Look at the Whole Day: How I Think About Volume in High School Cross Country

00:00.32–00:01.91 High school cross country coaches, we're

00:01.92–00:04.27 going to talk about volume. In the video

00:04.28–00:05.95 that came out yesterday, we talked about

00:05.96–00:08.35 why we're looking at minutes and not

00:08.36–00:10.55 miles. And the case I'm making there is

00:10.56–00:12.23 that when we're when we're assigning our

00:12.24–00:14.39 runs and our workouts based on minutes,

00:14.40–00:16.75 we can be a lot more careful about how

00:16.76–00:18.55 much the uh kids are running. Today,

00:18.56–00:19.75 we're going to talk about volume. Now,

00:19.76–00:22.07 the volume The There There's so many

00:22.08–00:24.19 reasons this this term is important, but

00:24.20–00:26.47 the biggest one is this. When we look at

00:26.48–00:28.71 a total day, we're looking at the

00:28.72–00:31.15 warm-up, the run, the strides, the post

00:31.16–00:32.91 run work. So, it's the volume of all

00:32.92–00:36.11 that. And I I This might I might be a

00:36.12–00:38.27 little critical of how you've done

00:38.28–00:40.35 things in the past. If you're a

00:40.36–00:42.27 middle-age coach like me and you ran in

00:42.28–00:44.47 the 1990s or, you know, you're a coach

00:44.48–00:46.63 in your 30s and you ran in the 2000s,

00:46.64–00:48.79 you just looked at, "Hey, how far did we

00:48.80–00:51.11 run today?" So, that was mileage. But

00:51.12–00:53.03 now, you know you have to do a dynamic

00:53.04–00:54.83 warm-up. If there's teams that that are

00:54.84–00:56.63 beating your teams, you know, at the

00:56.64–00:58.27 conference meet or at the state meet,

00:58.28–00:59.55 and they're doing a warm-up that you're

00:59.56–01:01.39 not doing, and let's be honest, your

01:01.40–01:03.03 kids are looking at that team thinking,

01:03.04–01:04.67 "Coach, should we be doing a warm-up

01:04.68–01:06.43 like that?" You know, obviously you're

01:06.44–01:08.19 doing the day dynamic warm-up and not

01:08.20–01:10.15 doing a bunch of static stretching in

01:10.16–01:13.39 2026. On the backside, you see all the

01:13.40–01:14.79 professional runners, all the collegiate

01:14.80–01:16.63 athletes doing the post run work. They

01:16.64–01:18.11 might be in the weight room, and all

01:18.12–01:19.47 those videos of the weight room look

01:19.48–01:21.75 fancy, but I'll be honest, high school

01:21.76–01:24.31 kids often

01:24.32–01:26.07 Sorry. You might not have been able to

01:26.08–01:29.43 hear that. High school kids often can't

01:29.44–01:31.15 do a lot of weight room work because

01:31.16–01:32.91 they're they can't even control their

01:32.92–01:34.35 body weight. Their general strength is

01:34.36–01:35.63 bad. One of the things I talk about in

01:35.64–01:37.63 Consistency Is Key, you know, we talk

01:37.64–01:38.55 about

01:38.56–01:41.43 strengthening the chassis, which is, you

01:41.44–01:42.87 know, we're building the aerobic engine,

01:42.88–01:44.19 but then we're strengthening the

01:44.20–01:46.67 chassis. And this is a nice little

01:46.68–01:48.55 picture here where we have somebody

01:48.56–01:50.39 doing a lunge, then we have somebody

01:50.40–01:52.55 doing a lunge with dumbbells, then we

01:52.56–01:53.83 have a

01:53.84–01:56.31 then somebody doing a lunge loading up

01:56.32–01:58.91 the spine with a a barbell on their

01:58.92–02:00.75 back. Okay, that's the type of

02:00.76–02:03.03 progression we would be thinking about,

02:03.04–02:05.39 right? But but but that's not what we're

02:05.40–02:06.71 doing with Post Run Work. We're just

02:06.72–02:08.59 going to do body weight stuff. Now, if

02:08.60–02:10.39 you're somebody who's said, "Jay, I know

02:10.40–02:12.43 you're the guy who does SAM and Corax."

02:12.44–02:15.63 I really like Corax in 2026. SAM isn't

02:15.64–02:17.19 as good as what I have in the Cross

02:17.20–02:18.91 Country Training System, and you can get

02:18.92–02:21.31 a lot of that for free. We do colors,

02:21.32–02:24.43 red, orange, yellow, green. Red and

02:24.44–02:27.19 orange are for free on my website. So,

02:27.20–02:29.43 I'll try and put a link here somewhere.

02:29.44–02:31.27 Um you can just Google me and and you

02:31.28–02:32.83 can find that, but I'll make sure

02:32.84–02:34.43 there's there's a link when you're

02:34.44–02:36.67 watching it on places like YouTube where

02:36.68–02:38.91 I can put a link under the video. Um and

02:38.92–02:40.19 if you're listening to this, you're just

02:40.20–02:41.63 going to have to figure out how to find

02:41.64–02:43.27 some of the stuff, but it's not rocket

02:43.28–02:46.03 science. So,

02:46.04–02:48.03 what what I want you to understand is

02:48.04–02:50.03 that we're looking at the entire day.

02:50.04–02:51.23 We're looking at the volume of the

02:51.24–02:52.83 warm-up. Now, we're just doing Jeff

02:52.84–02:54.75 Galloway's warm-up or you know, some

02:54.76–02:56.71 dynamic warm-up you like. We're doing

02:56.72–02:58.31 that from day one. We're we're not

02:58.32–03:00.35 really progressing that stuff. You could

03:00.36–03:02.43 get really fancy and technical. A lot of

03:02.44–03:04.71 you know Niwot High School. I'm good

03:04.72–03:05.67 friends with the coach Kelly

03:05.68–03:07.91 Christensen. Kelly's an amazing coach.

03:07.92–03:09.43 Maybe he's the best coach in the uh

03:09.44–03:11.19 country. I I think I can make that

03:11.20–03:13.39 argument very strongly. And he's got

03:13.40–03:15.35 different warm-ups on different days. If

03:15.36–03:16.59 they're doing a a more of a speed

03:16.60–03:18.19 development type day, a faster day, he's

03:18.20–03:19.87 got a different warm-up than if they're

03:19.88–03:21.95 going to a threshold run. But let's keep

03:21.96–03:23.55 it simple. Just do Jeff Galloway's

03:23.56–03:25.59 warm-up or you know, if you're watching

03:25.60–03:26.95 this multiple years from now, I might

03:26.96–03:28.43 have a different one. Then we go

03:28.44–03:30.71 straight into our run. This is what

03:30.72–03:32.31 we've, you know, done all the way back

03:32.32–03:34.67 to Arthur Lydiard. How much do we run?

03:34.68–03:36.99 But we're measuring it in in minutes.

03:37.00–03:39.91 Now, the wrinkle that I add to the easy

03:39.92–03:41.83 days and the long runs, we're going to

03:41.84–03:44.51 do strides as part of our run. So, when

03:44.52–03:47.39 I was coaching um adult runners online

03:47.40–03:49.19 years and years ago, it was back when my

03:49.20–03:51.31 kids were born, and they're teenagers

03:51.32–03:52.99 now. So,

03:53.00–03:55.03 uh people training for the marathon

03:55.04–03:56.43 wouldn't do the strides. I got

03:56.44–03:57.87 frustrated and then at some point I

03:57.88–03:59.27 realized, "Okay, let's just put them in

03:59.28–04:01.15 the run." Cuz if they're in the run,

04:01.16–04:02.63 they'll do the strides. And then I

04:02.64–04:04.35 thought, "Wait, that's a nice way to

04:04.36–04:05.83 kind of end that run." And it's a nice

04:05.84–04:08.23 way for middle-aged adult to check in

04:08.24–04:10.27 with how does their body feel, right? If

04:10.28–04:12.07 If somebody's really learning to run by

04:12.08–04:13.55 feel, and that's one of the things we

04:13.56–04:15.59 talked about in here, and in here I talk

04:15.60–04:16.95 about, "Hey,

04:16.96–04:19.15 learning to run by feel connects to

04:19.16–04:21.51 staying injury-free because we really

04:21.52–04:23.35 it's it's truly one of the only skills a

04:23.36–04:25.71 runner has to be able to do is be in

04:25.72–04:27.75 tune with their body, right? So, if you

04:27.76–04:30.23 learn to run by feel, then you can do

04:30.24–04:32.95 that. As an aside, I love my Coros

04:32.96–04:35.23 watch. I don't trust the heart rate

04:35.24–04:38.47 monitor on the watch strap. Uh on on on

04:38.48–04:41.15 the the the watch band. On the chest

04:41.16–04:44.75 strap that I use when I ride my bicycle

04:44.76–04:46.47 in the basement,

04:46.48–04:49.19 I I trust that. Heart rate training for

04:49.20–04:51.31 me as a 50-year-old man is really good

04:51.32–04:53.23 because on a day when I'll be honest,

04:53.24–04:55.11 for me it's when I'm frustrated and and

04:55.12–04:57.07 having some life stress, I tend to ride

04:57.08–04:59.43 too hard. And so, thinking of that zone

04:59.44–05:01.83 one, zone two, zone three terminology is

05:01.84–05:03.39 helpful. But, if you're a high school

05:03.40–05:04.75 coach, or let's be honest, if you're a

05:04.76–05:06.03 high school athlete or a parent

05:06.04–05:07.47 listening to this, you should not be

05:07.48–05:09.43 training with a heart rate monitor. You

05:09.44–05:11.59 need to learn to run by feel. Think

05:11.60–05:13.19 about it this way. If you're a high

05:13.20–05:15.43 school kid, you're not going to get a

05:15.44–05:19.23 split 400, 800, 1,200 m into a cross

05:19.24–05:21.31 country race. So, to run that first mile

05:21.32–05:22.67 intelligently, you've got to run by

05:22.68–05:26.59 feel. Anyway, coming back to uh why

05:26.60–05:29.07 we're doing the strides in the run.

05:29.08–05:31.15 Because we have to get them done. Now,

05:31.16–05:32.99 week one, we're just doing them at 5K

05:33.00–05:35.19 rhythm. It's barely a stride. We're just

05:35.20–05:36.83 running, and we're only doing it for 20

05:36.84–05:38.51 seconds. So, think about it. If you have

05:38.52–05:40.31 a 20-minute 5K runner, they're only

05:40.32–05:42.75 running a stride for 20 seconds. Even if

05:42.76–05:44.63 they're a 16-minute 5K runner, it's only

05:44.64–05:46.99 20 seconds at that rhythm. It's just a

05:47.00–05:49.47 way to get get us moving, reminding our

05:49.48–05:51.63 bodies that, "Hey, we are not joggers.

05:51.64–05:53.91 We are racers, okay?" So, we'll do four

05:53.92–05:56.03 or five of those in the very first uh

05:56.04–05:57.91 week on our easy days. When we get to

05:57.92–05:59.75 our long runs, we're doing them. If the

05:59.76–06:00.91 question is, "Well, what is the

06:00.92–06:02.99 recovery?" The recovery is just going

06:03.00–06:04.95 back down to the rhythm and the pace

06:04.96–06:06.79 they were running in the first part of

06:06.80–06:09.27 the run. Let's keep the math simple. In

06:09.28–06:11.19 a 50-minute run, and this could be a

06:11.20–06:12.71 kids' easy day or a long run day. Let

06:12.72–06:13.75 Let's just say it's a long run day,

06:13.76–06:15.39 sorry. The first 30 minutes

06:15.40–06:17.23 chit-chatting with their friends, then

06:17.24–06:19.27 starting at the 30-minute mark, now we

06:19.28–06:23.47 do these 5K these strides at 5K effort.

06:23.48–06:25.87 And we're not timing these. Again, Coros

06:25.88–06:27.63 does not sponsor me. I love what they're

06:27.64–06:30.15 doing. Um but, you know, it's a Coros

06:30.16–06:31.87 watch, it's a Garmin watch, that's great

06:31.88–06:33.99 if your kids have them. They do not use

06:34.00–06:36.27 them to see what pace they're running on

06:36.28–06:37.79 these strides. We're just running by

06:37.80–06:39.79 feel, running rhythm. Now, what's the

06:39.80–06:42.07 recovery? As much as they want to take.

06:42.08–06:44.43 No fit kid is going to want to take more

06:44.44–06:46.39 than 2 minutes in between these. And

06:46.40–06:48.51 we've got from the 30-minute mark, it's

06:48.52–06:49.99 50-minute run, we've got from the

06:50.00–06:51.79 30-minute mark to the 50-minute mark,

06:51.80–06:53.59 we've got 20 minutes to do this. They're

06:53.60–06:54.91 going to get those in.

06:54.92–06:56.91 If you have kids, younger kids, where

06:56.92–06:58.35 it's like, "Oh my god, that it's taking

06:58.36–07:00.35 them 3 minutes." Hey, then maybe they're

07:00.36–07:02.75 not fit enough to be doing the the

07:02.76–07:05.23 length of run that you're assigning.

07:05.24–07:06.43 That's one of the things we go into the

07:06.44–07:08.11 cross country training system is, you

07:08.12–07:10.27 know, how how do you put kids

07:10.28–07:12.99 when they first join you in in the right

07:13.00–07:14.27 training? And And that's something you

07:14.28–07:16.07 got to figure out. Then what we do, we

07:16.08–07:17.59 go straight into our post-run work. And

07:17.60–07:19.47 volume is really important here, because

07:19.48–07:22.23 these kids, especially the kids that

07:22.24–07:24.51 that weren't uh that if they didn't run

07:24.52–07:25.63 track,

07:25.64–07:27.31 or if they're coming into their freshman

07:27.32–07:29.39 year, or they've never run cross country

07:29.40–07:31.31 or track, their general strength is

07:31.32–07:33.19 almost always really low. Yes, you could

07:33.20–07:35.59 get, you know, a former gymnast or some

07:35.60–07:37.47 kid who's played soccer and lacrosse and

07:37.48–07:38.99 basketball, and and and they're a good

07:39.00–07:41.03 athlete. But we But we know that athlete

07:41.04–07:42.27 typically isn't coming out for cross

07:42.28–07:44.47 country. So, let's assume a weak

07:44.48–07:46.83 athlete. And when I mean weak, I'm just

07:46.84–07:49.35 saying their musculoskeletal

07:49.36–07:51.63 system is weak. So, we've got to

07:51.64–07:53.95 strengthen the chassis. Our car analogy

07:53.96–07:55.55 is we're building the aerobic engine.

07:55.56–07:56.87 You already going to do that before you

07:56.88–07:58.75 watch this video. Strengthening the

07:58.76–08:00.35 chassis, you were probably going to do

08:00.36–08:02.15 that because you saw all the videos of

08:02.16–08:03.27 the collegiate athletes and the

08:03.28–08:05.43 professional athletes doing post run

08:05.44–08:07.15 work. And then you got to rev the engine

08:07.16–08:08.39 with strides, which you know is

08:08.40–08:09.71 important, but let's be honest, you

08:09.72–08:11.79 probably blew off. Which is fine. You're

08:11.80–08:13.67 not going to this year. But this post

08:13.68–08:15.15 run work, we're going to progress it as

08:15.16–08:17.23 well. And when we look at the volume of

08:17.24–08:18.55 the entire day, we're looking at the

08:18.56–08:20.99 volume of that. So,

08:21.00–08:24.11 we we we do more post run work as as the

08:24.12–08:26.71 year goes on. We we do stuff that's more

08:26.72–08:28.35 intense. I'm going to do the intensity

08:28.36–08:29.75 video later. We're not going to talk

08:29.76–08:31.71 about that today. The running, we run

08:31.72–08:33.67 longer. We run, you know, do more

08:33.68–08:36.59 intensity. Um the the warm up stays the

08:36.60–08:38.39 same from week one. There's no reason to

08:38.40–08:40.31 be adding a lot to the warm up. But but

08:40.32–08:42.35 there is in the very first week, the

08:42.36–08:45.07 warm up is a training stimulus. And it's

08:45.08–08:46.99 it's a stressor.

08:47.00–08:49.03 Right? It's as Hans Selye would say,

08:49.04–08:50.67 it's a stressor.

08:50.68–08:53.07 Um it stress is is the body's reaction

08:53.08–08:55.07 to the stressor. You know, a warm up

08:55.08–08:56.35 where they're moving in all three planes

08:56.36–08:57.59 of motion, there's some little

08:57.60–08:59.59 plyometric type things going on in the

08:59.60–09:02.07 warm up. That's a new stimulus. So,

09:02.08–09:03.19 yeah, we're we're going to look at

09:03.20–09:04.43 volume. We're going to look at the

09:04.44–09:06.31 volume of the entire day. We're going to

09:06.32–09:08.75 progress all these elements, warm up,

09:08.76–09:11.87 run, strides, post as the year goes on.

09:11.88–09:13.83 And then the volume of work the athlete

09:13.84–09:15.27 can do, that's what I want you to think

09:15.28–09:17.27 about now. Middle of June, what's the

09:17.28–09:19.23 volume they can handle now? Can they

09:19.24–09:22.27 handle more volume in uh July? More in

09:22.28–09:24.67 August? And prior to this video, you

09:24.68–09:26.91 always thought that way with mileage.

09:26.92–09:28.71 But as I talked about in the last video,

09:28.72–09:31.11 mileage, if you go from a 4-mi run to a

09:31.12–09:33.87 5-mi run, and a 5-mi run to a 6-mi run,

09:33.88–09:36.83 and you don't have some some, you know,

09:36.84–09:38.87 some some running in between, Those are

09:38.88–09:40.55 Those are two bigger jobs.

09:40.56–09:43.23 Okay, so this is fun.

09:43.24–09:45.39 The timer on the video right now says

09:45.40–09:50.07 10:18, a time that girls run for 3,200

09:50.08–09:51.27 throughout the country, which is

09:51.28–09:53.23 mind-blowing to me. Track-flation,

09:53.24–09:55.43 right? 10:18 for high school girls,

09:55.44–09:58.15 unbelievable. You know, 5:09 twice. I

09:58.16–09:59.35 mean, when I was an athlete at the

09:59.36–10:01.55 University of Colorado, a 5:09 high

10:01.56–10:03.31 school girl was good.

10:03.32–10:05.75 A 5:09 girl probably couldn't have

10:05.76–10:07.55 walked on the team then,

10:07.56–10:08.99 but she was definitely a Division 1

10:09.00–10:13.03 runner, right? 5:09 is still very good.

10:13.04–10:14.43 And I just think, you know,

10:14.44–10:16.07 track-flation and I don't mean

10:16.08–10:17.39 track-flation like, "Oh, it's the shoes.

10:17.40–10:18.67 Kids aren't training hard." I really

10:18.68–10:20.71 think coaching's a big part of it. And I

10:20.72–10:22.71 think, obviously, the internet, where

10:22.72–10:24.75 kids are comparing themselves state to

10:24.76–10:26.39 state. Then I think you go to these

10:26.40–10:29.07 post-season meets, and there's just an

10:29.08–10:31.35 opportunity to run fast. So,

10:31.36–10:33.83 I hope this is helpful. Like I say after

10:33.84–10:35.51 every one of these videos, if if you

10:35.52–10:37.39 have a statement to make, I don't I

10:37.40–10:39.71 don't respond to statements. And I can

10:39.72–10:41.39 delete them and hide them. But if you

10:41.40–10:43.31 have a question, please interact with me

10:43.32–10:45.71 here. Ask a question. I might not always

10:45.72–10:47.51 be able to respond to it, but this is,

10:47.52–10:48.87 you know, I want to know what you're

10:48.88–10:50.47 thinking. I want to know how I can be

10:50.48–10:52.27 helpful, and I want to interact with you

10:52.28–10:54.63 that way. Okay, look forward to seeing

10:54.64–10:56.11 you in the next

10:56.12–10:58.84 segment.