They're Going to Mimic Your Energy

Published May 10, 2026

Hello!

The state meet here in Colorado is this Thursday, and yours is on the schedule this month or next.

Here's a list of things to keep in mind in the championship season, especially the week of state.

They're Going To Mimic Your Energy and Attitude

Your kids are going to mimic your attitude, your energy, and even your posture. If you're calm and confident and speaking clearly, that's what they'll mirror back. If you're overly excited, talking fast, and clearly anxious that's a huge problem.

Don't tell them this is just another meet. It's not. But help them dial in the right level of excitement - fired up enough to run the race of their life, but not so anxious they can't race to their fitness level.

Study Film

I know this is a crazy time of year, and you're probably rolling your eyes at this one.

"Jay - I definitely don't have time to watch video of previous state meets."

I get it.

...but your kids are going to run faster if you can give them a plan informed by the patterns you've seen on film.

At the very least go back and look at the split times in the 800, the 1600, and the 3200 for the four kids who'll be running. Better yet, find the race videos and see what the first 200m looks like, when separation happens, what the kids who ran the time you'd hope your kids will run were doing mid-race and late race.

4x800m Plan

If you have a 4x800 qualified you want to consider where each kid should run based on their personality and their strengths.

I'm not saying deviate from the "fastest kid on the anchor, second fastest on the first leg" model. But in our state there are 18 teams on the line, so it's a mess anyway, so "getting out ahead of it" with your best runner probably doesn't make sense.

But if you see in the film that everyones second leg is typically weak you might put your second fastest leg there and let them get you back up to the front.

Again, you have to look at the video from your state, you have to know the mental make up of each athlete on the relay, but know that the time you put into watching video and thinking about this will make a difference.

"What Workouts Should I Do This Week?"

It's simple. Their legs need to be moving at race pace and faster, and they need to finish workouts with plenty left in the tank.

This is not the week to squeeze in another aerobic workout. If you've got 14 days until their race, maybe. Seven days? No.

The number one thing you want them saying as they walk off the track this week is, "That felt fast, and I had more in me."

Ideally you have a workout that - if you water down the volume, but keep the intensity high, ie. race pace/PR pace - you want to do that. If you decide to do a new workout, make sure it's similar to something they've done early in the year.

Again, we don't decease the intensity in the final weeks, but we do decrease the volume.

Shade and Fences

Two simple reminders for your kids at the meet.

Stay in the shade - team tent, under the stadium, wherever it's cool. The kids who are out in the sun for 20 or 30 minutes between events run slower. You know this and they know this but they need the reminded.

The exception is cheering on teammates. If it's part of your team culture to get on the fence and cheer for teammates while they're racing, then they need to do it. Then get back in the shade when the race is over.

These are obvious things. They're also the things serious athletes forget at the biggest meet of the year.

Tell Them to "Compete!"

I say this all the time, but it really is that simple. If they just compete to the best of their ability they're going to run fast, and if the weather is decent, likely PR.

And there is a bit of stoicism in this too: the only thing they control is how well they compete. There may be other athletes who are coming on at the right time and will be ahead of them. The flip side is plenty of athletes are going to race poorly at state, even though they're fitter than your athletes.

They just need to control what they can control, and compete. That's it. That's all the two of you can ask for.

Good luck to you and your athletes in these final weeks.

Let's go!

Jay

PS - Next week I'll send a full breakdown of two things for after track ends.

The first is the two-week break between track and XC - you can read that piece here if you want to jump ahead.

The second is what to do for kids running post-season meets, which you can read here.