We had our Divisional State Relay Championship this past Saturday and all four of my ‘primary’ relay teams (girls and boys 4×200 and 4×400) ran faster than they did all of last year.
Girls 4×2 came into the meet with a 1:48.07 season best and school record of 1:46.77, set in 2013. They went bananas, smashed the school record and ran 1:45.49, currently the #2 time in our state.
We had sub 60 splits on the girls side and sub 50 splits on the boys side.
I didn’t expect this. Especially during “Special Prep” (there is no such thing as ‘special prep’ in a 13 week HS season), when they’re getting smashed in practice and we had our League Championship the previous night.
Fact:
The only results that matter are the ones that happen in mid/late February and March.
But, truth be told, I have made some changes to my system this year that have been effective.
Chief among them, I went back into my library of programs, studied the patterns and implemented what I found.
In other words:
Thievery. Blatant, unabashed theft of superior coaches’ ideas, progressions, and information.
Shoot, we had practice at 5am this morning. (It’s an emotionally painful, yet necessary evil if we want to get on an actual track once every 10 days or so.)
I jacked a (heavily, um, regressed version of a) workout my man Gabe Sanders (Boston University Sprints Coach & Complete Track and Field Summer Clinic Sprints Lead Instructor) posted the other day.
Less than a week away from our first team competition of the year. Doing all we can to be prepared. pic.twitter.com/Uf6ewfRFKM
— Gabe Sanders (@CoachGSanders) January 17, 2015
At yesterday’s 5am practice (yes, back to back 3:45am wake up calls for me and my most hardcore kids), I blatantly hijacked the ‘Hieroglyphics’ (more on this gem in an upcoming post) and stick drill spacings set up Wheaton College (MA) Head Coach (and Complete Track and Field Summer Clinic Sprints Instructor) Dave Cusano had set up for his team.
Two of the CTF programs I’ve borrowed from liberally this season are Marc Mangiacotti’s ‘Advanced Concepts in Training 400 Runners’ and Ron Grigg’s ‘Complete Program Design for HS 400/600/800 Runners’.
When you boil it down, ultimately, we all have one basic question:
1. What is the best workout to do today?
We all stare at the computer wrestling with which workout to do today and/or which workouts to do this week. Also, how many do we do? And how fast should they be? And once I come up with the answer, where/when/how do I progress them throughout the season?
These are the questions I have. These are the questions coaches email me each day.
Marc and Ron’s programs do an outstanding job of answering these questions, but without being all ‘look how smart I am’ about it.
To help you take advantage of the information two very smart coaches have made available, I’m offering a discount on both programs.
Order Marc Mangiacotti’s ‘Advanced Concepts in Training 400 Runners’ and/or Ron Grigg’s ‘Complete Program Design for HS 400/600/800 Runners’. When you check out, enter coupon code COACH and you’ll get 20% off of your order.
And remember, when you order the digital/streaming versions of the programs, you’ll get immediate access to the programs. And you’ll get lifetime Q&A access to both coaches.
In addition, you can apply that 20% discount when you order my Complete Speed Training Volume 2 DVD program. Plus, I’ll give you my personal email address so you can send me your coaching/training questions.
The best coaches make the best thieves. (I stole that from someone, I just don’t remember who.)
Steal countless proven training workouts, cues, and progressions and get 20% off (coupon code: COACH) from these programs:
1. Marc Mangiacotti: Advanced Concepts in Training 400 Runners
2. Ron Grigg: Complete Program Design for HS 400/600/800 Runners
3. Latif Thomas: Complete Speed Training Volume 2 (CST2)
If you have questions, please post them below.