which in themselves are sub divisions within a mesocyle. Traditionally you have a base phase, a phase for forms of quality, and a competition phase with high quality and lost of recovery. These phases all looked completely different from each other and once you were out of one phase you wouldn’t enter back until the next season rolled around which could be 3-12 months. What we find in the macrocycle is somewhat similar but vastly more integrated. You will still have “general” phases which include the base, general quality, specific quality, and competition but they will all touch on some facet of training that you normal wouldn’t find in an antiquated, unoriginal training plan most coaches dole out.
So how do I get quality work, integrate the training, and remain successful and healthy? Well first, the focuses of each phase will remain the same as would a traditional training plan. Base is for general fitness and will include the slowest (just a relative term) running and highest volume of training. General training will move into a phase that focuses on volume of quality with a little less focus on pace than the next phase, specific quality. That phase will focus on the threshold one wishes to perform at for their final competition. The final phase is obviously for competition. One must remember that the quality has to be within ones own abilities. Too much stress and over training will wear down the central nervous system and actually cause deterioration of fitness. Although, even high volumes of training can be completed with a large focus on quality with no injuries and mental burnout when completed properly. Much rationality must be used in training and a general rule is if it feels too hard, it is.
I hope this has given you a better idea for training year round and preparing to compete at a high level, as well as set personal records along the way.
Is the Training Pyramid Optimal? Part 1
Almost all athletes are accustomed to the idea of periodization, especially those who find endurance sports to be their passion. The meticulous taper that these athletes follow is such an integral part of the process that it almost seems nonsensical to press the notion that the traditional pyramid training may not be the most optimal design. What on earth am I talking about? Well, I’m advocating year round quality phases. Yes, a total disruption of the traditional training mold. Now don’t get this confused with "don’t stop till you drop" repeats that have people heaving and wheezing like the end is nigh. I believe there are a lot of confused athletes and coaches out there who believe a base phase can’t have a lick of anything quicker than a jog and if you are going to go to the track you have to leave there in agony. Instead of a large, easy base period there should be an adequate amount of quality work mixed in.
Pickups, strides, etc., are forms of quality work that easily be done year round to supplement any easy distance training, or even other forms of quality, without taking much out on the legs. These are best done on an open grass field and should last 50-100 meters long. Some coaches prefer to put their athletes through plyometric training during base, or even year round to focus on power and proprioception. Although, due to the dynamic nature of plyometrics I find depending on the training age of the group the reward is less than the risk but that is something that the athlete or the coach needs to find out for themselves. It is noted that Clyde Hart, coach of the two fastest 400 meter runners of all time in Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner, was wary of plyometrics as well and used them sparingly.
The next form of quality that should be used year round is the hill workout. Hill sprints are a popular form of training for body builders because of the workout it offers, plus the excessive post exercise oxygen consumption of hill sprints is thought to elicit a higher caloric expenditure and higher fat loss percentages than light or moderate aerobic exercise. This would come in handy for those who seek to shed a few extra pounds or are looking for a challenging but different style of training. But why would this factor into a training regimen that traditionally is periodized like a runner or triathletes schedule? Well for one, the strength gains alone are a reason to add this training in year round, especially prior to intense anaerobic training that is traditionally seen towards the end of a training cycle because these workouts will decrease the likeliness you become injured. Added flexibility in the hips, ankles, etc., are a factor that contributes as well. Highly praised former track and field coach from New Zealand, Arthur Lydiard, described a complete phase where hill running should be done to increase speed, strength, and coordination. It has been long known to offer a great workout for athletes.
Resistance training is a hotly contested option for training that may or may not offer improvement, but I believe that resistance training can be of high importance to maintaining a healthy, well-balanced body that can withstand the pounding that it takes to complete an intense sporting event. A study back in 1993 that is often cited claims that not only is resistance training futile for endurance athletes, it can actually have a negative affect. But this article by the National Strength and Conditioning Association claims the opposite. I believe an athlete in any sport will do well to incorporate a proper resistance training program into their training, and this should be done year round. While I believe that resistance training can be done year round, it is important to taper this towards phases of high intensity training such as the anaerobic phase of a traditional training cycle due to the immense amount of effort an athlete is using. It is not necessary for the athlete to use resistance training within two weeks of a peak competition as well. Furthermore, resistance training is traditionally done within the confines of a gym and offers some respite from the external training conditions.
And finally, in the south we have high humidity in the summers. Quantity, especially in this weather, is highly stressful to the body. For athletes to maintain the same training regimen in the south as those in more temperate climates it would require much more preparation, caution, and most importantly, rest. The necessity to train, and at a certain level, will not change for someone hoping to achieve a specific goal so adequate stimulus must still be met, but if we look at of our workouts we may find a way to curb the amount of time spent in the heat while still getting the training we need. This could come in the form of the three ways we have described or could come in the form of tempo workouts, a topic we will discuss next, as well the idea of macrocycles, mesocycles, and microcycles instead of a singular pyramid to develop a better overall regime.
Pickups, strides, etc., are forms of quality work that easily be done year round to supplement any easy distance training, or even other forms of quality, without taking much out on the legs. These are best done on an open grass field and should last 50-100 meters long. Some coaches prefer to put their athletes through plyometric training during base, or even year round to focus on power and proprioception. Although, due to the dynamic nature of plyometrics I find depending on the training age of the group the reward is less than the risk but that is something that the athlete or the coach needs to find out for themselves. It is noted that Clyde Hart, coach of the two fastest 400 meter runners of all time in Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner, was wary of plyometrics as well and used them sparingly.
The next form of quality that should be used year round is the hill workout. Hill sprints are a popular form of training for body builders because of the workout it offers, plus the excessive post exercise oxygen consumption of hill sprints is thought to elicit a higher caloric expenditure and higher fat loss percentages than light or moderate aerobic exercise. This would come in handy for those who seek to shed a few extra pounds or are looking for a challenging but different style of training. But why would this factor into a training regimen that traditionally is periodized like a runner or triathletes schedule? Well for one, the strength gains alone are a reason to add this training in year round, especially prior to intense anaerobic training that is traditionally seen towards the end of a training cycle because these workouts will decrease the likeliness you become injured. Added flexibility in the hips, ankles, etc., are a factor that contributes as well. Highly praised former track and field coach from New Zealand, Arthur Lydiard, described a complete phase where hill running should be done to increase speed, strength, and coordination. It has been long known to offer a great workout for athletes.
Resistance training is a hotly contested option for training that may or may not offer improvement, but I believe that resistance training can be of high importance to maintaining a healthy, well-balanced body that can withstand the pounding that it takes to complete an intense sporting event. A study back in 1993 that is often cited claims that not only is resistance training futile for endurance athletes, it can actually have a negative affect. But this article by the National Strength and Conditioning Association claims the opposite. I believe an athlete in any sport will do well to incorporate a proper resistance training program into their training, and this should be done year round. While I believe that resistance training can be done year round, it is important to taper this towards phases of high intensity training such as the anaerobic phase of a traditional training cycle due to the immense amount of effort an athlete is using. It is not necessary for the athlete to use resistance training within two weeks of a peak competition as well. Furthermore, resistance training is traditionally done within the confines of a gym and offers some respite from the external training conditions.
And finally, in the south we have high humidity in the summers. Quantity, especially in this weather, is highly stressful to the body. For athletes to maintain the same training regimen in the south as those in more temperate climates it would require much more preparation, caution, and most importantly, rest. The necessity to train, and at a certain level, will not change for someone hoping to achieve a specific goal so adequate stimulus must still be met, but if we look at of our workouts we may find a way to curb the amount of time spent in the heat while still getting the training we need. This could come in the form of the three ways we have described or could come in the form of tempo workouts, a topic we will discuss next, as well the idea of macrocycles, mesocycles, and microcycles instead of a singular pyramid to develop a better overall regime.
Appropriate Training
This post arises from the growing trend that I see from athletes in all types of sports in all age ranges. There are plenty of athletes who choose to follow rigorous training programs, many a mirror of programs that top athletes in their sport follow. These programs are usually highly advanced and require a lot of skill/talent, a lot of desire, and a large background in the sport. There are several reasons why that specific athlete has arisen to the top of their sport and can follow certain routines. One should not simply try to imitate such training.
Now let me get this out the way before I am accused of catering to the crowd who wants to be told they can get fit off of minimal training, etc. I am not advocating any sort of minimalistic training here. What I am advocating is appropriate training. Run, workout, swim, bike, etc., as much as you need to reach the goals you set, but no more. We need to realize that our bodies are made differently than those who are winning the competitions on the national and international level and if we want to reach our potential we need to train for what our own bodies need.
Very few people are would be able to recreate Casey Viator’s training, and just as few could probably recreate the mega mileage ultra-marathon runner Anton Krupicka does, or even swim the 50 miles a week Michael Phelps did before the Beijing Olympics. So does that mean we have to live in futility because we cannot recreate the training the elites do? In no way. But what it does mean is that these are the elite of the elite in their respective fields, being world-class by their early 20s if not earlier. Krupicka ran a marathon at age 12. Sometimes people have extraordinary genetics that allow them to train harder, faster, and tougher than the average person. Once again this doesn’t solidify their place atop the podium, but it offers them advantages that you cannot simply gain from training. So what do we do? We continue to train and focus on doing the best we can with the athlete and the parameters of their ability. Finding the proper training threshold is of utmost importance to taking each individual athlete to their highest performance capability.
So how little is too little and how much is too much? The only way you will know is by pushing the envelope and seeing what you body can handle. This should be done systematically, and never all at once. Increasing any combination of duration, intensity, and frequency at the same time can be a recipe for injury. Gradually push yourself until you find your “sweet spot” for training. Some people prefer to have long workouts or runs with low intensity, and these can be done fairly often. Others may find that they prefer to go hard for a short amount of time, but this isn’t recommended to be done everyday. The central nervous system needs time to recover from hard workouts too.
The last part we will discuss in this segment is properly utilizing the idea of the FIT principle. FIT stands for frequency, intensity, and time (duration). Like we mentioned before, for low intensity exercises you may be able to do them often (frequency) and for extended sessions (time). But a high intensity exercise can only be done a few times a week (frequency), although time can vary depending on the extent of the intensity exercise. Maximal efforts can rarely be done more than once every few days, if not a week or longer depending on the event. FIT is a good rule of thumb to help balance a training plan and make sure proper rest and recovery is incorporated into the plan, a component just as vital as the training itself.
All in all, everyone has their own recipe for success. Top athletes can be looked to as guides for good training habits and general training ideas, but each and every athlete is different and must find their own personal plan to achieve optimal success.
Now let me get this out the way before I am accused of catering to the crowd who wants to be told they can get fit off of minimal training, etc. I am not advocating any sort of minimalistic training here. What I am advocating is appropriate training. Run, workout, swim, bike, etc., as much as you need to reach the goals you set, but no more. We need to realize that our bodies are made differently than those who are winning the competitions on the national and international level and if we want to reach our potential we need to train for what our own bodies need.
Very few people are would be able to recreate Casey Viator’s training, and just as few could probably recreate the mega mileage ultra-marathon runner Anton Krupicka does, or even swim the 50 miles a week Michael Phelps did before the Beijing Olympics. So does that mean we have to live in futility because we cannot recreate the training the elites do? In no way. But what it does mean is that these are the elite of the elite in their respective fields, being world-class by their early 20s if not earlier. Krupicka ran a marathon at age 12. Sometimes people have extraordinary genetics that allow them to train harder, faster, and tougher than the average person. Once again this doesn’t solidify their place atop the podium, but it offers them advantages that you cannot simply gain from training. So what do we do? We continue to train and focus on doing the best we can with the athlete and the parameters of their ability. Finding the proper training threshold is of utmost importance to taking each individual athlete to their highest performance capability.
So how little is too little and how much is too much? The only way you will know is by pushing the envelope and seeing what you body can handle. This should be done systematically, and never all at once. Increasing any combination of duration, intensity, and frequency at the same time can be a recipe for injury. Gradually push yourself until you find your “sweet spot” for training. Some people prefer to have long workouts or runs with low intensity, and these can be done fairly often. Others may find that they prefer to go hard for a short amount of time, but this isn’t recommended to be done everyday. The central nervous system needs time to recover from hard workouts too.
The last part we will discuss in this segment is properly utilizing the idea of the FIT principle. FIT stands for frequency, intensity, and time (duration). Like we mentioned before, for low intensity exercises you may be able to do them often (frequency) and for extended sessions (time). But a high intensity exercise can only be done a few times a week (frequency), although time can vary depending on the extent of the intensity exercise. Maximal efforts can rarely be done more than once every few days, if not a week or longer depending on the event. FIT is a good rule of thumb to help balance a training plan and make sure proper rest and recovery is incorporated into the plan, a component just as vital as the training itself.
All in all, everyone has their own recipe for success. Top athletes can be looked to as guides for good training habits and general training ideas, but each and every athlete is different and must find their own personal plan to achieve optimal success.
Coaches, Trainers and Mentors
Support is a huge component of being an athlete and improving your performance. From professional athletes to middle school athletes, coaches and mentors are huge ingredient in success. Whether it be a casual relationship such as asking questions on a forum or a very personal, day-to-day relationship where the athlete and the coach interact, each provides guidance and a source of information and encouragement. Other peer sources would include training groups/teams and workout partners. Both are highly recommended.
For runners, swimmers, cyclists, triathletes, etc., there are usually training groups in every major city that you can meet up with to do workouts. Most will embrace new members with open arms. Some require a small fee to join, but many are free. These groups may or may not be organized by coaches and may just be open rides/runs. Determine if the atmosphere is conducive to your abilities and if there is the type of support you require/need. If you cannot find what you need, there are usually private trainers and coaches that are willing to train you for a fee. There are also personal trainers at almost every gym you could want to train at, so seeking out personal trainers at your local gym may be a good starting point if you aren’t sure what direction you want to take your training in.
What should you look for in a coach? First you should look for someone who has some sort of background in the sport or field you are trying to get into or advance yourself in. Certifications are good, and usually show that the person has at least general knowledge on what they coach, but don’t always use that to be your deciding factor. Some certified coaches may not be the best at developing a good periodized training program, or may not be willing to push their athletes as far as they would like due to fear of liability. Be sure to be open with whomever you decide to coach you because trust is essential in developing a program that will actually work for you.
How much should it cost? This can be tricky. Are there some trainers/coaches out there that are making more than they are worth? Of course, but there should still be a wide availability of good, hardworking trainers who don’t cost an arm and a leg. Find trainers that are in your price range and figure out which one is best for you. Sometimes you can even negotiate prices with a trainer if the one you like is a little steep. You may also find that there are group discounts, etc., that you can take advantage of.
Whatever you do, make sure that you find a trainer/coach/group that suits what direction you want to go in. In any event, good luck!
Goal Setting
This is the first of a couple blog posts that I am reposting from an old blog I had a couple years ago. The material is still applicable and will help coaches and athletes alike. The first is on goal setting:
Goal setting is a simple concept that seems to escape everyone at some time or another. There are two main facets of a goal for training purposes. First, the obvious accomplishment that we are trying to achieve, but the other which is equally if not more important is maintaining focus during the lead up to the performance. The goal will help you remember what you are training for along the way and keep you motivated to continue to push harder. Without a goal you will find yourself without a clear focus, and possibly just plodding along with your workouts.
Now comes the part of determining what a good goal should be. If you are new to sport you probably shouldn’t set a goal of running a sub 4 minute mile or bench pressing 300 lbs. Often times, even for seasoned athletes, goals are set impossibly high and will only set them up for disappointment. By the same token, sometimes goals are set too soft and are easily broken well before the planned peak period. While this is not necessarily a problem, if you realize that a goal will be broken on the short-term, you should set up multiple goals that can be achieved in sequence to help keep you motivated and on track.
A good way to set a goal for a seasoned athlete is to look back on their training (I highly suggest training logs be kept for multiple reasons) and determine if they are willing to put in the amount of work required to achieve that same training stimulus plus more. If it seems plausible, then one could set a goal of perhaps a 3-10% performance gain from the last peak period. Remember, the goal should be difficult enough that you have to work hard to achieve it, but reasonable enough that you can do it within the given timeframe. For runners this may mean taking your 5 kilometer time from 17:30 to 16:55 or for a lifter to get their one repetition maximum up from 250 to 260 for the bench press. As long as the goal is something you know you can achieve it is a good goal. Now when it comes to older age groups, a perceived increased training stimulus may be to maintain the status quo of their training, or even attempt to decelerate the decline of the performance due to age.
A good way for a beginner athlete to set a goal is to complete an event, or reach a certain threshold in their training. This may be to finish a sprint triathlon or be able to do a certain amount of push ups. A good rule of thumb for beginners is to not use any preconceived notions of what you can or cannot accomplish. It is very easy to get discouraged by looking at the performances of athletes who have been training for years. Understand that you can achieve great results by maintaining consistency in your workouts and to keep reminding yourself of the goal you have set.
Goals will come and go. You will achieve some, and other times you won’t. This is where you must adapt and determine if you training program was too easy, too hard, etc. And if you get bored in one arena, try spicing up your training with new exercises you hadn’t used before and set goals for those as well. Happy training!
Goal setting is a simple concept that seems to escape everyone at some time or another. There are two main facets of a goal for training purposes. First, the obvious accomplishment that we are trying to achieve, but the other which is equally if not more important is maintaining focus during the lead up to the performance. The goal will help you remember what you are training for along the way and keep you motivated to continue to push harder. Without a goal you will find yourself without a clear focus, and possibly just plodding along with your workouts.
Now comes the part of determining what a good goal should be. If you are new to sport you probably shouldn’t set a goal of running a sub 4 minute mile or bench pressing 300 lbs. Often times, even for seasoned athletes, goals are set impossibly high and will only set them up for disappointment. By the same token, sometimes goals are set too soft and are easily broken well before the planned peak period. While this is not necessarily a problem, if you realize that a goal will be broken on the short-term, you should set up multiple goals that can be achieved in sequence to help keep you motivated and on track.
A good way to set a goal for a seasoned athlete is to look back on their training (I highly suggest training logs be kept for multiple reasons) and determine if they are willing to put in the amount of work required to achieve that same training stimulus plus more. If it seems plausible, then one could set a goal of perhaps a 3-10% performance gain from the last peak period. Remember, the goal should be difficult enough that you have to work hard to achieve it, but reasonable enough that you can do it within the given timeframe. For runners this may mean taking your 5 kilometer time from 17:30 to 16:55 or for a lifter to get their one repetition maximum up from 250 to 260 for the bench press. As long as the goal is something you know you can achieve it is a good goal. Now when it comes to older age groups, a perceived increased training stimulus may be to maintain the status quo of their training, or even attempt to decelerate the decline of the performance due to age.
A good way for a beginner athlete to set a goal is to complete an event, or reach a certain threshold in their training. This may be to finish a sprint triathlon or be able to do a certain amount of push ups. A good rule of thumb for beginners is to not use any preconceived notions of what you can or cannot accomplish. It is very easy to get discouraged by looking at the performances of athletes who have been training for years. Understand that you can achieve great results by maintaining consistency in your workouts and to keep reminding yourself of the goal you have set.
Goals will come and go. You will achieve some, and other times you won’t. This is where you must adapt and determine if you training program was too easy, too hard, etc. And if you get bored in one arena, try spicing up your training with new exercises you hadn’t used before and set goals for those as well. Happy training!
Keeping in Touch
In addition to giving you guys anecdotal coaching advice, I also want to let you guys in on some of my random thoughts on twitter, as well as my youtube channel to see some of our training and meet some of our athletes. Follow me on Twitter and on Youtube and as always you can email me at vpprotraining@gmail.com.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Getting a College Education
One of my goals as a coach is to have all my athletes prepared for college life when they leave high school. The main concern is having everything paid for so at least once a week I remind the kids to keep focused on their grades, stay working hard, and hopefully if they can't be offered any sort of athletic scholarship to pay for school, hopefully they will be able to go on a full academic scholarship.
At some point in every runners life they need to move on to a job and a large part of what that person is able to do depends on their education. Letting a kid know his options and ways to pay for college can be pivotal in his or her ability to attend.
Now not all of your athletes will take you seriously when you talk about hard work and dedication in the classroom. You won't be able to get every single kid you coach on the same page as you, but as long a you let them know the different ways they can go to school after they are done with you then you have done your job.
At some point in every runners life they need to move on to a job and a large part of what that person is able to do depends on their education. Letting a kid know his options and ways to pay for college can be pivotal in his or her ability to attend.
Now not all of your athletes will take you seriously when you talk about hard work and dedication in the classroom. You won't be able to get every single kid you coach on the same page as you, but as long a you let them know the different ways they can go to school after they are done with you then you have done your job.
Fun vs Coaching
Sometimes I have an athlete who tells me we should play more "conditioning games" at practice because it is fun, and training everyday for practice isn't. This presents an interesting question for coaches to ponder. Are we supposed to make running fun for our athletes, or should we focus on maximizing the training? Of course you want your athletes to have fun, but are you doing them a justice by taking away good training days in order to enjoy a pickup game, and what is the risk vs reward of injury?
I tend to shy away from games during the competitive season mainly because an injury could derail fitness, and no athlete who cares about their performance will be happier in the stands watching everyone else run. That is why, if we play games such as speed ball or ultimate, we play in the summer months. Furthermore, playing games in the competitive part of the year can send the wrong signal. If the sprinters and jumpers see the distance runners playing games at practice, they may assume the distance squad is less concerned with team goals and may be more of a distraction.
You want your team to have fun, no doubt, but at the same time you must maintain the legitimacy of your sport. You want athletes joining your team because they want to compete and learn how to work towards a group goal, not because they can have social hour during practice. If other sports see that while they are practicing, your team is playing games, they won't view your sport on the same level as theirs.
You need to figure out what you can do to create a fun atmosphere during the season that won't be a distraction from training such as evening socials or workouts that involve an incentive. It all depends on the culture and atmosphere from the team. You want your kids to be happy, but you shouldn't have to sacrifice training and the health of your athletes for that purpose.
I tend to shy away from games during the competitive season mainly because an injury could derail fitness, and no athlete who cares about their performance will be happier in the stands watching everyone else run. That is why, if we play games such as speed ball or ultimate, we play in the summer months. Furthermore, playing games in the competitive part of the year can send the wrong signal. If the sprinters and jumpers see the distance runners playing games at practice, they may assume the distance squad is less concerned with team goals and may be more of a distraction.
You want your team to have fun, no doubt, but at the same time you must maintain the legitimacy of your sport. You want athletes joining your team because they want to compete and learn how to work towards a group goal, not because they can have social hour during practice. If other sports see that while they are practicing, your team is playing games, they won't view your sport on the same level as theirs.
You need to figure out what you can do to create a fun atmosphere during the season that won't be a distraction from training such as evening socials or workouts that involve an incentive. It all depends on the culture and atmosphere from the team. You want your kids to be happy, but you shouldn't have to sacrifice training and the health of your athletes for that purpose.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)