State Champions, NXN Champions and NCAA Champions

Published November 20, 2024

What an exciting time in the season. My daughter's team is heading to NXR this weekend, while other NXR meets are in the books. And California? They're still getting ready to crown their state champs on that historic course of theirs.

Championships are on my mind today (with the NCAA DI meet on Saturday). Let's chat about state championships, NXN champions, and NCAA Division I champions today.

Here's are some questions you should be asking yourself today...

What's Next?

What's next for training? And once your athletes have had their break, what then? I've talked about this before, but I've got a great resource about what to do in those two weeks after cross country - just click here.

This is also perfect timing to reflect on your season. What worked? What didn't? As you dig deeper, think about what to keep, what to drop, and what to add to your training program.

Here's a word of caution on this one...

Young coaches often want to pile on more and more training elements. The veteran coach knows better - she always remove something before adding anything new.

I've spent years working with coaches across the country, helping their athletes stay injury-free and hit PRs all spring.

If there is one thing you must add to your training when you resume is this:

Your kids needs to run strides the first day of practice.

Simple as that.

And they also need to progress to 800m and 400m pace as soon as possible, following a safe progression of strides.

This is where coaches make a huge mistake. They have kids run strides at the end of practice in the fall, but they don't have the kids progressing to 800m rhythm. They get to October and November and 800m pace - which is not fast if you're only running it for the last 100m of an XC race - feels fast.

Fast forward to track and we need athletes feeling comfortable at 400m pace as soon as possible.

For the girl that's going to break 60 in the 400m the question the question I have for you is, "What month this winter is she going to run 14.95 or faster for 100m?"

If your answer is "I don't know - I hadn't thought about that" that's fine, but make sure you fix that today.

Just grab the free PDF with my progression of strides and follow it. Your kids will be running 800m and 400m rhythm sooner rather than later, and they'll be running (big) PRs in April and May.

"Is this PDF really that useful?"

Let me tell you a quick story.

Last December, I had dinner with Coach Bob Collins. This guy knows his stuff - his teams have won state championships in cross country, and his athletes have claimed individual titles in the 800, 1600, and 3200. They've even grabbed track team titles.

Bob's been using both the XC Training System (XCTS) and Track Training System (TTS) for years.

Here's what he told me that night:

"If coaches just got the progression of strides right from the start, it would transform their program."

Did we talk about speed development, Parker Valby's cross training, and how to safely progress athlete's volume/mileage over their high school career? We sure did.

But again, he made a point to say that the one thing every high school coach needs to take from my training - and one that is free - is the progression strides.

Download it.

Now let's dive into what it takes to win championships at different levels - state, NXR, and NCAA.

State XC Championships

I got an email Monday from a coach yesterday that made my day.

He said that his team used the XC Training System for the first time. His girls won the state meet and his boys were runner-up. Individually his boys went 1-2 at the meet.

He pointed out that they had no major injuries and his athletes got better throughout the season.

So what's different about the XCTS? What leads to these results?

Two main things stand out.

First, there's that progression of strides we talked about. But the second thing might surprise you.

It's not the dynamic warm-up or post-run strength work (though those are crucial). It's about smart volume progression.

When I say volume, I'm not talking about cranking things up to eleven or just counting miles. Let's think about foot strikes instead.

When you look at the the skipping and low amplitude plyometric elements in Jeff Boelé's warm-up - which you should have your athletes doing on Day 1 - this work is a bit more challenging than jogging at a slow pace. I'd argue that the volume in the warm-up, counted in minutes, is (a) worth the same number of minutes as jogging in terms of an aerobic stimulus and (b) better for the athlete's development both this season and beyond than jogging for 13 minutes.

Add in your running (or workout), your strides and post-run work, and a 30-40 minute run becomes a 75-minute training stimulus.

I call this "extending the aerobic stimulus" - to learn more check out this article.

Did You Have Athletes Get Hurt This Year?

Here's something to ponder:

Did you safely progress your athletes from their first week of summer training through the fall in all areas?

I'm referring to...

Volume of easy running
Volume of aerobic workouts
Volume of race pace workouts
Volume of strides
Volume of post-run work

I keep seeing athletes show up without consistent summer training. They can fake it for a few weeks they maybe even race well. But eventually, that haphazard progression catches up with them. That's when injuries happen.

The beauty of my XCTS? Athletes stay healthy.

Our sport is really that simple. Keep kids healthy this coming track season, and you'll see more PRs than ever.

Said another way...

Consistent training this winter is key if you want kids to PR is April and May.

What Does It Take To Win An NXR Title?

The Downers Grove North boys team won the Nike Midwest Regional Meet. Their coach, John Sipple, is somebody I'm lucky to call a friend. He's spoken at the Boulder Running Clinics, and I'm on a text chain with him that I learn a lot from.

There are two key insights you can take from his program:

First, he emphasized that teaching kids to run threshold pace is challenging. He does plenty of it in his program, but he

If you're thinking, "Wait, I thought threshold runs/tempo runs/steady-state runs were a crucial part of training?" that's not a bad thought.

We both know that developing aerobic metabolism/building the aerobic engine is essential throughout summer and fall to build a great cross-country team.

While threshold runs are valuable, there are multiple ways to develop aerobic capacity, which is why my progression of challenging aerobic workouts proves so effective. Here's the progression of workouts I use.

The bottom line is, athletes who learn to run by feel during their first season in cross country and track can later transition successfully to threshold-based workouts.

The second aspect of Coach Sipple's program involves regular track training throughout the cross-country season. This isn't primarily for speed work or race pace training, though they do incorporate some of that. He utilizes the track because it provides a safe, consistent surface. His school is surrounded by concrete and sidewalks, making the track the optimal training ground for a a meaningful part of the weekly volume/mileage.

"Use What You Have"

This reminds me of my favorite coaching concepts. The legendary coach Dr. Joe Vigil would say, "use what you have."

Coach Sipple doesn't have hills like Timo Mostert at American Fork and Jonathan Dalby at Mountain Vista have, but he does have a track.

And I think it's also worth thinking about Coach Sipple's athletes' mindset. They've developed the strength to complete lap after lap in pursuit of their team goals. Some teams might shy away from working out on the track, but they don't.

Now let's fast-forward to the NCAA Division 1 cross country meet coming up this Saturday.

Setting Kids Up To Run Faster In College Than High School

Coach Jonathan Dalby had two athletes compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

In 2015 Conner Weaver and Paxton Smith lead Mountain Vista - aka "Denver" in NXN results - to a 12th place finish after winning NXR Southwest.

Fast forward to college and on the same day they both were on the podium at the NCAA Division I championships, with Conner running for BYU as their seventh runner and Paxton getting a trophy with the University of Colorado as their alternate.

Fast forward a few more years and they ran side by side at Grandma's Marathon, qualifying for the US Olympic Trials.

So why am I sharing this story?

The unfortunate reality with many NXN-caliber teams is that athletes often don't maintain their success in college or post-collegiate competition, even when that's the coach's goal.

Setting Kids Up For Success After High School

So what did Coach Dalby do to set up his athletes for success?

Two things come to mind.

From a training perspective, he takes advantage of his environment.

Adjacent to the school are lots of hills, which vary in length and grade. The kids call it "the playground." Dalby has his kids doing a variety of hill workouts, or simply running strides on hills, through the year.

"Use what you have."

But if you don't have hills, don't worry.

In the XC Training System, we incorporate strides at 800m and 400m pace, along with post-run work to strengthen the posterior chain. Hills provide an excellent way to build posterior chain strength and prepare athletes for strong race finishes, but you can achieve these benefits through other methods.

Another key to Dalby's training the comes to mind is his patient progression with volume over the course of a single season and a high school career.

Dalby isn't in a hurry with volume. He lets kids have fun with training, and lets his freshman race a lot, and then, when the younger kids want to train more, he lets them. I think most elite programs would be surprised that the number two ranked girls program in the country run modest volume.

Copy This If You Want A Great Program

The final component may seem challenging, but it's straightforward:

Coach Dalby and his staff meet with athletes 5-6 days a week throughout most of the year, including in the summer.

There's no shortcut around this commitment. Even the most dedicated athletes occasionally need structure and accountability. When all they need to do is show up to practice, everything else falls into place - they complete their dynamic warm-up, execute their run, perform their strides, and finish their post-run work.

This consistency, maintained week after week and month after month, produces a championship-caliber team by October and November.

Boulder Running Clinics

The Boulder Running Clinics is coming up in 58 days, and it's shaping up to be incredible.

Here's what Tom Rothenberger, a legendary coach in Oregon, who has taken teams to NXN, has to say.

"I attended the Boulder Running Clinic for the first time this year. I had heard good things about the clinic but it exceeded my expectations.

The content and the clinic speakers were truly outstanding. The camaraderie and sense of community that Jay has created is inspiring.

If you want to be inspired and you desire to learn more about our sport with passionate coaches then the Boulder Running Clinic should be on your calendar.

I will be back every year. It was Awesome!!!!

Thanks Jay!!"

Get Your Ticket

Two Free Live Classes

Plus, I've got two exciting December classes coming up.

On December 7th, before the NXN coverage, we'll dive into track training. The next evening, we'll explore the Track Training Essentials - a free PDF and course you'll be able to download that day.

On Monday, December 9th, in the evening, I'll teach some more and talk about the training you need to be doing this winter and into the track season to set kids up to PR in April and May.

Can't make it live? No worries - everything will be recorded are ready to view within minutes of the class ending.

How Was This Newsletter?

I'd love your feedback. Too long? Just right? Do you prefer shorter ones?

The analytics tell me open rates (and unsubscribes) but I want to hear your thoughts.

You can reply to this email with a couple sentences, or just a word or two - anything helps!

As always...

Let's go!

PS - Here are the current boys rankings going into this weekend's NXR meets.

Here are the coaches who have spoken at the Boulder Running Clinics...

Doug Soles - Hermian (UT) - Spoke in 2018
Sean McCafferty - Christian Brothers (NJ) - Spoke in 2024
Kelly Christensen - Niwot (CO) - Spoke in 2024
Justin Leonard - Southlake Carrol (TX) - Spoke in 2021 and 2024
Timo Mostert - American Fork (UT) - Spoke in 2019
John Sipple - Downers Grove North (IL) - Spoke in 2022

When you come to the clinic you get to hear the coaches speak and then pick their brain at the coach's social. It's unlike any other clinic.

Don't miss out - Get your ticket today