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Mike Callor – Season 2

Mike is a tremendous coach who has coached both boys and girls footlocker finalists, something that only a small number of coaches have done.  Thanks Mike for joining us on HSRC. 

Born and raised in Colorado.  Ran high school track and cross country for Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO, and collegiate track and cross country for Colorado Christian University.  Graduated with a Masters Degree in Human Performance and Physical Education with an emphasis in Coaching from Adams State University in 2011.

Was the Head Cross-Country Coach from 2003-2011 and the Head Track and Field Coach from 2006-2012 at Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton, CO before moving to Fort Collins and joining the Lambkins in 2013.  Have coached 13 individual state champions (track and XC), 2-4 x 800 state champion teams, and 3 state championship teams (XC-5A), including the state record 2007 girls that scored 28 points.  Have also coached 3 Footlocker Finalists and 2 Nike Cross National Finalists, 1 girls team that finished 6th at NXN (2013).

I still enjoy training and racing and remind the athletes often that I started out running cross-country as an overweight Sophomore in high school and have gone from a 29:15 5K to a 15:40.  Everyone has to start somewhere!   I am extremely blessed to have married my best friend, Sara and have recently added to our family with our first child, Nathan Michael (2).

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Jeff Boele – Key Workout

I would say I am pretty vanilla when it comes to assignments.  We tend to do the same things over and over from week 1 to the state meet.  I guess I look at training from a specific work capacity perspective.  Meaning, how are the different assignments increasing and supporting the specific goal race(s)?  Volume and intensities will progress and cycle in and out throughout the season.  I do my best to use KPIs (Key Performance Indicator/Inhibitors) of the event and the individual to dictate what is included in a program.

We are always doing a bit of everything – easy runs, tempo runs (what some might call steady state or Daniels’ marathon pace), AT, LT(choose your “threshold” terminology), 10K, 5K, 3K pace, mile pace, hill work, time/effort based fartleks, progression runs,  high neural demand sessions (like a sprinter), daily ancillary tasks that range from body weight general strength to resistance training with weights.

With that disclaimer, here is a workout that fits well for our setting in Lyons, CO.  We can literally run uphill less than a minute from the school.  I call it “Hills and Track.”  It’s just that, some faster work on a hill or hills and then some kind of harder running on the track.  I initially put this in during the early track season to offer variety because of the amount “track only” work to come.  The athletes really like it, so now we do it year round in both cross country and track and almost at all points in the season.

Here are two versions of the workout: [Read more…]

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Rob Murphy – Key Workout

The Alta Run

Distance: 6.5 miles and up depending on the number of campground loops.

Pace: “Survival Pace” going up. As fast as they can maintain without stopping to walk. As close to 5k race pace as possible on the run down – allowing gravity to do much of the work.

Every Thursday throughout the summer, we meet at Alta Ski Area for “The Alta Run”.

The run begins at an elevation of 8,500 feet and proceeds along the base of Alta Ski Area to what’s called The Summer Road. It’s a ski run in the winter. From that point, the run climbs about a thousand feet over 2.5 miles. This is some stressful running – especially early in the summer when the kids aren’t acclimated to the altitude. Our best runners struggle to maintain 9 minute pace. At the top of the Summer Road you reach the campground at Albion Basin. The entrance to the campground is 3.25 miles from the start so if runners turn back here, they have a 6.5 mile run – almost all uphill for the first half and almost all downhill on the return.

Our fit runners are encouraged to run “campground Loops”. The campground has a  2/3 mile rolling loop so each time you complete a loop you add 2/3 mile to the 6.5 mile run. Fortunately there’s water at the campground. We’ve had runners add as many as 10 loops but the general idea is to make this an 80 to 90 minute run.

On the downhill return runners are encouraged to approach 5k race pace for about 2 miles. I think the fast turnover on tired legs is really beneficial and the dirt road makes for less impact than doing something similar on pavement.

Unlimited chocolate milk at the bottom.

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Rob Murphy – Alta High School (UT) – Season 2

Robert holds a BA in History and an MA in History Education from Furman University. He ran track and cross-country during college and recently ran a 1:15:26 half marathon at age 45. He placed second as a masters runner in the 2009 USATF LDR Circuit in Utah.

As head track and cross-country coach for Berea High School from 1996-2002 he led the cross-country team to four consecutive state top ten finishes (1999-2001). In 1998 they were the South Carolina 3A State Track and Field runners-up.

Robert has been coaching at Alta High School since 2002. While he was Assistant Track Coach they were Utah 5A Girls State Track and Field Champions in 2003 and the following year won the 5A Boys State Track and Field.

As head cross-country coach at Alta, they’ve won six region championships in cross-country (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014). His 2008 accolades include Utah 5A Boys Cross Country State Champions, Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Region runner-up, Nike Cross Nationals qualifier, and Utah Cross Country Coach of the Year. He’s had Nike Southwest Championship race qualifiers in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, and 2014. One of his athletes, Kramer Morton, was a Foot Locker Finalist in 2012 and 2013, a Region Champion three consecutive years (2011-2013), and a 5A State Champion in 2012. His team was ranked 10th in the Southwest United States in 2013.

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Mark Lacianca – Key Workout

The Workout

Cruise Intervals – 6 x 800, 8 x 800, 8 x 1000 (depending on the age and fitness of the runner)

I prefer the cruise intervals over the tempo runs for most high school runners; it is a great team building workout and the workout is set up for everyone to succeed.

The Summer

Prior to the first time our team runs this workout, there is a slow summer build-up of mileage. This workout is not attempted until our team has maxed out our minutes of running.

The Varsity Workout

Our top runners will run 8 x 1000 with 40 – 62 seconds of rest.  The different rest allows us to run our top 7 – 10 runners together, and gives the runners some flexibility to adjust their practice based on how their body responds.  We are fortunate to have a grass campus with some room to run, and our track is circled by our cross country course.  The breakdown of the 8 x 1000 workout is the first six 1000’s are on the course, and the last two 1000’s are on the track (standing recovery between all intervals).  All of our workouts are “waterfall run”  — run slow to fast, meaning that we always run our final intervals at a greater speed than our initial intervals.

The Specifics [Read more…]

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