Coaching Three Types of Athletes
Published July 30, 2025
Three quick things before we get into today's blog...
First, the 2026 Boulder Running Clinics speakers are set, and we'll start selling tickets at the end of August. The clinic is always Fri-Sat of MLK weekend, which is January 16-17, 2026. Full details will be available in late August.
Second, if you're in need of a team tent and want to get one before the season starts, make sure to read to the bottom of the email. I bought a tent from this company last summer for my daughter's middle school team, and it's fantastic.
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Okay, on today's topic...
Today, we’re going to talk about the three types of athletes you’ll be coaching on your first day of state-sanctioned practice. Even if that’s a couple of weeks away, you need to understand this today so you have the right training when practice starts.
The Summer Runner
This athlete (a) showed up to virtually all the practices this summer and (b) likely did all or most of the training you assigned them.
The other way to think about it is that this is an athlete who had a consistent summer of training.
This athlete is set up to not only have a great XC season but the best season of high school competition to date, even if they ran great this past track season and ran a ton of PRs.
Let's go!
The “Showed Up Some of the Time” Runner
This athlete came to quite a few summer practices, yet likely didn’t do much running on the days they didn’t meet with you.
Said another way, this is an athlete that – if you’re honest – you can’t confidently say they trained with consistency this summer.
That’s fine! This athlete can also have a great XC season!
The “No Prior Training” Runner
This is the group that coaches sometimes struggle to put kids into.
You’ll need to put two types of kids into this group.
The first are kids who have never been out for XC or track. Thus, they have no prior training.
But you also need to put the athletes who ran track but didn’t train this summer into this group.
Why is this the case?
If they haven’t run for 8-10-12 weeks, they’re at a high risk of injury when starting XC practice.
Yes, they know how to do workouts, go for long runs, and do post-run work from having done those things in track, but having had weeks and months without weight-bearing running means that they’re at risk for an overuse injury.
“I understand this. I don’t like it, but I’m on board with this. But what do I do with these athletes?”
We put them in a No Prior Training progression. Then, 3-4 weeks into the season, let them work out with the groups that are appropriate for them based on race performances. You’ll keep their easy days extremely easy, following the principle in Consistency Is Key of keeping the easy days easy so the hard days can be hard (Chapter 9).
Just like the other two groups, by the middle of the season, these kids can run well and have a blast training and racing.
Training for All Three Groups
In the XC Training System, I have training progressions that fit all three groups.
“What do you mean by progressions?”
A progression of:
• Volume (aka mileage)
• Intensity
• Strides
• Race pace workouts
• Post-run work
You (a) need progressions of all these elements of training and (b) need to have your progressions blend into an overall progression of training.
“Which one of those should I focus on next week?”
The best resource I can share today is the Progression of Strides article and PDF.
Click here to read the article and get the PDF.
Here’s the deal:
If your kids aren’t doing strides most days they run this summer, they simply aren’t going to race to their potential in the fall.
Related, the “car analogy” from Consistency Is Key is a must-read if you don’t understand the importance of “revving the engine” every day. Get those chapters for free here.
The XC Training System Keeps Kids Injury-free
A coach in the XC Training System said the following about the progression in the system:
“What I like most is how there is a progression to everything which is part of an overall emphasis on injury prevention. This will lead to more consistency for the athletes, which we know is, "key" to their success.
I am always looking for ways to reduce injury, and the XCTS seems to have that built into the program.” - XCTS Coach
If you haven’t checked out the XC Training System take a few minutes to do so now.
​XC Training System​
Race Pace Workouts
In the next email I’ll talk about Race Pace workouts.
You need to touch on race pace in August and I’ll explain how I use these workouts both in August and throughout the season.
I Got This Tent for My Daughter’s Team
I’m so blessed that both of my daughters have had, or currently have, Coach Doug as their middle school coach.
He’s exceptional. The kids have a blast, they fall in love with the sport, and they get faster and faster as the season goes on.
They were in need of a tent last summer, and because their team was growing, they needed a bigger one.
So I reached out to Austin at First to the Finish and got working on getting a tent.
The process was a piece of cake: I just sent them a couple of logos and they did the design for me.
It only took a few weeks from the first email to it arriving on my doorstep.
The kids, coaches, and parents loved it, and I'm confident the tent is going to last for years.
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That’s it for today. Best of luck this week if your team is racing and...
Let’s go!
Jay
PS – If you’re looking for two workouts that work well in the first two weeks of August, consider doing Aerobic Repeats and the 30-90 Fartlek.
Learn about them here
Jay Johnson
