OK.
This adds a little extra info.
1. The CC coach is new and inexperienced. Not the same as last year.
2. More detail on what both PE coach and CC coach are doing.
In the first place I agree with the other poster that the CC coach
should get a good running book and read it. He should learn about
the difference between training cardiovascular system and training
muscle endurance. He should learn how to use long slow runs, tempo
runs, and repeats to build running strength. If he does nothing
more than an hour of 2 mile repeats, he is not optimizing training.
Once the CC coach has learned all this, he should work out a weekly
training schedule, and should coordinate it with the PE coach. I am
not an expert with cross training schedules, but I am sure that they
need to coordinate running versus weight training in PE with long,
tempo and repeats in CC, and the PE coach probably need to give a rest
day to CC'ers the day before a meet, and the CC coach want to do some
kind of light warm-up thing.
Both need to know that overtraining is just a real a danger as not
enough training, and that injury is the most likely result. I think
it is the CC coach's responsibility to be the lead on this.
Larry
SandBarz <[email hidden]> writes:
: The cross country coach is the school's new basketball coach and knows very
: little about cross country (he admits it). But he did talk to the PE coach who
: said those cross-country boys just needed to suck it up.
: Last year's CC coach (a business associate and active runner) says that tight
: loop running in a gym for 40-50 minutes is not a very good running activity. A
: local marathon runner says that 50 minutes of strenuous training coupled with
: at least an hour of 2-mile repeats in the afternoon is probably a bit too much
: for a lightweight eighth grader.
: My younger kid is more all-around athletic and has played baseball for years.
: They have a rule that on game day to not let the kids swim lest they be too
: tired to play well. I am just wondering if the same concern may apply here.
: That was my question - not about the politics of the matter but about what is a
: reasonable amount of daily training.
: And I have not butted in anywhere. I am just perplexed because last year my son
: loved school and running and training, and this year he is stressed out and
: very anxious. Last year he trained rather extensively in cross country without
: much side pains, and this year he is complaining of various soreness and
: fatigue.
: But I suppose in a few weeks he will be in better shape.
:>OK. Is the cross country coach also associated with the same school?
:>Are any of the other kids who are running cross country for this coach
:>having the same trouble with the PE workouts? My first thought is that
:>if this is a systemic problem, then it will be affecting more kids than
:>just your son. Further, if it is a problem, the cross country coach,
:>and not a parent should be dealing with the PE coach. Talk to the
:>cross country coach to get his reading on the issue, then butt out.
:>
:>Larry
:>
:>SandBarz <[email hidden]> writes:
:>: I have an eighth grader who started cross country at his small junior high/
:>: high school last year and did well and fell in love with it. This year the
:>: school hired a new baseball coach who is young and fit and is trying to get
:>the
:>: entire school fit as quickly as possible. So my son has PE last period and
:>has
:>: been required to run the gym (standard basketball court) for 40-50 minutes,
:>: alternating with days of weight lifting. He has been too tired and sore
:>most
:>: afternoons to enjoy his cross country training at 5:45 pm because of the
:>: rigorous PE training. At the request of our cross country coach the PE
:>coach
:>: did change the running routine, requiring only about twenty minutes of
:>running
:>: then 200 ab crunches, then more running.
:>
:>: With daily PE and cross-country, this seems like an exessive amount of
:>workout
:>: for a 85 lb eighth grader. He is miserable but wants to keep training for
:>: cross-country. He just wishes he didn't hurt so bad while running. The PE
:>coach
:>: is unlikely to ease up any more than he has (or hasn't).
:>
:>: Suggestions?
:>
