Kacie Kaufman had a lot of writing on her hand and a lot of lifting in her season when she came to the state meet. Photo by Alan Versaw.
I would echo much, if not all, of what Brett and Jeff have stated in the first two installments of this series. I think there are a lot of good reasons to pursue a progressive, comprehensive weight program for your distance runners.
In terms of explaining our philosophy regarding weight lifting, I’ll be brief.
1. My own experience is that of a middle-distance runner who lifted a fair amount. I don’t know if it’s coincidence, but we’ve had many of our top cross country runners on the girls’ side who also filled key (sometimes primary) roles all the way down to our 4x100 relay, which clearly means they need some power and explosiveness. I expect our top distance runners to be very credible 400-meter runners and ready to fill the 4x400 relay, as well. Maybe we’d be better at XC and 3200 if I had a different background?
2. My view is that the 800 and even the 1600 require an ability to change gears that is greatly improved by strength training. The girls’ state 1600 is likely to finish with a lap of 70 seconds or faster—that’s pretty fast! We’ve also had a fair number of 1:55/4:25-type boys in the ten years I’ve been at TVHS, and strength training has always been a staple of their training diets from January to May.
3. I have no idea if there’s any direct correlation, but these are two facts for us:
a. The girls were much less intimidated with the hills at state and ran them much better in 2013 than 2012
b. We lifted twice a week throughout this fall season until the week of state, which is far and away the most and longest we’ve lifted during the XC season.
4. I was finally able to convince our sprint coach to join the XC staff in 2013; his ability to design various and appropriate weight workouts was a huge asset.
5. We split our distance kids into three training groups for the winter and spring: 400/800, 800/1600 and 1600/3200. Reliance on weight training varies with each group but is a part of all three programs.
Some strength training concepts I like:
1. I like Olympic lifts a lot. Squats and dead lifts are relatively easy for distance runners to pick up and execute proper form. By mid-winter, I want our kids doing these well, and not with just the bar!
2. Cleans are not easy to do properly or learn quickly. So in lieu of cleans, we do other double- and triple-extension exercises with dumbbells or kettleballs.
3. We have a multi-hip machine that we really like as it helps us work on knee drive through the full range of motion. By definition, it also allows us to stress the hip in multiple planes.
4. I love plyometric exercises as well. I stress quality and not quantity with these. They also don’t need to be complicated movements as those tend to be too challenging and time-consuming to learn for a distance runner.
5. I think there’s a balance to be struck between using a wide variety of exercises to fully develop your runners and promote growth, while understanding that some of the more valuable lifts take time to master in terms of technique. Just something to consider as you’re designing your workouts.