That’s why I put together the Mental Skills for High School Runners Course —

Hi, I’m Coach Jay Johnson.

I’ve coached for more than two decades and coached cross country athletes at all levels - high school, collegiate, and professional, including USATF National champions and IAAF World Championship qualifiers.

In the past decade I’ve also helped high school coaches learn everything they need to know about training and race strategy to get their team on the podium.

Yet in the past few years more and more coaches have said to me:

“What’s missing from my program is a systematic way to help all my athletes get mentally stronger, especially those who are suffering from extreme anxiety.”

And when I talk to coaches with years of experience they tell me that this problem - which they rarely dealt with 10-15 years ago - is getting worse every season.

I knew there had to be a solution.

So I reached out to mental performance coaches, NXN coaches, authors, professional runners, and PhDs to help you help your athletes with the most elusive part of coaching cross country — the mental side of racing.

This course brings together their insights and best practices.

• It’s designed for both coaches and athletes.
• It’s concise – you need just a few hours to learn the key skills.
• It comes with a 10-day money-back guarantee... If you don’t get value from the course in the first 10 days, you get your money back, no questions asked.

Andy Derks

“I am usually hesitant to purchase coaching education materials online. There is so much out there and often it is just information overload.

However, when I saw the lineup of coaches/ professionals on Jay's Mental Skills for High School Runners course and listened to a few of the short clips, I knew this would well worth the investment.

As Coach Dan Iverson notes in his section, Mental "Skills" implies this is something that can be learned, practiced, and improved over time.

As a coach, I am guilty of spending too much time worrying about the minutia of workouts and realized I was not doing enough to prepare our runners psychologically and emotionally to be the best racers/ competitors they can be.

Our runners are extremely dedicated, and I need to match that dedication by continuing to learn so I can best help them develop the skills they need to transfer their fitness into racing and put them in the best position possible as competitors.

I listened to a few of the sections of Mental Skills for High School Runners on my own, then re-listened again while on a run.

I watched Coach O'Malley's interview talking directly to high school 800m runners and showed this interview to our team during practice. We had a classroom full of guys taking notes and hanging on his words.

It is one thing for them to hear things from their own coach, but when one of the best high school coaches in the country is telling them what he has learned from his own experiences with his team and what he communicates to his runners, it is a powerful thing.

A few days after listening to Coach O'Malley, our freshmen boys went out in their first race of the season and debuted in the 4x800m relay, winning their heat and breaking our freshman indoor school record by 19-seconds!

While it may not have been a direct correlation, I know for a fact that these guys took a lot from the Mental Skills for HS Runners interview with Coach O'Malley and probably more importantly, they enter their freshman track season feeling like they have the ability to improve as racers and confident that we will help them develop those skills as racers.

In addition to Coach O'Malley's interviews, there were several other takeaways from the others: Coach Iverson talking about the power of simply communicating to a young runner that "your best is enough," Shannon Thompson walking through the process of developing a "loose race plan," and Kelly Christensen discussing how he organizes a racing schedule for his athletes and develops speed with his runners.

The interviews are great. They are presented in a format that is easy to listen to and gives you strategies you can implement with your team right away. This course has already proven more valuable than many weekend clinics I have attended.

Bottom line: Mental Skills are often overlooked and under-coached. Coach Jay clearly took time to consider who to interview, what questions to ask, and has a keen insight into what HS coaches need to learn to help their runners.

This package will help you as a coach to develop the confidence and skills to best help put your runners in positions to succeed as racers.

Additionally, it will undoubtedly help your runners to feel like they are not on their own when it comes to the mental side of our sport.

Just like runners can improve their fitness through the right workouts, they can become better racers, especially in the biggest moments.”

Austin O'Hare

“As a coach, I found the course to be a great value. There were so many things I was able to take away that I know will help my athletes going forward.

Helping athletes work on their mental skills is a very important and challenging part of the job and having this resource has really made a difference.”

Mike McHenry

“I have purchased many of Jay Johnson’s products over the years and the Mental Skills course has been the most valuable to me as a high school coach.

The speakers are amazing!

Thank you!”

Andrea Yesnes

“The best thing about this course is its simplicity.

The greatest thing for me is I plan to use it as a pre-season conversation with my athletes.

The price is well worth the conversations I will have with my athletes, and frankly, other coaches!

I am most excited about two things: the confidence and sense of control my athletes will practice, and the pre-race conversations with athletes who tend to be unsure of themselves will be focused and intentional.”

Rhonda Beadell

“The mental skills course was a game changer for our team this last season.

Every week we would listen to a segment for 25 minutes (teenage max attention span!) and some weeks we would double up for two days. Kids had the option to take notes to keep in a folder and they wrote a ton!

There were so many powerful pieces that moved us. John O’Malley’s message of performing not for yourself, but in the service to honor others moved us toward a bond that led our boys to a Regional title.

I had my girls listen to Dan Iverson’s explanation of how girls are not faster than women and it helped so many of them going through those tough physical changes and knowing that they can continue to improve.

Shannon Thompson was incredible and gave us concrete strategies to put into action each week. Jay’s visualizations took us through the end of the season and kids started making it a regular practice.

From the breathing and relaxation strategies to Steve Magness’ amazing analysis of the power of our own thinking, we got so much from this course! We didn’t even get through all of it!

Our last segment was perfect with Jesse’s infectiously positive talk making them truly happy and grateful to be on the State Championship line.

In the airport on the way home from NXR our boys spotted the NAU team who had just won the NCAA championships that same day! They jumped at the chance to get a picture with them and their trophy, and they instantly felt a connection knowing that Shannon helped them get that title, and she 100% helped us get ours!

As a coach I’ve never felt confident with the sports psychology side of training, but now I do. It was exactly what we needed, so thank you Jay for putting together such a valuable tool.”

Let’s Make 2024 Your Best Season Ever!

If you've read this far, you're in the top 1% of running coaches who truly get the importance of the mental side of our sport.

Maybe you've known this all along, but haven't known how to go about training your kids with mental skill tools that can give them the extra boost they need to break through their (often self-imposed) barriers.

If that's the case, The Mental Skills Course was made just for you.

The Mental Skills Course has a 10-day money-back guarantee, so it’s a risk-free investment.

Let’s help you have that special moment at the last meet of the year where you leave the course knowing you did everything possible to give your kids the best experience possible in a sport they love.

Let’s go!

Coach Jay Johnson