Coach Jay,

I have a question about training for high school runners. Do you recommend that high school runners use racing flats for "speed" workouts during XC?

Thanks,
J.A.

J.A. -

Thanks for thinking ahead about the upcoming cross-country season. I'm going to assume you're a coach, but if you're an athlete the answer is still valid.

I do think that kids need to race in some sort of racing flat and Nike's waffle racers are the most versatile racing flats for cross-country. If the course is all grass then spikes are appropriate, even a 1,500m spike for 5,000m run. Many courses, however, have some pavement in addition to dirt and grass so waffle racers with the "rubbers spikes" are perfect. In college we got one pair of spikes each winter. The goal was simply to wear them through the spring and fall, but all of our courses were on grass or dirt. So regardless of the shoe you have you'll need to acknowledge the issue of training in spikes.

The equation is simple. Athletes need to progress from not running in waffles or spikes to running two races a week in spikes (or a total of 10,000m in a week). This probably means that the athletes you work with need to do some strides in spikes THIS WEEK if you're going to prepare their feet and lower legs for the specificity of running in racing shoes by the end of the month. Let's say the athletes do 8x150m strides in spikes; they'll get 1,200m of training in spikes. Then let's say an early season workout is 4x1,6000m; they can run their last repeat in spikes and the first three in their training shoes.

Another option is to simply have them jog in their spikes for 5 or 10 minutes. But whatever you do, you'll need to have a planned progression with footwear because a large percentage of lower leg and foot injuries at the high school level are due to coaches and athletes going from running exclusively in training shoes to running a race in spikes or waffles with no logical progression of shoe wear inbetween.

Thanks for the question and good luck this fall.

Coach Jay,

My name is Neil. I'm 41 and in the process of losing a great deal of weight. I used to love to run when I was in the Army so I am slowly getting back into it. My 12 year-old son and I are in training for a local 5K over Thanksgiving and I found a work-out program that starts at 1.5 miles and works up from there. We have done the route five times and have taken 3 minutes off our first time. The workout calls for us to run three days a week. On one of the off days we circuit train and on another we have an easy walk or run, then we take two days off. Does this sound like a good training program for a couple of beginners? Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks!
Neil

Neil,

Congratulations on the weight loss! It's great to hear that you're willing to train all fall for this 5k. The fact that you've already seen your times improve is no doubt motivating, but have faith that there is more fitness to be gained.

The type of program you're talking about is great for the "couch to 5K" runner, but if you've been in the Army you can definitely handle more. (Are you also wanting to do more? Maybe not, but from the tone of your email I got that feeling.)

I love the type of system you've outlined for the first 4-8 weeks of training, but after two months you can definitely run 5 days a week, then swim or bike one day and then take a day off. Basically, the plan is great to begin with, but it leads to a plateau and potential staleness after the initial 6-8 weeks. Their usage of the term 'circuit' is likely much different than mine; a circuit to me is running for a minute or two and then doing some general strength exercises from our video series (see link below). This is a killer workout but after 4-6 weeks I think this would be a great workout for you to consider for one of your harder days. A weekly long run and a weekly threshold run are two workouts I preach for serious runners, so after 8 weeks of training you should try to implement those two workouts each week (and then take the circuit workout out of your plan).

The bottom line is this: you could run a 5k today but maybe you should pick a 5k in September or early October to set a baseline mark so it gives you a time to try and break on Thanksgiving.

I wish you the best of luck in your training Neil and thanks for your question.

Coach Jay coaches athletes at RunnersCoach.com and blogs at CoachJayJohnson.com. And don't forget, if you have training question for Coach Jay, email him here: coachjay@nike.com.

Interested in Coach Jay's General Strength videos? Click [here|Interested in Coach Jay's General Strength videos? Click here to check them out.