Track and Field Toolbox

How Middle Distance Coaches Coach Speed, Not Time

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The athlete profile is a tool that knowledgeable coaches use to shape a macrocycle of training and physical development for a middle distance runner.  At its core, an athlete profile is usually a well-documented history of past workout and race performances that is then used to guide the direction of future training.  To that end, we will consider how middle distance coaches actually coach speed, not time.

Keeping an athlete profile should be more than maintaining an ongoing list of final and split time performances from races.  It should most resemble a grid that includes racing and workout data from anaerobic and aerobic training sessions, time trials data, and even projected performance data sets.  The profile should clearly point out runner strengths and weaknesses in a measurable way that makes sense to both coach and athlete.

For these reasons, the more advanced athlete profiles do not use just raw times to describe performances across race events and workouts.  A suggested, more valuable time unit to use in profile data is a standardized unit that shows the relationship of time to distance.

The unit used, meters per second (m/s) is a valuable data set to include in a middle distance runners athlete profile for various timed distances.  It is how scientists measure speed.  It is how middle distance coaches design workouts.  Middle distance coaches do not really coach time, they coach speed.

Speed is the distance traveled per unit of time.  It is how fast an object, or in this case a middle distance runner, is moving.  Speed is the scalar quantity that is the magnitude of the velocity vector.  It doesn’t have a direction.  Higher speed means a runner is moving faster. Lower speed means the runner is moving slower.  If a runner isn’t moving at all, there is zero speed.

The rate of movement in one direction by a runner is important in analyzing a timed performance.  A coach should mark all time-graded performances, from workouts to races, in meters/second when entering them in an athlete profile.  In that way, a true comparison of the rate of movement, from maximum speed–through glycolytic speed–through race distance speed–through aerobic speed can be made.  From this data, graphs can be plotted, trend lines drawn, and weaknesses and strengths of speed at various distances can be determined for the athlete.

 

* Coaching Resource: Training Model for Middle Distance

 

Let’s look at the prescribing pace for anaerobic work sessions.  A good determiner of workout pace in the anaerobic training domain is with derivatives of an athlete’s current 400-meter time, but a better determiner is with a fully automatic, electronically timed, 30-meter effort done on the fly (acceleration is prior to commencing the 30-meter distance).  Not every distance coach is equipped to get electronically timed 30-meter efforts in this way, thus most rely on exhaustive 400-meter times, which will be close enough in most cases.

Both of these tests will give a coach raw final time for the distance covered.  It is then simple mathematics to get meters per second to determine the actual speed at varying distances.

As an example, Jack ran 400 meters to exhaustion in 53.3 seconds yesterday, so his speed is 7.50 m/s for 400 meters (400/53.3).  On the other hand, Dylan ran a full-automatically timed 30 meters on the fly in 3.32 seconds, so his speed is 9.04 m/s for 30 meters (30/3.32).

If Dylan raced Jack in the 400 meters who would win?  Scientific studies have shown that a maximum effort run of 30 meters (on the fly) to be about 113-114% of an exhaustive 400-meter effort when comparing speed.  Let’s just assume Dylan to be on the low end of individual variation at 113%.  His 30 meter speed of 9.04 divided by 1.13 = 8.0 m/s 400 meter speed.  His 400-meter time at that speed should be 50.0 seconds when dividing 400 by 8.  Dylan would win the race based on his speed, but of course, there are other factors such as will and determination that must be factored in as well.

Exercise scientists have proposed percentages of 400-meter speed (i.e. anaerobic capacity) in meters per second, and percentages of 30-meter speed (i.e. maximum speed) in meters per second for prescribing training intensities for the full range of anaerobic work as shown in table 1.  The only variable a coach will need to know is the athlete’s 30-meter time or their 400-meter time, and those current marks should be in their individual athlete profile.

Referring back to Dylan, his 400 meter exhaustive speed is 8.0 m/s.  The Special Endurance 2 workout for him today is designed to be 4 x 300 meters.  His target speed is 104% of that (table1) or 7.69 m/s.  Divide 300 by 7.69 and his exhaustive 300 meter time would be 39.1 seconds.  But, today he is doing four 300 meter repeats, not one.  His coach decides on 43 seconds for each of the four repeat 300s as a workout for Dylan.  Now a determination needs to be made on the recovery interval Dylan will need to be able to complete four 300 meter repeats in 43 seconds successfully.  His coach decides it will take a five minute recovery interval.

A chart can be developed to determine aerobic speed as well, and that is shown in table 2.  The index marker for aerobic speed is not 30 meters or 400 meters as in anaerobic training but is 2 mile effort to exhaustion or vVO2 max m/s speed.

Referring back to Jack this time, he also ran a 10:30 for 2 miles yesterday besides his 400 split of 53.3 on the 1600 relay.  His vVO2 max speed is 5.07 m/s from that test (3200/630).  Tomorrow, he will hopefully do a tempo run of 7200 meters running 85% of that pace, or 4.30 m/s for a total projected time of 27:54, after doing the math.

Jack’s athlete profile has a table that looks like table 3 as part of it, so it is easy for him or his coach to try to line up current race or workout speed.  As any of Jack’s current raw times change during the season his chart will have to be updated.

However, with many athletes on a team, it is quite a hassle to update the table after every race.  A better plan is for Jack or his coach to update the profile about every three weeks after a number of races have been run.

 

* Additional Teaching Resource: Every 800m – 1600m Workout For The Entire High School Season

 

Another useful feature of table 2 is the set of goal columns on the far right side.  Early in the year, Jack and his coach determined reasonable goals for him in the 1600 and 3200 events.  These raw times were converted to speed values as visual evidence to show Jack the concept of speed and not just time, and what he needs to improve on during the season.

Jack someday wants to run 4:20 for 1600 meters in high school.  He needs to know that the speed for accomplishing that is 6.15 m/s.  Jack will have to work above and below his current speeds at various distances to develop faster 1600 meter speed.  He is only a sophomore, but according to table 3, he is now only capable of carrying 6.15 m/s speed for about 700 meters.

Hopefully, he will get there in the end, but at least he knows what he has to do because his coach coaches speed and not time.

 


September Training for Cross Country Athletes

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This article was provided by Complete Track and Field

There is no better time in the cross country season then September.  Fun invitational meets, hard-core training, an already well-formed team, pretty good weather, and still eager runners all make for a very enjoyable month.  For a cross country coach, September training is especially interesting because it is the month of training creativity.  Already past is most of the general conditioning work, and the team is far from any sort of tapering activities, so workouts can be put together that are taxing, creative and full of variety.

September begins with the last fragments of the general preparation period.  The focus there is still on building a strong mileage base, strength work in the form of hill repeats, vVO2 max work done in moderation, and an introduction to some lactate building activities.  If the runners have had a good summer of general prep work then it need only extend through the first week of September before transitioning to the specific preparation period.  As one moves to a different stage in the season, so do the activities, physiological stimuli, recovery periods, and training focus.  This is the idea behind periodization of training.

The specific preparation period covers most of September for serious runners.  If you are using nine-day training microcycles, then it is basically the last 25-27 days of the month or almost three full nine-day cycles.  For most programs there will be a race in each of these nine-day cycles, but many modern programs only race once every couple of weeks these days, so not every cycle may contain a competition.

There are still a few programs remaining that will have two races in each nine-day microcycle and the adjustments to training in these situations are unfortunately quite drastic.  Whatever the case, these are certainly not the most important races of the year so it is fine to temper it down the day before a competition, but do not set up much rest for any race in September unless it is an extraordinary situation.

* Training Resource: Speed Development for Distance Runners

What training changes occur in moving from the general preparation period to the specific preparation period?  The answer lies in the name itself.  Training activities are added that address the specific demands of the 5k race, replacing general activities like base mileage days that focus on building a generic distance runner.  For example, a previously done general six mile run is replaced by a four mile tempo run.  The former may have been done at 7:20/mile pace and the latter is done at 6:00/mile pace.  Hill runs previously done on a 45 second hill are now done on a 4:00 minute hill.  vVO2 max work previously done as 5 x 800 on a grass course with 4:00 minute recovery for everybody now become 4 x 1600 meters on a road/tar trail at individual 3200 meter date pace with recovery time equal in length to work time for each repeat.  The previously done ten mile long run done at continuous pace now has a series of pickups over the last three miles of the same ten mile run.

Other stimuli need to be introduced as well during the specific preparation period such as high blood-lactate training loads.  Working blood-lactate values that would be found more in a one mile race than a longer cross country race should be prescribed.  Workouts such as these are not stressed during specific preparation, only introduced once or twice.  They do not become stressed for a 5k runner until the following block of training time called the pre-competitive period which is most of October.  But, by introducing workouts with a higher lactate load in specific preparation they prepare the body for what is to come, plus they are great strength workouts because the work must be repeated as well as possible despite the dramatic increase in fatigue caused by the inability to buffer the lactate accumulating in the blood.

Start with Special Endurance 2 length workouts but shorten the recovery interval.  Shortening the recovery during specific prep workouts is not intuitive, but it keeps the intensity low despite the very high heart rates.  This will prevent the athlete from sustaining a muscular injury because it is a lower velocity then near-maximum effort.  If the recovery interval is increased rather than decreased (which may make more sense), then the athlete can run faster and this is when “speed causes injury”.  Do the workout on a safe, fast, surface and prescribe something like 6 x 400 meters with 2:30 recovery between repeats.

During the specific preparation period many different workouts are added, generally replacing longer and slower work.  One of the concerns in doing this is that training mileage may drop too much.  The key to the puzzle is to keep the mileage in the specific prep period within 90%, or better yet, equal to the mileage values found at the end of general prep.

When the runners do a four mile tempo run, or a set of 400’s, or any other work that does not keep them in the seven or eight mile per day range consistently they will need to tack on miles at the end of the workout.  That is fine!  Any work demand done at the end of a workout is considered endurance effort and is useful in building fitness in a 5k runner.

 

* Coaching Resource: Training Model for High School Cross Country

 

September is fun!  But, it is also a very hard-working month.  Stress the appropriate aerobic and longer anaerobic work and introduce the shorter anaerobic work that is yet to come, so that when they get to the competition period (tapering and peaking) those workouts are effective too.  If the training stimuli is not appropriately periodized throughout the season, then adaptation will not occur effectively, and no method of tapering is going to fix that situation.

 

Sample Nine-Day Training Cycle for Late September:

Monday:           vVO2 max day, 4 x 1600, @date pace 3200 meter pace/2, work time=rest time,
Tuesday:          10 mile long run,
Wednesday:     6 x 400, 2 min recovery, 2 mile warmup, 4 mile cool down,
Thursday:         4 mile tempo run, 2 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down,
Friday:              6-7 mile base run,
Saturday:          Race Day,
Sunday:            5 mile recovery run,
Monday:           4 x 4:00 hills, 2 miles warm up, 3 miles cool down,
Tuesday:          8 x 200 meters on grass, 2:30 recovery, 2 mi warm up, 4 mi cool down.

 


When to De-emphasize VO2 Max Training in Cross Country

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This article was provided by Complete Track and Field

Since the early days of exercise science testing and experimentation, it has been accepted that aerobic power development is one of four training domains used in preparing distance runners.  Consider the combined energy zone events of the 800 meters through the 10,000 meters; including both short and long cross country competitions.  Improvement in the anaerobic glycolytic domain in all of these races hinges on better management of hydrogen/lactate ion presence; while aerobically, the three domains are: improving running economy, shifting the lactate threshold, and boosting aerobic power.  These three aerobic domains have a sliding influence based on the distance of the race.  The shorter distance races lean more toward aerobic power, while the longer races lean more toward running economy.  Today we will consider how this relates to when to deemphasize VO2 max training.

For exercise scientists studying aerobic power, there is a maximum rate of oxygen consumption that can be measured during incremental exercise, or exercise of increasing intensity.  This maximum value is called VO2 max (V is volume, O2 is molecular oxygen, and max is maximum).

Maximal oxygen consumption reflects the cardiovascular and respiratory fitness of an individual.  For distance coaches, VO2 max is an important determinant of aerobic power during prolonged exercise and is a crucial variable in race performance.

 

* Training Resource: Speed Development for Distance Runners

 

In experienced runners, once the VO2 max system is nearly developed through a combination of athlete physical maturity, and plenty of prior vVO2 max work, a switch to the other two training domains of lactate threshold and running economy is necessary for continued success.  The training route most commonly taken is to implement a series of workouts that fractionalizes individual vVO2 max intensity into longer training runs.  These can be done as either continuous runs or inter-style workouts as shown in table 1.

Let’s look at a couple of case studies on how vVO2 max fractionization can be used in training to either add to or replace 100% vVO2 max work.

  1. Shannon is a junior and has been on both the high school varsity cross country and track teams for the past two years. She has run 5:05 for 1600 meters, 11:12 for 3200 meters, and 18:43 for 5000 meters in cross country.  Her tempo run pace always correlates to her 85% vVO2 max date pace and she seems to recover in 24 hours from the workout.  As expected, her improvement has slowed a bit as she has gotten older.  Let’s diagnose Shannon and look at specific training.  Shannon no doubt has a mature VO2 max system already in place, so despite continued workouts at vVO2 max pace, it is not going to improve much.  Her aerobic capacity work, mainly done as long runs, are her favorite thing to do because they come easily to her.  Typically, females are a couple of years ahead of males in VO2 max development, and some more than that.  If Shannon is to get faster at distance races, then her best route to success is to try to raise her LT pace from 85% vVO2 max to a value closer to 90% vVO2 max.  Her LT paced workouts need to evolve from continuous tempo runs to critical velocity (CV) runs done as intervals (table 1). To address this, Shannon should continue to do vVO2 max paced training sessions bi-weekly beginning half-way through the general preparation period, and concurrently do CV paced runs bi-weekly at the same time; doing both all the way to the championship meets in the competition period.  When Shannon begins the CV interval sessions she will first have to start with a 3200 meter test to determine her vVO2 max date pace and then do the mathematics to determine CV pace. Let’s say on August 10, Shannon runs 11:40 to exhaustion for a 3200 meter time trial, so her present-day vVO2 max pace is 5:50 per mile.  For the next fourteen weeks, Shannon should do seven spaced workouts at her date CV pace, in this case, 90% vVO2 max, to improve her LT.  The typical total volume for each of the seven sessions should be 4-5 miles done as intervals.  The date pace for Shannon is set at 350 seconds (5:50/mile) divided by .90 for a workout pace of 6:28 per mile, but she will not run a full mile at that pace, so one more mathematical division must be done. Shannon’s typical CV workout is 6 x 1000 meters with 90 seconds recovery between each repetition.  Her calculated date pace for today is 6:28/mile or 4:03/1000 meters.  As her 3200 improves throughout the year, the fractionally derived CV pace will too.
  1. Jack is a 21-year-old junior in a successful collegiate program. His athlete profile for 5000 meter personal bests notes 14:35 as a freshman and 14:21 as a sophomore. His desire is to compete in 10 kilometer championship track and cross country races over the remaining two years of school.  In high school, his best marks were 4:14 for the 1600 meters and 9:15 for the 3200 meters.  Jack’s improvement has slowed a bit as he has gotten older and the chances of running sub 14:00 in college have dimmed.  Let’s diagnose Jack and look at specific training.  Jack has spent his career stimulating adaptation to his VO2 max system and it has reached developmental maturity. So, despite continued workouts at vVO2 max pace, it is not going to improve much more.  In moving to frequent LT work sessions, Jack will not only shift to an aerobic capacity emphasis to perform well at 10k, but his 5k time may drop as well; probably lower than it ever would have with just continued vVO2 max paced work.  During each week of training, Jack should do a long run with frequent surges that accounts for 22% of his weekly volume, a tempo run of five miles at 85% of his vVO2 max, and a critical velocity (CV) pace workout.  The rest of the week is basically recovery runs at the aerobic threshold.  A typical CV work session for Jack would be 4 x 2000 meters at 90% of vVO2 max with two minutes of recovery between repeats.  Follow this unit with five minutes rest and then do 3 x 200 meters at 800 meter pace with 90 seconds recovery between repeats.

Aerobic power training exercises are not done in isolation from the other aerobic domains.  Work sessions directed toward VO2 max improvement also concurrently improve aerobic capacity and running economy.  Greater aerobic power can also help shift the lactate threshold to a higher pace.

 

* Coaching Resource: Training Model for High School Cross Country

 

Running economy, which is the efficiency a distance runner consumes food energy and oxygen molecules to facilitate movement, is dependent on aerobic power because the economy too is heavily dependent on greater blood flow to the muscles.  Running economy improves with VO2 max training, as does lactate threshold velocity.  However, there comes a time when VO2 max training needs to be deemphasized and economy and lactate threshold training emphasized with specifically targeted workouts if further development of the cross country runner is to occur.

 


The Foundation of a Distance Running Program

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The foundation of a distance running program has three units: the cross country season, the track season and out of season running.

This post was provided by Complete Track and Field

By Scott Christensen

There was a time in high school sports when the only thing that really mattered was what happened during the season. For better or worse, that time has come and gone for many high school distance runners. Most good runners have found that simply running 500 miles during the cross country season is not enough to achieve success outside of their own school and by including the whole year in their training program they can make some real progress. Today we will consider the foundation of the cross country running program.

This is nothing against two and three sport athletes. In most cases, during this age of specialization in high school sports, distance coaches have been very accommodating to the concept of multiple sport participation. Unfortunately, that accommodation is seldom returned by the coaches of team sports. The athletes are seeing this daily. Good runners move on and want more out of their own running, and see greater involvement as the answer.

Most states have some restrictions as to out of season coaching and team activities. The level of these restrictions varies widely. The level of commitment outside of the season by coaches also varies considerably. Some see the season, others see the year. None of this prevents a certain guidance by a coach to an aggressive, developing distance runner who yearns to be faster.

It may simply be a month long training program handed to the athlete to follow on their own, or it could be full blown summer practices six days per week with the coach. Whatever the level, this interaction helps set the ground rules for the distance running culture in a school and will ultimately control the destiny of the cross country program.

The foundation of a distance running program has three units: the cross country season, the track season and out of season running. What an athlete and coach put into each of these three separate, yet connected units, should determine the ultimate goals for the athlete and the team.

By just running the cross country season each fall, one can expect an athlete to always be starting over from the beginning. Progress from year to year will be minimal. That does not mean they should not come out, it is just that goals should be highly tempered and it should be made clear to them that improvement will be slight.

All high school teams have athletes like this and they are valued as individuals, but they should not be how the training program is constructed or direct the formation of team culture. They are there because of social reasons and it is fun for them. Let it be fun, while the training program sets up around the serious runners.

A serious runner needs to run both cross country and track. The additional miles run during the track season help develop cross country runners to a much higher degree. Plus, all of the additional competitions help hone the racing skills of a runner.

The training during the track season is much different than the training used during cross country. Generally, the track training units consist of work that is shorter and more intense, and greatly enhances the athletes anaerobic power. Foot-speed improves and running mechanics clean up when a runner runs fast. That development carries right into the cross country season.

The danger with track is racing too much for a distance runner. A culture of training importance rather than racing importance is desired. Good races follow quality training and not the other way around. The very best scenario is when the cross country coach has complete control of the track distance runners as well. That situation enhances the continuity of training and absolutely limits spring competitions.

One never finds those dreaded, march through the distance cemetery, 1600 meter and 3200 meter double races in a single meet if the distance coach has control. Limiting competitions in track not only helps a distance runner improve, it also creates lots of racing opportunities for other runners on the team.

Physiologists advise that high school age distance runners should set aside about 10% of the calendar year for no running. This will allow time for young bones and muscles to repair themselves, energy to be re-directed to growth and maturation, and for young minds to relax from the rigor of training. That is about six weeks per year.

The best way to divide that time is three weeks off following the cross country season, and three weeks off following the track season. This then leads into off season training which should mainly consist of many additional miles of running. This is when a developing runner builds a huge cardio-vascular base that a part-time runner can never make up for.

As mentioned earlier, one of the foundational pieces of a successful running program is coach-directed off season running. Again, taking into account the rules of each state, a coach must develop a means for structuring almost daily off season running. It may be a computer program that athletes and coaches log into (there are several on the market), it may be a written plan that the captains and team follow, or it may be face to face contact.

Whatever it is in each situation, it must be consistent with the goals of the individuals and the culture of the distance team. It needs to contain both fun activities and very hard work. It should contain unique opportunities and interesting workouts that will get runners out the door each day despite the off season. The runners need to feel the vested interest the coach shares with the athlete in their running improvement.

It also needs to be long term, and not something thrown together to be just a two or three week lead-in to the season. For many good teams it is a week long summer training trip to the mountains or something similar. For others, it may be meeting and running at different geographical areas of their area of the state or city. Different, interesting, and hard work must be the cornerstone themes.

Cross country running has grown from an obscure high school sport into something pretty special in my lifetime. About 20 million people walk out of the door and run nearly every day in this country. Among those vast number of people should be the high school runners from your team. However, there is a difference between adults going out running each morning, and most high school runners. That difference lies in an adult making a personal decision to help themselves stay fit and high school runners going out because of a coach, their teammates, or the distance culture that guides them in their program.

Training Resource: The Training Model for High School Cross Country


What’s New in Distance Training

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What is scientifically in and what is scientifically being pushed out in regard to cross country training theory.

This post was provided by Complete Track and Field

By Scott Christensen

It is the end of the year, and with the change in calendars, it is always fun to take a look at what’s in and what’s out – or more specifically – what is scientifically in and what is scientifically being pushed out in regard to cross country training theory for the new year.  Keep in mind that science does not “prove” seemingly logical ideas.  The role of science, using the scientific method,is to disprove flawed ideas.  This is why scientific knowledge moves along at a snail’s pace, with the route to answers being a web of paths that twist and turn along the way.

Scientific studies are presented to the public, along with an invitation to disprove the stated results by other scientists who chose to design an experiment for such a purpose.  It is a rigorous process that does indeed lead to a loss of some semi-accepted theories; while at other times, as it becomes apparent that a theory or result cannot be disproved, it leads to full acceptance.

Theories are refined often in human performance activities such as cross country running because the science is historically young.  Replicable scientific experimentation on modern athletes is less than 50 years old, so there are many more changes occurring in the theories of human performance than in other sciences such as geology, which has been studied for centuries and few new things are ever found in experimentation.

With all of this in mind let’s look at seven concepts related to cross country training theory that have changed slightly over the last year.  In other words, what’s in, and what’s out!

  1. In ⇒ lactate and hydrogen ion removal from working muscle cells. Out ⇒ tolerance of lactate and hydrogen ions. To have tolerance to something is to build up a resistance or create a higher threshold.  The cells of the body will always be affected in exactly the same way by hydrogen ions which are acidic in nature, despite the runner’s fitness.  Anything that is acidic will be corrosive (depending on the concentration), and in the instance of H+ ions occurring as waste material from anaerobic exercise; cell membranes, red blood cells, and enzymes are all damaged.  There is no adaptive response of tolerance to the acid.  For years coaches have talked as if there were workouts that strengthened the tolerance to waste hydrogen ions.  This would allow a runner to carry near maximum speed longer in running races.  It has now been shown that drainage or removal of the acidic ions is what really occurs.  The best removal agent in the body of acidic ions is hemoglobin.  Runners higher hemoglobin levels by having more red blood cells, which is the result of aerobic training.
  2. In ⇒ static muscle stretching before exercise. Out ⇒ pointless active warm-up drills such as any form of butt-kicks.  For the last five years static stretching as part of the warm-up of a distance runner has been dismissed.  Reasons for this was diminished force production following the stretch and a need to be more active and connected in the routine.  New studies have shown that static stretching as part of an active warm-up actually diminishes lower leg injuries in distance runners.  If static stretches are held to only about 30 seconds in duration, there is no subsequent loss of force production.  Range of motion has also been shown to improve, but that would result as well if static stretching was left as a cool-down exercise only.  Butt kicks do not mimic the proper stride pattern and the neural impact of doing the drill is useless to improvement of running mechanics. Make sure all of the active and static warm-up exercises done serve an important purpose of either: proper posture or ground impact preparation.
  3. In ⇒ lateral movement in warm-up. Out ⇒ jogging in warm-up.  Distance running is primarily a straight-ahead movement pattern and that is where the adaptation stimuli occur.  However, strengthening the connective tissue of the triple extender joints is important in both performance and injury prevention.  The straight-ahead movement strengthens connective tissue in one plane only.  By adding side slide, side carioca, side stepover and the like, strengthen the connective tissue of the ankle, knee, and hip joints simultaneously, thus stimulating adaptation in all the planes.  For a seasoned distance runner, jogging to start the warm-up is a waste of time.  It tires the central nervous system, not stimulates it.  Reasons for doing it have been to increase body temperate and raise heart rate.  Any activity will do those things, so start with lateral movement patterns, not jogging.
  4. In ⇒ emphasis on critical velocity pace (Crv). Out ⇒ emphasis on lactate threshold pace (LT).  Some LT pace work is still needed such as a 25-minute tempo run by every distance runner.  The challenge with LT pace is it varies so widely from person to person and it’s relative fractionization to vVO2 max.  Some people find their LT pace at 70% of vVO2 max and others at 90% of vVO2 max.  The reason for this is true lactate threshold has a range of 2.0-3.5 mmol/L lactate in people.  Critical velocity is more tightly structure at 4.0 mmol/L lactate concentration for most people.  This is about date pace for an exhaustive 10k effort.  Moderate to tough aerobic workouts need to be designed more around Crv than LT paces to maximize their benefit in seasoned distance runners.
  5. In ⇒ upright body core strength routines. Out ⇒ horizontal body core strength routines.  The benefit of core work for proper running posture and efficient ground preparation mechanics is well documented.  Core routine “2.0” now brings the body to an upright position for most of the exercises to be most effective.  A runner would get more from a set of one-legged body squats that anything that could be done in the sitting or lying position.
  6. In ⇒ plyometric hopping. Out ⇒ plyometric bounding.  Hopping teaches the body a great deal about stabilization and coordination.  If one of the expected outcomes for a distance runner doing plyometrics is reduced ground contact time then hopping more than bounding is the emphasized exercise.  Bounding is an elongated stride in most distance runners-basically an aggressive over-stride.  There is some elastic response value found, but like butt-kicks, it just teaches bad neural engrams.
  7. In ⇒ emphasis on the soleus. Out ⇒ emphasis on the quadriceps.  Many exercises a distance runner does emphasizes the action of the quadricep muscle group such as uphill running, stadium stairs running, and squat work.  These exercises are important but have received too much emphasis.  Current research points to the soleus and its development as a key to improved distance running performance and injury prevention.  The soleus actually performs at 6.5-8.0 bw force production while running, which is the most of any area of the leg.  A good weight room activity to start with would be seated calf raises holding a 10 lb barbell on each knee.  After a few sessions increase to 20 pounds and so on.

* Coaching Resource: Strength and Power for Distance Runners

Each year-end brings in a list of new ideas, fads, and routines.  Hopefully, this list will help you in your training of cross country runners in the years to come.  Science does not change, only our understanding of it does.