What is the core principle for avoiding overtraining in high school runners?

Undertraining is the secret to limiting injuries, avoiding burnout, and keeping athletes engaged and confident throughout the season. Most high school coaches err toward doing too much. Two intense workouts per week maximum, genuinely easy running for everything else, and athletes should feel they could have done one more rep at the end of every session.

What is the Hippocratic Oath approach to coaching?

The Hippocratic principle — 'First, do no harm' — applied to coaching means the primary obligation is to keep athletes healthy and progressing long-term. Overtraining at the high school level is a downright dangerous approach that trades long-term development for short-term results. Coaches who apply this principle resist external pressure (from parents, administrators, or athletes themselves) to do more than the physiological situation warrants.

How should coaches structure practice to prevent overtraining?

Ask every athlete how they feel at the start of every practice and adjust training accordingly. Limit intense workouts to two per week. Encourage athletes to never completely exhaust their reserves — ending practice with something left. Monitor training load across all activities, including club sports and PE class. Individualize based on athlete response, not a fixed schedule.

Avoid Overtraining: High School Runners

Overtraining is prevented by limiting intense workouts to two per week, running mostly easy, and exercising caution rather than pushing boundaries. Athletes must recover adequately and coaches should ask daily how they’re feeling.

The Core Principle

Working harder isn’t the answer. Working smarter is the key to longevity and success. Undertraining is the secret to limiting injuries, avoiding burnout, and keeping athletes engaged and confident.

Overtraining is a dangerous approach taken by greedy coaches looking for short-term gains at the expense of an athlete’s long-term progression.

10 Guidelines to Avoid Overtraining

Limit intense workouts or races to a maximum of two per week.
Run mostly easy. The foundation of every training plan should be easy running at conversational pace.
Reserve race-level effort for actual races. Workouts should stimulate adaptations, not deplete reserves.
Take into account the athlete’s personal life and make necessary adjustments during stressful times. School stress, family issues, and sleep debt count.
Set realistic workout goals and times to build confidence and trust. Better to hit goals and feel strong than to miss them and feel defeated.
Individualize training based on time rather than place among peers. Don’t compare athlete A’s pace to athlete B’s pace.
Ask everyone how they are feeling every day. Adjust their training accordingly. A readiness rating on a 1–10 scale, tracked over weeks, reveals trends.
Avoid overwhelming athletes with too many events on meet days. Be mindful of time between races and cumulative distance.
Encourage athletes to leave “one more rep on the track.” Never completely exhaust their reserves. The hardest workouts aren’t always the best workouts.
Empower runners to make choices by offering a range of minutes or miles on easy days. Let them own their training.

The Hippocratic Oath for Coaches

Pledge first to avoid those things that cause more harm than good. Teach athletes how to be hard workers, resilient competitors, and dedicated athletes while exercising restraint and caution when necessary.

When Fatigue Becomes Overtraining, Chronic Sleep Debt and Running Performance, Coaching High School Distance Runners, Mind the Gap – Preventing Runner Injuries

Bottom Line

The “just right” Goldilocks idea of perfection is a small target. We are better off erring on the side of caution, especially with new and young runners still developing physically.

Part of the Athlete Development System

The two-workout rule is one cornerstone of sustainable long-term development — the complete athlete development guide → shows how it fits into the full system.

The Core Principle

10 Guidelines to Avoid Overtraining

The Hippocratic Oath for Coaches

Related Concepts

Bottom Line