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Characteristics of a Great Coach -

This article is provided by McMillan Running a recommended resource for running coaches.

WHILE DIFFERENT IN STYLE, THE BEST SHARE SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS

Our sport has had several truly great coaches over the last few decades. Each has his or her own style — some militaristic, others more Zen, all caring deeply about their athletes. Their training programs, while all sound, are as varied as their personalities.

I’ve been fortunate to spend time with several of these coaches, most notably Arthur Lydiard, David Martin and Joe Vigil. Here’s what they, along with a few others, taught me:

FOLLOW THE FUNDAMENTALS

Every sport has fundamentals. Great coaches hold to a few principles that have been proven throughout history. First, all believe in gradual progression in the stress (mileage and workouts) on the athlete. The best know that it takes time, a lot of time, to build the athlete. No instant gratification with these coaches. Second, they know that basic fitness is the base on which fast racing sits. Each uses the bulk of the year to do preparatory training so that the athlete is ready for the race-specific training that leads to a peak performance. Third, great coaches hold to Lydiard’s “train, don’t strain” mantra. They spend more time holding their athletes back in training than they do pushing them to exhaustion.

EXPERIMENT OF ONE

Talented coaches recognize that each athlete is one grand experiment. They are masters at modifying training programs to better fit the individual. As I joined Lydiard on his last U.S. tour, I commonly heard him provide different (and sometimes opposite) answers to what, on paper, would appear to be two similar athletes. He was a genius at figuring out the subtle differences between athletes, and this informed his answer to each. Great coaches seem to have this ability to see past the training plan and into the athlete. They seem to care more about “How did you feel?” than “What was your time?”

PLAN FITNESS DEVELOPMENT

“Hold, hold, hold.” We all remember this scene from “Brave-heart” where William Wallace makes his band of brothers hold their position until the very last, precise moment when their attack would be the most effective. Great coaches don’t get the athlete as fit as possible as quickly as possible. They plan fitness development across the training cycle, often holding back so as not to peak too soon. This is why their athletes seem to consistently perform their best in championship races. The best coaches control the fitness buildup until the last, precise moment — the peak race..

MENTAL MASTERS

Performance is a collection of many variables, but all great coaches are able to maximize this one: the mental state of the athlete. Each uses different approaches, but the end result is the same — the athlete is ready for anything and everything and willingly goes outside his or her comfort zone. One example: When Deena Kastor won the U.S. cross country championships early in her work with Vigil, everyone around her was celebrating. Her coach, however, wasn’t joining in. “Deena, I’m not going to pat you on the back till you can beat not just the best in the U.S. but the best in the world,” he said. Vigil knew Kastor would respond to this approach — and she did. Working together, they turned women’s distance running around in the U.S. This hard-nosed approach works with some athletes, but it would crush others. Great coaches know how to tell the difference.

MISSING THE MARK

Here are two approaches that mark a not-so-great coach.

1. Including heavy race-specific training throughout the training plan.

The idea of specificity lures some coaches into including too much of it across the training plan. Instead of building basic fitness, they focus too much attention on race-specific training. Runners love this type of instant gratification, as they get fit quickly, but the long-term result is often peaking early and reaching a quick plateau in performances. Watch out for coaches whose athletes have a history of plateaus..

2. Trying to force fitness instead of letting it come.

Great coaches know that fitness builds at its own rate. Poor coaches try to force fitness gains. These are the coaches who are pushing their athletes to exhaustion on a frequent basis. It doesn’t work and is not in the best interest of the runner. Beware of coaches who are pushing their athletes more often than holding them back. Leave the throwing up after each workout to the football players.

What Kind of RUnners do you Have?

This article was provided by McMillan Running , a recommended resource for running coaches.

BY Greg McMillan, M.S.

HOW THEY DIFFER AND HOW TO TRAIN THEM

The high school cross country coach often faces four types of runner as the season gets under way. While the easiest path is to give each runner the same training, the most successful coaches tailor the training to fit each type of runner. Here are my four types of high school harriers and how to coach them.

PRIDE

My high school mascot was the cougar, and the underlying spirit of our team was “Cougar Pride.” That meant that you did everything right to help the team. You trained and raced in a way that would make your team, your coach and yourself proud. Runners with Cougar Pride (or whatever your mascot is) are the athletes who train all summer. They do their sit-ups and pushups. They stretch and ice bath and are 100 percent committed to being a better runner. Their running takes top priority and the results show.

With these athletes, just keep them healthy and stoke the fire of motivation, and they’ll win titles year after year. The greatest risk is peaking too soon. Since they have such a great aerobic base from summer running, any speed work will bring them to a peak quickly. As a result, I suggest delaying race-specific training until the last four to six weeks before your championship meet.

I think of Cougar Pride training in two ways. The early part of the season is building the steel–getting strong with hill workouts and tempo-type work. Athletes with Cougar Pride can race fast off of the strength they have, so early season (though infrequent) racing should be successful (though the coach will get them pumped with thoughts of how good they are going to be once speed work starts). Then, in the last few weeks of the season, the steel gets sharpened with race-specific workouts. This should bring this athlete to a peak right on time.

THE DISCOVERY

I loved the start of practice each summer because we Cougars knew there would be a discovery or two–a person who had no idea he had talent for running but soon found that this sport was for him. He was usually a freshman or sophomore with little running experience, but boy, could he run.

With Discoveries, the coach has a careful balancing act. On the one hand, you want to pump Discoveries up with lots of encouragement and you want to bring them into the Pride. On the other hand, they’re raw and injuries are common with talented athletes with few miles under their belts. The key here is to get your team leaders to take them under their wing and show them the way. Keep these Discoveries under control for 80 percent of the training (lower, slower mileage and easier workouts) but throw them in with the big boys for some special workouts to let them strut their stuff.

THE NECESSARY EVIL

There’s nothing worse for a high school coach than to have talented runners show up for fall practice having done none of the necessary summer training. If you have a talented team that can afford to lose these athletes, then it’s best to cut them from the team. It will show your commitment to the Cougars and let everyone know that your team means business.

Some coaches, however, don’t have the luxury of cutting athletes who may be first-stringers but are undisciplined. I recommend that instead of training these athletes with the Cougars and Discoveries, train them with the beginners. Start building fitness with short, fast repeats like 10 times 100 meters with 100 meters walk back to the start and slowly just get them running several times per week (three to four runs per week). They’ll come around but it will likely be later in the season so there’s no need to try to push them too hard too soon. After building some fitness with the short, fast repeats and more frequent running, add hill repeats and race them frequently to help them round into shape. Every now and then, throw them in with the Cougars to reinforce that running is a lifestyle and that success comes with discipline and dedication. Hopefully, they’ll get on board for your next season.

THE PARTICIPANT

I’m conflicted on the Participant–the student who runs cross country for fun but not to challenge himself or give 100 percent for the team. On the one hand, more people running is great for the sport. On the other hand, Participants can be a drag on the Cougars and Discoveries as well as the coach. In the end, each program must decide what its philosophy will be–competitive or participatory or (the nearly impossible) both.

Training for the Participant should be more like PE class than cross country training. Make it fun for them, play a lot of games involving running, avoid injuries and slowly build their fitness. Keep them separate from your Cougars and Discoveries who are building Cougar Pride by giving 100 percent every day but make them see exercise as positive.

Training Pace

The following article was provided by McMillan Running, a recommended resource for distance running coaches.

By Greg McMillan

You know how the McMillan Calculator works. You put in your current fitness (either a recent race result or an estimate) and then the Calculator determines training paces that will challenge your body to advance to a high fitness level. The genius, if I may say so, is that it calculates precisely just how much added training stress each of the four training zones can take to push you enough but not too much.

For most runners, using it in this way works perfectly. That’s because most of us are “combo” runners, meaning that across race distances from the mile to the marathon and within each training zone (endurance, stamina, speed and sprint), we are pretty “equal”. We may tend toward shorter races or longer races or do slightly better in short/fast workouts or long/steady workouts but overall, we have a good combination of all four fitness traits.

I’m a good example. If you put in my 5K PR of 14:55, you’ll see that my actual performances at other distances (handwritten) are pretty close to the predicted performances. For example, the calculator will predict from my 5K of 14:55 that I could run 4:17 for the mile (I’ve run 4:13), 30:59 for 10K (I’ve run 30:57), 1:09:04 (my PR is 1:10:28) and 2:25:21 for the marathon (my PR is 2:31:58). From this quick survey of my PRs, you see that I’m pretty close across the board but tend to match or exceed the prediction in the shorter, more speed oriented races. That’s why I call myself a combo-speedster – a runner who is pretty good across all aspects of fitness but do a little better in the speed department compared to the endurance department.

One note: I’ve been lucky to compete from a young age and to compete in all distances, from middle distances of 800m to 5K in high school up to longer distances including the marathon when I was still in peak shape in my late 20s and early 30s. This gives me a really good look at how I compare across distances. If you, however, have never competed on one side of the race spectrum (e.g., you got started during the marathon boom and never really did much speed work or shorter races) then your evaluation may be slightly skewed since you don’t really know your capabilities in shorter races till you spend some time working in your speed and competing more frequently in these races.

That said, I think you see my point. I can insert my current race times (shown below) and get a perfect set of training paces for all my workouts. Since I’m a combo-speedster, I usually find that I’m more on the faster end of the suggested pace range in the speed and sprint workouts whereas I’m in the middle or slow end of the pace range in endurance and stamina workouts.

What if, however, you are not a combo runner but much more of a true speedster or endurance monster? With these athletes, I use a “hybrid” McMillan Calculator. Here’s a real-life example:

A few years ago, I coached a young woman named Jill who is a true endurance monster. If you put her marathon PR into the McMillan Calculator, you’ll see that her long distance races match up but she can’t come close to the predicted times for short races no matter how much we tried.

What happens with athletes like this (or ones who are on the opposite end of the spectrum and true speedsters) is that they can easily hit the training paces for the training zones that match their type but have to kill themselves just to hit the slow end of the range in the training zones that don’t match their strengths. For example, Jill could easily hit the paces for the endurance and stamina workouts but clearly had to strain to hit even the slow end of the range for speed and sprint workouts. Obviously, this isn’t optimal training for an athlete like her. It’s overtraining.

So, for Jill, I created two sets of training paces using two race times. For endurance and stamina workouts, I used her marathon time since these training zones fit her strengths as a runner. For speed and sprint workouts, however, I didn’t use the paces derived from her marathon time. Instead, I put in her 5K time and used the speed and sprint paces from this time. Below, you can see a side by side comparison of the difference in pace ranges from these two calculations.

Goal Setting -

This article is provided by Coaches Network Track and Field is a sport where goal setting is important and where goals are easy to identify. Times and distances are very concrete and definable goals. With the start of the Track and Field season just around the corner, It might be time to set down with your athletes and discuss their goals for the upcoming season. Setting good goals and focusing on activities that will help them reach their goals will increase the chances for both individual and team success. In the article below you will get some guidelines for teaching athletes to how to set goals

By Kevin Bryant

A great way to keep athletes focused and driven is by having them devise goals. Goal-setting provides direction, increases motivation, directs attention, and raises self-confidence. But how can you teach goal setting in a simple way?

Here is a lesson plan:

1. Define “goal” and provide examples. Coaches can offer some of their own goals, both for the team and their own life.

2. Share the benefits of goal-setting, which include:

• Providing motivation in the face of discouragement or a challenge

• Enhancing concentration

• Boosting self confidence

• Creating a positive mental attitude.

3. Talk about the difference between outcome goals and process goals. An outcome goal can be winning a league title, while a process goal can be related to improving a skill.

4. Explain how to set effective goals. Outline that they should be:

• Specific and measurable

• Attainable but moderately difficult

• Positive and not negative.

Also outline the different types of goals:

• Season-long

• Weekly

• Individual

• Team

• Practice

• Competition.

5. Ask athletes to devise some of their own. Start with a weekly goal, have the athletes share theirs, and then critique them as a group. Discuss which goals work better than others and why.

6. Give an assignment for athletes to refine their weekly goals and make two more short-term and two season-long goals, both individual and team-wide.