How does this training plan work in April and May?

There are numerous differences between college and high school track, but perhaps the biggest difference is the meet schedule. College athletes compete almost exclusively on weekends, leaving weekdays open for training. High school coaches rarely have that luxury. High school coaches often deal with multiple meets per week and sometimes on the worst possible days – making it almost impossible to get in the workout schedule that we recommend in our book.

 This is probably the most common question I have received from coaches: How does this training plan work in April and May when we are racing all the time? As a former high school coach, I ran into that same issue. While there is no perfect answer to this question, here are two ideas that might help you determine how to navigate this challenge with your athletes.

 Thought #1: Prioritize Event Day Workouts

When I coached, we would typically run meets on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is how we planned out our schedule to get in workouts around our meet days.

 Mon – Event Days (3x350, Split 400s, Hare & Hound, etc.) OR 2x450 Overdistance Intervals

Tue – Easy + Accelerations

Wed – Race Day

Thu – Something more Aerobic (6-8x200 or Continuous Relay w/ baton handoffs)

Fri – Easy + Accelerations

Sat – Race Day

 I would try to find one day per week to get in a hard "Event Day" workout - ideally, with an easy day before and after. That is why we prioritized our most important workout on Mondays. I included the Overdistance Intervals as a Monday option, which we would use during our Reloading weeks.

 Thought #2: Balance Workouts with Race Entries

If you do have meets on Tuesdays and you want to get in a good workout on Monday, then I would offset the workout based on what the athletes are racing on Tuesday and lean the other way in the workout.

Example 1: If our 400 runners were scheduled for 4x800/400/4x400 triple in the meet on Tuesday, then I would run something short and fast on Monday -- since their races on Tuesday will all be 400 or 800. Since their races are a little longer (more aerobic), then the Monday workout would be more anaerobic.

Example 2: If our 400 runners were scheduled for 400/200 double on Tuesday, then I would run something more aerobic on Monday -- since Tuesday they are going to race 400 and shorter. Since their races are more anaerobic, then the Monday workout would be more aerobic.

 Balancing out workouts and races in this way helps you make sure that you are not overworking the athletes throughout the week, and it keeps you in that 30-40% aerobic ratio that we recommend.