Three Weeks of Workouts

Published February 22, 2026

Hello!

In the last two emails, we've gone over a lot. We talked about why you need to keep the basketball player and the swimmer from doing too much in the first week of practice. Then we went day by day through that first week of training.

If you missed those:

​Part One: The Swimmer, the Basketball Player, and the Sedentary XC Runner​

​Part Two: Week 1, Day by Day​

Remember, you've got kids joining you for the first week of official state-sanctioned practice who haven't done anything all winter. Or, like the basketball player and the swimmer, they've been active but they haven't been running. We've got three types of kids in this scenario, and there could be more, but the key thing is these athletes need to be treated differently than the kids who have been consistent all winter.

Today we're going through Weeks 2 and 3. When you combine all three emails, you have everything you need for the first three weeks of practice. There's a ton of value in this email, and it's a little longer than the emails I'll be sending in April and May when you're busy with meets. Take the time today to read the entire thing and think about what's going on here.

Your first reaction is probably going to be: "Jay, I don't think this is enough running for these kids. Shouldn't we be running more?"

The answer is an emphatic no. The training you've done in the past - and I don't mean to be offensive here - likely got some percentage of your kids hurt. The goal in 2026 is to have your entire team injury-free. That's totally realistic.

There are coaches my age who, because they got hurt in high school and college, think injuries are part of the sport. They're not. It's 2026, and to use a phrase I love from Coach John O'Malley, he talks about rejecting ideas. I firmly reject the idea that injuries are a part of high school running, and I suggest you adopt the same mentality.

One of my favorite phrases around coaching is: "If you want to do things you've never done before, you've got to do things you've never done before."

People mistake that as meaning if you want to run big PRs, you've got to run big mileage. No. What I'm saying to you as a coach today is this: if you want your kids to stay injury-free this year, and if you've had injuries in the past, but this year you want your entire team healthy - then what are you going to do differently with your training?

At the end of this email, I'm going to share how the Track Training System is keeping entire teams healthy - not just the kids who were consistent this winter, but all of them. More on that later.

Make sure you read Part One where I talk about how we treat the basketball player and the swimmer differently than your kids who trained all winter. Make sure you read Part Two where I go day by day through Week 1. Today we're going through Weeks 2 and 3, and when you put all three emails together, you've got everything you need for the first 21 days of practice.

Now, it's worth saying: don't deceive yourself into thinking you have all the training you need for the entire track season. You don't. That's in the Track Training System. But more on that later.

Let's dive in.

Every day listed below that we don't do the Pre-race warm-up starts with Jeff Boelé's warm-up. I'm not going to keep writing that out - just know it's happening before every workout, every day.

Key Point: You can download the PDF with the training described belwo, which also includes the post-run routines and the circuit exercise, by clicking here.

Week 2

Monday

Pre-Race Warm-Up (teach this today - it takes a bit, and it's something we cover in the Track Training System)

Workout: 3 x 300m with 3 minutes recovery

You might be thinking, "Wow, we're going to the track already in just the second week," but think about it. If you've got kids for three weeks, they're probably racing in week four. They might even be racing in week three, but I'm assuming here they're going to be racing in week four just to keep things simple.

We're doing an 800m workout to get them ready to run 800m rhythm. The workout is really simple - just three 300s.

The first 300 replicates the start of an 800. We want them to practice the first 300 meters of the race. Will they know what pace they should run? Absolutely not. These kids are totally going to blow up this workout and either run it too fast or too slow, but better to have them do that in practice today and get them one step towards being able to run a nice 800 sooner rather than later.

The first 300m is from a standing start, just like you would start the race. They run that 300m and end at the 100m start. Now they've got 3 minutes to walk and jog - they can walk for 30 seconds or so, then they should jog.

The second 300m starts at the 100m start where they finished. They run the home stretch, the first curve, and the back stretch, ending at the 200m start. They get 3 minutes again - walk for 30 seconds, then start jogging.

The third 300m is the crux of the workout.

They're going to run the last 300m just like we'd hope they would run in a race: Fast, Faster, Fastest!

Obviously they're not going to negative split an 800m, but we want to start teaching them the mentality that when I get on the back stretch - whether it's in an 800m or a 1600m or a 3200m - I go fast, faster, fastest for 100m, 100m, 100m.

If you don't know what I'm talking about here, that's a chapter in Consistency Is Key. Click this link and feel free to share these free chapters with both the kids and the parents so they understand what we're trying to do here. This is a crucial concept for kids to really latch onto.

That's the workout: just those three 300s. If you're wondering why we're not finishing with some faster 100s or 120s or 150s, it's that they've run plenty on this day. If anything, they're going to be a little bit sore when we get to Wednesday.

Post-Run: Red Hard

Because this is only their second week of doing post-run work, they're going to be working really hard.

Tuesday

Workout: 10-minute run with friends, then 6 x 100m strides on the turf with 60 seconds recovery

As we talk about in Consistency Is Key, you've got to do easy days easy so your hard days can be hard. We did a hard day yesterday, so now we've got to do an easy day.

If this looks like it's not enough, trust me - it is. It's just a 10-minute run with their friends, and then 6 x 100m on the turf with 60 seconds recovery. If you don't have access to the turf because there are other teams on it, the track is fine as well. If you have an adjacent park, 6 x 100 on soft surfaces isn't a bad idea.

Post-Run: Red Easy

They should go straight into Red Easy, extending the aerobic stimulus. This is a huge part of what we do in this system - make sure you're doing that with your kids.

Wednesday

Workout: 2 x 200m, 2 x 150m, 2 x 120m with jogging recoveries (continuous movement for 6 laps)

Wednesday is another fun day where we're on the track. The key is that we're doing a jogging recovery between all of these, so they're moving continuously for six laps. Don't let them walk in between any of these.

We're starting at the 200m mark, just like a 200m sprinter would, and running that 200m. They run through the line and keep moving, keep jogging. Then another 200m after that. They're going to jog roughly 250m to recover, and then they'll run their 150m.

We want a run-in for all of these, so they should be accelerating for about 20m. By the time they get to that 150m mark (you'll put a cone out there), they should already be at a good rhythm.

If you're wondering what paces they should do, just tell them you want to see them getting faster over the course of the workout. Tell them the 200s should maybe be the same pace they ran the 300s on Monday, and do the first 200s that way. I'd rather see kids running slower on the 200s but then rip the last few reps.

One thing you could do: if the kids have spikes (even though I said we're going to jog the entire time), it's fine to let them change into their spikes after the first 150. They've basically run 550m at that point, and they've got roughly 400m of fast running left, plus the jogs. Three full laps in spikes is a nice introduction into fast footwear and will lower the injury rate.

The key with this workout is the last 120m is at about 95%. They're running fast, but they should feel like, "Coach, if you would have given me a 150m walk and then time to jog, I could have done one more 120."

Post-Run: Red Hard

This is going to be a pretty challenging day.

Thursday

Workout: 10-15 minute run with friends, then 6 x 100m strides

Because Wednesday was hard, you can probably guess what we're doing Thursday. We've got to do an easy day. There's no reason that 15 minutes is necessarily better than 10. They just need to enjoy themselves.

Post-Run: Red Easy

Friday

Workout: Circuit - 20 minutes

Friday is a circuit workout. They're going to do three circuits over the course of the first three weeks of the year. They're going to be sick of the circuits potentially after the third one - they did one the first week, they'll do one the third week, and this is our second one. This will be really challenging for them because we're going to do it for 20 minutes.

Make sure you check out the circuit workouts and watch some of the YouTube videos to understand this. We don't need to go into too much detail here, but just know you've got to get them locked in, and as a coach, your energy should be really good this day. Make sure you take the time before this circuit to show them all the exercises. Kids are surprisingly good at remembering the exercises.

One thing you'll probably want to do is print out the exercises on pieces of paper and put them on a clipboard in the various places where you're going to have them do this. If that doesn't make sense as you're reading this, just watch the video and it'll make sense then.

Post-Run: Barefoot Routine

We do the Barefoot Routine rather than a Post-Run Work Routine here because they already did the strength and mobility during the Circuit Workout. If it's cold out, the Barefoot Routine won't make sense, and I wouldn't necessarily go back into a gym and do it on concrete or linoleum or a basketball court. If you can't do it outside on the turf, just skip it.

Saturday - Off

Sunday - Off

If they're really motivated, they could go for a brisk walk on Saturday, or if you live in a climate where they could go on a nice 20 or 30-minute bike ride with their family, that's great. Most kids aren't going to do anything Saturday and Sunday, and that's totally fine. They need to recover.

Week 3

The post-run work might move up, depending on where your athletes are, to Orange.

Monday's workout is the first time these kids will do something that looks like a real race pace workout.

Monday

Workout: 3 x 400m with 200m jog recovery, then 1 x 200m

Monday of Week 3 is exciting - we're doing a 1600m workout. We're going to do 3 x 400m and a 200m. We're going to try and run these 400s at our "B" goal 1600m pace.

If you're wondering what that is, we give them three goals for the year for their race distances:

• The C goal is a PR, but just a small one.
• The B goal is a PR that they are going to be really happy with.
• The A goal is a goal that is at the limits of what the two of you think they can run but is a possibility.

We're always identifying the B goal. As you can guess, this is a moving target throughout the year. As kids gain fitness, they can speed up this goal. If they're a kid who has never been out for the track team, they can just run by feel here - they've got a couple of days under their belt from the previous week where they've been running faster.

This one is tricky in terms of footwear, and I wouldn't have them running in spikes or waffles today.

The 400s work like this:

• The first one starts at the normal start/finish line.
• They have to move continuously in this workout - they are jogging 200m for the recoveries.
• If you start and finish at the same line, now your 200m jog takes you to the 200m mark.
• Then they run the next 400m.
• Now they jog 200m - you're back to the start/finish.
• You they run their third 400m.
• Now they jog 200m, and now you try and rip the last 200m at about 95% of max.

Let's be honest, the third week of practice they are probably not going to rip that 200m, because even though this feels like it's not a ton of volume, they are still going to be tired.

Later in the season we would end with some 120s or maybe some 150s after a 1600-meter workout, but today they can be done.

Post-Run: Red or Orange Hard

For the post-run work, if you have kids who have been in other sports and have decent general strength, they could do the Orange Hard routine today. It's significantly harder than Red. See how they're doing after the workout, and if they look like they have good energy and want to get after it, you can have them do Orange Hard. The flip side is the kids who have never been out for track are going to stay on the Red post-run routine for one more week.

Tuesday

Workout: 10-minute run with friends, then 6 x 100m strides on the turf with 60 seconds recovery

There's no reason to run more than 10 minutes today.

Post-Run: Red or Orange Easy

Wednesday

Workout: 2 x 200m, 2 x 150m, 2 x 120m with jogging recoveries

We're doing the exact same thing we did the week before. We're hoping they just maybe run a little bit faster - or as important, and perhaps even more important, they look better running the same rhythms.

They could run this entire day in spikes, but I actually think doing one more day where they run the 200m, 200m, 150m in regular shoes, change into spikes, and do the 150m, 120m, 120m is a good way to go.

Post-Run: Red or Orange Hard

Thursday

Workout: 10-15 minute run with friends, then 6 x 100m strides on the turf

Thursday is the same thing as last week.

Post-Run: Red or Orange Easy

Friday

Workout: Circuit - 20-25 minutes (up to 30-35 minutes for kids who can handle it)

Friday's workout is another circuit, and it's our last circuit of the season. 20-25 minutes for younger kids is plenty. On the document I say you could do 35 minutes for kids who can handle it, but that's probably a stretch. A 30-minute circuit for a hard-working kid is extremely challenging, and that's all we need them to do.

If you're a younger coach or you're a fit coach and you want to experiment and see how this feels, try it. You might not have time to do it until after the track season, but doing this a couple of times yourself will give you a real sense of how challenging these workouts are. You've got to give the kids a ton of credit if they can stay locked in and do this.

Post-Run: Barefoot Routine

As we did the week before, we do the Barefoot Routine for our post-run work because we've already done the general strength in the circuit.

Saturday - Off

Sunday - Off

The Big Picture

If you've read this long, know that you're ahead of most coaches because you're taking the time to look at training that's likely different than what you've done in the past.

Let's go back to this key phrase that I think is going to help you both this season and seasons to come:

"If you want to do things you've never done before, you've got to do things you've never done before."

So if everything in this email looks either a little bit different than what you've done in the past or a lot different, know that you're on the right track for your kids to have a season where they're injury-free and they run big PRs

If you kept them injury-free for 21 days, you did your job. Now you can let them race into fitness. They're going to surprise you. Set all of your kids up to PR this season - not just the ones who trained all winter.

It's Almost Too Late

It's almost too late for you to be able to learn a new way to coach that's going to transform your program. The Track Training System can indeed transform your program this year, but you need a few days to study it before you can implement it. If you wait for me to tell you this in two more emails, it might be too late.

Here's what Coach Collins had to say after he used it:

Using your framework, I rewrote our middle distance training. For context, we were 2021 State Champions in XC and Track for Boys and runners-up for Girls, but more was needed.

We competed this weekend for the State meet and won both Boys and Girls.

This includes:

4x800 - Boys 1, Girls 2 (Both with new school records)

1600 Boys - 1st and 2nd, Girls 2nd (new school record), 8th, 9th

800 Boys 1st

3200 Boys 4th and 8th, Girls 1st and 8th

The boy who won the 1600 and 800 did not lose a race in 1600, 800, or 3200 all season and took his PR from 4:24 to 4:14. The young woman took her 1600 from 5:17 to 5:03 and 3200 from 11:25 to 10:57.

So thank you for challenging me to rethink how we did things and for offering tools to do something different.

- Coach Collins

You're running out of time to get it. The official state-sanctioned season starts soon. Once you get to your first important meet, it's going to be too late to rethink your training. Today's the kind of day you should take the time to learn about the Track Training System.

If you have questions, I'll be at my computer throughout the day Sunday, and ally day Monday. Just respond to this email.

Let's go!