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Developing the Freshman Runner: A Career-Based Approach
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…
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How Cross Country Scoring Works: A Parent’s Guide
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…
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Developing Young Distance Runners: Talent, Patience, and Burnout
Developing Young Distance Runners: Talent, Patience, and Burnout An eighth-grader showed up to my first practice wearing basketball shorts and generic running shoes from Kohl’s. He’d never run competitively. Didn’t know what a PR was. Couldn’t tell you the difference between a 400 and an 800. But when we did our baseline mile time trial,…
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Managing Parents: Communication Strategies That Work
Managing Parents in HS Sports: A Coach’s Communication Guide I’ll never forget the text message I received at 10PM on a Tuesday before the first day of school: “Why wasn’t my daughter in the top seven at today’s workout? She ran a 6:45 mile last spring. This doesn’t make sense.” The workout itself was simple—a…
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Progressive Mileage Guidelines by Age and Experience
I’ll never forget the kid who showed up to practice sophomore year announcing he’d run 60 miles that week because “that’s what David Rudisha (800m world record holder) did when he was my age.” By the of September, he was sidelined with overuse injuries. His fall season? Gone. His ability to help his teammates win…
