Published March 1, 2026

Hello!

This is an blog about a term we’ve all heard, and likely used ourselves: the “rust buster” race.

The rust buster is the first race of the year, one where both the athlete and coach have low expectations. The rationale is that the athlete hasn’t raced in months and that they need to “get a race under their belt” before they can chase PRs.

I’ve used this term for many years, and for younger athletes and athletes n...

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 f...

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• "Speed work" is a misnomer – 1600m race pace for most high school runners isn't fast
• A 35-second 200 (4:40 boy) or a 40-second 200 (5:20 girl) is not speed
• True speed = max velocity for roughly 40 meters – that's what sprinters do
• Replace "speed work" with "race pace work" in your vocabulary and your athletes' mental models
• Identify each athlete's next logical step, then groove that pace in workouts
• This framework applies
...

Published February 8, 2026

Hello!

In last week's email, I talked about your kids who haven't been training this winter. This could be kids in another sport — the basketball player or the swimmer — and there are different reasons to be cautious with their training in the first couple weeks. Then there's the other type: kids who ran cross country for you in the fall but didn't do a thing this winter and were sedentary.

If you missed that email, ...

Published February 1, 2026

Hello!

Let's picture this: three weeks from now, a freshmen will join your team. You've never coached this athlete before. But this athlete - let's assume they're a swimmer - has been in the pool since November. They have a big aerobic engine from swimming. The swim coach says they're competitive willing to work hard. You also heard from their middle school track coach that they can run a solid 400.

What most coaches...

Published January 11, 2026

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Running by feel is the most important skill for distance runners — more important than hitting exact paces
• It's essential for racing middle distances (knowing how the first 200m of an 800m should feel)
• It helps athletes stay injury-free by recognizing when to back off
• Takes months, not weeks, to develop
• Lincoln High School (3x NXN qualifiers) uses "run by feel" terminology constantly, especi...

Published January 4, 2026

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Assign long runs by MINUTES, not miles (so athletes can "win the day" even in bad weather)
• Add strides in the last 20 minutes of the long run for three reasons:

    - Ensures good posture when fatigued

    - "Revs the engine" (speed work) during an aerobic workout

    - Forces negative split pacing — the last 20 min will be faster

• Hard days need to be hard, easy days need to be easy — the ...

Published December 28, 2025

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  Biggest mistake: Assuming your athletes trained over break. They didn't.
• "Meet them where they are" this week — not where you wish they were
• Four elements of modern track training: Proper warm-up → Running → Strides → Post-run strength
• "Extend the aerobic stimulus" — keep heart rate elevated by doing all elements back-to-back
• "Metabolic changes occur faster than structural changes" — young ...

Published December 14, 2025

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Boulder Running Clinics: A unique learning opportunity for coaches
• Hours of free videos available to watch before the clinic
• Coaches who attend say it transformed their programs
• Shannon Thompson (NAU mental performance coach) offers mental skills training
• Almost 100 videos available from 2018-2026 in the bundle
• "I have been coming since 2019..." — Coach Hayes

Hello!

I've been getting ...

December 10, 2025

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Common questions about the Track Training System answered
• Training plans for 800m, 1600m, and 3200m athletes included
• Addresses: Upperclassmen with high mileage, freshmen/sophomores, winter sport athletes, late joiners
• Includes video library, detailed post-run training, webinars, priority email support
• Lifetime access with all future updates
• Bonuses: Consistency Is Key copies, Complete HS Runner co...

December 9, 2025

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Yes, kids can PR every time the weather is nice in April and May — if you plan now
• The road to healthy, PR-setting athletes in April/May starts in December/January/February
• You need different training plans for: 3200m kids, 1600m kids, 800m kids, 4x400m kids
• Freshmen/sophomores who can't run solid 1600m times won't become great 3200m specialists later
• Consistent athletes who stay injury-free always be...

Published December 8, 2025

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When weather is nice and competition is good, your kids should PR most of the time
• Times that won state medals in 2004/2014 aren't even making regionals anymore
• It's partly shoes and tracks, but mostly sophistication of high school coaching
• If you're not doing modern training, you're falling behind
• The Track Training System provides plans for every type of athlete on your team
• One investme...