Anyone can take a workout from the internet or the latest training book, and have their athletes perform it. Basic monkey see, monkey do coaching can work for athletes of novice and intermediate levels just fine. Beyond this, it takes an experienced coach who is looking for the right things, to take an athlete to higher performance. What are those things to look for, and what individual differences determine the best route to go with training? To help clarify these issues, Ryan Banta is back with this third interview for Just Fly Sports!
Just Fly Sports: Do you do any intra-workout or post-workout monitoring to assess how training is progressing? Any sorts of testing? At what point would you shut a sprint workout down? Do you do any auto-regulatory sprint training based on drop-off?
Ryan Banta: We continually monitor our athletes. As a high school coach one of the best ways to monitor your athletes is at the beginning of practice during warm up and running drills. As a coach this is not a time to sit back and chat with your assistances or managers. Instead it is your time to watch how your athletes move. Are the athletes favoring a side, leg, is there a limp, and do they seem flat? Body language will tell you a lot about your athletes and do not ignore what they are telling you. During the warmup is where it is important to have a conversation about what is bothering them. One of the wisest statements I have ever heard from a colleague is “you can’t win a championship in April, but you can certainly lose it in April.” Translated, don’t push your kids to the point injury for one workout and lose them for the rest of the season.
One of the wisest statements I have ever heard from a colleague is “you can’t win a championship in April, but you can certainly lose it in April.”
During the workout, in between intervals I am constantly talking to my athletes. This is time to see how things are going, talk to them about the purpose of the workout, discuss goals, and keep them pumped up. I never let my kids lay flat on the ground. If they are struggling we always move them to a fence or a low wall to lean on. You never want your athletes to become used to finishing an interval and then falling flat on their back. I will pull an athlete from a workout if they run slower than the desired time for the workout three intervals in a row. At this point it’s not a mistake of pace or just taking a rep off. If you can’t reengage them or motivate them to hit correct pace something is not right for that workout it is best to cut them from that day. At that point talk with them so they know why you are removing them. If possible come back in two days with a different quality workout. I pull my sprint times for practice from a table called RunningTrax. I found these tables to be the most accurate for sprinters and if a young person has a hard time achieving the proper times its best we stop.
After workouts we rarely have our athletes cool down by jogging an ugly couple of laps. Instead we do a number of 100 yard striders, shoeless on the infield. We have our athletes start the intervals near maximum speed. After each down and back of the striders we cut the pace. Eventually we reduce the pace to 50% effort. This type of cool down protects postural integrity much better than forcing your exhausted athletes to run a couple of slow laps. Often this protects them from have sever leg cramps after the first tough workout in that phase of training. You can actually achieve the same volume you were going to run in those laps and at the same time perform them in a better quality for your cool down.
In terms of other monitoring we have our distance runners get blood drawn to test ferritin levels. I had my kids keep tabs on their HRV but honestly I live by the Carl Valle “five minute rule.” If it takes more than five minutes my athletes are not likely going to do the daily work required to get the benefit of longitudinal data. The previous questions I have discussed diagnostic methods will help you figure out most things that can derail a young athlete.
During the workout, in between intervals I am constantly talking to my athletes. This is time to see how things are going, talk to them about the purpose of the workout, discuss goals, and keep them pumped up. I never let my kids lay flat on the ground.
To monitor progress, I do the same tests the first week of the season every year. Most of these tests come directly from the USATF education. Other tests we add are a hurdle skill challenge and mile test. The latter test only being done by newcomers to the program or if the athlete is a distance runner. Additionally, when possible I have the same coaches perform these tests to limit different results year to year from our athletes. The www.milesplit.com and mo.milesplit.com in Missouri does a fantastic job keeping all of our athlete’s progress throughout the season. You can cross reference years, meets, individuals, classification, and grade level with their database. Another unique feature is they chart these performances over time so you can see improvements throughout the season and years past. Every season we run a “Red and Black Time Trial.” The time trial is run after the same number of weeks of training each season (usually the third week).
A few weeks gives our kids some basic fitness and lets me know they can handle the trials. All my athletes run a 400-time trial. Then their specialty event will determine if they are going to run a 100/200 time trial or the 800. The time trials are serious. We use the starter’s pistol, video camera, and hand out awards. These awards include most improved, and top three performances per event. We time everything and our workouts progress with similar purpose over the length of the season. Keeping tabs on these times and themes help us know what times our athletes are currently training at in practice. In individual practices, we divide the kids into three groups Baylor, Sprinters, and Distance. We make running in the Baylor a big deal for our athletes as it is supposed to include our best people during a crossover workout between our sprinters and mid distance kids.
Just Fly Sports: In the “Science of Running”, Steve Magness notes that he tends to train slower twitched distance runners with more dynamic muscle endurance (such as hill running) in favor of the heavier lifting a faster twitch runner would perform. Would you favor a different approach to strength based on a “fast twitch” or “slow twitch” sprinter?
Ryan Banta: Train them where they live. Distance runners can get a lot of benefit from hill running as they need to get used to climbing for cross country or road races. I agree with Magness that it is important to try and get the distance runner to call upon additional motor units.
Motor unit recruitment can be achieved through plyometric training and hill running. Plyometrics and hills are training modalities slow twitch athletes are going to need to see frequently to benefit them all season long. I believe over time you can hack the body’s nervous system to provide them with a more robust and explosive mainframe allowing them run their best when it matters most.
“Train athletes where they live”
No matter what day of the season it is for cross country we have some method of speed work present. Even on aerobically focused days we have an element of speed. If we had three aerobic days each week scheduled throughout the year, we would rotate different speed training on those days starting with flying 30meter sprints. These flying 30meter sprints are those described by Scott Christensen’s work. We use these to develop the skill of avoiding the crowd at the starting line and setting up a proper race position. Next we do striders at the end of practice on one of the three mentioned aerobic days to work on being able to kick to the finish even when your athlete is fatigued. Finally, on the third aerobic day we do mini-hills 30 to 50 meters in length. Mini-hills are done to train the distance runner to attack hills in the middle of the race and development the aforementioned motor development we want to see for our runners.
These three workouts are not the only time our athletes see speed work or hills in the cross country season. During cross country, we’ll do our extended interval work on the course that has a number of hills. We have a 1000 meter loop we use starting on a hill. Additionally, we do lactic threshold runs, fartleks, and speed endurance training. Early in the season we run three quality workouts to go along with the previously mentioned aerobic days.
I certainly don’t favor one ancillary method of training over another instead I believe they all play a role in building a complete athlete. Each method has a time and place. Hills play a bigger role for strength training in the cross country season than track. In the track season, a distance runner does not see any hills in a race.
A large part of the United States has dicey weather at the beginning of the track season. I have witnessed numerous distance runners trip over the “root monster” losing a significant part of their season on a muddy hill. If the weather is a concern for your course than plyometrics and related weight room work can fill the gaps in the absence of hill work. On aerobic days, we still rotate some abbreviated speed work as described previously.
In terms of fiber type training for sprinters without a biopsy you must use logic and race them in a number of different events to develop a profile. A profile will help you decided what their make-up is talent wise. The profile will take at least an entire season to develop. If you have a sprinter of a high training age with a developed profile, you can make these choices easier. Once you know what you got in terms of a 100/200(very rare) versus a 200/400 sprinter the strength training will be different only on the edges. Many of the lifts will be the same, but the percentages and reps can be different.
For example, the zero step for a 100 meter specialist might place a bigger role on absolute strength then a sprinter who is 200/400 type. The need to create immense forces in a very short time means you might keep the number of lifts lower and your percentage effort much higher. A short sprinter might want to develop raw power and elastic strength all season long. A 200/400 sprinter is going to need a lot more strength endurance leading to a larger number of exercises and high volume of reps. I think a long sprinter would spend additional time working on their core to maintain postural integrity as fatigue and waste rises in the latter portion of their sprint race. A coach could argue all runners could benefit to strength training mentioned. Realistically, when you consider the limited time and energy a sprinter has daily I would make sure to put an emphasis on what is important to maximize your athlete.
Just Fly Sports: Do you have your athletes do any sort of foam roller, lacrosse ball, or other type of self-soft tissue type work? What are your thoughts on soft tissue and related muscle work for this age group?
Ryan Banta: I discuss this topic in detail here: Foam Roller Routine. However, in terms of a lacrosse ball being used as smashing tool it can be useful. I use it to smash knots that develop on my back behind my shoulder blades. Smashing is work that needs to be taught, and I suggest every coach work with this method personally, so they understand what they are asking of their athletes. I feel using a lacrosse ball is more intense in a smashing action than the foam roller. I would start with my athletes smashing using a foam roller first and then advance to the lacrosse ball if the issues require more acute pressure. I rarely promote a product of someone I don’t know personally, but Become a Supple Leopard is an interesting book for ideas on smashing. However, again it is important for the coach to experience personally some of the methods promoted in this book before implementing it with your athletes.
In the past, I would do a lot of soft tissue work on my athletes because of all my personal experience rehabbing my continuous hamstring injuries. In this day and age you have to be very careful working with you people as an adult. A need for a massage professional has led me to find Mark Frank at St. Louis Institute for Rehabilitative and Sports Massage. Carl Valle talked about having a go to guy like “The Wolf” in the movie Pulp Fiction when trouble is too big for your skills to handle. Mark is my “Wolf.” He has worked magic with a number of my athletes using Graston Method, and no else can reduce/eliminate soft tissue issues so quickly. For more information on Mark Frank and his team of therapist go here: St. Louis Institute for Rehabilitative and Sports Massage.
Unfortunately, some of my athletes cannot afford treatment from a professional like Mark, or cannot get an appointment that fits into their schedule. On these rare occasions it could only leave me as the person who can still do soft tissue work. If I feel, the problem must be addressed I ask the parents and athlete for permission. Once permission is given I will have a coach and a friend of the athlete watch what I am doing. Having the room full of people accomplishes two things. First the athletes can watch what I am doing so in the future they can help one another out by learning and possibly implement this work themselves. Secondly, it is never wise to do soft tissue work alone with a minor. Having a friend along with an additional coach makes the experience less awkward for all parties involved.
While doing soft tissue working I am looking for issues that seem to be unilateral and acute. These issues might call for a few days away from the track and appointments later with Mark. If the issues are just general soreness, my goal is to reduce an athlete’s tension down to the proper tone. This message only takes place if a problem gets diagnosed via the methods discussed earlier in the article. Before an athlete sees outside help it is paramount for you to be kept in the loop, recommend someone, and be aware there might be a problem needed to be addressed.
Speed Training Interview with Ryan Banta: Part 1
Speed Training Interview with Ryan Banta: Part 2
More about Ryan Banta:
Ryan Banta is Parkway Central High School Girls Head track and field coach 2003 to the present, and Parkway Central High School Head XC coach 2013 to present. Ryan’s coaching tenure has yielded 84 school records. 2 top 4 finishes in 2008 and 2009, District Champs 2007, 2008, and 2009, four runner up finishes at districts 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, two state records 4×800 and 3200 meter run, 14 nationally ranked events, 34 all state performances, 7 runner up finishes, 8 state championship events and 70 state qualifiers(track and xc). Ryan is the MTCCCA Vice President and MSHSAA advisory board member. He is a writer for elitetrack.com and speedendurance.com and has his USATF Level II in Sprints, Hurdles, Relays, and Endurance, as well as a USTFCCCA technical certification.
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