To Long Run Or Not To Long Run?

It's miserably hot outside.  The heat is "oppressive."  It's just another day in the gulf south.  All the literature you read about running says you have to have a long run each week which totals twenty percent of your mileage.  That's awesome and all, but the odds that you can do this week in and week out, especially as you approach higher training volumes, is pretty slim in this weather.  To be fair, I don't even have my (high school) athletes do long runs.  A coach once told me that his runner did a twenty miler in the summer lead up to cross country.  That kid probably would have run a great marathon under that training, but his race was 17 miles shorter.

Even general training is specific.  What I mean is, do football players go cycling during their general prep phase?  Do basketball players work on the fundamentals of their tennis serve?  No.  Even running is not all created equal.  Doing 20 milers are about teaching the body to deal with fat metabolism and glycogen sparing.  You will never run out of glycogen in a 3 mile race just off of a normal diet, much less an endurance athlete specific diet.  So doing long runs in the summer before your cross country season might be a little less specific than you realize.  Couple that with the heat which makes doing any running over 45-60 minutes a chore and you have good reason to skip the long runs altogether.

Your best bet is to get a few more runs or tempo workouts that have medium volume ranges, be consistent with them, and if you really want to add more volume, throw in some doubles.  Do a couple 60+ minute runs if you are looking for some mental toughness training, but only once or twice at most because for the most part high school athletes don't need to do long runs during the summer months.

Five Questions for Fall 2013

Halfway through the summer months, and unless you are running summer track races, time can be slow and boring.  Speculation about the fall cross country campaign and talk about the what-ifs can fill our mind, so here is a list of the top 5 questions on the minds of fans across the state.

5) Will this be one of the fastest years in LA history?  While stories of sub 15s and teams who averaged mid to low 15s abound from the old guard, it is hard to verify results, but one only needs to look and see that LA returns 22 runners at 16:08 or better and have 8 runners who have bested 9:45 that will be running the courses around Louisiana this fall.  Could this be a multiple sub 15 year?  

4) Will this be one the last years that public and private schools compete against each other in Louisiana?  Despite the LHSAA calling the issue Select vs Non-Select, this is a public vs. private battle.  In their infinite wisdom, the LHSAA had decided to divide the publics and privates into separate playoff brackets for football (the 5A private school bracket has only 10 teams in the whole division.  You can lose every game and still make the playoffs) which is actually one of the most competitive sports of public schools.  Actually, outside of the small schools (1A-3A), public schools win more often in football than the private schools.  It is the Olympic sports that the private schools dominate.  Last year, public schools won only 2 of the 10 cross country state championships from 1A and up.  In the era of "everybody gets a trophy", one can only imagine that the precedent has been set to exclude private schools from public schools that the future of the format we currently compete under is in jeopardy.

3) Will Louisiana have any national class cross country runners?  Zachary Albright of SPS has clocked at 9:14 but also has the speed to run a 1:55.  We know his prowess on the track as evidenced by a pair of Emerging Elite All-American honors he accrued this past season but his cross country season was less prominent, yielding just a third place at state meet.  If Albright looks to qualify for any major national competitions for cross he needs to build off the strength of his track season and look to run well under 15 minutes for the three mile this fall.  On the girls side, the three girls who have a shot at making a splash would be Mia Meydrich of Dominican, Allison Ringle of Parkway, and Gabrielle Jennings of First Baptist.   Jennings left the track season with best marks, clocking a 5:05 mile with Meydrich hitting a 5:07 in the 1600.  Both girls finished the track season strong and healthy and hopefully it will lead to a strong fall as well.  Ringle, who ran well but not on the same level as the other girls in track, could be strongest in cross country though, where she the highest returner in 5A, having bested Meydrich for second at the state meet in cross in 2012.

2) Can EHS boys team win their 18th in a row this year?  Incredibly one of the longest winning streaks in the country has a great chance to continue, although there is some serious competition this year.  Even with the departure of ace runner Christian Johnson and a couple others, EHS is loaded and will be ready to tackle challengers from STA.  The Falcons only lose one runner from last years 3rd place squad and will be laden with seniors hungry for their first state championship.  Will the maturity of the EHS runners prevail or with STA finally break the streak?

1) Can St. Paul's win 5A this year?  Okay, so this isn't much of a question since SPS is widely considered the top program in the state by a wide margin, but SPS has entered the state championship the last two years as the favorites.  Two years ago they struggled with the temperature in the race and were hit hard by dehydration, then last year West Monroe had the race of their lives to knock off SPS who actually had a fine meet themselves.  This year the team returns a whole top 5 who has run 4:42 or better and a handful of runners who are 10 flat talents or better.  The senior duo of Zachary Albright and DC Lipani should be ready to lead the team.  The only team that looks to offer any depth remotely competitive to SPS would be the perennial powerhouse Catholic High who will lack star power going into this year (although, I fully believe that they will have some athletes rise to the challenge as usual).  West Monroe could obviously surprise and be a very good team but the exit of half their varsity squad will make a repeat run very difficult.

Chaz Caiado is a contributor to Louisiana Running, a Milesplit Affiliate, and this article can also be found here.

You Don't Need A Coach (If)...

Wouldn't it be great if we could all go to some of the national coaching conferences and get advanced coaching certifications like the USTFCCCA has?  Or if we had the time to peruse the many voluminous works some of the worlds top coaching minds have written?  Of course it would be, and if you could then you would be able to coach yourself because you would be up with the top science and literature in the coaching field.  

Furthermore, if you are highly disciplined and can get out the door for a run every day, plus be able to handle the proper workout paces and distances for your workouts, then you are probably well on your way to being a great self coached athlete.  Then also, if you had access to training equipment and gear and could keep track of meets and races to sign yourself up for, you'd be very self sufficient and definitely would not need to spend time having someone else help you.  

Now let's get back to reality. The person I described above certainly is an adult, not a school aged athlete, and even as an adult they are few and far between.  For the 99% of athletes out there, if they want to succeed, they need someone to guide them.  They don't have time to do their normal daily activities plus gain the necessary knowledge to coach themselves to the highest level.  They need someone to be accountable to.  Someone who will challenge them in different ways every day.  They need direction.

Whether it be joining a local club, joining the school team, or just finding a training group that has organized goals is important.  Getting with people, or a coach, who has good knowledge of the sport and can offer direction and guidance is really the difference maker for the success of most athletes.  

Now if you can't find a local group that has the same goals as you, or can't find local coaches to meet with, there is still hope.  The great thing about today's day and age is that not only can you use the internet to find coaches, you can even use the internet to be coached!  It's crazy, I know, but online coaching is trending upwards and is probably much safer than online dating.  There are many online coaches, including myself, who have put together successful training programs for athletes of various ages and experience levels.  Look for what each coach can offer, their pricing, and how much you believe they can help you, and never be afraid to ask them questions to be sure you are getting exactly what you need!

Are you maximizing your training with a coach?

Dog Days of Summer

Alright, so it's the middle of the summer.  It's hot.  The training is boring.  It seems like meets of importance are either weeks or months away, and the only thing that you care about are the new blockbuster hits on the big screen or an upcoming concert.  As an athlete, or a coach, you aren't alone.  Sometimes we can feel like we are just going through the motions, especially on recovery days, just trying to get to the Junior Olympics or to the start of the cross season.  Well here is a list of things you can do that can help break up the monotony of the summer months:

1) Take a team trip, or have a fun day with the team.  My team both has a late summer team camp at a state park, two team bbq's, and also we will have days where the team meets just to have lunch or hang out (well, we do talk about goals when we hang out!).  These days help give the kids something different from the average day-to-day grind, especially if you are a coach who doesn't have your kids race over the summer.

2) Do time trials!  Pick a distance.  It may be your distance for cross country, a distance you don't often run during the season, or just some random distance.  It doesn't matter.  But doing time trials are a way to check your fitness and monitor progress.  You can even do time trials of the same distance several times over the summer to see if the training you have done between efforts has benefitted the fitness of your team.

3) Play a conditioning game. One of my favorites is speedball which is basically ultimate frisbee but with a tennis ball instead.  I don't often play these with the kids (practice is for practicing and athletes should come with that understanding, not always looking to play games), but once or twice a season will give them some fun and will brighten the morale of the team.

These are just a few ideas, but whatever you do, you want to remember that these are still young athletes and first and foremost is the training.  That being said, sometimes to keep them looking forward to a long stretch of training you may have to mix in some other variants in the daily routine.

Summer can be fun if you put some thought into it.

Why Doug Logan Is Wrong

If you read the recent article by Doug Logan, former USATF CEO, on Speed Endurance and you feel like you are taking crazy pills, you are not alone.  Logan, who raised money well but was otherwise pretty unmemorable in two years at USATF, recently stated that he should give up the hunt for those who take PEDs (performance enhancing drugs).  Perhaps, because Logan has history with other sports as well as track, has forgotten than track and field is a sport that is based SOLELY on what one can do using only the human body that God has given us.  You can't call trick plays, you can't save time outs, you can't sub athletes out when they get tired.  This is a sport that is only about what one can do under normal circumstances, and one where the hardest workers can still come out on top.

Sorry Mr. Logan, but you have lost your credibility.  You spent your two years trying to "clean" up the sport, and now you are saying the sport should become flat out dirty?  I, as well as other coaches I have talked to, would rather walk away from the sport altogether and keep our dignity than be involved in mockery of the oldest sport in the world.  Do you want to clean up track and field?  Get rid of contracts, prize money, etc., except to cover the cost of travel and lodging for competitions.  Athletes who only want to be in the sport for the wrong reasons or who would spend large amounts of money to dope would no longer care to stick around.  Athletics may be the last vestige of this world where people who work the hardest rise to the top and there is a strong connection between the strength of the mind and the strength of the body.  If we give up on the preciousness of that relationship, and the appreciation of the finite resources of the human body, then we have given up on the last piece of our human heritage that hasn't already been taken away from us by modernity.

Do we want a bunch of Marion Jones's running around?

Interview with Olympic Coach Lyle Knudson

Our next interview comes from a great, but as of recent years less recognized coach who is one of the best international coaches to have come through the sport.  His name is Lyle Knudson and his expertise and knowledge of track and field rivals the best in the world.  During his career he has coached at the youth, high school, college (U of Colorado, Colorado State, Utah State, U of Florida), and international (11 U.S. teams) levels.  Coached 40+ internationalists, including 7 Olympians.   He is or was also a HS/CC math/computer teacher, college biomechanics professor, corporate researcher, and operated his own applied tech business.

Chaz Caiado:  Coach Knudson, you are a private coach for athletes across the country and have enjoyed a high degree of success.  How do you correspond with them, and how to remedy the fact that you don't get to physically see your athletes often, if ever?

Lyle Knudson: Keep in mind that despite a career where I previously coached athletes in all track & field events, because I now coach only by remote, I coach only distance runners (and a few triathletes).  The responses will reflect that.  Before I agree to coach an athlete or family/team, I insist on meeting and discussing the training program in person, if possible.   Then I prepare and send workouts biweekly as attachments by email, and communicate by email, phone, and/or in person as needed.  I attend their competitions when possible.

CC: What are the advantages and disadvantages of training with a private coach?

LK: See the following article published in IOWATFXC.COM on 1/24/12:  Advantages & Disadvantages of Private T&F/XC Coaching. (The following is the quoted article)

Definition, Private Coach -  coach not officially affiliated with a school.

Disadvantages of Private T&F/XC Coaches:
1.  Private coach may not have adequate science and teaching-coaching education & experience to 
properly organize and apply a valid training-competition program.
2.  If private training program is inferior to the HS program, will be detrimental to athlete and team 
development.
3.  If private coach is too zealous or egocentric, may result in overtraining and/or over-competing 
leading to cumulative fatigue and chronic injuries/illness. 
4.  If private coach does not work cooperatively with the HS T&F/XC program, can be disruptive to the HS program.

Advantages of Private T&F/XC Coaches:
1.   Private coach may have even a greater science, teaching-coaching education, and training, competition background in T&F/XC than the HS coach(es).
2.  Private coaches are usually willing to work with athlete(s) year-around to maximize development in T&F/XC, whereas HS coaches often aren’t.
3.  A quality private program may be focused on longer term development of involved athlete(s) 
rather than how many points scored for the team, therefore may spread training and competition over greater periods to avoid cumulative fatigue and injuries, and promote more consistent and longer term development.
4.  A quality private coach, working in cooperation with the HS T&F/XC coaches, may significantly  enhance the quality of HS training program and individual as well as team performances in  competitions.

CC:  What is the typical type of athlete who you take on to coach?

LK:  I don’t recruit athletes.  They find me via referrals or searches on the internet.  My only requirements for accepting athletes are -  they must be distance runners (I don’t attempt to coach technical event athletes by remote), want to be good, and are willing to do the training and competing necessary to be good.  I accept athletes at any age (currently have ages 8 to 55) and at any level of development.

CC:  What do you feel coaches can do to make themselves stronger in their coaching abilities?

LK:  Take a “research and development” approach.  Get as much information (e.g., background science, technical aspects, teaching methods) from as many valid and reliable resources as possible, assimilate that information into a program that makes sense using some individual creativity, and test out that program on athletes before adopting it as a long-term strategy.  Then keep repeating that over and over again year to year.  Learn only from other coaches who have a history of consistently improving their athletes.

CC:  You spent a few years developing your system of training which you feel is scientifically sound, can you explain a bit about what you feel the strengths of the program are?

LK:  Training specific to the demands of the event(s); i.e., in distance running, emphasizing a speed, speed endurance, and specific endurance (rather than aerobic endurance) based program.

CC: Your training is not very high volume, but involves a large amount of quality work.  Is there a physiological driving force that prepares an athlete best with the quality approach that does not appear in programs which emphasize distance and longer steady runs?

LK:  As verified by valid international physiological research, the primary adaptive mechanism in the body is neuromuscular rather than cardio-vascular.  In fact, the cardio-vascular limits the ability to stress (i.e., train) the neuromuscular, which in turn limits the adaptation.  Therefore, training shorter and faster (and/or with less resistance) allows the body to adapt to run faster; and of course, that’s the objective.  Training long and slow adapts the body to run longer and slower.

CC:  If you had to say there was single most important aspect of training for a distance runner, what would that aspect be?

LK:  Combine the two previous answers.


CC:  What, if anything, do you feel is the biggest limiting factor in the average distance runner that keeps them from being elite level?

LK:  Speed, speed endurance, and specific endurance.

CC:  When do you feel in an appropriate age to begin training using a formalized training program?

LK:  Any age.  More relevant is the training/competition background and development level.  In early stages, keep it very simple.  Then as the athlete learns to train-compete and develops, add in and increase the level of the training aspects.  I have experienced 12 year olds with fairly detailed and complex programs, and beginning older runners with very simple programs.

CC:  Do you feel recent success at the Olympics for the Americans is based on a shift in training philosophies from coaches across the country?

LK:  Yes, but with only a very few coaches and athletes.  Most coaches still cling to the approaches they used as athletes and/or have learned from other not very knowledgeable or successful coaches; which continue to be the aerobic-based pyramid training model going back to the late 1960’s.

CC:  How do you feel about the future viability of the US as an international distance power?

LK:  The potential certainly is there.  Our athletes and coaches are as motivated, dedicated, and work as hard as ever.  The numbers and talent is higher than ever.   If we can only get them to training correctly!!!

CC:  If there was one thing you would like to see US coaches do more of, what would that be?

LK:  Think for themselves, as opposed to doing whatever most everyone else has been doing for the last 40+ years.

CC:  Do you feel that the American school system is inferior or superior to the European club system of athletic development?

LK:  Each has it’s advantages; the schools to potentially provide the educational and social benefits for the majority of student-athletes, and private/club systems to potentially provide more concentrated training/competition benefits to the very interested and talented athletes.  I use the work “potentially” since the majority of American public high schools are not providing quality educational opportunities for kids, and too many private/club systems are operated to serve the operators more than the athletes. Of American student-athletes, approximately 95% are only in the sport for social reasons, and after their last workout or meet their senior year, they’ll not do another workout or competition again.  So the quality of their coach and program is not important; and in fact, a highly motivated and talented coach will likely be more criticized than cherished with those.  Another 4% will continue training and competing at a low to moderate level beyond, requiring at least a decent training/competition program to maintain their interest and improve their performance levels some.  But, that other 1% will want to become as good as he/she can be, is willing to do whatever necessary to achieve that, and perhaps desire to become an Olympian and Olympic champion some day. Those need the very rare great high school or college coach, or more likely a great private/club coach working in cooperation with or if necessary outside the school program, to get them there!!

CC:  Do you have any opinion on if Mary Cain should forgo the college system and turn professional soon?

LK:  That’s a question that Mary, her parents, and her private coach should answer; based on what is in Mary’s current and future best interests.    Very few high school or college programs, if any, are capable of helping an athlete at her stature continue to develop over those school years.   If she can attend, get a higher education, and represent a school, while still getting the quality supervision and coaching that she needs, then college can be good.  Else, she’ll need to stay/go outside of school systems, as an increasing number of high school and college age athletes are, to get that help.

CC:  Lastly, is the sport of Athletics missing anything?

LK:  Quality leadership, that’s truly interested in the development of athletes over their own special interests!!!

CC:  Thanks a lot for your time coach.

Training on the Road

So the past week was quite hectic.  I left on Tuesday after a morning practice session and headed out to Tallahassee where our guys who qualified for New Balance Outdoor Nationals met with FSU head coach Bob Braman who was a great host and showed us around campus and discussed his program.  We then departed for Savannah, Georgia where we spent a hot evening enjoying the city before finally arriving at Greensboro, North Carolina.  Some pictures have been posted on my twitter.  The two distance runners that ran for us did a great job, despite having to travel a thousand miles to get to the meet.  Austin Brown placed 13th in the freshman 400 and Devyn Keith was national freshman runner in up in the 2 Mile.  After the meet we took the long trek back in one shot and I made it to the last day of the AAU Regional meet here in New Orleans to watch more of the Southern Athletics athletes compete.

One thing that is always a challenge on these long trips is how to train on the long, out of town races, especially the multiple day meets.  It takes much more planning and thought to determine what is the best route to go.  You have to consider the stress and or discomfort the body goes through during long travel times, jet lag, or change in climate conditions if you are going to a different part of the country.  You may also not have access to a track while on the go, or a grass field, and other issues that should be resolved.

First I'll give you an overview of what my athletes did on our trip to prepare for our races and then also offer some other ideas after.  On Tuesday, before we hit the road, we did some short pace work on the track to prepare for the pace for the weekend.  Wednesday the guys had a full day and ended up having to do a treadmill run which had some some up tempo pickups to get some turnover.  The trip had already started to wear on them after 10 hours of driving the previous 36 hours, so I cut the run short.  Thursday the boys swam for about 30 minutes in the morning at the beach, and did a short shakeout run on the treadmill in the evening.  Friday and Saturday were competition days.  It was definitely not an optimal training plan but we did the best we could and it worked out well in the end.

Some other ideas, especially if you have time, include some easy running along the beach if you don't have competition the next day, swimming at the pools in hotel, and using public parks to stay on soft grass can help out a lot.  You really have to have a plan, though, and know what type of training you want to do each day and try to figure out the best strategy to achieve that training stimulus.  Prepare as you would any other competition.  You just may need to be a little more creative in the training plan, and also consider how tired the athletes are from the travel.

The boys training on a treadmill this week, preparing for New Balance Outdoor Nationals.

Interview With Micah Simoneaux

Another project I want to undertake is to seek out some of the more successful coaches in the state of Louisiana, as well as the country, and interview them to get a better idea of what coaches are doing that they find works in building their team and training their athletes.  Hopefully this will help the coaches who read it and give them insight into things they can do in their own programs.  The first interview I am posting is one with an old friend of mine who has gone on to coach team and individual state champions before he has even turned 30.

Micah Simoneaux began his coaching career at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero, Louisiana in the summer of 2007. He has since then changed the direction of the distance program at Archbishop Shaw that has brought them into the forefront of Louisiana high school distance running. In just his fifth year, Coach Micah and his team won the school’s first state championship in cross country in the fall of 2011. Returning only 2 members of the 7-man state championship team, Coach Micah and his team achieved success yet again claiming the cross country state runner-up trophy in the 2012 season. He has also coached many state meet qualifying athletes in distance track. Those athletes include Shaw’s indoor 4 x 800m team that earned a 2nd place finish in the 2011 state championship and a 3rd place finish in the 2012 state championship as well as an individual state champion in the 2013 state championship class 4A 1600m run.

Chaz Caiado: Coach Simoneaux, for the past two years in class 4A you've won a state title and have finished runner up in cross country.  Now you are moving up to 5A and will face some of the best teams in the state, including St. Pauls who could be an all-time Louisiana great team with the senior class they have.  How are you and your team handling this?

Micah Simoneaux: We are going to handle it just like we have the past two years: one day at a time. I know my guys can get caught up in the stats and times of other teams, and as a coach you need to be as well to some extent. But, I feel it’s very easy to become overwhelmed with those things, psych yourself out and your team for that matter, and lose focus. One thing I feel that we do well, and the burden is very much on my shoulders, is we maintain our focus despite anything else that’s going on around us. We have had our fair share of challenges in the past, but if there’s anything the past two years have proven it’s that we can very much overcome those challenges and achieve our goals.

CC: What seniors do you have on your team this year, and how do you think they are handling the role of being the leaders?

MS: Our key seniors this year are Chris Mauldin and Reggie Williams. It has been evident to me since this past track season they are ready to lead this team. Chris seemingly came out of nowhere last cross country season with a huge improvement from the previous year in his three mile race, finishing the state championship meet last November in 18th place and this season qualifying for the outdoor state meet in the 1600m. Reggie came to us as a sprinter, but really this young man was made to run distance. He was a big help to us during the 2011 season when we won the 4A state championship and last year where he finished in 8th place as our number two runner. You didn’t see him too much this past track season except for a race or two as a leg on our 4x400m team as he has been recovering from a lingering injury. However, he’s been chomping at the bit since the start of summer conditioning. Both athletes have made it clear to me they are going to put everything on the line this year and make this year their best yet.

CC: What do you attribute to your teams success in the past few years in cross country, and how do you hope to recreate your past success?

MS: Our success comes from a level of hard work and optimism that continues to build with each passing year. I feel it takes a special kind of athlete to compete against the best teams in the state. That athlete may or may not be the most talented kid, but they see and want the level of success they see when other teams step up on the podium to receive their state championship or runner-up trophy. We have been fortunate to attract more of those kids to our program year after year. I always tell my guys this: it doesn’t matter if you’re the fastest or the slowest guy on the team, as long as you run to the best of your ability and encourage others to do the same; you’re doing your part to achieve the team’s goals.

CC: What type of team building or goal building exercises do you believe in doing over the summer to prepare for the fall?

MS: During the summer, we have what is called the Watermelon Club. It began many years back with a local coach who would work with kids on the Westbank that were interested in preparing for the fall cross country season. Two years after coaching at Shaw, I decided to exclusively work with the Shaw athletes as I felt it was the direction we needed to build the caliber team we have today. The tradition of the watermelon club is simple: each day after a run we eat watermelon that someone from the team brings to practice. It may not seem like much, but when you finish an eight mile run or a workout in the scorching temperatures of a summer afternoon, that watermelon is the tastiest thing you have ever eaten! We also incorporate the local road races and track meets into our schedule as a way to break up the monotony that may occur and give the athletes a chance to see where they are in their conditioning.

CC: Do you feel that becoming a successful team has made the coaching role more or less challenging?

MS: The coaching role in itself is very challenging and it brings with it new challenges each year. Our success over the past couple of years has definitely increased the challenge aspect by raising the level of expectation to which we hold ourselves accountable. I am a competitive person by nature. Challenges are what motivate me, and these challenges motivate our program. Like you mentioned earlier, our biggest challenge we face this coming season is an extremely competitive field in 5A. Our team has much respect for the top teams we will be facing, but I think it would be a disservice to our past achievements by not making a run for the top spot next season (no pun intended!).

CC: Does your team have any rituals or anything special that brings the team together?

MS: We have two that immediately come to mind, one of which came about as something started by the athletes themselves. The first is what was formerly known as Friday football but is now Friday Frisbee. During the non-competition parts of the year, we would play football on Fridays as a way to get in our running and let loose a bit. After a while these football games would become pretty competitive, so I decided to switch to something a little less contact and started playing ultimate Frisbee. The other ritual we have is a pre-practice game of hacky sack. This came about a year or two ago. School is dismissed at 2:30PM so there is a little bit of time before we begin practice. This gives me time to prepare for the day’s schedule. In the meantime, the guys would also be preparing for practice, but would finish ahead of me. One day one of our guys brought a hacky sack and started kicking it around. Soon enough the whole team was kicking it around and whatnot. So, the game has kind of incorporated itself into our stretching routine, but if anything it’s a great release of stress from the school day and a team morale booster.

CC: Do you have any markers or indicator workouts you do in the summer to monitor your teams fitness from year to year?

MS: Along with some of the races the guys will run during the summer, our Monday workouts are what I use as our indicator workouts. They will typically be some sort of longer interval (usually “broken miles” or mile repeats) and the amount of intervals increase every three weeks. We like to focus not only on pacing during these intervals, but other race tactics like leading, drafting and surging. With the passing of each three-week interval, I’ll be able to see if the athletes are improving and what specific aspects a particular athlete may need to focus. It’s nothing complicated at all. It’s something that can be quantified into data the athletes can see, and if it’s something they can see (like race results and such) I feel you get a better response from them.

CC: What do you feel is the biggest challenge for a high school coach in regards to building his team?

MS: What might as well be the greatest challenge to any coach is getting students to buy into the program. Running has to be the hardest thing to sell to high school kids, especially with all the other sports and clubs. Let’s face it: in my experience, most kids would want to join just about every other sport or club other than cross country. And then, when the kids get to the first few days of practice, the kid may end up frustrated and quit when they realize the lack of instant success or, dare I say it, hard work and patience that is required for the sport. As I said earlier, the kids that join the team don’t necessarily need to be the most talented kids out there, but they do need to be willing to work hard for themselves and more importantly their teammates. From there, whether it’s winning a state championship or improving in the slightest bit from last year, you can be successful.

CC: Do you believe the depth of Louisiana distance running is approaching where it was in the 80s and 90s and why do you think so?

MS: My knowledge of running history isn’t as broad as yours, Chaz, and thanks to you and the rest of the Louisiana Running community, it continues to grow. But I can say from what I do know and from my experiences as a high school runner at the very tail end of that era, Louisiana distance running is going through a resurgence period that will take us back to those times and, with the quality coaching available, keep us there for some time. From what we saw at last year’s cross country season and track this year, those top athletes put on a great show of competition as well as the coaches nurturing the talents they have. It’s remarkable to think what the future holds when considering what the state’s best teams and athletes are capable of and this is one of those things that inspires me to do my best as a coach to see to it my athletes are among those other great athletes.

CC: What advice would you give to fellow coaches in regards to building and maintaining a successful program?

MS: I would refer them to a conversation I once had with Coach Pete Boudreaux. I was on vacation three years ago and I just happened to bump into him. There obviously was no need for introduction on his part, but I introduced myself, where I coached and we started talking about our teams and cross country. He then began to talk about his own experiences with starting his historic career at Catholic High School of Baton Rouge. It seems people think that the greats always have a secret plan or an ace up their sleeve, but what I gathered from our conversation was simple: be a leader and example to your kids, work hard, and be patient. Success in this sport doesn’t come overnight and the sacrifices are many, but the rewards are worth the effort.

CC: Thanks for your time coach.

MS: It was my pleasure.

National Running Day

So today, June 5th, is national running day.  This is a celebration of all the miles and miles an individual or a team puts in so that they will succeed on the course and the track during competition.  It is a celebration of health and fitness.  It is also, this year, a remembrance for those who were affected by the Boston attacks.

If you've taken time off after your track season and wanted to know when to start that fall base, or are looking for a reason to get the summer training kick started, this is your chance.  If you complain that you never have someone to run with, find a local run group like the ones at Louisiana Running Company or Varsity Sports, both in the New Orleans area, or think about getting with a summer AAU team if you are a high school aged athlete.

The main thing that we need to think about today, though, is why we run.  For some, it is feel good and add years to their lives.  For others it is about competing or helping build a team up and accomplish team goals in the summer and throughout the next year.  It's also about the lessons we learn about what our minds and our bodies can handle.  It's about breaking time barriers and mental barriers.  Whatever the reason is, keep it up!

I'm sure Bekele and Geb are getting their runs in today.

Quality vs Quantity: The Coaches Dilemma

I have talked about how you need to have a coaching philosophy before, and honestly sometimes you have to make a few mistakes to learn how you prefer your team and your training to be.  One problem I often talk to my friends about who also coach at the high school level is how to build a team from a numbers outlook.  It is the age old quality vs quantity debate, but it one worth considering.

There are a lot of holes to fill in track in field from a coaches standpoint.  You have up to twenty events, some of which require four athletes while all the others have two spots available.  Here in Louisiana, for outdoor track you have a total of 42 spots to fill.  Even with allowing athletes to double, triple, and for a select few, a quadruple, you run into an issue of how to stock and organize your team.  Sometimes you even may be sharing an athlete with another sport, or waiting on a few to finish up their other seasons.

First off, let me say this: as far as quality and quantity is concerned, no coach should ever simply look at a situation from a numbers standpoint and build up a program just for the sake of saying they have such and such amount of athletes on their team.  That being said, I want to address the reasonable approach to quality and quantity.

That daunting number of spots to fill for the district or league meet can cause a coach to reach out and try to acquire more athletes for his team, and this is understandable.  The more athletes on your team the better odds you have of being successful, it's a numbers game in that sense.  The quantity approach becomes an issue with respect to two issues (well, there certainly can be more but those would be more circumstantial to the individual program):

1) Not having enough resources to properly train the athletes.  If you don't have coaches willing to back you up, or at least volunteers to help with certain events, instead of having one well trained group of athletes for a set of similar events, you will have a whole bunch of athletes who are average because you didn't get to spend enough time with them.  If one coach is trying to train distance runners, hurdles, and javelin throwers on the same day, and all after school, something is going to fall through.  Time management should always be on the mind of the high school coach.  Consider this when you are building your team and your staff, even if that means looking for volunteers and parents.  If you have two coaches who have the same background, see if one would be willing to step outside his comfort zone and learn a new set of events to help the team.  Being a time crunched coach is never optimal, although there are certainly ways to still keep your sanity and have a decent team.

Another issue with resources is space for training.  Not every school has a track.  We don't at the school I coach at, and our sprinters, distance runners, and throwers all practice at separate places to accommodate their needs. Travelling to practice may be an issue with more athletes, so that needs to be factored in.

2) The other main issue is bringing on athletes who have the same vision, or goals, you do for your team.  If you are reaching out to students just to fill spots, and they come out with a different work ethic than what the team needs to accomplish the vision, you may be doing more harm than good.  The desire to build numbers can be great, but distractions at practice can ruin a workout, a training week, or even a season.  Make sure, as you build your numbers, you are not merely causing more work for yourself with no reward.

Quality does not have to be the opposite of quantity if the number of your athletes are all in on the same plan to achieve the team goals.  Furthermore, keeping kids involved in the sport helps keep it alive and well.

Organizing and building the quality of your program is of high importance for a track coach.