FasterSkier Forums » Coaching

1. tradesmith45
   Member

   Hi All,

   I have struggled to come up with a good way to describe the best race pace for new HS racers. Our events include a 5k & a 0.75kx3 relay & race venue elevation ranges from 4,500'-6,300'. We have 8 races in the season. Of course we see everything from going too hard to too easy.

   I'd like to have several perceptual markers kids can use during their race to know if they are going hard enough/too hard. My goal is speeding up their learning process since we have so few races to learn from.

   Currently I use 3 markers:
   1. Find a pace where you begin to be moderately uncomfortable & increase/decrease your pace from there to see if you can sustain such a pace for most of the race.
   2. If you are unable to make the appropriate technique transitions at the top of a hill 'cause you are spent, you've gone too hard. If you have lots of gas left at the top os a hill, you could go harder.
   3. Depending on the kids fitness level, go as hard as you can for the last 100-500m.

   Anybody got a description they use that seems to work with kids?

   Posted 2 years ago #

2. OldManWinter
   Member

   Your story is my story...the school racing season is really short unless the kids do extra (optional) Eastern Cup races. I would encourage the team to do early-season time trials (either xc running or skiing) to 1) Help them establish their race pace, 2) Self-sort your starting order for the early season races and 3) Allow their practices to be true training sessions, rather than antler-bashing exercises to establish their stature on the team. My experience has been that the non-runners (soccer kids and field hockey ladies) have the most problems with pace...the true runners already know how to do this after 4 years of MS xc running and skiing. It takes time...Here, the leap from MS to HS is from 3k to 5k. It doesn't sound like a lot, but to them it is. Honestly, I don't think you're too far off. 1) is valid, 2) is as well (though they should know this pace from time trialing). At the 5k distance, most race courses have only one difficult 'feature', but they should be expert in picking a good climbing pace to cover it, and 3)should be coached thoroughly...Everyone puts it all out at the end, going as hard as they can, as far out as they can maintain it. Arrive dead...someone will pick them up at the finish line.

   Posted 2 years ago #

3. James Kyes
   Member

   5km race... go out Very hard and see how long you can do it. too many kids never learn how hard is hard. If you die, then slow down a little the next race, or get in better shape so you can hold that speed longer.

   .75km sprint. Nearly all out simple as that.

   Posted 2 years ago #

4. Topher Sabot, Editor
   Key Master

   This can be a hard one - and very important - learning to go hard is maybe the most important part of endurance athletics. If you can't push, nothing else matters. But what is the right pace. "Fly and die" is definitely one strategy - albeit one that makes for unpleasant racing.

   Ultimatley a lot comes down to experience - racing a lot. There was an earlier discussion on these forums about how much a kid should race. It is important to remember that racing is a skill, and the best way to get better at something is to do a lot of it.

   I believe it is important to constantly talk about pacing - talk to each kid after every race - how did it go in regards to pacing? What did it feel like? Did they have energy left? Did they die? Then you can give your observations from watching the race. Through this communication you can often have a kid create their own understanding of how hard to go based on their own experience.

   Then work on it in practice. I think a great workout is a time trial on a short loop. If you do a 5k time trial do a 4 or 5 loop course. Work on pacing and negative splitting. The feedback is precise and immediate. It will be easy to tell if someone is going too hard or too easy, and you can then use this info to help them adjust.

   Posted 2 years ago #

5. tradesmith45
   Member

   Thanks everyone, these are all helpful. Due to distance to snow, our kids only get on snow about 20 days a year & roller skiing is near sea level. So kids have few opportunities to learn this one.

   For obvious reasons, our team does not make much use of the Christmas vacation. Your comments about experience have made me realize we need to find a race to go to during that period.

   Posted 2 years ago #

6. lsiebert
   Member

   I don't see why you wouldn't...most dedicated teams are making use of this vacation time to put in a solid block of on-snow training, especially if they don't have access to snow close to home. From Eastern MA, I used to go to Mont Ste. Anne every xmas break. That camp always included a 8k pursuit time trial, which I always thought was really valuable for remembering how to race fast on skis after taking time off from high intensity at the end of the XC running season.

   Posted 2 years ago #

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