Published November 30, 2025

I’m fired up about what’s happening this week, and I wanted to share it with you.

But first, two things you need to know:

One: Starting Wednesday morning, I’m going to send you a series of emails about the exact training you can implement this winter so your athletes are running faster than they’ve ever run in April and May. We both know that the way they’re going to do that is by staying injury-free all winter long...

Published November 23, 2025

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Key concept: "Extend the aerobic stimulus" — keep heart rate elevated throughout entire practice
• This principle will transform your winter training and lead to PRs in April/May
• Five aerobic workout types: Long runs, Fartlek, Progression runs, Aerobic repeats, 30-90 fartlek
• Assign long runs by MINUTES rather than miles to help athletes run by feel
• Jeff Boelé's dynamic warm-up works through a...

Published November 16, 2025

Hello!

This is such an interesting time in our sport. While most states have wrapped up their championships, California coaches are heading into their final weeks, and others are deep into NXR preparation.

No matter where you are in your season right now, today’s newsletter is going to be valuable. Whether you’re planning those final championship races or already thinking about track season, understanding race pace ...

Published November 9, 2025

Hello!

I know this is a tricky time of year to send training advice. Some of you still have multiple weeks left until state (California coaches). Some just wrapped up state championships this past weekend, while others are gearing up for states this coming weekend.

With everyone at different points in their season, I wanted to share some insights that'll help you both now and as you look ahead to track. Stick around ...

Published November 2, 2025

Hello!

This is always a tricky time of year for me to write a post.

Some states, like the state I'm in, Colorado, had their state championship yesterday. Other states, like California, still have a long way to go. And state like Nebraska have been done for over a week.

But at some point, no matter what state you're in, you likely have kids who are doing one of two things:

1. They're going to run at a postseason meet...

Published October 26, 2025

Hello!

In the state of Colorado, the state meet will be happening next week. If your state doesn’t have state on November 1st, then it’s coming up soon after that.

Last year, the Niwot boys won the Nike Cross Nationals championship. I’m blessed that Kelly Christensen of Niwot is a close friend, and I’m fortunate that he’s willing to share his training approach in the new edition of Consistency Is Key, which came out ...

Published October 19, 2025

Hello!

I know this is a busy time of year, so today's blog is short and sweet. I’ve got one piece of advice for your athletes and one piece of advice for you.

Here we go...

One Piece of Advice for Your Athletes

I shared the following on Instagram and I think your kids may benefit from it...

Published October 12, 2025 

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• You don’t need five perfect A+ races to have a great team score — solid B+ performances across the board, with one or two A- or A efforts, will get the job done.
• “Raise the floor” by focusing on realistic, solid performances rather than banking on every athlete having a breakthrough on the same day.
• Athletes will have breakout races at the high school level, but don’t plan your strategy around nee...

Published October 5, 2025 

First, registration for the 2026 Boulder Running Clinics is ready!

The clinic is January 16-17, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado. Click ​here​ to learn more and read about the experience your peers have when they make the trip to Boulder.

Okay, on to today’s email…

Considering Sharing This with Your Athletes

You can find a useful article - 10 Keys for a Great Race in October and November - that you can share with your at...

Published September 28, 2025

The long run is a staple workout for cross-country runners during most of the year, providing significant fitness benefits from a weekly or bi-weekly long run.

However, as we head into October, this workout should be scaled back or even eliminated. Here's why.

When to Scale Back on Long Runs

A weekly long run, a long run every 10 days, is a fantastic way for high school runners to build their aerobic engines. And ...

Published September 21, 2025 

Quick question: Can an athlete race faster than their fitness level?

While high school athletes often figure out in races that they can endure more discomfort than they have in the past, the technical answer is "no."

If an athlete can’t run better than their fitness level, then their goal should be to run as close to their fitness level as possible.

So the question for you is, "How can I help my athletes I coach ...

Published September 14, 2025

In the last blog post, I talked about a workout you can use this week – 6 x 1000m, with short recoveries. You can read it here if you missed it.

I’d like to propose that when it comes to your “coaching energy,” you break up the rest of the season in the same fashion. Specifically, a hard push for 5-6 days, followed by a 24-hour break from XC.

Let’s start with the recovery period.

Saturday Afternoon to Sunday After...