Blog Posts from Coaching, Running and Wining
Breathe Right As a Runner
BREATHE RIGHT AS A RUNNER Runners should breathe from the diaphragm (or stomach) and not the upper chest. One way I found to do this was to put one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach. See if you can tell where more of the movement is originating from. The...
Planning Your Cross Country Season? Work Backwards
Planning Your Cross Country Season? Work Backwards!!! As a high school social science teacher, I was surprised at colleagues who would lament that they did not get to the period in history their class required. I encouraged them to “work backwards”. Figure out where...
Too Many Cooks, Spoil the Coaching Pot
Once I decided to create my own system based on my philosophy, understanding of workouts and what I believed would work best for my athletes at my school, we became much more successful.
How To Have Confidence on Race Day
It is particularly important that runners know how much the mental race is a huge factor in determining their performance in the physical race.
Picking the Best Shoe for You
People have asked me, “Whats the best running shoe?”
I always answer, “there is no BEST running shoe, there is only the shoe That is BEST FOR YOU!”
Phases of Workouts
In this article I will take you through the phases of a training cycle, the key workouts in each and the amount of time each phase should take.
Types of Workouts
In this article I am going to help you understand the different types of workouts you can do to improve your running and racing. I’ll explain how and when to do them in your training cycle or plan.
WORKOUT GOAL SHEETS
WORKOUT GOAL SHEETS Few people leave on a road trip without knowing where they are going. Most people use a map or maps on their device to help them get there. Similarly, coaches and athletes benefit from specific goal setting during workouts. I don't believe it is...
Planning for the State Meet
PLANNING FOR THE STATE MEET When planning for the State Meet, a cross country coach needs to do several things. First, study the race results for past years. Note what race times it takes to get to the State Meet from your qualifying races. In California this would be...
Keep Track of Summer Miles
Keep Track of Summer Miles Establishing a strong base of miles run in the summer prior to a fall cross country season is an important precursor to sucess. I have discussed this principle in Coach, Run, Win and in other articles on this website. Summer Workout Plan I...
Summer Workout Plan
Summer Workout Plan for Fall Cross Country This article presents an overall approach to setting up and implementing a summer workout plan. https://coachrunwin.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Summer-Workout-Plan.xlsx The examples here were for a high school cross...
Determining Training Paces
Determining Training Paces For a Fall Cross Country season, begin in the summer with the earliest workouts, recording distances, times, and paces for each athlete. Once you have two weeks of workout recorded, begin to individualize the workouts. Use my “Training Paces...
Determining Training Paces
Determining Training Paces For a Fall Cross Country season, begin in the summer with the earliest workouts, recording distances, times, and paces for each athlete. Once you have two weeks of workout recorded, begin to individualize the workouts. Use my “Training Paces...
Tempo Runs
Tempo Runs The tempo run has been THE workout in my training system. I attribute much of our teams' success to this one workout! Tempo runs occur weekly for 8 to 10 weeks, beginning around the sixth week of the 23–24-week season cycle. You may see this workout done in...
Running Hills
Techniques for Running Hills Running hills efficiently is a key to successful racing in cross country. This article has three parts. A discussion of uphill running, then downhill and finishes with attitude and approach. Uphill Running Uphill technique has several...
Long and Recovery Runs
Long and Recovery Runs are two key elements of any training program. They are crucial regardless of the race distance goal. They are both done at conversational paces. As a result, a runner should be able to converse the whole time of the run. In other words, these...
