3 Biggest High School Track & Field Training Mistakes

Track and field is an intense sport that requires hard work and dedication. Many athletes get their first exposure to the sport in high school. With the right dedication and proper training, newbies can excel in the sport.

Unfortunately, a lot of high school coaches do not know much about track beyond the fact that it involves running.

In the Track and Field world, one does not simply just run to get better at their events.

Overall, a lot of coaches at the high school level do not share the best track workouts or helpful advice with their athletes. Even coaches that competed in track & field in college can sometimes lack the experience or the planning to properly train high school athletes.

As a young athlete, these mistakes can be a source of confusion. This can generate disinterest or a dislike of the sport for new runners. It can also result in a loss of potential talent through the development of bad habits.  

By sharing the three biggest mistakes present in a lot of mediocre high school track & field programs, you can begin to make sure your are practicing what you need to in order to compete at your best.

To improve, your practice must be geared to maximizing your strengths and addressing your weaknesses.

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

--a famous quote, credited to Vince Lombardi

1. Not enough time spent warming up.

Most high school warm ups consistent of a lap or two around the track and twenty minutes of half-hearted drills and stretches. This type of warmup is not sufficient for maximizing your training.

Collegiate and professional track runners can spend up to an hour warming up in a typical practice. On race day, warm ups can last even longer. An efficient warm up will help prevent injury and ensure you are training at your maximum performance.

Proper warm up should involve initial movements, running drills, dynamic movements, and stretching.

The initial movements are often slow motions, like jogs, that get your blood flowing. Dynamic movements and stretches will ensure your muscles are ready to run.

Running drills help drill the form and technique that will be present during workouts. All track and field events should be sure to do some type of series of drills before they run. Drills, like a-skip, b-skip, and stepovers, must be performed with intention and attention to details. Focus on technique, rather than quickly getting the drill done.  

2. Field event athletes not getting enough training time.

Often times in high school, field events are pushed to the side.

Coaches will make comments like:

“Just jump higher.”

“Just jump longer.”

“Just throw farther.”  

Training for field events should not be just thrown after a sprint workout or saved for only thirty minutes of practice time.  

Field events need specific training and workouts dedicated to these events.

The way your approach the board to long jump will be very different than how you run a 200-meter race. So, you need to practice the LJ approach.

When training for field events, dedicate specific training days to focus on the event. Break down the key parts of your event and do drills for it. For example, if you are a triple jumper you might dedicate a day to short approaches and bounds so that you can work on the rhythm of the hop-step-jump.

Note: This is the same for hurdles! Make sure to dedicate time and training days to working on hurdle technique.

3. Running too much or too little for your event.

In high school, coaches often have you run till you puke. Only doing repeat 200s & 400s for sprinters or 5 mile runs for long distance runners is not conducive to good running. Sprinters running too much and distance runners running for long distances without reps becomes a common problem in high school track programs.

In training, many workouts for short sprinters should have the athlete run at high intensity over short distances. These workouts will focus on acceleration, turnover, etc. Short sprinters should run for longer distances too (up to 400m for 100m/200m). However, it is important not to over work them.

Similarly, 400m should not just be doing repeat 400s. They need to be doing workouts that helps them maintain endurance at high speeds. Doing repeat runs without sufficient recovery periods is how one can establish bad running techniques.

Check out the off-season speed workouts for 100m/200m and 400m sprinters.

For mid-distance and long distance runners, it is critical to plan out workouts. Long sprinters and distance runners cannot just run for 6 miles to increase their 800m or 3200m times. These runners must practice running for longer distances at quick speeds by doing workouts like repeat 800s, repeat miles, running hills, etc.

Finally, for all running workouts it is important to allow the runner to get appropriate rest time.  Recovery time vary depending on the purpose of the workout and its intensity.

Some approximated recovery times are as follows:

•  a full recovery for sprints: 10 – 12 minutes (600m and below)

•  a full recovery for distance: 11 – 16 minutes (600m+)

•  a short recovery for sprints: 4 - 5 minutes (400m and below)

•  a short recovery for distance: 7 - 10 minutes (400m+)

• a walkback as recovery for short repeat sprints (60 meters and below)