Jay Johnson, Author at High School Running Coach Page

Dan Iverson – Naperville North (IL) – Season 2

Dan Iverson’s girls teams at Naperville North (IL) have consistently run well at the both the state and national level. We’re excited to have Coach Iverson join us for the 2016 season of High School Running Coach.

Here is his bio.

Naperville North High School (1994-present)

Assistant Girls’ XC Coach 1994-95, Head Girls’ XC Coach 1996-present
Head Girls’ Track and Field Coach 1995-2003, Assistant Girls’ Track and Field Coach 2004-present
Won five state cross country championships (2001, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014)
Earned trophies (top three) at Illinois State Meet 13 times (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
Coached 27 All-State XC Runners
Coached multiple All-State Track Athletes, including State Champion 4x800m relay (2015) and Judy Pendergast as State Champion in the 3200m (2015) and in XC (2015)
Earned 5 berths at NXN (2005, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015)
4th place at NXN in 2005 and 2014.

by Jay Johnson

Dr. Jeff Messer – Interview Transcript (free)

Jay Johnson (JJ): We’re really excited to have Dr. Jeff Messer of Desert Vista High School joining us here on High School Running Coach for the month of August 2014. Jeff, thank you so much for your time.

Dr. Jeff Messer (JM): My pleasure, Jay, I appreciate the opportunity, as I always do, to spend some time with you. Always a privilege, and I’m looking forward to this interview.

JJ: Yeah, I am too, we’ve got a lot to cover, you’ve done a great job getting us your training plan, which is extremely detailed, so we will spend quite a bit of time talking about the training. But as we’re asking all the coaches as part of High School Running Coach, let’s first start off with what is, and there might be more than one of these, but can you give me one or two elements of your, either your training philosophy or something specifically you do in your program that you think you would see in all programs? Or I’m sorry, all good successful programs.

JM: Well, I can think of a number of things, Jay, that I suspect or I conjecture are common to the better, and certainly the best programs in the country. Certainly, I hope Desert Vista can be included in that conversation at this point in time, but among those characteristics or qualities, one is structure/discipline. I think it’s important to have structure in training, I think it’s important to have structure in expectations, and I think structure is something that particularly high achieving young student-athletes seek. And I think in general they will embrace structure, and they’ll rise to the expectations of accompanying structure. So I think structure in a program, and it can be as simple as structure in the training plan, I think that’s an important component. Maybe a more important component, and it may be even the most important component, I don’t have evidence to support that statement, but maybe the most important component is simply to convince young student-athletes about their self-worth, and how great they can be, and how limitless their achievements can be. [Read more…]

by Jay Johnson

Doug Soles – Interview Excerpts

What follows are two excerpts from the 82 minute interview Coach Soles did with Jay Johnson. Members can listen to the interview and read the full transcript of the interview. Click here to view Coach Soles’s training summary.

On program success and dealing with doubters and parents:

Doug Soles: I think there’s a lot of basic commonalities: Dealing with parents, just trying to make sure that everybody understands the direction that we’re going. We all deal with that. That’s one of the number one things when I talk with other coaches, it’s funny because they look at me like “oh, you sometimes have issues with parents?” Just because you’re successful doesn’t mean you’re not dealing with people that have questions or decide that they ran a 5k once and so they obviously know more about running then you do. I think the most important thing is to really own your program. This is what we do. This is what we have. And this is what we offer for the kids. And if people don’t like that then they have to go do something else. That’s one of the number one questions that I get from high school coaches when I talk with people through email or in person, is how do you deal with the craziness that sometimes the parents will have? And I think the most important thing is to just be honest, be upfront, and own your program. This is what we do. Don’t shy away from that, don’t start wavering, “okay, now this parent is upset so we’re going to start to change things to this.”

Doug Soles: You have to really look at what the most important thing is for you and your program and what’s the most important thing for the kids. [Read more…]

by Jay Johnson

Doug Soles – Training Summary

Doug Soles

Coach Soles is one of the most successful high school cross country and recently had three girls go under 4:50 in a 1600 in the same race. Coach Soles, like almost all the successful programs featured, will focus his training the aerobic development of his athletes. A long run is standard every week. Coach Soles also makes a strong emphasis on core work, but found out as time went, core work was often the first thing cut when time was short. Core is now done early before they even do the run.

On thing Coach Soles does different is he has a first period class at school. This allows them to get in a little more mileage and strength work before they even get to workouts in the afternoon practice. He also makes cuts from the track team. Runners need to come into the season in shape, because they will keep only 50 boys and 50 girls, which means there will be cuts made.

Some key points about Coach Soles and his program [Read more…]

by Jay Johnson

Dr. Jeff Messer – Training Summary

Dr. Jeff Messer

Having coached 8 of the last 9 state championship teams, Coach Jeff Messer is viewed as Arizona’s most successful high school running coach in the 21st Century. As someone with a PhD in Exercise Physiology, Coach Messer takes an even more scientific approach than most to his training development.

When you hear Coach Messer talk you will hear him talk about two things over and over again. The first is the process. Some coaches call this the culture, for Messer it’s about the process. The process is what the athlete needs to do daily to get better. This includes rest/sleep, proper nutrition and hydration and the prescribed workout for the day. The second is aerobic development. Almost all of Messer’s runs are aerobic in nature with very little anaerobic work.

Some key points about Coach Messer and his program [Read more…]

by Jay Johnson

Adam Kedge – Training Summary

Adam Kedge is a culture guy. What does that mean? Coach Kedge spends a lot of time talking about the culture he tries to bring to the program. Culture for his program is not only the running culture, and being a good teammate, as you would expect in any successful high school distance program, but Coach Kedge also stresses being a good student and being active in other areas of the school.

Adam does not exclude anyone. Coach Kedge designs a system that allows everyone to participate with different workouts depending on where the athlete currently is in their formation. Adam and his coaches work on individualizing each kid’s workouts depending on what they need.

Some key points about Coach Kedge and his program [Read more…]