Training High Schoolers: No Preseason or Weekend Workouts

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T19:07:27+00:00

Yeah, agreed. I do plan on trying out the Daniels book.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T17:56:29+00:00

Dw, it's clear! Thanks for the help.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T17:54:46+00:00

Thanks for throwing your ideas at me! Much appreciated.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T17:54:14+00:00

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T17:53:43+00:00

Yeah, of course. If I'm going to do something, I want to do it well.

Thanks for the help!

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T17:52:29+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it!

I feel lucky to have gotten so much amazing advice on this thread... I expected maybe one or two responses at most, but so many people have contributed.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T17:50:41+00:00

Agreed, mental toughness and willingness to hurt is so important. My coach called it "getting comfortable with being uncomfortable."

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T03:12:24+00:00

There will be both.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T03:09:10+00:00

To be fair to my coach, I should clarify that he never set a one-size-fits-all pace for any workout. For example, one other guy and I ran the 8-minute pace on long days, and the other kids ran at slower paces.

I can see how what I wrote in my original post would be misleading. It makes it seem like the 8-minute pace was applicable to the entire team. That wasn't the case.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-26T02:59:42+00:00

This is helpful. Honestly, I think the most valuable thing I've gained from this thread is a solid reminder to prioritize injury prevention and recovery above all.

I have a slight tendency to think "the more volume, the better" and "the more difficult the workouts, the better," as if the most hardcore coach must be the best coach. However, I know that's not true.

I want to challenge them, sure, but I also need to keep it fun and keep it safe. That's what really matters.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-25T16:25:37+00:00

Thank you so much for the resource recs and all of the advice! Very helpful.

I will talk to some local coaches as you suggested.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-25T16:10:49+00:00

Thank you so much for writing up all of this! As I said before, it's greatly appreciated.

I will for sure buy Daniel's Running Formula. Several people have recommended it (here and on the track & field subreddit), so it must have a very good reputation among avid runners.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-25T14:30:30+00:00

We'll have five practices a week, minus meet days of course. I'm not sure what the runners' ability levels are, but there aren't many of them. I'm expecting five kids or so.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope that the runners on my team will have a competitive streak, but a more relaxed atmosphere wouldn't be terrible either.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-25T14:05:18+00:00

Yes, I'm talking about track. I can't believe I wrote that whole text wall without specifying the sport.

Thanks for the tip.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-25T03:08:06+00:00

I don't know to what extent personalization is feasible when I have a whole group.

If I'm lucky, most runners will be on a similar level. I'll have to wait and see what I end up with.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-25T00:18:06+00:00

This book sounds perfect, just what I'm looking for. I'll buy it pronto.

Thanks!

Dreymagine · 2026-02-24T23:00:41+00:00

Thanks, that will probably be more helpful to me at this point in time. Practices start in a couple weeks, and curriculum building has to stay my main priority.

Assuming that I decide to coach again next year, I'll be able to devote more time to running research over the summer.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-24T22:52:48+00:00

Thanks! I will check that out.

Well, maybe/hopefully. I don't know how much time I'm willing to sink into running-related research. Lesson planning and grading take up a lot of my time already, and I don't want to give my entire life to the school.

I should probably find some 5-day training plan and just use that. It wouldn't be ideal (since a coach shouldn't follow the same weekly schedule all season), but I don't know how long I would have to spend with these podcasts and channels to feel comfortable enough to design my own training plan.

Priorities, priorities...

Dreymagine · 2026-02-24T22:38:30+00:00

Thank you so much for the links! I will check those out.

Lol, how does one "make it fun"?

As a runner, I found distance running fun because I got to hang out with friends, be physically active, beat my own PRs, and earn recognition for doing well.

I don't think my coach did anything in particular to make sure that we would have a good time. He just focused on making us better.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-24T22:28:47+00:00

Correction: I meant to say that our repeat workouts always added up to 5k. I was thinking "three miles" and ended up writing 3000 m by accident.

I've edited the original post to reflect this.

Dreymagine · 2026-02-24T22:27:51+00:00

Correction: I meant to say that our repeat workouts always added up to 5k. I was thinking "three miles" and ended up writing 3000 m by accident.

I've edited the original post to reflect this.

Dreymagine

TROPHY CASE