I’m starting my fourth season coaching cross country at Victoria High School here in Victoria, BC.
This is a bit tongue in cheek, but if you haven’t coached high school cross country, can you really call yourself a running coach?
We had our first meeting this week and it was really great. Some returning runners, and a lot of new ones. I brought my oldest daughter along, and we both noticed how many female student athletes turned out. Always good to see young women engaged in athletics.
There are also a lot of exchange students this year, including one German student who actually trains. I’m curious to see how he does. Running here locally, and in BC generally, isn’t that competitive — the top ten are good, and then it drops off pretty quickly. So I think he could have a lot of success.
Mostly what I want is to get students engaged and bought in. Into running, into training, into working hard. If that happens, hopefully it leads to bringing a team to Islands, maybe some individuals, and maybe qualifying an individual or a team for provincials on November 7th.
Our first meet is September 23rd at Lambrick Park. The rest are spread around the Greater Victoria area.
The challenge of coaching this group is that these kids come in having not really trained over the summer, and the season is basically seven weeks long. They come to two practices a week, ideally, plus a race.
So the question is: what do I do with the time I actually have them?
I’m still not totally sure. But it probably won’t surprise anyone who’s been reading this blog lately — I’m thinking a lot of threshold intervals with really short recovery. Short warmup, no cooldown, get into the work, and see if I can get these kids to buy in this season.
