Summer training is essential to cross country success. If you show up in the fall without a base of endurance and strength, you鈥檒l either spend most of the season getting to square one, or you鈥檒l quickly get hurt as you attempt workouts you鈥檙e not ready for. But summer running need not 鈥� and should not 鈥� be difficult and stressful. This is a time for gradually building your body. Week by week you鈥檒l feel running get easier and you鈥檒l be going longer and faster with less effort.

Below you鈥檒l find three plans focused on progressing athletes throughout the summer season in preparation for the fall cross country season. One is for brand new runners (Beginner), one for runners who have had one to two years of distance running under their belts (Intermediate) and one for upper-classmen who have trained and advanced every year (Advanced).

These plans are designed to set athletes up for the season they have in front of them 鈥� which will consistent of multiple races in a short amount of time. Speed work and highly dense workouts aren鈥檛 in these plans; these are designed to train you so you can manage the over the 2鈥�3 months of fall as you prepare for the championship season in October and November.

If you鈥檝e been running some since track ended, jump forward to a week that roughy mirrors how much you鈥檝e done regularly. Be honest, and if in doubt, start with an easier week and progress. If you鈥檙e just starting your summer running, start at the beginning. Don鈥檛 worry about 鈥渇inishing鈥� the weeks before cross country practice starts 鈥� the point is development to advance your starting fitness when workouts begin in the fall. The worst result would be that you are worn out or injured before the season starts.

As you look at the plans, keep these principles in mind:

A Focus on Base

Keep your Aerobic Runs at a conversational pace, finishing these runs with plenty of energy for the following days workout or run. Aerobic Efforts run too hard defeat the purpose of the whole plan and undermine your season come October and November. Slower, easy runs are designed to build capacity and demand that you run slowly so you can build your overall volume.

Progression Long Runs

Once you have built a great base, you will want to build your ability to change gears and run fast when you鈥檙e tired. Being able to get your legs turning over as you are finishing a long run will help you run fast in that final mile of a 5K. Progressions to Threshold means pushing the pace of the last few miles of a long run to an effort that feels like 7鈥�8 on a scale of 10. Don鈥檛 try to push down to 5K pace 鈥� that鈥檚 too hard at this point in the season, you will build to that.

Hills

You will see a lot of . They are designed to build power and provide a great platform before you enter into a bigger focus on speed and 5K goal pace workouts. Hit these hills hard, focusing on running uphill with perfect form and pushing yourself. Early workouts require a walk down recovery, later workouts you can jog back down.

Timed Intervals

Intervals for 3:00, 5:00, 7:00 are designed to be run at your 5K race pace or slightly faster (up to 15 second/mile faster). These workouts can be intense and require you to give considerable focus on recovery in the days following. Approach these workouts with an idea of progressing each effort so that you run faster and faster with each repetition vs. trying to go out hard and just 鈥榟ang on.鈥�

—

Andrew Simmons is head coach of 听补苍诲 .

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Marathoners looking to achieve their best need more than miles: they need a quiver of key marathon workouts to hone every system and all the skills required to run strong for 26.2 miles. Achieving a level of mastery in running has always been measured by an athlete鈥檚 achievement on a single day. However, a race performance isn鈥檛 determined by a single workout in the athlete鈥檚 build up, but the accumulation of their efforts. In other words, the consistency. The workouts below require mastery of many unique properties of a skilled marathoner: from pacing, to testing nutrition and hydration plans, to tackling big hills without breaking form.

These eight workouts test every aspect of a marathoner鈥檚 ability and, when executed correctly, highlight a marathoner鈥檚 skill while exposing their vulnerabilities.

Early Phase Marathon Workouts

Workout: 1200m Repeats

Summary

5-6x 1200m @ 10K-5K pace; 2:00 static / jog recoveries.

When to use this workout

This is the perfect workout for early in the season to test your current fitness and measure your ability to pace yourself. The workout provides enough volume to put a moderate load of fatigue in the legs while also giving you enough rest that the paces should be manageable.

Why I like this workout

The generous amount of rest allows you to nail the goal of the workout, and the reps are longer so even if you haven鈥檛 done much speed work yet, you鈥檙e unlikely to overdo it. This gives you enough rest while still allowing for enough lactic build up so that you can use this as a jumping off point for longer tempo efforts. With 3.5 -4.5 miles of intensity, you can jump to 4-5 miles of marathon work without overextending.

Points for Success聽

If you鈥檙e early in the season, take the static rest and try to progress reps. If you鈥檙e hitting this for a second round in the middle of your build up, be more aggressive in your pacing and hold a steadier pace for the recovery. Static recovery is only useful for an athlete that is returning from a long stint away from any intense work. Making the recoveries a consistent jog or aerobic run is going to teach you body how to mitigate lactate with active recovery.

Workout: 4x4x400m Repeats

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16x 400m [4x4x400m @ 5K Pace]; 1:00 recovery between reps, 3:00 recovery between sets.

When to use this workout

This workout is a great reintroduction to speed after a series of block. The precursor to this workout is 12-16 x 200-meters on 200-meter recovery, so only jump into this workout once you can confidently finish a series of continuous 200s. This should be one of the first fatiguing efforts in your 2nd block after building a structured base. This is not a good workout to use as one of your first three workouts after a break because the volume, intensity and speed will likely overload your hamstrings. Use this workout when you鈥檙e finding it hard to find your goal pace or need a workout that won鈥檛 throw you over the edge for 2-3 days, but want some volume in your week.

Why I like this workout

This is a great workout to build an athlete鈥檚 turnover in bite size pieces. No one repetition has to be killer and he or she can progress reps within the set, or progress each set. It’s a great mental strength builder without forcing you to go to the well too many times. As a coach, I view this workout less as a top-end Vo2Max session, but more of an economy and stride mechanics workout. You should be able to run these 400s at 5K pace and just start to feel a burn and a push before a near full recovery between sets.听

Points for Success

It鈥檚 great to do these 400s broken up with near full recovery so you can get your legs under you. The first set should be conservative so you can feel your legs out 鈥� be honest and run no faster than current 5K pace/effort. If you鈥檙e still unsure of your current fitness / capacity for this intense effort, start with a static rest and move to a jog recovery between sets if you find yourself recovering very quickly.听

Mid-Phase Marathon Workouts

Workout: Marathon to Half Marathon Pace Progression Repeats

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3x 10:00 up to 3x 5K @ half-marathon pace, 3:00 float jog recovery between each.

When to use this workout

This workout can be run in the middle of a buildup when you are feeling fatigued, with a static 3:00 rest 鈥� or it can be done late term as a final confidence build 10 days out, with a faster run or jog between, to push the legs a final time. The key is to use this workout when your legs can manage longer bouts of marathon-paced work. Use this only once you鈥檝e completed a 22-24-minute continuous tempo at marathon goal pace or faster. The range of 10:00 to 5K really depends on the capability of the athlete. A seasoned athlete is going to be more capable of 3 x 5km while a new runner will be stretched at 3x 10:00.听

Why I like this workout

This is a great 鈥渇eeler鈥� as you can get gritty in the last 5K if you pace yourself well. It can be either a confidence booster or a reality check if you have been sitting out a few sessions. There is no hiding from this workout because the accumulated fatigue will have your legs noticeably loaded in the first rep.

Points for Success

If you鈥檙e new to the marathon, start with the 3x 10 minutes workout 鈥� even if you鈥檙e aiming for a sub-3:00 marathon. The 3x 5K is a stout workout and will replicate the later stages of the race if you鈥檝e had a big week to go along with this workout. Progression is everything here and we鈥檙e looking for a big negative split. Start at or slightly slower than marathon pace and work down to half marathon pace. This will allow you to build confidence with each rep and push harder and harder without going over the top too early.

Workout: 3K-2K-1K Ladders

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2x [3k at half marathon pace, 2K at 10K pace, 1K at 5K pace]; 2:00 recovery between reps; 4:00 recovery between sets.

When to use this workout

This workout is best used when you鈥檙e needing a different stimulus from longer marathon-paced efforts, your legs are feeling 鈥渟low鈥� and you are also in need of volume. This workout is a great way to insert some speed and work on efficiency, race day pacing, and general mechanics. This workout is best used in the middle of your build up or a transition workout when prepping for a half marathon or 10K tune-up race.听

Why I like this workout

I like this workout because it requires you hit different energy systems and effectively have to 鈥渃hange gears鈥� each rep. This workout is a dynamic shift away from marathon pace work and will give you a good sense of your current 5K/10K fitness as well as helping you understand how 鈥渆asy鈥� marathon pace should feel. Lastly, this workout is long and allows you to get in a big effort below marathon pace, which will pay dividends a few weeks out.听

Points for Success

Know your paces and be a little conservative through the first set. Take the entire 4-minute rest and don鈥檛 cheat yourself even if you feel good in the first set. The second set will have you working through heaviness in your legs. Pushing through that fatigue is paramount for success in miles 22鈥�26 of the marathon, so this is a workout worth mastering.

Workout: Race Simulator Tempo聽

Summary

15-20km tempo run at marathon pace, or half marathon race at marathon pace.

When to use this workout

This is for when you need to know if your race pace is reasonable. This is a workout for a seasoned athlete as a midweek tempo in your biggest training block, or as a final 鈥渢est鈥� in the middle of a long run to determine the capacity of your legs. This workout is intended to be a controlled effort, but will undoubtedly work you over if completed on a week of heavy mileage or big workouts. The goal is to get comfortable and build confidence at race pace without burning your matches and peaking too early.

Why I like this workout

It’s an absolute 鈥渆mpty the tank鈥� effort that will show you your strengths, weaknesses and everything in-between. Making sure you nail down your hydration and nutrition plan in advance of this workout is a key outcome that will give you great intel for your goal race. I like this workout because it requires you to commit to a pace and be dialed in. Even if it goes completely upside down, you鈥檒l have valuable information about where your fitness is.听

Points for Success

Don鈥檛 give up when it starts to get hard. This workout is about stretching your limits to peek over the wall at what you鈥檙e capable of. I have found that when you take a progressive approach to an 鈥渁ll-out effort鈥� you often find that there is more in the tank. This is especially liberating when you can hit the final 5K ahead of pace and smash your expectations. Go in with a defined nutrition and hydration plan 鈥� take great notes before and after so you can replicate the positives and tease out the negatives.

End Phase Marathon Workouts

Workout: 25 to 5-minute Cut-Downs

Summary

25-15-5 (or 25-20-15-10-5) cut-downs at marathon pace with 2:00 float jogs recoveries in-between.

When to use this workout聽

This is best used in the intro week of your final marathon training block as a way to get comfortable with marathon pace. This workout can also be used in the middle of a long run as a way to test your legs for final stages of marathon fitness.听

Why I like this workout

I like this workout because it鈥檚 about finding a comfort zone. Mastering this workout means that marathon pace is coming easy and you can sustain it comfortably for at least an hour to 75 minutes. This workout demands your focus and attention, by completing it you can be confident you could run a half marathon as a tune up at marathon pace, if not much faster!

Points for Success

Mastering this workout requires that you break the work down into pieces and stay honest with yourself! If you are completing this workout mid-week, it鈥檚 best to start at a conservative marathon pace and work down to your dream goal pace. Make the recovery jog a true jog and let your legs simmer down, if you鈥檙e doing it right, each effort should build up to be fairly difficult in the final quarter of each rep, letting you know that you are working hard.

Workout: Fast-Finish Long Run

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Close out the final 30-45:00 of your long run at a sustained marathon pace.

When to use this workout

This workout is best utilized in a late training phase as a part of your long run to build confidence in your ability to maintain marathon pace at the end of the race. This should not be the first time you run at marathon pace for 30+ minutes and should only be used once you鈥檙e confident with your marathon goal pace. Use this as a final workout in a block as it can be extremely taxing at the end of a 16+ mile run. Proper recovery after an effort like this is essential as this workout is extremely taxing.听

Why I like this workout

This workout requires grit, proper fueling strategies, and confidence in your ability to run fast on tired legs. I like this workout because it can pay dividends on future weeks with proper recovery. This workout is a cornerstone of late-stage marathon prep because it also tests your proposed fueling strategy for the marathon. I believe this workout is essential to race-day success because it will bring forth every weakness, from late-race mechanics to fueling, and expose your current fitness.

Points for Success

This requires a significant amount of stamina and focus 鈥� this is not a workout to attempt when you are overly stressed or deeply fatigued coming in. Longer efforts like this require you to go to the well and can lead to injury if the body has already been hit a few times earlier in the week. Use this workout sparingly 鈥� only 1-2x per training cycle 鈥� as the depth you have to dig can dull the race day blade and lead to extensive fatigue. I believe that this workout is best performed with a 1-day taper or by simply giving yourself an easier lead-in than you might for your normal long run.听

Workout: 3-Minute Hill Reps

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8 x 3:00 hills @ marathon pace (moderate grade hill @ 4-6%); jog down the hill for recovery.

When to use this workout

Use this workout at the end-phase of your training especially for hilly courses where you need to confidently move over the hills at pace. Three minutes is an extensive amount of time to be running at this intensity so your marathon pace should be fairly comfortable and come easy. This workout is best used once you have confidently completed reps of at least 2 minutes uphill.听

Why I like this workout

This is a great reminder of how to breathe efficiently and lock in your running form on hills. These hills are long, so they cannot be at max effort, and should be seen as a strength workout and confidence booster. The goal of this workout is to maintain a steady pace up the incline, so find a solid continuous hill without too much change in its steepness. I like this workout because long hills build tolerance to lactate and are a great way to get comfortable with discomfort in short bouts.听

Points for Success

This isn鈥檛 intended to be an 鈥渆ase into it鈥� type of effort 鈥� you should be focused on finding pace early and staying in that groove. You should aim to lock in pace and focus on good mechanics with big arms and proper hip extension (arms and legs driving back). These hills are a great time to practice your breath work and hold off strained, high-chest breathing as long as you can. This workout is great practice for staying cool under pressure.

Part of the Larger Puzzle

This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as good buildup workouts go. However, over years and years of coaching I have found that these staple workouts help build confidence throughout the training cycle and give me a great understanding of my athletes鈥� fitness and capabilities. Similarly, these workouts are adaptable to athletes of nearly every ability and provide valuable feedback about structural concepts like pacing, physical literacy (how well they know their capability), and general fitness cues (heart rate values, pace values, etc.). Use these workouts to assess your athlete鈥檚 mastery of different concepts and determine their readiness for interim and 鈥淎鈥� races.听

—

Andrew Simmons is head coach of聽听补苍诲聽.

The post 8 Key Workouts to Master as a Marathoner appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Every runner wants to get faster. You get faster by training faster, but speed can kill鈥攑utting a quick end to your performance dreams if you get injured or burnt out.

Enter hills. Hills can provide a foundation for speed and allow for a smooth, safe transition to later-season, intensified speed workouts.

When you鈥檙e just starting to build up fitness for the season, it makes sense to start easy and work your way into harder and longer sessions. As a coach, I鈥檝e learned over the years that hill work is a great primer for the body as it prepares for more work and more intense work. If we consider base work / easy aerobic runs as the foundation of training for longer aerobic events, hill training is the foundation of high aerobic / high lactate work.

Hills allow the athlete the opportunity to get in resistance work (thanks gravity!), form work, and, by their very nature, a certain amount of recovery (what goes up must come down). Running hills requires a less intense eccentric hamstring contraction; it鈥檚 the safest way to get a large aerobic and muscular benefit early in the season without exposing yourself to a potential injury.

Getting the Grade

There is no such a thing as one perfect hill鈥攖he all depends on what you鈥檙e trying to do and what you need to get out of the workout. Keeping the grade in the 4鈥�8% range is perfectly steep enough to get a good stimulus for your legs early in the season.

Also: You don鈥檛 have to blast every hill at 100% effort, which is what I think most people associate with hill running鈥攁nd why they hate the thought of a hill. You can definitely do short bouts near max effort, but for the most part, hills need not be harder than 5K effort.

Hills are beautiful training because of the number of variables you get to play with for a single workout. Early season hills are designed to be building blocks for the work you鈥檒l do later; leave the hard, all-out efforts for the track.

Sample Early-Season Workouts:

Early Season: 8鈥�10 x 40 seconds @ 6鈥�10% grade @ 3K effort, walk down recoveries [High Intensity, Long Recovery]

Early/Mid Season: 6 x 1 minute @ 4鈥�6 grade @ half marathon pace, walk down recoveries [Threshold Intensity, Long Recovery]

Mid Season: 5 x 2 minutes @ 4鈥�6% grade @ marathon pace, with jog down recoveries [Power Endurance]

When to Make the Switch

I normally move my athletes over from hills to speed work when they are running a hill for the same duration that they would run 400鈥�600m reps on a flat track at the same heart rate or intensity. For example, if the athlete can run 400m in 90 seconds, I鈥檒l start to integrate true speed work when they are running hills for 60鈥�90 seconds at a time.

The switch from hill to speed work is best defined as a transition period, and I like to use workouts that move them from strictly uphill work to more flat and fast work that still has a hill strength component. I often have athletes do 1 hill session for 4 weeks and then transition towards a 鈥渟plit hill鈥� workout for 2鈥�3 sessions before moving onto the track for 200鈥檚 and 400鈥檚.

A flat-to-hill or 鈥渟plit-workout鈥� is where you build up speed on a flat grade to 5K race effort and then maintain effort on an uphill. These flat-to-hill efforts are a great way to get a little bit of fast running at pace, and build power in the second half of the interval. Specifically we鈥檙e teaching the body how to better manage a high level of lactate like we鈥檇 see in a flat interval but we鈥檙e also teaching the brain to stay up on our toes and activate the glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors so we can maintain great form as we tire in the final stretches of an interval or race.

To do a split hill workout, find a 200鈥�400m hill that has a flat or shallow run up. To transition to track work, do hills up to 2 minutes in length for 6鈥�10 reps, where the hill portion is 50% of the interval. Walk or jog easy back to the start. You still need full recovery early in your cycles, so you get to determine the recovery, taking as much time as you need to get the highest quality reps.

Sample Transition Workouts:

Transition / Split Hill 8 x 1:30 @ 6鈥�8% grade hill @ 10K intensity, jog down recoveries [High Intensity]

Transition / Split Hill 5 x 3 minutes on 4-6% grade hill @ 陆M-10K intensity, jog down recoveries [Power Endurance]

A standard rule: If you鈥檙e going shorter distances or times you can increase the reps to 10鈥�12; longer reps are taxing and only require 4-6 reps.

Never Let It Go

As athletes you want to make sure you don鈥檛 become unidirectional and lose out on the great work you did early in the cycle as you get towards peak races. To ensure that you keep the body and brain engaged, throw in 8鈥�10 second hills at the end of an aerobic run any time of the season.

At 8鈥�10 seconds you鈥檙e not loading the legs up with lactate, but you鈥檙e encouraging a neuromuscular stimulus that acts like drills and engages the brain to maintain posture and form. While alactic hills won鈥檛 fully replace a dedicated hill workout, it鈥檚 a great way to focus on form and get a great power stimulus without overloading your legs when you鈥檙e focused on performing in a track or road race.

—

Andrew Simmons is head coach of聽听补苍诲聽.

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The off-season is one of the biggest opportunities staring down all high school athletes as they enter winter break. It鈥檚 a great time to repair, build, and bring a focus to your weaknesses. Whatever you鈥檙e focused on鈥攖he 2 mile, 800, or sprints/ hurdles鈥攜our best season is made long before your official season starts with your team.

Even if you don鈥檛 live near a club to meet up for a run, you can still benefit by focusing on a few key components.听 As you approach the off-season, focus on how you can build Strength, Speed + Agility, and Stamina.

No second chances

This is your chance to get a head start on your fitness and preparation for the season so you can perform at your best. The demands of track racing require that your body is prepared not only for the increased speed and volume of in-season workouts but also preparing for multiple races in a short period of time.

Don鈥檛 wait too long as racing into fitness is an excellent way to get injured, hurt your confidence, and squander your best performances. Look at your in-season practices as a chance to hone your skills, and use a few indoor races, or even a few time trials to wet your palette for the coming season. Go into the season confident and prepared, don鈥檛 leave your fitness and best performance to chance.

Building Strength

Relatively speaking, the number one thing high school athletes lack isn鈥檛 strength as much as it is understanding how to effectively apply force efficiently into the ground. The strength training I advise for youth athletes involves plyometrics, as well as integrating push, pull, and hinge movements.

The basic movements of a squat, a jump, and do far more than complex movements that 鈥渓ook cool鈥� but lack direction and purpose. I advise that athletes start with a few basic movements, do an activation series for the first few weeks before moving into a build of squats, deadlifts, and plyometrics.

In your activation series, focus on five Areas: Push, Pull, Core, Hinge, Squat

Push: Sleds, Push Ups, Dumbbell Press, Bench

Pull: Dumbbell Upright Row, Bent Barbell Row, TRX Row

Core: Front聽 & Side Plank, Leg Raises, Flutter Kicks, Hollow Rock, Crunches

Hinge: KB Swing, Glute-Hip Bridge, Deadlift, Good Mornings

Squat: Back Squat, Front Squat, Front, Reverse, Side Lunges

Here’s a video demonstrating all of these:

Speed + Agility

Don鈥檛 let speed and agility scare you. As you build towards track and move further away from cross country, you鈥檒l want to build strength to support shorter more intense efforts which requires better coordination. The best sprinters and even middle and long distance runners have trained speed & agility movements like speed ladders, mini hurdles, drills, and acceleration and deceleration. This gives your strength direction and allows you effectively apply force into the ground with accuracy.

Spend your time focusing on drills that are specific to the demands of your key events. For distance athletes, focus on A-Skip, B-Skip, small hurdle jumps on a single leg, and lateral hurdles and ladders. For sprinters, accuracy is key and repetition is the best way to become more attune to your movements. Focus on block starts, body position, and integrating form drills, parachutes, and video work with a coach or teammate.

Stamina

Stamina means something different to a sprinter and a distance runner but for either it requires the athlete to build a machine specific to the demands of the events they plan to participate in. To a distance athlete, stamina comes from increased mileage throughout the off-season, then increasing the specificity and duration of race-pace workouts closer to the season, and, finally focusing even more specifically as you approach the key races of the season.

For a sprinter, stamina means building a machine that resists slowing down while holding form and mechanics for as long as possible. The best sprinters hold their form and slow down the least over the entirety of the race.

Stamina is built on a foundation of strength and speed. Depending on your goal event and specific demands build up your volume gradually every week as you work towards the start of the season.

Find a Crew, Be Consistent

These three areas of focus are truly about building a machine for a specific purpose. If you don鈥檛 have access to a club team, work with your HS coach to build an off-season program that you can follow. Don鈥檛 be afraid to join in with an adult track club, or, if the weather doesn鈥檛 allow for great outside running, feel free to get creative. Any regular and consistent training will help you prepare for the season even if that looks like swimming, boxing, cycling, or a Crossfit or bootcamp. As you get closer to the season, start to make your training more focused on running skills and drills.

The post High School Runners: Don鈥檛 Squander Your Off-Season Opportunity appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Jason found running at an early age, it was his way to stand out on the soccer field, his skill allowed him to capture medals on field days and countless school races. As he entered High School he naturally found Cross Country and Track.听 He鈥檚 a consistent contributor to his team. He鈥檚 the #2 man on the cross-country team and can reliably put points on the board to help his team advance to State year after year. He鈥檚 a great student in the classroom and an endearing personality at home.听

Like many athletes his age, however, he can often find himself working through difficult feelings about 鈥渘ot having what I want,鈥� emotions that often turn into 鈥淚 feel like no matter how hard I work, I鈥檓 not getting better,鈥� and after a particularly tough race it can get as bad as 鈥渨hy try.鈥�

Jason鈥檚 feelings of inadequacy can flair when he logs on to social media and begins to compare himself against friends, competitors at other schools, and professional runners. He gives these people space in his brain; the recent grad heading to Stanford or the local prep star rival getting covered by a big media outlet previewing the upcoming season.

Jason can be found downloading the rankings to see where he sits compared to others. He sees he鈥檚 slipped a few places from last year. He鈥檒l scroll through the comments on a post and see hundreds of accolades and look at his own post about his recent run and wonder why his work hasn鈥檛 garnered the same enthusiasm and appeal. How will he ever get the recognition and love of his peers?

Even with his success, these comparisons create an ambivalence towards racing and training. They follow Jason to the start line, dragging him down like a giant boat anchor.听 He鈥檚 happy to contribute to his team and to be a Top 20 kid in his league, but he鈥檒l just as quickly say, 鈥淏ut I was Top 15 last year!鈥濃�攊gnoring that he鈥檚 gone from the 5th scoring athlete to the 2nd scoring athlete on his team and shaved off over at 30 seconds from his times last year. He chooses to focus on his perceived shortcomings. It goes so far to affect his performance, as Jason finds himself letting up in a race when he doesn鈥檛 see that it will be a new PR.

Keeping Up with the Highlight Reel

Jason isn鈥檛 an actual young runner, but he鈥檚 not fiction either: he鈥檚 a compilation of approximately 15 different athletes I鈥檝e worked with as a coach. Young athletes are finding it harder to have a strong personal concept as the information they take in often leaves them comparing against a mark that is largely unachievable.听

Comparison to others is the default for young athletes, and nothing new. In some ways, comparison can be helpful and even motivational. The inspiration you get from seeing a crosstown rival out training can amp you up and motivate you to get out the door or push for one more rep. The recognition you receive when you succeed over others can boost your self-esteem.

But social media often creates a skewed image of others. A 2017 study published in reported, 鈥淕enerally, humans have a tendency towards sharing positive (rather than negative) news about themselves, but this tendency seems to hold particularly for.鈥澛�

Comparing real life to these idealized ones can lead to depression, anxiety, and an overwhelming sense of inferiority. As a youth coach or parent, we often have to teach athletes to create a strong, independent self-concept, and move beyond comparing themselves against the highlight reel of their peers online, which inevitably leads to disappointment.

Making comparisons healthy, productive, and authentic requires a shift in thinking from a place of self-deprecation to a view of self-enhancement. Self-improvement occurs when upward comparison drives us to work harder and become better.听

Self鈥揺nhancement occurs when we identify similarities to others (we went to the same camp this summer), (we鈥檙e both on the same club team) or play up differences to someone (he鈥檚 not as dedicated in the weight room, this is my advantage!). Our vision of self is eroded, however, when we note differences that feel insurmountable (he鈥檚 faster than I鈥檒l ever be). These types of comparisons are neither motivating nor useful in personal growth and advancement.听

The Phones Are Here to Stay

Athletes are constantly asked to put down their phones, but what many coaches are coming to understand is that the phone is not a part of the athlete’s social spectrum, its core to their identity. To grow up in this world of social comparison and , athletes seek out ways to view and utilize social media as a means to connect where their peers are.听

Social Media at it鈥檚 best can be a way to drive a stable sense of self, and at it鈥檚 worse a motivator to achieve fame and popularity however short-lived. A 2008 study in Future Child observed that the lines between the virtual and real-world are increasingly blurred for youth today. 鈥淔or today’s youth, media technologies are an important social variable and 鈥� physical and virtual worlds are psychologically connected; consequently, the virtual world serves as a playing ground for developmental issues from the physical world,鈥� the researchers .听

How athletes use their social networks is becoming more a part of their social identity鈥攖heir narrative is no longer easily answered by a simple question of 鈥渉ow was school?鈥� or 鈥渉ow was practice?鈥� Youth athletes now find themselves surrounded by media that will have them asking, 鈥淗ow good is my life compared to yours?鈥� Encouraging and teaching athletes a healthy way to develop themselves as individuals, and furthermore help them develop skills on and off the field is how coaches can help ensure that athletes leave their programs as the best version of themselves.

Moving on from Online Comparisons

How can we move athletes from a place of comparison and move to a place of genuine connection? Here are 5 strategies I鈥檝e found effective as a youth coach.

1 鈥� Engage beyond social media.

Endless scrolling and constant posting encourages athletes to only seek out the best and most flattering news and images of themselves. The reality is most people are just going to scroll by and mindlessly double-tap the screen. Instead, create a world of genuine connection where you are as present with others offline as you pretended you were online. Say to someone鈥檚 face the comments you leave on their posts. 鈥楧ude, you鈥檙e so fast鈥� has so much more significance when you say it to someone in real life.

2 – Make time to connect.听

Shorthand and 3-word comments might feel good under a post, but when that鈥檚 the depth of your friendship you can be left feeling pretty lonely. Put yourself in a position to be present. Talk about shared experiences, dig down a few layers and get to know your teammates and friends. A deeper connection goes a long way after a tough race. Make time after your next race or event to be away from your phone and connect with the people around you.听

3 – Count other鈥檚 blessings.

Instead of focusing on where you came up short鈥攖ry to exercise your motivation muscle and help others see where they succeed. As a peer, showing a teammate or student where they improved not only creates a shift in thinking for you but also can often disrupt someone else鈥檚 negativity spiral. This creates an environment where motivating others is the norm; You鈥檒l often find that motivating others and recognizing improvement will also allow you to recognize your own improvements and help you make a big shift!

4 – Be your own meter stick.

Measure against yourself. Internal evaluation requires significant maturity and practice. Comparing to others is a great way to become disappointed, seeking out how you improved will result in a much happier athlete overall.听 A happy runner compares himself to his last run or training cycle, not to the top of the Strava Leaderboard.听

5 – Set attainable, personal goals.

Taking a 45-second jump in your 5K might be where you want to be (and what your rival did last week?). But if you go out seeking only that mark and come up 15 seconds short, you鈥檒l find yourself disappointed with a 30 second PR. Instead, set yourself up to stretch your goals in phases and set minor goals that build towards larger goals. Celebrate every personal improvement, even the small stuff鈥攜ou鈥檙e better than you鈥檝e ever been!

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As a youth running coach, one of the questions I get the most from my athletes and parents is 鈥淲hat can I be doing outside of practice?鈥� Coaches can run the gamut of completely accepting of miles and workouts outside of practice to prohibiting any unsupervised stretching.

Every coach and every athlete wants to make it to the state meet with a full team of happy, healthy, uninjured athletes. The number one thing you want to focus on is preserving yourself for performance when it matters most. You don鈥檛 want to do anything that will compromise races or key workouts, or push you over the edge to injury or burnout.

With that in mind, there are still numerous ways to improve your season outside of working harder in practice. They all have one thing in common鈥攍ong-term scope, making you a more robust athlete for late-season payoffs.

1) Be Consistent with Your Long Run

Working with youth cross country runners, the biggest area athletes see improvement in their fitness is not in adding a second or third workout in their week. It鈥檚 adding a regular, slower long run.

While long runs are a cornerstone of off-season foundational training, this staple of your week shouldn鈥檛 be thrown out in season. The long run helps maintain your base and ultimately keeps your fitness intact for longer. Throwing in workout after workout and your peak will be too early in the season. Adding in a 60-minute long run on Sunday will allow you to perform your best at the state meet.

Those lucky athletes looking to run beyond High School often seek out post season races like Nike Cross and Foot Locker Regionals to get in one more race or set a late-season PR. Maintaining long runs will allow you to take a short break and extend your fitness into the post-season.

If your program isn鈥檛 currently doing a regular long run, add a low intensity鈥攅asy, aerobic, and conversational鈥攔un to your weekend. Talk to your coach about it and assure him that it will be easy miles and you鈥檒l be ready to hit it hard come Monday. Start by just adding an additional easy day of running, and build up by 5-8 minutes (or about a mile) per week until you鈥檙e running 15鈥�20% of your weekly mileage during that run. If you鈥檙e running 35鈥�40 miles per week with your program your long run could be as long as 7鈥�8 miles.

If your meets are on Friday or Saturday, adding this run in the day after a race will require motivation, and proper recovery is important. Make sure you keep this run easy and aerobic in nature鈥攕peed is not important, in fact, it will defeat the purpose here, as recovery and aerobic running go hand in hand.

2) Recover As Aggressively as You Run

While it is possible to recover from your most recent race with a few low-intensity running days and your normal routine, it鈥檚 important to recover from your hardest days as aggressively as you ran. Simply stated, if you can鈥檛 recover from the work you put in, you can鈥檛 expect to see results from the work.

Recovery starts with the cool down. As a coach, I get the biggest grumbles from athletes about cooling down and running more after they are done with a race or workout. I try to help athletes understand that flushing your legs will actually relieve soreness in the days following the race or workout and set yourself up to run better the next time you lace up. We know how tired you are but your body will thank you two days down the road.

Second, make sure that you鈥檙e putting in quality calories after a hard effort or race鈥攖his should not be gas-station quality food. Chocolate milk is great for quick recovery directly following an effort, but do your best to get a full, well-balanced meal in within 90 minutes.

Lastly, don鈥檛 ignore sleep. It鈥檚 always the first thing people push out of their schedule when they get tight on time, yet it is the most important part of your training. Sleep is when your body builds the strength your workouts told it you needed. Elite runners often report getting up to 14 hours of sleep a day.

Homework, friends, social activities can all push your bed time deeper and deeper into the wee hours of the night. Compound hard workouts, too little sleep, and a stressful school load and you have the perfect recipe for burnout and injury. Protect your sleep time and prioritize your schedule鈥攖his habit will serve you as a student athletes as you venture forward to college and beyond.

3) Build Supportive Strength + Mobility

If there was one room in the entire high school that runners fear more than the principals office it鈥檚 the weight room. Not because they鈥檙e weak鈥攊t鈥檚 because it鈥檚 foreign. Progressive running programs across the US are finding that the hours spent in a weight room lead to minutes off their athletes PR鈥檚. They are also finding that also are less injured and have better body awareness.

If your program doesn鈥檛 include weight work, talk to your coach about your wish to add some and what you鈥檒l be doing. Have you coach help you schedule the sessions so they don鈥檛 leave you sore and tired on days you want to be going fast. Many programs do strength work after hard days, to fully preserve easy days for recovery.

Dr. Jesse Riley of Total Health Solutions in Golden, CO says that most athletes struggle with hip and lower leg injuries. He recommends athletes focus their time and energy on these 5 movements:

1. Work up to 3鈥�4 continuous minutes鈥攇reat for loading the lower leg with a gentle plyometric-type hop movement.
2. : 3 sets of 8 with a moderate weight is appropriate for mid-season鈥攂uilds glute strength and hip mobility.
3. : 3 sets of 8 each side鈥攊mproves landing stability and reduces ground contact time
4. : 3 sets of 8 each side with light weight鈥攚orks the entire chain of running muscles.
5. : 3 sets of 8 with a moderate weight will provide resistance without too much fatigue鈥攂uilds overall strength, core stability and balance.

Another great set of exercises that works key running stability muscles in the hips are these “Super Six” that require only a platform to step up onto.

Integrating these movements 2鈥�3x week as a part of your routine is a great way to stay in touch with your body as well as increase your durability for the duration of the season. Stick with a few basic exercises and do them regularly.

Besides strength, adding in basic stretches is a great way to avoid feeling stiff and achy for days after a workout or race, and ensure that you can use the full range of your stride. Many top-level coaches recommend doing a set of AI stretches, popularized by , in which you hold the stretch for less than 2 seconds and do in sets, improving mobility without weakening the muscle.

If you only make time for a few stretches, focus on your hips. Given all the sitting we all do in a day, runners need to pay particular attention to the flexibility of their hip flexors, which sitting makes short and tight. Here are three stretches you can do daily that will improve your stride length (ability to reach out behind you farther) and power (engage your big glute muscles).

Wharton AI Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch

Lie on your side with your knees curled up against your chest (in a fetal position). Slide your bottom arm under the thigh of your bottom leg and place your hand around the outside of your foot. If you can鈥檛 reach the whole way, you can grasp your knee, or use a looped rope or strap.

Reach down with your upper hand and grasp the shin or ankle of your upper leg. Contract your hamstring and glute max to move the upper leg back as far as you can, using your hand to give a gentle assist at the end of the stretch. Make sure your hips stay stacked on top of each other and don鈥檛 鈥渇all open鈥� with your knee creeping up into the air so you are stretching the inside of the groin rather than the front of the hip. Think about pushing the top hip forward while you keep your upper leg low and behind you as you draw it back.

Pulling the back foot closer to the butt will increase the stretch on the quadricep. Relaxing the bend of the knee and pulling the upper leg and knee farther back will focus the stretch on the hip flexor. Work both as you repeat the stretch 10鈥�15 times.

Chair, Couch or Wall Hip Flexor Stretch

Get into the stretch by first, on hands and knees, backing up to the chair, couch or wall untilyou鈥檙e your back lower leg (pointing upward) is touching the support and knee is on the ground. Bring the other leg forward so that the knee is over the foot and you are in a kneeling lunge pose.

Contracting the glute on the leg propped behind you, drive the front of the hip forward and downward. Hold for 60 seconds or more. Enhance the stretch by lifting your torso while keeping your glute engaged and the line from knee to shoulder straight and tall.

The Brettzel

This works lower and upper body at the same time, opening the whole front-of-body chain from hips to shoulders.

Start lying comfortably on your right side with your hips and shoulders stacked on top of each other. Bend your left leg and bring it toward your chest a little past 90 degrees and firmly grip it with your right hand.

Drive your right (bottom) knee down and back, then reach down with your left hand and grab that ankle. If it鈥檚 too difficult to grab the ankle, use a towel or strap to hold and pull the leg backwards.

Relax and inhale then, while exhaling slowly, rotate your top shoulder back and down toward the ground. Repeat for five to 10 breaths, rotating lower each time until your top shoulder reaches the ground (or as far as your range of motion allows).

Back off your shoulder rotation slightly and try kicking your bottom leg away from your handhold, moving your knee backwards and increasing the stretch. Relax your shoulder back down with two to three more breaths, then hold in that position for one to three minutes.

Release your hands, roll to the left side and repeat the full sequence.

An Educated, Motivated Team

At the end of the day, your coach wants to see you succeed and should encourage you to do work outside of practice that will help move you in that direction. Your coach will not have the answer to every question鈥攖he best athlete is one who is educated and motivated to improve. The worst is a stubborn or lazy know-it-all who is unwilling to put in the extra effort to see their success. If you鈥檙e invested in season-long success, find time to talk with your coach and see what more you can be doing to improve.

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Andrew Simmons is head coach of聽听补苍诲聽.

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