There is a specific smell to late August. It’s a mix of cut grass, humidity, and for a high school cross country coach, a cocktail of anxiety and teen spirit. The first day of practice is the great equalizer. You look out at the group and you see the full spectrum: the varsity veteran who…
Why This Australian Madman Was Right About Everything Grit Over Garmin: The Stotan Training Method A Coaching Essay for High School Distance Runners It’s 1960. Herb Elliott—undefeated in every 1500m and mile race he ever ran—is charging up a 60-foot sand dune in Portsea, Australia. His coach, Percy Cerutty, is nearby, likely shouting something unfiltered…
Speed as a Skill: A Guide for Distance Runners The Problem with “Aerobic Base Only” Training Traditional high school distance training often produces athletes who are aerobically fit but mechanically broken. By prioritizing “aerobic base” while ignoring top-end speed, coaches inadvertently lower their athletes’ performance ceiling. The missing piece? Speed as a skill. While most…
Developing the Freshman Runner: A Career-Based Approach for High School Coaches Every August, a new group of freshmen arrives at practice. Among the natural talents, you inevitably find the “project” athlete: the kid who wants to run distance but currently lacks the coordination, speed, and aerobic capacity to be competitive. In a sport often obsessed…
How Cross Country Meets Are Scored: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding the Numbers Your kid just finished their first cross country race. You saw them cross the finish line somewhere in the middle of the pack, collapse on the grass, and now you’re staring at a results sheet covered in numbers that might as well…
How Lactate Threshold Training Fixes Your 5K Time (Stop Training Too Fast!) It’s a late summer tradition: enthusiastic high school runners hammering every single workout like it’s the state championship. The logic seems sound—to run a fast 5K, you need to run at 5K pace, right? Wrong. This approach produces exactly what you’d expect: tired…
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