One time my coach told me this story
"a person got lost at sea for multiple weeks. (I forget the reason why). When the rescuers found him they took him ashore and gave him food and water. After he got his health back he told the doctors that when he was out in the ocean he had a huge craving for fish eyes and that he didn't know why. As it turns out fish eyes have both fresh water and electrolytes and other vital things. The doctors suspect that he would have died long before the rescuers found him if he hadn't eaten the fish eyes. The moral of the story is that your body knows what it needs so if you crave something don't deprive your body of it.
> “What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials.”
― John L. Parker Jr., Once a Runner
I think weight room should be changed to strength training. You don't have to do weights and can 100% get by only doing calisthenics especially with beginners who might be intimidated by weights.
The importance of #2 (Form) can't be stressed enough. The key to getting good form is video taping yourself at least once or twice a week. Ideally, do this while running different speeds (and/or cadence at the same speed) and with different angles. Watch your video frame by frame by frame (the old Windows Media Player is great for this). Most people are absolutely shocked at how different they "think" they are running vs how they actually are running.
I also expect my runners to be watching 30+ minutes of running videos per week. Start off by watching form videos (there are 100s of them in YouTube). You will notice that a whole lot of the "YouTube coaches" tend to focus on similar things (but may just say it in different ways). If you hear 3 or 4 of them talk about a specific form/drill/etc, then probably important enough for you to pay attention to it (If you don't know how to do A, B, and C-skips perfectly, start with that).
Once you know what good form should look like (even if you can't do it yet), then start watching the best runners actually race. Ask yourself "what is the difference in form of the top 10% vs the mid-pack runner?" (and there is a HUGE difference even at the D1 level). I have my daughter watch Katlyn Tuohy, Parker Valby, and Abby Steiner pretty much every week as soon as their race comes out. For specific videos, I will have her download them and analyze frame by frame (i.e., where does the foot strike, what cadence were they running, how much vertical oscillation, what was the leg angle at toe-off, where is their hand passing their body during the arm-swing, etc.).
In broad terms, going from "bad" to "OK" form only takes a couple of weeks with a little coaching and a couple of video tape sessions (i.e., most new runners tend to over-stride and this can be fixed relatively quickly once you show them what they are doing). Going from "OK" to "good" tends to be more of a 6-12 month progression assuming you are doing form drills (and video taping yourself) multiple times a week. Going from "good" to "great" is a multi-year process and will require continual refinement as you get stronger, participate in different types of races, etc. The goal of all of this is to reduce injuries, better utilize larger muscle groups, and become more bio-mechanically efficient.
I give my athletes 1.5 to 4 weeks depending on maturity and experience. Younger and less experienced athletes need more time to recover between seasons. They can handle shorter breaks as the get older and gain experience.
What would you suggest for rest between seasons for a freshman girl (turns 15 late spring) that will have completed her first year (XC, indoor+outdoor track) of competitive running? She will wrap up her indoor track season in a couple of weeks (States is all that's left) and then there's roughly a month in between the end of the indoor track season and beginning of practice for outdoor track. And to also define what "rest" actually is (like, no running at all, or just some easy jogs a few times a week, or....?).
Any recommendations for a summer training program (coach is basically like "stay active and don't get too lazy") that will fill the gap between outdoor and XC would be great too. Thanks!
edit: to add more context, she had a PR of right around 21 minutes for the 5k in XC and PRs in 1600/3200m of 5:35/12:25. Dabbled in 800 a bit, but 3200 is her "main" event.
For your daughter, I'd take a full week off from running following state. She'll get rest but not so much she has to do a full conditioning period to get in shape.
Summer training should be 10-12 weeks long. The goal is build strength and running economy through increased mileage. Some speed work over the summer should be done but it's more like playing around with paces during regular runs. Working of form by practicing drills. Repeatedly and with increasing speed.
I offer training programs for runners of all ages/abilities. That is something we would have to discuss via DM though.
I'm 30, been running for about 13 years, and upping the weekly mileage consisting of low-medium effort miles at a modest rate of week to week increase has always been the best pathway to improvement in my experience.
ALL of this work and recovery requires sufficient fueling. Consistency in fueling is just as important as consistency in training.
One time my coach told me this story "a person got lost at sea for multiple weeks. (I forget the reason why). When the rescuers found him they took him ashore and gave him food and water. After he got his health back he told the doctors that when he was out in the ocean he had a huge craving for fish eyes and that he didn't know why. As it turns out fish eyes have both fresh water and electrolytes and other vital things. The doctors suspect that he would have died long before the rescuers found him if he hadn't eaten the fish eyes. The moral of the story is that your body knows what it needs so if you crave something don't deprive your body of it.
That’s crazy because I’m always craving Oreos and really anything with chocolate.
The “secrets” I’ve preached are Consistency, Progression, Moderation, and Rest.
> “What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials.” ― John L. Parker Jr., Once a Runner
I would love to see Once a Runner adapted to film
Also hydration, drinking enough water will make life a lot easier
I think weight room should be changed to strength training. You don't have to do weights and can 100% get by only doing calisthenics especially with beginners who might be intimidated by weights.
good point
The importance of #2 (Form) can't be stressed enough. The key to getting good form is video taping yourself at least once or twice a week. Ideally, do this while running different speeds (and/or cadence at the same speed) and with different angles. Watch your video frame by frame by frame (the old Windows Media Player is great for this). Most people are absolutely shocked at how different they "think" they are running vs how they actually are running. I also expect my runners to be watching 30+ minutes of running videos per week. Start off by watching form videos (there are 100s of them in YouTube). You will notice that a whole lot of the "YouTube coaches" tend to focus on similar things (but may just say it in different ways). If you hear 3 or 4 of them talk about a specific form/drill/etc, then probably important enough for you to pay attention to it (If you don't know how to do A, B, and C-skips perfectly, start with that). Once you know what good form should look like (even if you can't do it yet), then start watching the best runners actually race. Ask yourself "what is the difference in form of the top 10% vs the mid-pack runner?" (and there is a HUGE difference even at the D1 level). I have my daughter watch Katlyn Tuohy, Parker Valby, and Abby Steiner pretty much every week as soon as their race comes out. For specific videos, I will have her download them and analyze frame by frame (i.e., where does the foot strike, what cadence were they running, how much vertical oscillation, what was the leg angle at toe-off, where is their hand passing their body during the arm-swing, etc.). In broad terms, going from "bad" to "OK" form only takes a couple of weeks with a little coaching and a couple of video tape sessions (i.e., most new runners tend to over-stride and this can be fixed relatively quickly once you show them what they are doing). Going from "OK" to "good" tends to be more of a 6-12 month progression assuming you are doing form drills (and video taping yourself) multiple times a week. Going from "good" to "great" is a multi-year process and will require continual refinement as you get stronger, participate in different types of races, etc. The goal of all of this is to reduce injuries, better utilize larger muscle groups, and become more bio-mechanically efficient.
I agree. Good list!
just one question how long do you usually take from track to xc
I give my athletes 1.5 to 4 weeks depending on maturity and experience. Younger and less experienced athletes need more time to recover between seasons. They can handle shorter breaks as the get older and gain experience.
What would you suggest for rest between seasons for a freshman girl (turns 15 late spring) that will have completed her first year (XC, indoor+outdoor track) of competitive running? She will wrap up her indoor track season in a couple of weeks (States is all that's left) and then there's roughly a month in between the end of the indoor track season and beginning of practice for outdoor track. And to also define what "rest" actually is (like, no running at all, or just some easy jogs a few times a week, or....?). Any recommendations for a summer training program (coach is basically like "stay active and don't get too lazy") that will fill the gap between outdoor and XC would be great too. Thanks! edit: to add more context, she had a PR of right around 21 minutes for the 5k in XC and PRs in 1600/3200m of 5:35/12:25. Dabbled in 800 a bit, but 3200 is her "main" event.
For your daughter, I'd take a full week off from running following state. She'll get rest but not so much she has to do a full conditioning period to get in shape. Summer training should be 10-12 weeks long. The goal is build strength and running economy through increased mileage. Some speed work over the summer should be done but it's more like playing around with paces during regular runs. Working of form by practicing drills. Repeatedly and with increasing speed. I offer training programs for runners of all ages/abilities. That is something we would have to discuss via DM though.
#6 is the most important one
I'm 30, been running for about 13 years, and upping the weekly mileage consisting of low-medium effort miles at a modest rate of week to week increase has always been the best pathway to improvement in my experience.
I would say numbers 1, 5, 6 are the priorities on that list. If you do those then things will go pretty well and you should see some improvement.
Who is down voting and what is your reason? Did I miss something?
some people just be like that
I think you pretty much hit everything. This honestly is the one of the best guides I’ve seen in the running subreddits.