Time to Catch My Breath

Over at letsrun.com, they're having a fun little thread about middle school coaching and proper breathing techniques. Since I help coach the same age range, I put my two cents in. I spend a bit of time working with them on abdominal or belly breathing, but it really isn't a major focus given the really short season we have to work with.

The other thing I teach them is sequencing. In. Out. In. Out. And at every race I remind them of that little factoid. Some of the parents will laugh but it helps a lot of them. Not that they literally forget to breathe, but it gives them something to focus on other than their nerves.

In my case, I breathe about as well as a corked bottle of wine. I compensate by being very mechanically efficient and do the best that I can to improve oxygen uptake. There are a ton of books that will proclaim to teach a runner how to get more air in, and there's plenty of workouts, too.

I find that long intervals do the best job of driving improvement on lung power as well as long steep hills. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing either lately, so while my legs have gotten a lot stronger, I haven't picked up any noticeable top end speed.

That will probably be the case for the next couple of months while I build up my base to handle the mileage around the Seven Devils. Once the base is built, I'll do some sharpening to bring the lung power online for the trip.

And, just in that little description, you get an idea on why teaching breathing techniques to the kids isn't a good time investment. We only have eight weeks total. So, yes, we give them some exposure to the ideas behind breathing and running, but much more of our time is spent getting the kids fit enough to run the entire race and stay healthy at the same time.

Plus have fun.

If you click on the letsrun link, check out the name of the guy posing the question. Middle school Drama. Funny, because every year Steve and I promise "No drama." Every year, we're wrong - though last year set a new speed record.

Run gently folks. Don't forget to breathe. In. Out.

Training Log

Most successful competitive runners use a training log of some sort, and, if they don't, their coaches do in their place. The logs can be written or digital, though I prefer written. It's slower but it's a more thoughtful and mindful practice.

I have two runners that I gave logs to this year. That's a first for us because junior high xc athletes usually are just entering the sport and the emphasis is on fun. These two have been with us for the last two years and both came to me on the first day of practice asking for extra training because they want to be the best.

Obviously, they can't both be best unless every race is a tie. Not gonna happen.

But I can help them develop the talent they do have. One thing to do was get them logging their workouts. It was as not in-depth or explicit as I used to maintain. I have them recording three pieces of information. Anything else they do is for themselves.

First, I want the duration of workouts, including the ones away from practice. They can give me time or miles but I know that they do extra running outside the program. I don't want them hurt or overtrained and leg dead, so I need that info.

Second, what kind of surface are they running on? Hard pavement, trails? Same reason as above plus the training effect of trails on stabilizing muscles is huge.

Finally, the fun factor. On a scale of 1-5, I want them to give me a rating on their runs that tells me how much they enjoyed it. Once we know what they like to do for training, we can designed workouts for it. It also get us an insight into how they are enjoying the sport.

Ideally, the race times will come down while the pleasure factor goes up. Still acceptable is the race times flat or rising but the enjoyment factor high.

The only disaster is if the enjoyment factor craters. This is junior high running, not the Olympics - these kids should be running for run.

Summer Training for Junior High Cross Country Runners, Part I

Running is a perfectly natural act that most children engage in. Cross country is an extension of that but - and it's a critically important but - cross country training is not a natural activity. Keep that in mind as we take a look at your junior high school runner and a summer training program.

The first thing to note is that junior high school athletes are not adult athletes.

Their bodies are still growing and developing. As adults, we tend to think of the 13 year old runner as a small, lithe version of ourselves. They are not.

While in the middle of growth spurts where bone length increases, the joints temporarily weaken. The connective tissue and the muscle react to the change in bone length to adapt but they are behind the growth cycle. It's during this period that many young athletes suffer joint injuries.

It's not just the joints that are weak. The growth plates in young runners are very susceptible to stress fractures until they ossify, or harden. The repetitive nature of running, especially when extended far past normal activity levels, enhances the risk of injury.

A longitudinal study of high school runners - not even the less physically mature junior high runner - performed by Dr., Michael Rauh, demonstrated that girls suffered injuries at a rate of nearly 17 injuries per thousand athletic events (AE refers to practices and meets, so a typical 6-8 week season included 36-48 possible events) while boys suffered about eleven. A clear finding from Ruah's study is that girls are at a much higher risk of injury, in large part due to the physiological changes that take place at the hips, increasing the stress on the knees and ankles.

Kids run because it's fun . . .

Adults run for a variety of reasons - competition, weight-loss, relieve stress, pride, the runner's high - but kids run for a single reason. It's fun.

Kids don't train in the same manner that a professional marathoner does. Not only will the body not withstand the stresses for the majority of athletes, their ability to enjoy the activity will degrade.

The single most important goal of any training program must take the play aspect into account. Too often, a parent or coach, seeing an athlete with a high level of prowess, will ramp up the training regimen in an attempt to accelerate the development of the athlete and unintentionally turn running into work.

Kids run too hard, trying to be good too fast

As a parent or coach, we need to be aware that the kids are often the worst judges of their current ability. Many underestimate what they can accomplish and our goal should be to patiently help them test those boundaries.

Some young athletes will overestimate their ability or be too focused on the competition aspect of running. Runners in this camp will need to have someone there to dial them back without hurting the enthusiasm they have and, when they take on too much, show them what they did correctly.

The second part of that equation is getting them to understand that it takes 6-10 years to start reaching their potential. Going slower, building progressively, and understanding that they are a unique individual that will respond to training differently than their peers - high intensity may work better for some runners, high volume for others - will yield better, long-lasting competitive results.

For runners who don't want to compete forever, it will keep it fun and injury-free. That's a winning situation for everybody.

This post is already longer than I anticipated so I'm breaking it down into a couple parts. Friday, we'll move past the cautionary section and take a look at what we, as parents or coaches, can do.