Free Training Archives - Page 3 of 3 - High School Running Coach

Dan Iverson – Key Workout

The 10-mile Run

This is a staple of our summer program. It’s a pretty simple workout — it’s a 10-mile run, after all. We revolve our summer program around this workout. It seems crazy simple, I know, but the beauty of it is that it is so adaptable for so many kids.

For our freshmen, it piques their interest. We start at five miles. For them, that’s the most they’ve ever done. So they do it and feel pretty good about themselves. then, we go to six miles, and seven, and eight… Obviously, we end up for the last month of summer doing 10-milers every Monday. The freshmen get to go farther than they ever went before. Sometimes, it’s pretty slow, but it opens their minds to new volumes of what they can accomplish. It’s truly awesome to see our new kids see how much they can do!

For our experienced kids, we preach this as not a feat of length, but of intensity. [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…]

by Jay Johnson

Greg Weich – Training Summary

Coach Greg Weich has built a successful program by stressing consistency in training and building a culture. He has done this by getting the kids to run more as a group all year. He is also a big believer in the coach setting the tone by showing up every day and being excited about running. Unlike many of the other successful programs, Coach Weich’s athletes do not run 7 days a week, but they consistently run year round for 48 weeks a year. Greg thinks the biggest difference in his program, since he took over, has been building the running culture in the school.

Building a successful distance runner is not a short term project. Coach Weich learned from Adam’s State coach Joe Vigil early on that you need to take a long term approach to building a successful distance runner.

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