New series…if you email me at coachjayjohnson @ gmail.com (no spaces in the email…that’s just to cut down on SPAM) I will likely answer it. I owe an answer to a father of a HS athlete and I’ll get to that before camp, yet this question came from a college coach I respect and I thought it might be a good one to start the series with because the question assumes you’ve been here before (and if you’re new, then you can go to the first post )
Quick question…
When getting ready for a regular run…say 45-60 minute effort…or even a long run…do you do any drills prior to run?…any stretching…or do you focus on that stuff for after runs…
What about workout days…say you are doing a session (4 x Mile…cross country)…would you have a group do their warm up run (say 15-20 minutes)…then do a drill set?
Thanks man…hope things are well…
For 90% of workouts we do the Lunge Matrix (LM) and Lateral Lunge (LL) warm-ups, then they to go for their run, then they IMMEDIATELY go into their General Strength (GS) and that’s something I try to change up from day to day.
LM (Lunge Matrix)
LL (Lateral Lunge)
Easy Run
Big 12 (12 push-ups, 12 crunches, 11 push-ups, 11 crunches, 10 push-ups, 10….) and/or Pedestal Routine, followed by a cool-down, such as:
Cannonball (easier) or Grant Green (harder)
Workout day: LM, LL then their 20 min run, then back for ______ (some sort of warm-up)
Easiest WU would be a skipping WU like this one and the hardest would be the warm-up before a speed development day where the following three parts bleed into the workout – part 1, part 2, part 3
But when you’re talking about cross country, obviously the three-part warm-up is not appropriate, yet I would argue that the first month of the year the Aerobic Work WU is appropriate for workouts, though it is probably be too much work for men racing 8k/10k. Once they’re used to that then I’d suggest you let the athletes write the XC Competition WU because at this point they’ll know what the need to feel good, to be ready to race. (Note: This coach has a great XC culture and works with kids who are dying to run fast; if you’re a HS coach who is building a culture then you need to write the XC Comp. WU, not the athletes).
Finally, I very much believe in 15-20 min of GS, with roughly 50% of it hard/challenging, after the workout days for your cross country athletes. It will build will build work capacity and it follows the “hard days hard, easy days easy” philosophy.
I hope this was helpful, yet I have a feeling the comments below will be even more helpful.
