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PRACTICE PLANS
When I coached for the Sun Prairie Cardinals we excelled at practice planning. We constantly researched new and innovative ways to prepare our athletes. One year, after attending the Wisconsin Track Coaches Association's yearly clinic, we decided upon implementing some of the "Fast Cats" beliefs into our routines.
We didn't implement them the same way Tony Holler (the creator) did, but we saw dramatic results with the smoothness to which our practices flowed and were very happy with how our athletes were developing. In addition, our weight room coach started using a program he'd gotten from "The Athletic Truth Group". They specialize in strengthening and "bulletproofing" the legs/knees. The two programs together were truly transformative in my opinion!
In early 2023 I decided to sit down and create a track and field program that combined many of the things I'd learned in my time working with the other coaches/programs. The plans themselves are mostly grounded in the "Fast Cats" approach to practice planning, but I also included a great deal of knowledge I'd learned from a book titled "Peak When it Counts".
Below you will find both the sprints and jumps plans. I created the two of them by following a general guideline template I created that will be included in my book. The process of creating the template was quite tedious and is something I feel would be better suited for a book format instead of here on the site.
The plans below follow a "traditional" Wisconsin track schedule with the early part of the season including Tuesday/Thursday meets, with the latter part of the season having a Tuesday/Friday meet schedule. It can be easily tailored to any program's needs!
Look over the plans below and reach out with any opinions/suggestions. I'd love to collaborate with as many coaches as possible on something like this. My ultimate goal is to eventually create season (planning) guidelines for all event groups and include those in my book to assist as many coaches/programs as possible.
The Sprints Plan First
Jumpers are sprinters first and foremost. The sprints plan below references suggested "values" which are included to simply remind coaches to reflect often on how much stress they are putting on their athletes' bodies. The values are based on the template I created and were originally made by referencing the Energy System table for the type of training and suggested minimums and maximums in meters per workout.
I suggest looking at how the values change over time and what kind of workouts are suggested for the various phases of the season. Ultimately, I like to follow a "high volume and low intensity" at the start of the season and finish it with a "high-intensity low volume" focus. This progression of periodization is something I have used for years and had experienced a lot of success in turn.
If you have any questions about this template (I know I'm being fairly ambiguous with not attaching the template) please let me know!
Now, The Jump Plan!
Had someone offered me a full season worth of plans when I first began coaching I would have been so incredibly thankful! Now, I am trying to do just that for countless coaches out there looking for additional support.
If you go back and forth between the two plans you'll notice that this plan has been adjusted so that jumpers can still get in their approach work without being overtaxed by doing the entirety of both the sprints and jumps plans. Other than that, they support one another nicely and are in "harmony" with how the season progresses. Let me know what you think!
Other Event Groups
If you are looking for suggestions for other event groups please don't hesitate to reach out! I would love to hear from you, and have some great resources I could suggest to you that I feel are definitely program-defining resources!
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