Key Workout Archives - Page 2 of 5 - High School Running Coach

Mike Harris – Bio and Key Workout

Mike Harris – Hopkins (MN)

Coach Harris is completing his 27th year coaching cross country and track/field in North Dakota and Minnesota. In the 90’s he assisted ND hall of fame coach Russ Schmeichel at Jamestown, ND. During this time the Jamestown boys and girls each won 6 North Dakota State Cross Country titles.

In 1998 he moved to Hopkins, MN (10-12 school of 1700 students) teaching high school science and coaching cross country and track/field. At Hopkins, his boys and girls cross country and track/field programs have always operated as a joint program 7-12. Our cross country and track/field coaches work with both genders at all levels.

Since 1998 the joint boys and girls cross country and track/field program highlights:

5 boys and 2 girls MN State Cross Country Team titles

1 footlocker national qualifier,

2 individual NXN qualifiers,

1 NXN team qualifier, (boys placing 7th)

1 girls and 1 boys MN Track/Field AAA True Team State championship titles

2 girls, 1 boys MN AA State Track/Field Championship titles

4 MN State All Time Track/Field Individual Best Performances

5 MN State All Time Track/Field Relay Best Performances

2 girls teams in 2011 & 12 qualified for The Nike Track Nationals (5th, 8th)

1 Brooks PR Track Invite 3200 qualifier

1 Dream Mile qualifier

Key Workout

One of our simple distance routines we employ in cross country and track is a variation to the normal strides done after completing a run. Depending on the time of the season runners complete their last mile on the track. At the 250m mark athletes do a progressive pick-up for 150 meters. I like to use the top of the corner to simulate what we want the body and mind to perform on race day during the track season. This progressive 150 beginning at 60% race pace reaches the 100 start at 80%, at the 350m mark we ask athletes to accelerate up to 90% to the finish of the 400m line. It is a continuous run without stopping for the 4 laps and allows changing gears. Recovery run at conversation pace for 250 meters until the next stride begins.

This drill was suggested by Joe Klecker a Hopkins alumni now attending Colorado. The purpose allows for a speed play event at the end of a recovery run without the normal break leading up to a separate running strides session. We call them “Colorado’s” in our workout plan and they are employed frequently at the start of the season when base miles are the staple for many of our multi-sport athletes who are just coming off a winter nordic season. Focus on the track is relaxed arm and leg drive down the home stretch of the track whereby the coaches can observe the athlete natural form and body mechanics. It provides a workout that gives them time on their feet along with a speed component that our coaches can give direct feedback to all athletes. Using a phone to record individual athletes gives kids focus and a chance for coaches to breakdown and communicate with our young or new runners.

A variation that is used during the cross country season during the weekly long run is ending the session with “trail Colorado’s.” The last 10 min of the long run athletes start a 25 sec progressive run completing the last 10 sec at 90% effort, then a 2 min recovery run. Again the drill is a continuous run.

by Jay Johnson

Colin Altevogt – Bio and Key Workout

Colin Altevogt is the head boys cross country coach and assistant boys track coach at Carmel High School in Indiana. He has been coaching high school distance running in Indiana for the past 11 years. In his four years as the head cross country coach at Carmel, the team has captured two state championships (2015 and 2017), two state runner-up titles, and two qualifications for Nike Cross Nationals (2014 and 2017), including a tenth-place finish in 2017. The program has grown from 96 to 159 athletes in those four years.

In the spring, Colin coaches athletes in distances 400 meters and farther. Carmel has won the last three state championships (2015, 2016, 2017) in track & field after finishing second in

2014. In the 2017 season, Carmel athletes qualified for the state finals in Indiana’s single-classification system in all individual and relay events that he coaches, including winning the state title in the 4×800 relay in 7:43.

Colin teaches Spanish at Carmel High School and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in secondary education.

Key Workout

Split 800s

This is a 500 and then a 300 with only a minute rest between run pretty close to 800 meter race pace. We usually do three of them in total with eight to ten minutes between each split 800 (but only the 60 seconds between the 500 and 300 to “split” it). We typically get to this workout about a month out from the state meet once we’ve had opportunities to do a couple 800 pace workouts like repeat 300s. Those preceding workouts make the speed of this manageable, but the volume is the real challenge.

This is primarily a workout for 800 runners—Indiana scores the 4×8 at the state meet—but longer distance runners and even 400 guys can benefit. We occasionally have more sprinter-types that run on the 4×4 and 4×8 so we might adjust their workouts to do the first and the third with a bigger break in the middle.

Last year we had four guys average 1:59 or 2:00 for the three split 800s, and those four ran 7:43 in the 4×8 at the state meet so it’s probably four to six seconds slower per 800 than eventual race pace. Our best 400 guy ran 1:57 and 1:56 for two with the big break in the middle, and he ran 1:56 in the open 800 in the regular season and 48.78 in the open 400 at the state meet.

by Jay Johnson

Dave Frank – Bio and Key Workout

Dave Frank is in his 18^th year at Central Catholic after eleven years at Saint Francis in Mountain View, CA.

As the head boys cross country coach (13 years) his teams have won nine State Championships (in Oregon’s largest classification – although CCHS has just 900 students) and have never finished worse than second at the State Meet. His boys have qualified for NXN three times (2005, 2007, 2013). He has coached four individual State Champions (Kenny Klotz – 2005, Taylor Morgan – 2006, Kyle Thompson – 2011 & 2013) and 19 First Team All State runners (63 total All State athletes). Klotz also finished 4^th at Footlocker in 2005.

On the track his boys have run 7:40.68 (4 x 800m – 3^rd at Nike Outdoors in 2006), 10:09.82 (DMR – 2^nd at Arcadia 2014), and 17:22.43 (4 x 1600m – 2^nd at Arcadia 2014). Klotz was the State Meet champ at 1500m & 3000m in 2006. Morgan won the 800m in 2007, and Andy Bennison won the 1500m in 2011.

He was the assistant coach from 2000-2004 and had a front row seat to Galen Rupp’s high school years.

Key Workout

Washington Park Fartlek

Years ago – in the 1980s, long before the Oregon Project or the Bowerman Track Club – there were many outstanding post-collegiate runners in Portland. Most of them raced primarily on the roads, but each year they also ran the XC Nationals (which is now known as USATF Club Nationals). To prepare for XC Nationals they began a weekly fartlek workout in Forest Park (miles and miles of amazing trails). When I came home in the summers I’d join this group for this *challenging* workout.

When I returned to coach at Central Catholic a group was still doing this workout – although less regularly. I considered using it with our team, but was initially deterred by the effort it might take to implement it properly. After conversations with a few people I saw the light, and it’s been a staple of our summer program for over a decade now. [Read more…]

by Jay Johnson

Mark Popp – Bio and Key workout

Mark Popp started teaching and coaching at Wayzata High School (which routinely has around 100 HS boys participating in Cross Country) in 2008, shortly after graduating from North Dakota State University. He assisted the successful and highly-regarded Bill Miles for seven years before taking over the program in 2015. In the last three years, Wayzata has won the State AA MN Championship twice and advanced to Nike Nationals each year, finishing 14^th, 10^th, and 11^th. In 2015 and 2017 respectively, Jaret Carpenter (4^th) and Khalid Hussein (10^th) were NXN All-Americans.

In the spring, Popp has coached sprinters since 2011, where his athletes have earned All-State honors 17 times in the sprint relays and 9 times individually. This year, he will continue to hand off distance coaching duties to Eric Jahn and Brandon Heebink, both of whom assist with the Cross Country team in the fall.

Key Workout

Cruise Intervals (Threshold)

One of the staples of our training at Wayzata is Cruise Interval training. We incorporate this a little bit in the summer in order to add a little quality to our base training. Running mostly on feel in the summer, our boys will build to 2 x 12’ at threshold effort with a 2’ recovery. During the season, we try to get between 7k-9k worth of threshold in over the course of a workout. The intervals themselves can be as short as 3:20 (roughly 1k) or as long as 10:00 (roughly 3k). The running surface might be the track, the roads, or dirt/gravel paths, depending on the conditions. In early to mid-September, we try to get a 4x2k workout in. We have 2k loop that is about 1200 of winding gravel path, and 800 of a paved residential street. Our time target ends up being the same as a Cruise 1000s track workout from week 1…but due to the more challenging running surface and turns, slightly shorter recovery ratio, this workout is more demanding. [Read more…]

by Jay Johnson

Mike Callor – Key Workout

Cross-Country: “Death Quest”

This workout is done at a park about 2 miles away from the school on a hilly, grass course. It is a workout steeped in tradition where athletes of the present can compare themselves to athletes of the past (boys that get “around the turn” at the top of the hill typically have been sub 16:00 athletes). After a 2-mile warm-up and muscle activation exercises, it consists of anywhere between 4-6 x 4:00 on with 3:00 of recovery (walk/jog). The goal is to get further on the course with each one (progressive), with a stress placed on listening to your breathing. 2 mile cool-down back to the school, and that is it!

This is just an XC workout. The amount of rest before this workout depends on the time of the season. Early, they might have a steady run Saturday, off, or shake-out on Sunday and then the workout on Monday. Later, the Saturday before is typically easy. I have also added my own variations to the workout, such as 2 x 400 meter hills before the first Death Quest in order to make sure they don’t hammer the first one and regress.

I believe that progressive workouts (done correctly), build fitness as well as confidence, which can be much more important.

by Jay Johnson

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…]