Off Season Training
When I was in high school in the 1980’s, the three-sport athletes were generally considered the best athletes in the school. Those who played football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring were the real studs. Athletes who only played one sport were considered lazy, or were accused of lacking school spirit. It was considered selfish to sit out one season in order to train for another sport that was a season or two away.
Times have changed. As more young athletes are competing for college scholarships, and the standards of excellence continue to rise – not just in track but in all sports – there is an increasing amount of pressure on high school athletes to specialize in a single sport. As a result, we’re seeing more year-round athletes. Soccer players, for example, spend more time playing for their select teams and all-star teams than they do for their school team. Same with basketball, where AAU teams have come to dominate the scene and directly impact the college recruiting process.
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In track, it is no longer uncommon for athletes to train 12 months a year. Some coaches and parents would argue that because the scholarship situation in track is so tight, high school athletes must train 12 months a year. Even long before high school, the push to earn a scholarship can be very intense.
From a competition standpoint, the indoor season begins earlier than it used to. When I was coming up, you didn’t even think about competing until after the New Year holiday. Now meets begin as early as the first week of December, and practice begins in mid-November. The indoor season is now its own entity, with its own state and national championships, causing the season to bleed into the outdoor season.
The spring season is still as intense as it ever was, and the summer season (USATF Junior Olympics and AAU) goes all the way to the end of July. Meanwhile, there are also many post-season championships meets in June and July. The competition schedules of the top-end high school athletes include so much travel and so many big meets that they nearly rival the demands faced by professional athletes.
So the question this article asks is a simple one: Is there such a thing as an off-season for the high school track and field athlete?
There are still plenty of high school athletes who enjoy track but have no desire to compete collegiately. For such athletes, the spring season is enough, and maybe indoors as well. But the summer is their off-season, and the fall and winter could be time to participate in other sports or to get ready for the outdoor season “on their own” at a pace that is low in intensity.
For the athletes that I’m focusing on for the purposes of this article – those who do have hopes of competing in college and possibly beyond – I would say that the off-season has shrunk down to an off-month, and we’re in that month right now – August. While many distance runners will take a break from competition in the summer in order to prepare for cross country, sprinters and hurdlers basically have August and maybe part of September before it’s time to start their fall training in preparation for the indoor season.
As intense as I am, as competitive as I am, as hurdle obsessed as I am, I think there has to be at least a little portion of time when I’m not out on the track every day coaching, and my athletes aren’t on the track every day working out. I think it’s healthy to get a little time away from the sport altogether, because athletes do get sick of their coaches, coaches do get sick of their athletes, and athletes do get sick of each other when we spend so much time around each other. To me, there needs to be some time to reconnect with family and with friends outside of track.
But for the athlete, time away doesn’t mean time spent getting fat and out of shape, eating fast food and being a couch potato. Here’s the kind of training I would suggest for hurdlers who have finished their outdoor season but aren’t ready yet to begin their fall training full steam:
Cross Training
I remember one of my college years, I ran like total garbage the last meet of the year and was so angry at myself and so tired of feeling like a track failure that the first thing I did when the bus pulled up back at school was go to my dorm, change into my basketball shoes, and go to the gym to play pick-up games for a couple hours. It was like I had to purge myself of the long season in which I fell short of my expectations. For those couple hours on the court I was just a little kid again having fun playing a game.
I think we all need a dose of that after the grind of a long season, which is why I think that taking part in other sports activities is a very healthy way, physically and mentally, to transition between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It doesn’t matter your sport of choice, as long as it involves a lot of running and/or cardio work. Basketball was my sport of choice because I had grown up playing basketball. But soccer can work, maybe a little ultimate Frisbee or flag football. If shin splints were a problem during the season, then bicycling and swimming would be more logical options. This activity should all be pressure-free. The idea is to get away from the grind and to also prepare for the next grind. So if you put pressure on yourself by setting goals and don’t allow yourself to just have fun, you won’t get the mental break you need.
Distance Runs
“Distance” is a relative term here. We’re not talking about the volume that is common to distance runners. A run of two to four miles, two or three times a week, is reasonable and effective for a hurdler. Again, you’re looking to build a cardio base. It’s okay to time yourself so you know how fast you’re going, but don’t try to set a personal best every time out.
Long hurdlers especially can benefit from such distance runs, but I also think it’s okay for 110/100m hurdlers as well. Once the fall training starts, the distance runs would be cut out of the regimen for hurdlers who only do the 110/100h. The fear that distance runs can create bad running mechanics for sprinters and hurdlers is one that I wouldn’t worry about too much if done in this context. A two-mile run is short enough that you can get up on the balls of your feet for the last 800 or so. Plus, your focus this time of year is just to keep your body in motion. You don’t want to be starting from scratch when fall training begins. As the saying goes, it’s a lot harder to get in shape than to stay in shape.
Muscle Strengthening Exercises
Here, we’re not talking about weight training, but training that will prepare you for weight training. Exercises such as squats, lunges, calf raises, pull ups, chin ups, push ups, etc. I’m also big on adductor and abductor exercises so those core muscles needed to negotiate the hurdles stay strong. Of course, a steady abdominal routine should remain in place as well.
The off-season, or off-month, might also be a good time to introduce yourself to something new. For example, if you’ve been interested in giving yoga a try, or one of the martial arts, this would be the ideal time to get started.
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So to conclude, the off-season is a time to focus on strengthening weak areas, allowing injuries to heal, detoxing emotionally, returning to the simple essence of play, all in preparation for the long grind that lies ahead.
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