Crusader's quest

Members Area My Training Journal
1

A quick post about me…I have been searching for a high school sprint coaching job for a while. I was offered one a few years ago but had conflicts with schedule and had to turn it down. Here I am now, with another opportunity at another school.

I also coach football at this school so many of the athletes who run track also play football. I feel there is a lot of potential in the group if
(1) they stay out of trouble
(2) show up to practice
(3) work hard

Most of these kids come from broken homes and have plenty to deal with at home. I feel the biggest challenge for me will be to keep them focused. This was the issue during football. Things would be going great and then BOOM, someone does something stupid.

During my “glory” days I ran a 10.75PB and was consistent in the 10.9s most of my junior year in HS. I did not run my senior year, as I prepared for football in the fall (college recruit). I played receiver in college, and the few of you on this forum who have met me know I’m not big! :smiley:

So anyhow, I will be posting when things come up. There is a team meeting Tuesday and workouts unofficially kick off in a few weeks. Some guys have been working with me through the winter but I will not post their workouts.

I will report back after the meeting Tuesday. Until next time…

2

It’s a few days late but I’m here posting nonetheless…

Meeting went well. Kids were excited I am coaching them. Everyone has stated last year they did nothing in practice, so having structure and someone who really cares seems to be doing good so far :smiley:

Since I know nothing of their performances, the kids wrote down their PBs from last year. It looks there is about 6 kids who have run 11.5 or better, and 1 who posted a 54 last year with no training. There are about a dozen kids who played football but didn’t run track previously. On the field these guys flew. I am curious to see how they perform on the track.

I think it is realistic to have 3 guys under 11.0 and my 400 guy to break 50.

A lot depends on weather. So far this winter has been extremely rough. Hopefully we’ll get some good conditions early in the season to get the speed work in place for later on.

The team’s first workout starts 2/21. Will post then.

3

Today was the first workout during “conditioning.” Official practice begins March 10.

Here is today’s workout.

Warm-up

A-skip 3x10
A-Run 3x10
(teaching drills today, will add more every few workouts)

Sled
5x10
5x20
5x30

Strength End
4x30m (took about 30 seconds each)

Abs:
10 minutes of 20 sec on/20 sec off

I had planned to do some 60m SE work, but everyone was spent after the sled work, so I cut it short.

Overall it was a good practice. Lots of encouragement and effort was great. Tomorrow we will do tempo and MB throws. Will be interesting to see who shows up, since the workout was a little more intense then they were used to.

4

Today we went outside for tempo runs. I’m still working on getting the pool to do tempo in the pool while the temps are low.

Today’s temp: 30F

Tempo: 5x200

Med Ball Throws: Squat Throwsx5
(cut throws short due to cold)

Weights

Clean 4x6
Deadlift 3x4
Bench 6,6,5,5

Abs: 10 minutes

We are off until Monday.

Overall the kids are giving great effort and working hard.

5

This should be very interesting for me.

6

Why is that?

7

Because I’m in HS running track and playing football. It will be interesting to see athletes at my level improve with your training.

Do you think it matters how well an SC program for HS is?

8

I think SC program can help, but isn’t an absolute in order to succeed. There are several schools in my area who do not have any organized SC program and yet win leagues and go on ro late rounds in the playoffs.

At this school, most athletes play multiple sports. Those who want to train seriously come see me at my center.

Considering the state I’m in, football off season is just under 40 weeks long. That is a lot of time to get workouts in and make serious improvements.

9

More kids turned out today. Many are also football players, which is a good thing.

Today’s workout:

Sleds: 5x10

High start: 5x20, 5x30

Speed:
2x(3x 20Easy 20Fast 20Easy)

We got kicked out of school so couldn’t do abs.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 6 inches of snow, and it’s tempo day (big circuit) so using the field outside is not going to happen (along with being sub 30F). I got approval to use the pool for pool tempo, but swimming still has meets, so the coach has granted us the “deep” end. :eek:

Many kids can’t swim, so this should be interesting. Not sure how many flotation vests they have. Right now the group numbers around 25.

There is only one treadmill in the weight room, so that will not work for more than a few kids at a time.

Should be interesting to say the least…will report back tomorrow.

10

Why not get them in a decent sized room and perform a 25-30 minute bodyweight/mobility circuit? You can easily do this with all of them at once…

I.e…

1.) Jumping Jacks x 15-25
2.) Burpees x 15-25
3.) Mountain Climbers x 15-25
4.) Side-Side Jumps x 15-25
5.) Walking Lunge x 10/leg
6.) Sit Up x 20-30
7.) Push up x 20

Perform circuit 3-4x, little to no rest between exercises, 1-1.5 minutes bt circuits. It’s still considered low intensity but this can definitely be an alternative for tempo when weather isn’t the greatest. You can get creative with this too, med balls, jump rope, partner stuff, etc.

11

makes sense, in high school we did conditioning in the lunch room

12

Yep tempo doesn’t have to always be in the form of running, CF has said many times that you can get creative and make due with what you have.

The med ball download is an excellent example of tempo without running.

Even a basic circuit of bodyweight squats, pushups, situps, and stepups onto a bench for 15-20 minutes can suffice.

13

i agree, but tempo runs are very simple and take no time, for example 6x200. when doing med ball circuits you would usually need to add more components to the workouts.

14

I agree with you all the way, I would prefer to just do the tempo running, but 6 inches of snow doesn’t sound like very much fun to do tempo in. :cool:

Just givin him some ideas to add into his planning.

15

Great ideas. I enjoy that people are actually reading the journal! :smiley:

Weight room is extremely small and filled with machines. Circuit stuff might be an option, but the space might be an issue. Although this might be best for the ones who can’t swim.

Since we are using a hallway for sprints, I want them off their feet as much as possible until weather breaks and we can use soft turf field.

Also, the pool practice got many of the kids excited, since it’s “new” to them. As I said earlier, the kids said the practices sucked last year, so any excitement and fun we can get is a huge plus. The new kids we got today came out cause their friends said workouts were “fun.” :smiley: There is lots of talent in the school, just need to get it to come to practice.

Anyone have ideas on how using a kickboard in the pool might work for tempo? Maybe something like reps of 15 sec (mimic 100s) and 30-5 sec( mimic 200s) with rest might work too? There are lots of boards available to use.

16

So we got snow all day, but not as predicted, like usual!

The workout was taken to the pool. I scoured the CF resources and we did

2x (10 x 45sec, 15 sec), 2 min rest, with a goal of 120 strides each rep. We had to use the deep end, but the pool equipment room has aqua joggers so that was great.

The guys who (a) couldn’t swim or (b) forgot their swim gear did

45 sec, 15 second rest of

squats
mountain climbers
burpees
pushups

Repeat twice.

Tomorrow they are off. We come back on Thursday for SE day. Friday is scheduled off too, but I’d like to get another “tempo” session in. Have to see.

17

Thursday, 2/28

Accel
Sled 5 x 30
High start 5 x 30
Push up start 5 x 20

SE
2x (3x 60: 20+m)

We get kicked out of the school at 4pm so there wasn’t time for anything else.

The kids did well today. Form during accels is getting better. A few kids from the high start and first motion were in the 3.8’s HT for 30m. These were done on a crappy surface and most kids wearing basketball shoes.

They struggled with the SE. The first time doing 20+m was today. Most sprinted 20m then just slowed down. Had a hard time explaining it, so I used “think of this as a sprint for 20 with a quick pace for 40” That seemed to work better, or maybe it was a threat of doing 600s in a L-S (although I wouldn’t switch, but they know I wouldn’t think twice :stuck_out_tongue:

They are off until Monday. Next week is a “down week” according to the high school association. The rules are different for each sport. Other sports can run, but since track is running, we can’t “time” or have “measured distances” for workouts.

So next week will be a focus on jumps, med ball throws, and pool workouts with no timing, just get 120 strides and rest.

18

March 3

Due to rules, workouts had to be changed around.

Squat throws x 10
1 jump squat throw x 10

Box jumps up 5 x5

Medball circuit

20 side throws left
20 throws right
20 chest pass
20 slams to ground

goal time < 1min

2 reps

In place runs: 10 x 30 seconds, push ups, crunches as rest

Abs: 10 minutes

19

Today I wanted to get the kids in the pool, but I found out there was a swim meet after school. Yesterday I thought about getting the high jump pit too late, so I wanted to get it out as I knew the kids would have fun doing squat throws and box jumps into the pit.

Squat throws into pit x 5
1 jump Squat throws into pit x 5
2 jump squat throws into pit x 5

Box jump up into pit x 10

General fitness: combination of running in place, high knees, burpees, push ups, and crunches.

Weight room

Cleans or jammer 6, 6, 5, 5
Bench 5, 5, 5, 5
Deadlift 4, 4, 4

We are off until Thursday. I plan on having them in the pool for some more fitness work. Next week starts the first official week of practice, but weather looks tough. Tonight we are getting hammered with 8 inches of snow.

My big concern until weather gets betters is the kids’ shins doing sprints in the hallways.

One athlete who I had high hopes for does not want to run this year. Last year he showed up to a meet and ran 11.1 HT without practicing as a Junior last year. He is a college football recruit who’d rather lift weights to get ready for the fall.

The basketball season ended last night so a few more guys will be out for practice next week. I will report back on who shows up for practice next week.

Overall, the kids work hard and have fun, although talent seems slim.

20

Thu Mar 6

Yesterday we got 6 inches of snow.

Today was a planned pool workout, but swim team has states this weekend so they didn’t want distractions.

Mat runs (tempo style)
10 x 30 seconds (goal 120 steps), 30 crunches as rest

Rest 2 min

Body weight circuit
45 secs, 15 sec rest
squats
crunches
burpees
mountain climbers
high knees
repeat

After, we played “handball”…its a popular gym class game. Think of basketball, but no dribbling. So lots of running, plus kids had fun. We got a few new kids today as well.

After, we did weight workout

Clean or jammer 4x5
Bench 4x5
Deadlift 3x4