Elements of Cross Country - Part Three: Program Building

Dave Emmans coached the Wayzata girls cross country team to four state championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017. His 2013 team won the NXN National Championship, to this date the only team from outside New York to win the girls title, and he has been voted into the Minnesota Cross Country Hall of Fame this year.

I began coaching in 1986 in Bloomington Kennedy and we had several teams go to State. However, it became tough for me to recruit because I was not a teacher in that school district. I did appreciate the people there though and learned a lot from my time there.

I admit that I was not a very good coach in my early years, not only at Kennedy but also at Wayzata. But what helped me was to stay with it a long time, and to try many different things until I found a system that worked. I was lucky enough to get Rick Klamen, the former Robbinsdale Armstrong coach, to come in and help me out with advice. In addition, I give lots of credit to my top assistant Addy Hallen. Without those people many girls would not have had the great experiences they had.

When I was a young coach, one of my problems was that I would yell at them in practice if I felt they were not running hard enough. But I found out that kids will generally work out hard enough on their own. The girls that frustrate coaches because they appear to not be working hard are not going to change if I get on them like that. What I had to learn to do is relax. 

One thing I can take credit for is I sat down after some of those early seasons and asked myself how I could get better. Klammen and Hallen were the answer for me in many ways. I also had the opportunity to watch legendary Bill Miles coach since 1992. I have never seen a more enthusiastic coach. Bill was the master leader of young men because of his sense of humor, organization, and firm boundaries. He sent letters out to nearly every kid in the district and probably out-recruited everyone in the state. I never saw anyone with more energy. It is a good idea to be a teacher and coach both cross country and track & field. This is a way to accidentally get some pretty good kids out for our sport. If you are a jerk, you will not get kids out.

Bill would spend many hours in the evening putting together statistics and other things. I tried to emulate him, but that was a mistake because that wasn't my strength. As a coach, you must be yourself. I needed to go home after practice. But I took many things from him.

As far as workouts we tend to do only one hard workout per week if we have a race. We also do only one long run and we make sure we get good recovery following both of those. What I have found to be really important is to email the practice week out to my entire team every Sunday. Some kids do not read it, but the ones that do, profit. We get in the weight room more now than when I started. I am very old school, but we have found that this helps.

We have about 80 girls on our high school (9-12) team. About 35-40 more are on the middle school squad. They work out as a total 7-12 team for the first two weeks of the season. After that we have the middle school practice by themselves.

Our long run tends to be around 10 miles, but we do it in minutes. Our top girls might be assigned to run for 80 minutes on an out-and-back course. So, they turn around at 40 minutes. Our JV team might go 90 minutes, but I do not like them out longer than that. We use GPS watches but are careful how we do that because they can tempt girls to start racing in practice.

We do everything most teams do like mile repeats, 800s, strides, hurdles, drills, hills etc. When we do mile repeats we do 4-5 per session. They do not jog between them, but we do not give them much rest. I am not a big fartlek guy because it's not controlled enough.

Many coaches think that if they can just get a little bit more out of kids on a certain day, then that will turn the team, or an individual, around. I have even found that trying to "peak," athletes does not work. We've had great races in September and still performed just as well in December, and all I did is try to get them fit and then keep them there. I don't look at peaking at all anymore.

We use the Daniels formula and we run no more than we must. For our JV runners we like to have a goal that they come in being able to run for 30 minutes at close to race pace. We will also hold girls back if they do not appear to be ready to race. We have had some girls improve a lot by just running two races on the year. We have found that fewer JV girls get hurt since we have instituted this policy. It is not harshly enforced.

Teaching is a big part of what we do. You race how you train. In general, we do more teaching about race strategy early in the season. Then on big race days it's more about reassuring them on what they can do. I tell my team that I am the king of "try me." When introducing something new in the past I would force things on my teams. Now I have the attitude that we should try this it might help us be better runners. If a runner has a bad attitude or says something negative I often ignore it until I can talk to them privately. I view those as teaching moments. In the past I would get angry but that does not do anyone any good. A coach should be a good teacher. I look forward to trying to change a kid if I can.

We have between eight and twelve captains on the team and they must be seniors. We look for people that have been out for a few years and have shown signs of leadership. Then we vote on those people. We have what we call "Color Team Challenges" (these have little or nothing to do with running). This has proven to be exciting to some girls and it even motivates them to want to be a captain even if they are not a top runner. In meetings we let girls give us ideas and they have given us some very unique ideas over the years!

We have had an excellent set of athletic directors in Jamie Sherwood and Barb Basse the entire time I have been at Wayzata. They are always supportive. But over the years, parents have changed. There are many more parents who are knowledgeable about running, and a lot more have been runners themselves. When I started out, I would get defensive when a parent challenged me. Now I just remind myself that they want what is best for their kid. The worst thing that can happen is if they think you do not care about their child.

The most difficult thing I have encountered in coaching is communication. We are studying the five personalities. I find that I am somewhat introverted which means it's difficult for me to text the kids on my team. But I know it's necessary so sometimes I do it.

Jeff Morris has been the head boys and girls cross country coach at Perham High School since 2002. During that time, he has helped his teams win eight Class A State titles and has coached 4 individual State champion runners. He has had many runners go on to have considerable success in both the college and pro ranks.

When I think back I believe that my high school coach was one of my greatest influences. His name was Greg Price. What set him apart as a coach was his belief in his athletes. He believed in me and my teammates and was willing to push us to limits that we didn't even know were possible. He introduced us to what seemed impossible and then helped us make it possible.

I think coaches must really be passionate about working with teenagers. I love coaching, but winning trophies is not why I keep coaching. My coaching staff and I absolutely love the kids we coach. We are for them and want to see them be successful. When your focus is the students you are coaching you find so many reasons to stick with it.

Within my first few years at Perham we won some State titles but I was emphasizing mostly on the things it took to win. Our lettering policy was like many programs in having a time goal and other competitive things. We decided that did not feel right. We now have a policy that all high school runners will letter if they attend most practices, meetings, and compete in every race. We no longer have any time goals for lettering. This way we are able to emphasize the things that are important to kids future success such as attending practice, caring about others, and doing your best.

The way anyone builds confidence is by accomplishing small things and then building on those things. We celebrate progress as well as personal goals. One of our most important mantras is "no put-downs." We are hardest on ourselves, so it's our goal for people to not denigrate themselves or teammates. We encourage positive language in all forms. I just believe in talking to them about all these things. I talk to each group; middle school, junior varsity, and varsity teams after every race. There is always something positive you can get out of every race. I think it's important to tell them that if they have done the work, then eventually what they want to happen on race day will occur. They just must keep repeating things in practice.

I think where I have improved the most as a coach is in patience. I have more patience in training, racing, when to bump up mileage, and when to race. In my earlier years I took unnecessary risks such as pushing a kid when he was injured, etc. It's also very important to minimize things. Do not make drama out of drama! My assistant coach Kay Morris is especially good with this. There will always be tough things that happen. Try to never let it get to you for very long. We must be able to move on. One of my earlier runners at Perham was Maddie (McClellan) VanBeek. Maddie reasoned that she never had a bad race. That was her belief. It works! 

You asked about the difference between boys and girls. Really, there is too much to talk about, but one thing I think makes a difference is when girls are dealing with crisis either in their own running or team dynamics, they tend to hold on to things longer. So helping them move on and learn from it can be tough. As coaches, we must do some constant reminders, but again this is not always true of girls. Boys tend to have a crisis and move on quicker, but sometimes this can be a negative, because maybe something has not been dealt with or learned, so they will go and repeat the same things and expect different results.

We communicate our passion for our kids and let athletic directors know what our kids think they need to excel. We are bold in what we ask for but we have good reasons for everything. I don't mean being defensive about it. I am also open with administrators and let them know our philosophy on everything, so by this they see my passion and enthusiasm for kids on our program.

We always have a 45-minute meeting with parents and runners to communicate our vision and our expectations of everyone. We talk about what we do in practice, but most of the time you will see parents at meets. I tell them what the team does before the race, how we want to greet all runners after the race, and that parents are not allowed in our camp until after all the races are run. Some parents may come by the camp but they never stay long during the meet. And yes, during that first meeting we communicated with the parents what our expectations of them are as well.

The key to our peak season is the summer. It is hard to have a great peak if the foundation is not ready when cross country starts. So if our kids put in a good summer, our peak at the end of the year will be awesome. During the peak part of our season the mental part is just reminding kids that they have done the preparation that they are ready to run fast. It is not a matter of how they feel, but that they have prepared and are ready to run fast. We do lots of threshold training, and some reps at the end of the season to not lose the race demands, and to work on feeling fast.

We talk constantly about racing strategy. Every hard workout we do during the season addresses different parts of racing, to where we are constantly talking about how we need to work on those components of racing. We are a pack-running team and try to match running ability in workouts and races.

Our society and culture is good at thinking about ourselves, when I look for team leaders or captains, I am looking for runners who sincerely put others above themselves, someone we can build team around. Really it comes down to who is leading by example and really puts others first.

It is easy to talk about the advantages a big school has over small schools - numbers, facilities, etc. But I think what small schools have that big schools miss out on is the chance to see themselves as the underdog, or David in the story of David and Goliath. The underdog story is a fun story to be a part of in anything in life, so as a small school we constantly get to live in that reality.

You must believe in the power of the human spirit to achieve things that are even hard to imagine at first. I have a quote I used with our State title team in 2012: "Do not let the size of our school limit the size of our dreams." It really comes down to believing, dreaming, and then motivating athletes to chase a big intimidating dream regardless of whether we fall short or not. If kids buy into a dream, and the hard work that fuels those dreams, a lot can be accomplished.

We also never count a kid out regardless of their ability when they start. I have seen girls and guys who could barely run nine-minute miles back to back become varsity runners and even some who went on to be state champions. It is fun to believe in a kid and see them believe in their own dreams.

I think coaches underestimate the power of motivation. We all want that perfect workout that will make our kids compete at the highest level and I do think training is so important in competing at the state level, especially doing the right workouts at the right time with the correct paces and recovery. Motivation is the name of the game however as Joe Newton used to say. Motivation is something our runners need every day. They need motivation to take recovery runs, stretching, strength training, workouts, and hydration serious. Motivation leads to a focus on the details that can make big differences in performance.

Mark Popp is entering his fourth year as the head coach at Wayzata after assisting Bill Miles for seven years. He brought state cross country titles to Wayzata in 2016 and 2017. They have also had considerable success at the NXN national championships finishing 14^th, 10^th, and 11^th the last three years. In track he has been coaching sprints for the last 8 years, where they consistently have one of the top sprints/hurdle crews in the state--those groups have been crucial in the Trojans True Team and MSHSL success over that period.

Bill Miles did a great job handing off the reigns to me here. I have tried to follow many of his traditions, since I witnessed them first-hand. Miles started changing things before he retired such as adding strength routines, having a one-day time trial, and changing the structure of our meals. He was always open to change but he also did these things to make things easier for me when it was time for me to take over.

Our training is probably moderate in volume and intensity. Long runs of up to 13 miles during the season, 26-28 minute threshold / cruise interval sessions, and a conservative racing schedule are probably the things that stand out most for us. We also place a heavy emphasis on some of the strength aspects to improve economically and prevent injury. We have specific routines for abs, back, hips, and lunges, while our varsity training group also is in the weight room twice per week and does yoga once per week. All of that has caused our average mileage during the season to drop into the low-to-mid-50s. I would say we have less volume, but more intensity than Edina, but more volume / threshold, less intensity than Stillwater.

Kids and parents should always know where they stand. It is important to be straight-forward and honest and present things for the point of view of the entire team. We have specific rules regarding attendance at practice and meets, in writing, and I present it at the parent meeting every year. There are very few issues on that front. It is also important to hold back judgement when talking with a parent about their kids. Any negative or judgmental comment can lead parents to jump into defense-mode. Instead, I try to focus on "Here is what has happened, this will be the result/consequence/etc." For me, the most difficult situations I have had to face is to tell a few kids that they can't be on the team due to attendance issues that are out of their control. That has really hurt a few times, as I knew how important XC was to them as an individual.

Here is how we, in general, conduct practice for our 110 kids. First, we take attendance as the kids roll through the door. This is followed by a team meeting, and what our focus needs to be during the practice for the day. We then break down into different training groups for either mileage or a workout. If it is mileage, we all end up at our turfed field after the run for extras. These extras include abs, back, and lunge exercises. If is a workout, we often have a differently executed workout for our varsity training group (15-20 guys) and our JV group (70-90 guys). 

As far as races, we teach our kids to look for and use each other during races. If you ever watch us, you will often see a pair or trio of kids moving together mid-race. Having that teammate nearby is great for motivation and getting into a good rhythm during a race. That has worked well for us.

Typically, we want to make sure we don't dig ourselves into a hole during the first kilometer. That means we don't go out too hard and get into significant oxygen debt. It also means we can't get buried in the pack during a larger, more competitive race. In our training, we always want to make sure we can finish a workout as well or even better than when we started. It helps kids start to figure out how to measure out their effort--which is a crucial part of being a good racer. 

The development for our guys usually happens between 8th and 10th grade--they learn to be consistent with their training and can do it with several like-minded individuals. We make sure that they are excited but have the long view in mind, and that has been a successful formula since I have been at Wayzata. If we look at our last year's top seven, only three of them ran cross country in 7th grade. Of the 5 graduating seniors, four managed to run in the 17s as 9th graders, but no faster--certainly not a group of can't-miss prospects. You would never have guessed that they would be the core of a team that could compete with just about anyone in the country.