Central Catholic Training Overview

Thanks to Sprague Coach Tom Jimenez for inviting me to share my thoughts this season. I love cross country, and I am very lucky to be working in this field - and with a phenomenal group of talented and dedicated young athletes.

I have been lucky throughout my life to find myself in enviable positions, and my coaching at Central Catholic fits perfectly into that category. I learned a great deal from Alberto Salazar, not simply in terms of training and racing, but in terms of expectations and dreams; Alberto told me during Galen Rupp's sophomore year that Galen could break Gerry Lindgren's HS 5000m record by his senior year. I pointed out that the record was 13:44, and Alberto, at that time, told me how Galen would go about breaking that record. Alberto's belief and ability to dream great things set our program in motion, and it is very doubtful that I'd be where I am now without his belief.

The Central Catholic distance program is pretty simple, but it's not easy. In other words, it is not complicated, but the effort required to achieve great success is formidable. We have been lucky over the last five years to work with young men willing to put in the hard work, and their successes have been well documented. A large part of our success comes from the team dynamic; when many boys are training and racing at a high level, others simply jump in, do the same type of work, and also achieve success. I'm very proud to say that our success hasn't just been with Galen and Kenny Klotz; athletes at all levels in our program have shown great improvement over the course of a season and, particularly, over the course of their CC careers.

So, what do we do?

MILEAGE
Well, we run a lot. Each athlete is assigned a weekly maximum mileage for the season based on his "running age", experience, injury history, etc... Some weeks we do the maximum mileage, and other weeks we don't - based on upcoming races, the intensity of the workouts, and numerous other factors. It is my belief that we are much better served by running only, say, 80% of our training capabilities all year long as compared to running at our max for short stretches between injuries and illness. Consistency is a huge factor in success.

Our standard mileage progression is 40mpw/freshmen, 50mpw/sophs, 60mpw/juniors, 70mpw/seniors. Remember, this is the maximum for one week during the season, not the mileage each week during the season or the average mileage for the season. A runner with a maximum of 60mpw will likely average 45-50mpw for the entire season. We reach these maximum values only about 5-6 weeks per season (24 weeks). Each pre-season (cross country & track) we increase an athlete's max 5-10 miles; there are exceptions in both directions as some athletes seem to thrive on more mileage while others are not able to increase and stay healthy.

TYPES of TRAINING
Our training consists of six types of running: 1) long runs, 2) tempo runs, 3) fartlek, 4) long intervals, 5) hill work, 6) moderate/recovery runs.

We do a long run almost every week. In any two week stretch, we typically do one tempo, one fartlek, one session of long intervals, one session of hill work, and two long runs. All other runs are moderate and used to reach mileage goals for the week.

1) Long runs are typically 20-25% of the week’s mileage and vary with the weekly mileage.

2) Tempo runs are 2-6 miles at a pace the athlete can handle, but which is fairly difficult; you should always finish a tempo run feeling like you could CERTAINLY do at least another mile at that pace. Generally we do these on the track, but sometimes we'll go to a bike path or bark chip trail. (If done on the bark chip trail, we definitely run slower.)

3) Fartlek is best done on hilly courses and should be, again, taxing, but not all out. A version of fartlek which we often use is Oregon State Coach Kelly Sullivan's "minutes".

4) Our long interval workouts are not meant – in the summer – to be extremely difficult; for example we might do 6 x 1000m at 3:45 (on bark chip trail) with 3 min recovery in the summer; in late September or early October we might do 8 x 1000m on the same surface averaging 3:15… In other words, the summer training is at a level SIGNIFICANTLY below what we’re really capable of doing.

5) Hill work is usually a set of repeats on a hill that is not terribly steep; we might do three sets of 600-400-300 on the hill, jogging easily back down for recovery. Often we'll do some work on the track before and/or after the hill work.

ADDITIONAL TRAINING ITEMS
• STRIDES Strides should be done 2-3 times per week; these are 80-100m efforts at a pace significantly faster than an easy run. They should be done after a normal run and are best on grass or a track, rather than the street or sidewalk. We usually do 6-8 strides with only 30-40 seconds between each one. Once per week it is preferable to do accelerations rather than simple strides, taking slightly more recovery.

• HILLS vs. FLATS For easy to moderate days we run hilly courses as often as possible; hills build strength – muscularly, cardiovascularly, and in terms of mental toughness.

• PAVEMENT vs. SOFT SURFACE Whenever possible it is best to run on grass, trails, bark chips, etc… rather than the roads or bike paths. Concrete is a very hard surface and places greater stress on the joints and musculature. Additionally, running on trails, grass, etc… forces the lower extremities (feet, ankles) to constantly adjust to the surface and, therefore, become stronger. When we must run on harder surfaces, we choose asphalt rather than concrete; asphalt is a much more forgiving surface.

• GENERAL STRENGTH We do a number of drills on a regular basis – strength, mobility, static and dynamic flexibility, and plyometrics – that have been instrumental in the success of our athletes over the last few years. In and of themselves they will not create great runners but – when coupled with competent, dedicated, and intelligent running – can make a huge difference over the course of time. I'd be glad to e-mail anyone with our list of drills; maybe someday we'll be able to post video demonstrating the drills.

• CROSS TRAINING We supplement our weekly mileage with other activities; creative use of pools, stationary bikes, elliptical trainers, etc… - allow us to continue training while injured or keep a relatively high volume for injury-prone runners. It also allows for significant increases in volume without the accompanying pounding on the legs. Always remember that these other forms of training are not substitutes for running when it is possible to run; the best way to become a good runner is to go running, but there is a time and place for other types of training.

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I hope to have regular updates to this blog; feel free to let me know if there are specific things you'd like discussed.

Dave Frank
ramxc@yahoo.com