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Training Between The State Track Meet and Post-Season Track Meets

For this runner to run a PR at a post-season national meet – be it the New Balance Outdoor Nationals or the Nike Outdoor Nationals – they must be mentally and physically recovered from the state meet.

A common problem – and one we can easily fix – is to make sure the athletes take a few easy days following the state track meet. Physically, they can handle decent training loads the week after state. But there is an...

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Running a PR in Track: 12 Tips for a Breakthrough Performance

This article is for high school runners who run the 800m or 1600m or 3200m and are “stuck” at a certain time/performance. I know this is extremely frustrating for you. Here are 12 tips from my 20+ years of coaching that will help you break through to a new PR. 

Before we dive into the tips, I need you to embrace two ideas. 

The first is that you and your coach must agree on what the “next logical step” is...

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1600m Training: Making a Move with 500m To Go

The 1600m is a fantastic event for high school runners because it teaches them how to “cover moves” and to accelerate when they’re fatigued, skills that also translate to faster cross country races in the fall. 

But a problem for many athletes is that the third lap is significantly slower than the other four laps. Kelly Christiansen, the coach at Niwot High School in Niwot, Colorado, calls this “the third lap...

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30-90 Fartlek: The Perfect Challenging Aerobic Workout for April-May

I sent the following newsletter to high school coaches the first week of April. Ensure you get on my email list here so you don't miss the next email.

The 30-90 fartlek is a workout that I first used at the end of summer training to transition into cross country race pace work. 

It’s also a fantastic workout to utilize in April and May. Here's why. 

  • Your kids get an aerobic stimulus
  • They run much faster than they would...
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How the 1600m is Different from XC - Kelly Christensen Weighs In

Transcript - 5 min read time

This excerpt is from the Mental Skills for High School Runners course.

Jay: Your girls just finished second at the 2022 Nike Cross Nationals. What are some of the things you're doing all year long? 

Kelly: All year long to make sure that those same girls now...when we go into the track season, can run a really good 1600m. I think so much of the mile is rhythm and cadence and learning how to run a...

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