One of my high school athletes wants to skip track to train for a half marathon

Flavian wrote:

This is my first year coaching and I currently coach a pretty undertrained group of kids. (Most the guys are going to break 19 for 5k for the first time this season.) I have a sophomore who specifically wants to run higher mileage and focus on a road half marathon this spring. I want to be supportive of my athlete's goals but I want to make sure that it's not too early for him to be racing long distances.

Curious if any other coaches have any thoughts or suggestions on this.

1) If this kid wants to SKIP track, then other than offer your opinion on the matter that you wish he wouldn't, there's not much you can do. Incidentally, the ONLY reason you should wish he wouldn't is because he might be helpful to the track team in some way...as a scorer, as a leader, as a positive vibe on the team, etc.

2) A half marathon is NOTHING for a high school sophomore. They should be running a long run each week of 12 miles minimum anyway, so to race a half marathon is NOTHING.

3) If I were you, I would be supportive of the higher mileage (you can mention that a LOT of high school kids run 70-90 MPW, and some even venture beyond that), and I would tailor a higher-mileage program for him but then ask if he would participate in track meets. He's just a sophomore. Let him train through track meets. Let him target the half marathon. Big deal. He will be VERY well-prepared for a 3200 with that increased mileage. I would even submit to him that RACING some 3200s will help his preparation for his target half marathon.

4) Now, if he turns into a high school stud by next CC season who might have some nice college offers coming his way, I would suggest to him (and his parents) that focusing on the track events in the spring is a wise idea. Who knows though, maybe he's not interested in college. I don't know this kid.

Bottom line, guide him, but don't clip his wings.

Good luck.

WHAT? 🤬IMPOSSIBLE this is AMERICA we only care about the MILE and the 2mile to a lesser extent but who cares about the 2mile thats way too long distance almost like a marathon but 13MILES ARE YOU KIDDING that should be your team's WEEKLY mileage not a RACE how can anyone in the U S of A even run that far??? 🤬🤬

Thanks for the response! I think if I offer to write him individual training while he trains through some 3200 races he's able to be convinced so that will likely be the plan. Half-marathon training will be a new venture for me but I have lots of resources at my disposal luckily.

I would make clear to him that replacing his running shoes often enough is one of the biggest keys in preventing injury. I'd go with a max of 500 miles per pair, and then even consider replacing them sooner if he gets little nagging injuries/pains.

I hope you both benefit from his half-marathon hopes here.

Al Sal as a teen was told by his adult training peers to develop his speed while young and to not think about the marathon. Speed development is key at a young age according to some coaches.

I second that...

OozmaKappa wrote:

WHAT? 🤬IMPOSSIBLE this is AMERICA we only care about the MILE and the 2mile to a lesser extent but who cares about the 2mile thats way too long distance almost like a marathon but 13MILES ARE YOU KIDDING that should be your team's WEEKLY mileage not a RACE how can anyone in the U S of A even run that far??? 🤬🤬

I thought it was just me, thanks for the affirmation.

My team's weekly mileage for XC is just under 13 miles.

Completely unrelated, they drop off big time after the first mile. How do I fix this?

I know part of it they go out too fast, even with me telling them not to, they can't help but get dragged with the fast pack. Would doing some traditional 600s, 800s, 1ks, at 5k race pace help this?

Maybe some tempo runs too?

Not all high school XC runners are interested in spring T&F. Some XC runners participate in other school sports in spring besides T&F, others do activities such as club soccer or cycling. You cannot making XC runners 100% focus on T&F but I advise that you have nothing to do with a XC runner's goal to race spring 1/2 Marathon. If you aid in training for said 1/2 Marathon, you risk liability if something occurs. Some road race high school runners like your runners also race fall Marathon during XC season and prior to biggest XC meets of the year. Those runners, in-season Marathoners, I have to say were my least favorite teammates.

can i raise you triathlon kids?

at least marathon kids were running.

Hurno wrote:

OozmaKappa wrote:

WHAT? 🤬IMPOSSIBLE this is AMERICA we only care about the MILE and the 2mile to a lesser extent but who cares about the 2mile thats way too long distance almost like a marathon but 13MILES ARE YOU KIDDING that should be your team's WEEKLY mileage not a RACE how can anyone in the U S of A even run that far??? 🤬🤬

I thought it was just me, thanks for the affirmation.

My team's weekly mileage for XC is just under 13 miles.

Completely unrelated, they drop off big time after the first mile. How do I fix this?

I know part of it they go out too fast, even with me telling them not to, they can't help but get dragged with the fast pack. Would doing some traditional 600s, 800s, 1ks, at 5k race pace help this?

Try some more lactic acid work to toughen them up. Youll thank me later. 😎

OozmaKappa wrote:

Hurno wrote:

I thought it was just me, thanks for the affirmation.

My team's weekly mileage for XC is just under 13 miles.

Completely unrelated, they drop off big time after the first mile. How do I fix this?

I know part of it they go out too fast, even with me telling them not to, they can't help but get dragged with the fast pack. Would doing some traditional 600s, 800s, 1ks, at 5k race pace help this?

Try some more lactic acid work to toughen them up. Youll thank me later. 😎

Got any workout examples?

They did 400s at mile pace recently, it was a little hit and miss but better than I thought it'd go. That's the furthest repetitions they're done so far.

We've really been focusing on 15m sprints.

Sham 69 wrote:

Al Sal as a teen was told by his adult training peers to develop his speed while young and to not think about the marathon. Speed development is key at a young age according to some coaches.

No reason the training for the half can't be speed focused.

There's no reason he can't do both track and a half marathon.

At age 16 while in the 11th grade, I did a 10 mile road race in the spring.

It was a tough course and I came away with 60:56.

I had never run 10 miles in my life. The race took a lot out of me. I had trouble doing workouts for the next few weeks.

I wasn't fully recovered from the race for about a month.

I still PR'd at 1500 meters on the track about 2 months after the road race.

It just took me a while to recover.

Would I recommend a 1/2 marathon for a HS kid? No, but if he wants to do it, let him do it.

^^^What FP said.

I ran a marathon in June after my freshman year when still just 14 (a couple days shy of 15), AND when I was still playing HS soccer. We can only imagine what the track/cc and soccer coaches might have been thinking at the time, but I was thinking "I better hurry up and run a marathon before I get too old" (LOL). Finally took up track the following spring and never looked back. Ran D1 (walk-on), first ultra (100) at 49, Hardrock at 50, UTMB at 51, and the 40M Grand Traverse last week. Alternately, I met another guy a few years back who's a couple years older who also ran a marathon at 14, then a 2:22 in his prime, and is still running strong now. No coach ever tried to force anything on me, nor did any try to curb any ambitions. Guidance is the right call!

Flavian wrote:

This is my first year coaching and I currently coach a pretty undertrained group of kids. (Most the guys are going to break 19 for 5k for the first time this season.) I have a sophomore who specifically wants to run higher mileage and focus on a road half marathon this spring. I want to be supportive of my athlete's goals but I want to make sure that it's not too early for him to be racing long distances.

Curious if any other coaches have any thoughts or suggestions on this.

Your title indicates he intends to skip track to train for a HM. If so, that's a poor choice on his part. He has only three years to run HS track compared to about 50 for running HMs.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Flavian wrote:

This is my first year coaching and I currently coach a pretty undertrained group of kids. (Most the guys are going to break 19 for 5k for the first time this season.) I have a sophomore who specifically wants to run higher mileage and focus on a road half marathon this spring. I want to be supportive of my athlete's goals but I want to make sure that it's not too early for him to be racing long distances.

Curious if any other coaches have any thoughts or suggestions on this.

Your title indicates he intends to skip track to train for a HM. If so, that's a poor choice on his part. He has only three years to run HS track compared to about 50 for running HMs.

From a strategic POV this^^^ is most certainly true. But it's his (the kid's) choice. Once I quit HS soccer to run track/cc, I also completely avoided indoor track like the plague. Yeah it's not near as much of a thing in HS anyway, but coach didn't care either way - it was my choice.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Flavian wrote:

This is my first year coaching and I currently coach a pretty undertrained group of kids. (Most the guys are going to break 19 for 5k for the first time this season.) I have a sophomore who specifically wants to run higher mileage and focus on a road half marathon this spring. I want to be supportive of my athlete's goals but I want to make sure that it's not too early for him to be racing long distances.

Curious if any other coaches have any thoughts or suggestions on this.

Your title indicates he intends to skip track to train for a HM. If so, that's a poor choice on his part. He has only three years to run HS track compared to about 50 for running HMs.

Your viewing track as the pinnacle of running, it probably isn’t, who cares about whether the kid runs track, cross country or road, they are out running.

Track can be fun and you can run it when you like which is no difference to road. I did short distance when I use to run but if the focus is middle distance jog and kick, yawn how dull, then no wonder the kid what’s to run their hardest from gun to tape in another form

That sounds better than four races a meet twice a week for ten weeks.