Why high school runners need an off season training plan or coaching.

Almost all high school runners take the off season completely off from running. Only the very dedicated ones attempt to run on their own in the winter and summer, but even those ones oftentimes flail around trying different runs that they came up with on their own and this usually has one of two effects; they get sub-par training or worse, they get injured due to of lack of oversight by a coach.

For the typical high school runner, there are basically 8 seasons in which they can improve their running. There are four fall cross country season and four spring track seasons. But when a high school runner uses the winter and summer off-seasons to train, they drastically improve their chances of making it to the next level, whether that be to make varsity or to run in college. Think about it, they are getting twice as many seasons as all of the “Regular Joe’s” they compete against.

The off-season isn’t necessarily a time to race, and it isn’t just for building “base mileage”, but it’s also a time to fill in the gaps of training from their school programs. Let’s face it, most high school programs are put together for the masses and there is very little individual training taking place. Even on teams where there is a superstar that stands out among the rest, it is difficult for the coach to tailor training for that specific athlete because they need to coach the entire team.

The off season is the perfect time for runners to get phase 1 and 2 training in, as well as incorporate more strength training and speed training. It is the best time of year to work on running economy with things like strides, 200m intervals, and hill sprints. It’s also a great time to start to build a little more mileage so that their body is more calloused for future training, which will help prevent injuries each time they graduate to the next level of training (i.e. high school to college, college to professional, etc.).

There are a lot of options out there for parents to get their children the training they need in the off-season. Some of these options include in-person coaching, online customized one on one coaching like I offer at https://coaches.vdoto2.com/tyler-mueller , and others. The important thing is to keep the athlete engaged and steadily improving throughout their career.

If you have questions about coaching services that I offer, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or 512-539-8858. I’m a V.O2 certified distance running coach as well as an ISSA certified running coach and I can customize training for you or your athlete and offer constant communication throughout.