IRON

Hello....Here is a good article on IRON. Iron deficiency can cause recovery problems, energy  etc
Are you fatigued? Tired?

See what foods will help. link

Coaching Notes: what happens if a runner gets sick?

Here is a recent post from Coach Jay.....What do we do when we get sick during the season?
Some common sense ideas......and some reminders

Hello, and I hope this finds you doing well.

Sickness during the cross country season is something all programs deal with. Ideally, only one or two athletes are sick during the cross country season, and hopefully, the length of the sickness is limited to a handful of days. At the other end of the spectrum is a coach having most of their varsity ill for a week, if not longer. 

In this newsletter, I’ll share my approach to helping athletes get back to training and racing at 100 percent as soon as possible following an illness.

A Simple Goal

When an athlete is sick, the goal is two-fold. The coach first needs to lower the athlete’s life stress and increase the amount of sleep. As their cross country coach, you can lower their life stress by either taking away training days completely or giving them extremely easy training days. If you do either of these, the athlete should be done with practice much earlier in the day and if they are serious about getting well, then they can knock out their homework earlier in the night. All this allows them to get to bed earlier, which is the end goal.

The key is that the two of you come up with a plan that has them sleeping significantly more than they normally do. While you can’t change the academic demands they have, you can change the training stress and you can change the number of hours they need to be at practice.

First, Give Them A Day Off

While neither you nor the athlete likes that they are sick, the key is that you don’t make things worse. Sometimes not making things worse is the best you can do. Your job is to accept that and then effectively communicate that to the athlete. If they’re motivated and are dying to improve, they’re not going to like this plan, yet it’s the right plan.

Giving a high school athlete a day off from training and allowing them to get a good night's sleep is the first thing a coach needs to do when an athlete is really sick. If you send them home from practice, they can then knock out their homework, have dinner with their family, then go to bed 1-2 hours earlier than normal. If they are motivated to do some fascial release, work with a foam roller, lacrosse ball or other tools before bed, great, but the key is to get to bed.

If they aren’t terribly sick then they can do 20 minutes of Strength and Mobility (SAM) at practice and then go home and follow the same script as above. For kids who are extroverted, this may be best as they get to be with the team for a bit.

The key is that both you and the athlete have complete faith that a day off from aerobic training is not going to cause a decrease in fitness. 

Second, Assign An Easy Day With Strides And SAM

The second day can be an easy day with strides, followed by SAM, then back home with the goal to get to bed 30-60 minutes earlier than normal. 

How long should they run today? If they do some dynamic work to warm-up, which takes 5-8 minutes, they could run for 25 minutes and then do strides for 10 minutes. This brings them to 40-43 minutes. Add 15 minutes of SAM and then 5 minutes of chatting with friends and you have roughly an hour of work. The key at the end of this day is for them to go home and do their best to get in that extra 30-60 minutes of sleep.

Key Point: They must get more sleep on this day then they would on a normal easy day in your system.

Both Of You Have To Be Honest

Both you and the athlete have to be honest that their illness is not ideal. As I said above, once you embrace the idea that if you don’t make things worse, this athlete’s immune system should be able to quickly fight off the illness.

Remember, that athlete is going to report that they feel good immediately after a run and some SAM work. What you need to have them do is check-in 30 minutes before bed and then in the morning when they wake up. Those two times are better indications of their health. Use those two self-reports to figure out what the next step is in their training.

When In Doubt, Do Less (#WIDDL)

This is a phrase I use with adult marathon runners, runners who are prone to overtraining. The same phrase applies to you and the sick high school athlete. When in doubt, do less. And 90 percent of the time, that means that even if you assign them the first two days described, the majority of the time they’ll need one more easy day (with strides and SAM) before they’re 100 percent ready for training.

Look at it this way: Would you rather have an athlete who had an extra day of rest and is excited to train or have an athlete who doesn’t feel 100 percent (and may feel less than 90 percent), but is reluctant to tell you because they are dying to get back into workouts and run with their friends? Neither you nor the athlete have a definitive measurement of what percentage out of 100 they are, so the prudent thing to do is to give them another easy day.

Don't get caught making these mistakes!

1. Getting involved in the hype by reading the papers, social media and/or looking up your stats. After your season is over, then you can check this stuff out. During the season, focus on always improving.

2. Associating with negative people. They will slow you down and taint your progress during the season. Keep your distance from them.

3. Making any particular event or meet “special.” All competitions and practices are important, but nothing is ever special. Special adds pressure. Treat everything the same to stay consistent.

4. Believing ANY opponent you face is unbeatable. There are countless examples of the underdog succeeding – David and Goliath, The Movie “Miracle”, etc. It’s possible for you too.

5. Getting hung on the past or worrying about the future. Only worry about the present and how you can do your best at this moment.

6. Under any circumstances using the word CAN’T. Don’t ever say that word!

7.  Dwelling on a setback or loss. The best way to get over a loss is to learn from it. Grow from the mistake and use it to your advantage.

8. Focusing exclusively on winning or titles. Also note when you reach new milestones or personal achievements – they are important too!

9. Competing not to lose. Not losing shouldn’t be your goal – always play to win and achieve your goals.

10. Using extreme self-talk that puts extra pressure on you. Don’t use words like “must,” “should,” or “need to.” Instead, say “I want” and “I choose.”

Hello All

Here is the Foundation Exercise Video's from Dr. Kelly at ABD. These are simple to reinforce activation of the muscles and hips needed to prepare for workouts. We will add a couple of these to the workouts. If you want to see them all....I believe in the simple things....

If you can't log on, ask me for the log in

Week 4 of Summer run CAMP

Group 1 Advanced
Monday - Run Day 40 mins
Tuesday - Hill repeat day 35-40 mins
Wednesday Salisbury - 40-45 mins
Thursday - Travel Day...Cherry Creek Dog Park (Orchard and Parker Road) TBA
40-50  mins switch days if needed
Friday - Run Day 40 Mins

No "team practice for Camp" the week of July 1-6th
4th of July Parker 5k

Group 2
Monday- 30-35 mins
Tuesday - Hill Day 30 mins
Wednesday - Salisbury 35 mins
Thursday - Travel day 30-40 mins
Friday - 30 mins Run Day

Group 3
All runs 25 -30 mins
No Walking!

Summer Running Camp Plans Week 3    June 17th

Soon we will create a link for this, but summer camp is fairly simple. Just build a foundation of running minutes, then miles. We will mix in a few pace workouts along the way.

Don't get too much in a rush to get miles or minutes in....but also challenge yourself based on your experience with running and your recent running over the past few weeks. Also your age is an important factor.. As you get older and stronger you can handle more. Conversations about your mileage should be with your coaches

Level 1 Group
For those who are older and/or experienced. Regardless of your 5k time.
Monday- Normal Run Day...30-40 mins
Tuesday- recovery pace with a dash of fartlek or tempo mixed in
Wednesday- Longer Run of 35-45 mins (some are ready for 50 mins)
For Summer this is typically the longest run of the week
Thursday: Travel Day WEEK 3 has been suggested to carpool to Miller Rec Center _ Mini Incline in Castle Rock...more info at practice
Friday- Same as monday with short hills
Saturday Rest or on your own 30 mins

New Runners!
Start with minutes of running...
20-35 mins....make running comfortable and reduce the mins from level one. Find a running friend and listen to your body tell you if you can do more or need to back off. Summer is FUN

Get your strava account!
Workout for Final Surge coming in August

ASK and Communicate ANYTHING......We are here to guide you along the way. After increasing for 2 weeks in a row, it is fine to have a down week before adding more minutes to your week

So far....very excited at your progress!!!

Ice Baths...When? Yes or No?

Hello, and I hope this finds you doing well.

I know you’re busy with championship meets, so I’ll keep this short.

There is good reason to use ice baths during the final two-day meet of the year. After the first day of competition, an ice bath can decrease inflammation and help the athlete come back and run well the next day. Yet an ice bath may not make sense for three consecutive weeks of meets, as the inflammation associated with racing is in some ways a good thing. 

Check out this video, which is well worth three and a half minutes, features Dr. Messer. He explains why athletes should do ice baths during big meets, but not other times of the year. Again, it’s worth your time.

For athletes who may or may not advance to the next meet, I’d have them do the ice bath between the competition days. Better to have them take an ice bath the week of the qualifying meet for state and make it to state, rather than not.

Switching gears, many athletes at this time of year want to run PRs — and that’s great — that’s what you want as well. 

It’s worth reminding your athletes that when they’re running against good competition, they simply need to compete and do their best to beat as many good runners as possible. Even if the weather is less than ideal, HS athletes often run PRs this time of year because of the parity of the competition. Simply focusing on the competition and beating as many people as possible will often mean having to run a PR to advance to the next week.

Example: a 2:20 800m runner will be in a race with a lot girls with PRs between 2:16 and 2:22 and that’s a great opportunity for her to run a PR, knowing that some of the 2:22 girls will go out too hard and she can pass them in the last 200m of the race (if not earlier).

I wish you the best this weekend and in the coming weeks. If you have a question or comment, I’d love to hear from you — just respond to this email.

Take care.

Jay

Arizona Time Schedule and Meet Info

https://www.chandlerrotarytm.com/

the 48 hour rule for Distance/Mid Distance

With over 30 years of coaching experience and many more years of running experience, I have believed that training is a science and an art. Like "Pre" said...its like a work of art. You are always touching things up until you have a masterpiece!

The Big Idea: 48 hours of recovery runs or low intensity before a race or a workout!

For High School racing once a week...that means
Sunday - Monday are recovery days
Tuesday- tempo or fartlek or reps. This could also be a long run day or hills or short race pace
Wednesday would be a 'workout Wednesday' or goal pace or intervals or Vo2 max days
Note: a Long run over an hour, would count as a Q day
Thursday will be a recovery pace of about 45 minutes- no more than an hour
Friday would be pre meet day depending on your race schedule for Saturday
Saturday is a Q day..Race day. One or Two Q races

Tuesday or Weds can be flipped with the harder day on Weds.

The most important part of this is that we have our final Q day on Weds if we race on Saturday

Read page 2 of this document!

Arizona Option

To All: If you are still interested in the Chandler Rotary Meet on March 22-23rd

There are a few that would still like to fly to AZ for this meet. We did cancel our bus due to lack of participants for this year. If you can purchase your own ticket or way to AZ, AND also communicate with Coach Miller to be entered.....a couple of us have found prices with Southwest Airlines. Coach Miller will be leaving on Wednesday night at 8:35 pm flight 704. Returning on Sunday leaves at 12:40pm. Returns at 3:20pm
See Coach Miller if you are still interested.

Track Update on Spring Break

Arizona Trip will be canceled for this season. We will look at other options for next year.
For those that "really really " still want to go...options are flying or travel by rental van or parents ect...See me and I can still enter you.

Reason why? In past years we have had 20-24 with the goal of always having 24 to make the trip afordable and under $500. This year, we have posted a sign up form (twice) and we have at most only about 12-15 interested athletes.

The track program can no longer fund this and our payment through fundraising has been mostly late or not at all. Therefore, we will save some money that we need for our new equipment which was already purchased

If you have questions, please ask
We will try to schedule a meet during the week of Spring Break for anyone who is around

We will plan to have 3 practice days that week

For the complete schedule and more track links,....see the Track Webpage

Distance-Mid Distance: Aerobic Workouts first

Here is another article that may help....Before we get to 8 x 400 ect....There are different workouts the build you Aerobic Base....Some of these are designed for older runners or even more towards XC. the volume should change based on your running age. Jay Johnson posted an article on Fartlek which I posted. This in geared towards Aerobic repeats........Take a few minutes to read and come back to this when you can......

Aerobic Repeats

Most runners think that speed work is a key to gaining fitness and being race ready. While it’s true that you need to do some race pace work (and you should use that term rather than speed work) to race to your potential, you need to have done weeks and months of challenging aerobic workouts first. 

Aerobic repeats are done entirely below your anaerobic threshold, which is different than workouts such as 10 x 400m with 60 seconds of walking, where you are maxing out the aerobic metabolism plus dipping into the anaerobic metabolism. The aerobic repeat workout is entirely aerobic and it’s the type of workout you want to be doing regularly in the foundational phase of your training.

4 x 8 minutes with 3 minutes steady is the first aerobic repeat workout I use with athletes. Totaling 41 minutes of high level aerobic running, this is a challenging workout, so long as you run steady rather than easy for the 3-minute segment. Yes, it’s slower than the 8-minute segment, but don’t think of it as a full recovery. By the end of the 3 minutes, you should be thinking, “I wish I had another minute at this pace.” Do a 10-minute warm-up and a 10-minute cool-down to get 61 minutes of total running.

What paces should you run? I have no idea. I have no idea what your fitness is, so I can’t tell you what paces you should be able to run for this workout. What I can tell you is if you run by feel, you’ll be able to execute this workout on the second or third try. The keys to this workout are as follows.

First, you need to make the first 8-minute segment very conservative. Do that and you give yourself a great chance of running faster on the next three 8-minute repetitions.

Second, you need to make your last 8-minute repetition your fastest repetition. If you do that, then you’ll have done a workout that has a slight progression to it, aka a negative split workout, where the second half of the workout is faster than the first half of the workout.

Third, you must be able to say, “I could have done one more 8-minute repetition. I wouldn’t have wanted 5 minutes of steady running rather than 3 minutes, yet I know I could have done it.” If you can say that at the end of the workout, then you’ve done a great job executing this workout.

Just like the fartlek workout, there is no shame in bombing this workout the first or second time you do the workout. All that means is that you’re learning the skill of running by feel, which is a challenge if you’ve been running all of your workouts based on pace.

Final thought. This is basically an extended version of the fartlek workout, and for that reason, this is the next workout you should do after you have a couple of fartlek workouts under your belt. The difference is that you have to focus for 8 minutes, which is much more difficult than focusing for 4 minutes.

Feel free to do 5 x 8 minutes with 3 minutes steady for 52 minutes of challenging aerobic running (so 72 minutes with a 10-minute warm-up and 10-minute cool-down). That’s the longest aerobic repeat workout most high school athletes and adult athletes need to do. From there, it makes sense to move into progression runs and progression fartleks.

Progression Runs

Progression runs are not only a great way to get a significant aerobic stimulus, they are also an indicator of your ability to run by feel. Let me explain.

Because a progression run has you running progressively faster throughout the run, you have to gauge your effort early in the workout. While you don’t want to run so slow to start this workout that you’re not being challenged, there is a tendency to run a bit too fast on the first segment of the progression run. You’ll have to speed up at three points in this run, so you have to make sure that in the first section, you are being challenged, but running conservatively. If you are skilled at running by feel, this won’t be a problem, but if you’re still honing that skill, then knowing what rhythm you can run and still be able to speed up three times will pose a challenge.

I really like a 50-minute progression run as the bread and butter version of this run, but only for the fit, mature athlete. The assignment is 20 minutes steady, 15 minutes a bit faster, 10 minutes a bit faster, then 5 minutes fast but controlled. If you do a 10-minute warm-up and a 10-minute cool-down, you have 70 minutes of running. For many high school athletes, this workout can serve as the long run. And the pace changes help most athletes stay focused on the task at hand, so long as the first part of the run is truly steady.

Key Point: The high school athletes I work with do these workouts a bit differently, incorporating strides as part of the warm-up and as part of the last 10-15 minutes of the run. If you’re interested in learning how that is done, you can enroll in the Fundamentals Education Course.

If you do LMLS before the run and SAM after the run, then you’ll work out for 90 minutes, start to finish. This is a realistic amount of time to ask high school or collegiate athlete to train, as well as being a realistic amount of time for the busy adult with a hectic life.

You can start with a 40-minute progression run: 15 minutes steady, 10 minutes faster, 10 minutes faster, then 5 minutes fast but controlled. You can also extend this workout and do a 60-minute progression, where you do 30 minutes steady, 15 minutes faster, 10 minutes faster and 5 minutes fast but controlled. That’s a long day, with 80 minutes of running between the progression run and 10 minutes for the warm-up and cool-down. Add 20-25 minutes of LSLM and SAM and now you’re close to 105 minutes for the day. 

For high school athletes, this workout is more appropriate for juniors and seniors who have a training age of a couple of years. Following the mantra of “easy days easy so the hard days can be hard” then this is a great aerobic workout for high school athletes, and because it’s a hard workout, this is a day to do some challenging post run general strength. The neuromuscular work done after this workout will depend on the philosophy of the coach and how much they believe in the importance of neuromuscular work. 

Hint: a good coach should have some sort of faster running as part of every workout. Successful high school coaches like John O’Malley, Jeff Boele and Dr. Jeff Messer all have their athletes running fast each day. Simply listen to my interviews with them on the Coaching Runners podcast to learn how they infuse fast running into a training session.

Key Point: At the end of this workout, you must be able to say, “I could have run another 5 minutes at the final pace and felt decent doing so. And I could have run another 10 minutes at the final pace if it were a race effort.” Said another way, you’re never going to end this workout running all out. If you do that, then you’re not executing this workout correctly.

As long as you start the progression run conservatively, you should be able to speed up three times. The workout is a lot of fun when you execute it properly and it’s great mental practice for race day, when you’ll want to be pushing in the late stages of the race.

This workout should come after you’ve done a couple of Fartlek workouts and after you’ve done at least one Aerobic Repeats workout. 

Arizona OR Bust OR NOT

Hello Athletes and Parents (Please share this link with your parents)

For the past 5 years, our track team has made a bus trip to compete over spring break in the Chandler Rotary Track Meet. This year the meet is March 22-23. We would leave school on Wednesday of spring break, then practice on the Thursday. Then the meet is over 2 days Friday March 22nd and Sat March 23rd. The meet ends around 9pm and then we take the bus back overnight and arrive back on Sunday around noon

The problem is: The bus price has gone up to $9700 for a 40 passenger bus. If we have 24 paid athletes that comes out to $400 per person. Hotel will add another $100. Including meals and activities we are looking at $550-$600 expense.

The track program is in a spending freeze with us purchasing a new Pole vault pits, a new tent, and a new set of blocks and cart. If you would like to go on this trip, the cost would need to be covered by each one of you. In the past, this fee has been added to your account and sometimes does not get paid.

THE ONLY WAY: We need a minimum of 24 confirmed athletes with a down payment of $300 before March 10th. I will accept an email from your parents to hold your spot. Please fill out the google form on the Legend Track Web page by THURSDAY of this week. If the response in not at least 24 athletes, then we won't make this trip.

The trip is awesome and fun...and low altitude and usually great weather!! It is well worth it.

WHAT IS PLAN B:
Plan B......I have hotel rooms and will enter some of you that wish to fly. I can rent a van for 8 of you unless we have parents that want to help with transportation

THIS IS ONE OR THE OTHER. We will all take the bus trip and help pay for the bus  If I enter any of you , you will all help pitch in the same amount for the bus. If we can't go on the bus, then I will get a list of those that can fly. You would have to purchase your own flights, and that is not cheap either

PLEASE RESPOND BY THURSDAY JANUARY 17TH IF 'THINK' YOU CAN GO

DON'T SAY YES UNTIL YOU TALK WITH YOUR PARENTS!!

I will be available Wednesday morning during access if you have questions

Coach Miller

What is Fartlek? Run by Feel

Distance and Mid Distance:

You have heard Coach talk about Run by Feel.....which transfers to racing. This is one of the top topics of Coach Jay Johnson. I believe that every runner feels different on every workout at different times. Learn to run by feel and not by the 'watch'. (you know who you are)

We do workouts like....4 mins on 3 mins off or 2 on 3 off.....These are good for developing " run by feel". Here is an article that explains 'fartlek"

Fartlek Workouts

Fartlek workouts are one of the simplest aerobic workouts and can be used at the start of a block of training, with both young athletes and older athletes.

Fartlek is a Swedish term that means “speed-play.” You simply oscillate between two or more paces in your run. The simplest fartleks should be done in 5-minute blocks. So you can do 2 minutes “on” – a pace that is challenging, but one you could do for 15-20 minutes. Then do 3 minutes “steady” – a pace that is slower than the “on” pace, but faster than your easy run pace. That is a solid 5 minutes of running. Do 4 sets and you have 20 minutes of running; do 8 sets and you have 40 minutes of running. So you can complete a 10-minute warm-up and a 10-minute cool-down, then do 4-8 sets in the middle, giving you 40-60 minutes of running. Simple.

The common mistake with fartlek workouts is to go too fast during the on and too slow on the steady. So, run VERY easy during the first on segment, but keep the steady at an honest pace. Again, the on portions should be at a pace you can do for 15-20 minutes, so running just 2 minutes at this pace is not that challenging.

This workout is the antithesis of 10 x 400m with 60 seconds of walk/jog. In that workout, you go extremely hard, then walk/jog. Contrast that to the fartlek workout where you run a challenging, but not hard pace during the on portion, then make the steady portion fast enough that the 5-minute block is challenging, but very doable.

You can progress from 2 minutes on, 3 minutes steady, to 3 minutes on, 2 minutes steady, then on to a killer fartlek of 4 minutes on, 1 minute steady. These are assigned as 2/3, 3/2 and 4/1 on a training document. All three variations have you running 5-minutes per set, and you can do up to 10 or 12 sets (though just 5-6 sets will be challenging for a high school athlete coming off their first cross country season or an adult athlete just getting back into training).

Here’s the good news when it comes to your first couple of fartlek workouts. 

If you go too hard early on and end up running slower paces by the end of the workout, no worries – you’re learning how to run by feel. So bombing this workout the first time – and even the second time – you run it is fine, so long as you learn how to run by feel and make the last couple of sets your fastest. 

Eventually, you should get to the point where the difference between the on portions and the steady portions is 60 seconds or less. But again, run by feel and don’t look at paces when you’re doing this work. After the workout, you should look at the splits to see if you need to slow down the on portions and speed up the steady portions, which is what ninety percent of athletes need to do when they first perform this workout.

This is a simple workout, but as jazz pianist Thelonious Monk said, “Simple ain’t easy.” #simpleainteasy