Run-Down Forums

[megaman]

This is my first year of coaching x_country at our local middle school(grades6-. Ihave about 10 kids who run about a 6:20 pace for 2 miles. How many 400 repeats should they be able to do now and should I be able to work them up to 800's in about 4 weeks?

[Dan]

What race distance are they training for, 3k/2 mile? You'll probably want to have them doing 6, *possibly* as high as 8, 400's at about 90-95 seconds per. Progressing to 800's would be good, with the pace being closer to 95 per lap. However, you know the kids much better than I do -- are they ready to handle this sort of training at their age without losing the enjoyable aspect?

Dan

[megaman]

Right now I leave it up to the kids. There are a cfew kids that want to train hard. I just wasnt sure where the cut off line should be. For myself my speed work totals about 10% of my weekly mileage. I didn't know if that holds true for kids that age.Thanks for your input.The races are between 1.7 and 2.0 miles, sometimes 2 within the same week. during those weeks we don't do any speed work. There are only 2 weeks like that otherwise we race on tues. only. Our State championship is on Nov.4. The defending State champ is running for me and wants to repeat, Ihave a hard time slowing her down on easy days though.She does her 400's in 75 when I want her to be at 95.

[ This Message was edited by: megaman on 2001-09-28 10:57 ]

[Dan]

When she's running quarters at 75, is she burning it up early and dying at the end of the workout, or is she able to hold that pace throughout? If she's holding the pace, then she's just a very good athlete and probably should not be held back.

Since you asked my opinion... 400's are not really speed work, they're pace work. When you run intervals of that distance, you are working on maintaining a pace, typically slightly faster than you race at. Given that, I view 10% of weekly mileage being pace work to be pretty low. I believe it should be in the 30% range, possibly as high as 50% on occasion if the race distance is 2 miles or less.

However, I should also say that I've never coached middle school athletes, so I don't have a good feel for what they are prepared to handle. Your guess is probably better than mine on that one.

Dan

[megaman]

I'm planning on doing 3 weeks of 400's which would put us 3 weeks away from states.What would you suggest for speed work? 200's? And if so at what speed?Its kind of hard with 2 weeks of training then meets for 6 weeks in a row.Plus I have a total of 50 kids. What I do is break them up into ability and stagger their starts for the 400's.Slowest kids take off first then progresivle the faster kids go and I try to time it so everyone finishes at about the same time, therefore everyone gets the same recovery time.

[megaman]

Dan, we did 800m w/up followed by 6x400's at 90 sec. with a 60 sec. interval. It was too easy for the majority of the kids there. we finished up doing 2x200's at 40 sec. with a 60 sec. interval, then a 800m cool/down.The fastsest kids thought it was too easy, but I feel that is supposed to be easy, yet it is still at race pace or close.Any input is helpfull. Thanks

[Dan]

You've hit on one of the main reasons I believe speed development should *never* be sacrificed, even during periods of base building. You can go 2-3 weeks of reduced load before endurance begins to suffer, but that is not long enough to develop speed with any success if it is not already there.

Since you are 6 weeks out from your championship meet, you should have enough time to work in a balance of speed/pace and endurance work. My approach would be to design about half of your non distance running to be geared toward goal pace at the state meet. If you have someone capable of running 5:40 pace for 2 miles, then their intervals should be at 85 seconds per 400m. If they can run that pace and feel it is too slow, then you need to increase the number of intervals and/or reduce the recovery time. The recoveries you're giving them now aren't all that long, which makes me think they can race faster than they have to date...

Dan

[megaman]

Dan, thanks for your input. What would you consider a good speed workout. Running the 400's at the faster pace or should I have them do 200's?

[Dan]

I think you would do well to mix it up with them. 400's could make up about 50% of your uptempo stuff, with the rest being about 25% 200's and 25% 800's. Keep it from getting stale and work on some different energy systems. Vary the quantity and rest based on the distance.

Dan

[megaman]

Dan, thanks for your input. I'll let you know how we make out at states. I will mix it up with them. Maybe at this age it kind of doesnt matter as long as they are out there doing some type of workout. Thanks again for your input.

[megaman]

Dan, we just completed our x- country season. My #1 runner for the girls came in second place. She ran the 1.95 mile course in 12:05.she lost to a 7th grader who is on a jr. olympic team or program. the girls team came in 6 out of 35. the top 2 teams in the state,we had beaten them within the last 2 weeks.overall an exceptional year.If the 4 and 5 runners for us run their normal race we win the staes, but isnt that the way x-country goes?

[Dan]

Congratulations, sounds like you had a very successful end to the season!

Dan