Home | About RCMP | Store/Gear | Donations | Run Tips | Contact: scott@runclubmenlopark.org
Coach Scott's Running Tips

Forcing a Metabolic Change!

At Run Club practices we not only tell our runners WHAT to do, we also tell them the WHY of what we do. One of the things we discuss during the season is that through the hard work that the runners put in during practices (appropriately called "workouts") is that we are trying to "Force a Metabolic Change" in the body.

The Run Club training philosophy combines endurance and speed gains in the same practice through the use of a modified high-intensity interval training program. Remember, Run Club is an after-school long-distance running program in which most runners train just 2 days each week with some advanced runners training 3 or 4 days. We use a combination of intervals plus fartlek (Swedish for "Speed Play") to get the most out of each day of training for our young runners. We put a heavy emphasis on getting appropriate rest. We prefer rest over what Coach Scott calls, "Junk Miles" or running mileage for mileage's sake rather than for cardiovascular gains. Coach Scott wants to actually reduce the amount of strikes on the feet and legs by maximizing the intensity when we do run. If we are not working out, Coach Scott would rather see full rest for mind and body and then come back to the next practice to go right back into a good level of meaningful intensity. This has been a philosophy of Coach Scott's for many, many years going back to my high school coach, Bob Bradley, who is in the USATF Coaching Hall of Fame. Train Smarter not longer for the most gains. Coach Scott believes this training style is the most effective in producing the metabolic changes we are chasing!

Running practices put pressure and stress on the entire runner system called "Runner Economy". Runner economy is broad and refers to things like form such as how you hold your arms when you run. We teach a low, swing by the hips, arm swing which is efficient - it allow you to use the least amount of energy to carry your arms while also allowing your arms to contribute maximum power to your stride.

Another example of Runner Economy is the entire cardiovascular system - getting oxygen in and to the muscles to give you the energy you need to run well. But it goes quite a bit further than that. The pressure we put on the body during practices is causing "adaptations" all over the body over the course of a season. As your body tries to keep up with the gently increasing difficulty of Run Club practices (over the course of a season), a number of very cool and fun things start happening to your runner body (Metabolic Changes):

1. Breathing muscles get strong: Your diaphragm and intercostal muscles (between your ribs) get stronger and more efficient at moving air in and out of your lungs.

2. The heart, which is a muscle too, gets stronger, especially the left ventricle (pushes the blood out) and is a healthy adaptation called, "Athlete's Heart". The "Stroke Volume" is how much blood your heart pumps on each beat and can increase 10-30% (more blood to the muscles for the same heart rate). A trained heart returns to its resting pulse faster which means it is ready for more training or racing sooner. After a Run Club runner gets to the top of a hard hill, they have actually trained their hearts to go into a kind of rest-mode reset on the flat/downhill resulting in a 'second-wind" or just feeling more able to come off that hill and keep attacking a course.

3. More capillaries (tiny blood vessels) develop on the muscle tissue (including the heart itself) to receive more oxygen.

4. Trained runner muscles can store 50-100% more glycogen (the body's primary storage form of glucose, composed of many glucose molecules linked together).

5. I love talking about this one the most. The mitochondria in your cells undergo dramatic changes. These are the powerhouses of the cell. They take in both oxygen and glucose and produce the ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) that is the fuel your muscles use to power your body. Kids may typically have ~1,000 mitochondria per muscle cell, but with endurance training like long-distance running, after several weeks, you can increase that number dramatically to 1,500 or 2,000 or more. Each mitochondria will also grow larger. Even more amazing is, due to the stress they are trying to handle, the mitochondria will move closer to the source of glycogen and oxygen to make it easier to facilitate those transfers in!

Finally, the single most important thing about these adaptations is that there is one crucial thing you must do to allow them to take place. You need to incorporate appropriate rest into your training regimen. When your body is resting, it is also getting a chance to make these metabolic changes. If you are over-training or not getting appropriate rest, your body will focus on other things it needs to do before it has time to get to these desired adaptations for endurance athletic performance gains.

Does it work? The 2025 Fall Cross-Country team says yes! I felt this team trained better than any team in Run Club's history. Even though the USATF Junior Olympic National Championships qualifying standards became twice as hard this year (only half as many qualifying spots were available), Run Club increased the number of Nationals qualifiers from 19 runners in 2024 to 32 runners in 2025!

Should Kids Do Any Weight Training? Get Runner Arms!


Katelyn Tuohy & Ririka Hironaka

In general, my answer is no, but the arm exercises below are very good and very light. They don't really count as "weight training". These will help your young runner develop longer, toned arm muscles with a focus on the deltoid and triceps (not the biceps) which make them a more efficient runner in terms of carrying their arms. The reason we do them so slowly is to build tone rather than bulk. Tone is for endurance and bulk is for power/speed.

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15 pound hand weights available on Amazon: Click Here.

Alter Your Pace & Run With Music

Running is a difficult sport because it not only requires a good deal of physical toughness, but it more importantly, it requires a great deal of mental toughness. Running is a sport that requires a lot of self-honesty. When we train, we have to always be asking ourselves, "Am I just running or am I actually training. Is this pace just jogging/running or am I doing a pace that is training my body?" When we go out for a run, it could be for different reasons. Maybe it's just to get outside, get a little bit of exercise, and get the body moving. If it's more for any kind of training, you'll want to be doing more than just getting out on your feet. My best advice to runners that want to advance their running (whether they are kids or parents) is not to go out for the same kind of run every time. Logging 3 miles of jog/run steps is certainly healthy but it's not advancing your running. You need to add variation to your running routine. The best thing to add is variation in pace. Teaching your legs to move faster and getting your heart rate up higher than usual are both very important and the best way to do this is to throw some intervals into your run. The technical running term for this kind of training is a Swedish term called "Fartlek" which means "Speed-Play". My usual suggestion is for every 3 minutes of running, do 20-30 seconds of "Up Pace" in which you get your breathing going and it's a little harder. After 30 seconds, return to "rest pace" for 30 seconds which may be even a little slower than your regular pace and then return to your normal pace. But wait a second, this is actually hard work! What can we do to make this work easier. Add Music! Music can take your mind off of the running while being inspiring and motivating too. There's nothing like hitting that 30 seconds of interval pace in the middle of your favorite up-beat song. After a decent amount of intervals, you'll find yourself stretching out the length of your intervals to 35, 40, 45 seconds to keep going along with the music and that's a lot of progress.

The equipment: I very much do not want my runners to run holding something in their hands as it does not promote good running form. Instead, use a waist or arm belt. Air pods/buds do not stay in my ears, so I use ones that go around the ear. Here are my suggestions:

Running Belt (my preference) $9.99: https://amzn.to/3QXzeJ4
Arm Band Holder $12.99: https://amzn.to/3QSQ1g4
Earphones $24.99: https://amzn.to/3VgqeBh

Run Club is All About VO2 Max! What the ??!! is VO2 Max?

Run Club is All About VO2 Max! What the ??!! is VO2 Max??!!

Run Club is a running program for kids that is non-competitive at practice. We have EVERY level of runner from very beginner to advanced. Everyone finds a training buddy or three or four or five... We teach real running concepts and techniques such as pace, endurance, speed, form, and strategy. While we are non-competitive, we do train at a high level so that those who want to do competitive races can also succeed at that. We had 11 runners last season make it through the Pacific/Northern/Central CA and Northern Nevada regional qualifiers (two qualifying races) to make it all the way to the Junior Olympics Nationals Cross-Country Championships in Louisville KY last fall. We are more of a hybrid after-school program that trains two days a week (advanced runners sometimes come for three days) versus a formal club that may train 3-4 days a week, so how do we compete against them? The Answer: VO2 Max!

What is VO2 Max? VO2 Max is how much oxygen a person can intake and use during exercise which is also known as aerobic capacity. The greater a VO2 Max you have, the more oxygen you can process through your lungs into your bloodstream and get to your muscles to generate the maximum amount of usable energy ("ATP"). An average untrained person has a VO2 Max rating of 30, an elite runner has 90, an Alaskan Iditarod trail sled dog has 240! We can change our VO2 Max rating by training. What's the best way to train your body for a higher VO2 Max rating? The simple answer is: Intervals!! This is what we focus on at Run Club because intervals give us the most for our two days of training: speed and endurance in the same workout. What are intervals? Intervals are shorter periods of running in which you run at a higher speed than normal. This intensity exerts pressure on your body to keep up with the increased demand in speed. When runners hit a "Blue Cone" on the course, they increase speed until the next blue cone at which point they go back to "rest pace" in which they regain their breath and prepare for the next interval. Rest pace is no joke either because it is sustained running, even if it is just a slow jog - it's not easy! Even to parents of my runners who run themselves; don't just go out for your run at the same pace all the time! Throw in some 30 seconds portions of "Up Pace" (what we call it at Run Club) that challenges your body. The more intervals you put in your run, the more you will advance your running and the easier your next race will be. Over the course of a Run Club season, our main workouts get longer and our intervals get longer too, but most of the young runners don't even notice that they are running longer and harder because it's such a gradual change!

Eléonore, Annabel, and Tabitha are great examples of how VO2 Max effects 5K times. This is the progress you can expect from intervals training. 

Eléonore 5K	Annabel 5K	Tabitha 5K
42:19		41:33		37:35
33:58 		35:07		35:36
30:59		30:45		31:40 (89 degrees)
29:55 		29:46		28:56
27:09		25:06
                24:07

The Evolution of Distance Running Training Philosophy

December 2025 Note/Update: I wrote this original article in 2023 after Parker Valby won the NCAA Division I Cross-Country Championships. I'm glad to find recently that my philosophy (which we employ at Run Club) is validated again: Jane Hedengren recently took 2nd place in the NCAA Division I Cross-Country Championships AS A FRESHMAN! Then, in her first 5000 meter race in indoor track, she SMASHED the NCAA record becoming the first woman to ever run under 14:50 (14:44). What did she mention in her post-race interview that was the key to her success? She doesn't run JUNK MILES! She gets more rest days. Getting more rest days helps her to have "Smarter Workouts" which means the workouts are focused and intense and ALWAYS PRODUCTIVE. Don't pound on your legs if you are not going to advance your system. She also mentions that she ate more = fueled properly! Way to go, Jane!

Hi Run Club Parents,

From time to time I will send out some running tips or ideas. Today I am sending an email about the evolution of training philosophy for distance runners (next topics are "Running with Music" and "Simple, Safe, Light Weights Workouts for Kids (for arms only)". This is especially interesting this past NCAA cross-country and indoor track season in regards to Parker Valby (University of Florida) who won the NCAA women's XC championship (course record) and then absolutely smashed the 5000 meter NCAA indoor track record: 1st ever sub 15 minute indoor 5K lowering the record from 15:12 to 14:56. [Update: at the end of the indoor season, she would go on to win the 5000 meter NCAA championship improving her record 14:52. During the Olympic trials, she would lower her time just below the Olympic Standard to 14:51 but finished 4th (top 3 go to the Olympics)]. More about her later...

The Conventional Distance Running Training Wisdom (VOLUME):

I ran NCAA Division I Cross-Country and Track for Dartmouth College. Our best finish while I was there was a second place team finish for the NCAA championships. My teammate, Bob Kempainen, went to two Olympic marathons and set a US record for the New York City marathon. While at Dartmouth, our training plan relied heavily on VERY HIGH volume. We would sometimes run over 100 miles a week while training for the upcoming cross-country season. I ran many long run miles with teammates and came away wondering to myself, "what is so hard about that?" I now call those "throw-away" or "junk" miles. They did not help improve my conditioning or cardiovascular output. We also did high intensity interval training which was the most challenging part of our practices and the part that I felt contributed the most to our abilities. What was the result? I always felt that we had way too many injuries at Dartmouth including one season when I had four stress fractures at the same time including two femoral stress fractures which are considered very rare (and two lower leg). The bags of ice on the track area after practice was a sort of testament to what people were treating. This is in now way to put down anything about the coaching; this was what we were trying in our training at the time. I just don't agree with this particular training philosophy and probably many programs have evolved since then.

In contrast, my high school coach, Bob Bradley, who is in the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame for high school running coaching, took a different approach. He focused on those amazingly difficult and challenging high intensity intervals while keeping the overall mileage very reasonable. This is my kind of training philosophy. Don't pound on your legs and knees running throw-away junk miles that don't advance your running. Run less, but make all that running count towards advancing your strength, endurance, speed, and most importantly, your racing abilities. A huge week for us would've been 65 miles. In fact, I was able to become a sub 4:15 miler and 52 minute 10-miler on 50 miles a week focusing on making every mile I ran count and taking two full days off every week to keep my body rested so I could focus on high-intensity during practices. What was the result? There wasn't a single injury amongst my teammates (varsity and junior varsity) in all of our seasons and we won a New York State Cross-Country Championship.

This is what has been posted on the Run Club website for quite some time on the About Page (Click Here) under the "Coach Scott's Running Philosophy" section:

"My personal view on running is that the future of running lies with a heavy emphasis on high-intensity interval training because it gives my runners the most for their two days of practice each week (speed and endurance) while avoiding unnecessary injuries."


Parker Valby, University of Florida: 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Cross-Country Champion

Now about Parker Valby: During her post-NCAA Cross-Country championship interview, she was asked how often she trains on a normal week. Her amazing response was; "I've been running two or three days most weeks this fall." How about mileage? "30ish miles per week". (note: Roger Banister achieved, what was believed to be impossible at the time, the first sub-4 minute mile on just "30ish" miles of training per week too) While I have to admit that even to me this is astonishingly on the lower side of even my ideas of NCAA level training, it is where I think the future of distance running training is headed especially since it results in healthier runners with fewer injuries who are able to race at a very high level comfortably. [Update: She also won the Indoor Track NCAA championships for the 5000 and 3000 meters. She was also the NCAA champion in Outdoor Track for 10,000 meters (American collegiate record) and the 5000 meters (championships record).]

This is what we do at Run Club. We train 2-3 days a week depending on the age of runners (at the very end you can see my standards for days of training based on age for my 'advanced runners'). Our workouts are intense and focus on high-intensity interval training sometimes combined with stair running (simulating hills) which gives my runners both endurance and speed in the same workout. The most for every step they run.

Injuries at Run Club? In 16 seasons, I cannot definitively say that we've either had or not had an injury at Run Club. I have had a couple of cases of shin splints and Sever's and one case of Plantar fasciitis but many of these are growth plate issues rather than running injuries and often in multi-sport athletes (soccer). I think Run Club's record for healthy running results is extremely high.

Some of you may have recently seen the content I posted about one of our 8 year old runners, Sol. Sol had a great first season at Run Club this fall making it all the way to the Junior Olympics in Louisville KY where he raced quite well especially for a first-time championships racer in his first season of cross-country ever. Sol came into the Run Club season having previously completely a long run of 9 miles. This past week, he completed his first half-marathon distance of 13.1 miles. You might ask, what does Coach Scott think about an 8 year old running 13.1 miles. It's fine if that's what an 8 year old is motivated to do and I'm very happy for Sol's accomplishment. He ran this half-marathon distance at a gentle pace that is age-appropriate. What's more important is what's on either side of that 13.1 mile run. Sol shouldn't be doing over-distance regularly but once in a while is totally fine and after his 13.1 mile run, he should get a solid amount of rest before any other long runs.

-Coach Scott

Run Club Menlo Park is a mix of an after-school program combined with elements of traditional club sport. We only train two days a week as an after-school program, but our two days are at a very high level of intensity since we get rest or do other activities on the other five days. Most "Clubs" will practice 3-4 days a week. Here is my coaching philosophy on training days for kids:

3rd grade and younger: up to 2 days a week unless a 2nd/3rd grader is an advanced runner then they can train 3 days.

4th-5th: Up to 3 days a week. Advanced runners can train 4 days a week.

6th-8th: Up to 5 days a week (must take two days off each week).

9th and above: 5 days a week with a race on weekends or weekends off.

For my own high school experience, I trained 5 days a week at a very high level. I raced on Saturdays during the season. If no race, for myself, I rested on Sat/Sun in preparation for hard workouts the following week. I broke the high school course record for the famed Boston Franklin Park course AND many other northeastern courses on this training regimen. In my off season, I would run 5 days a week (10 mile run) at a hard fartlek/interval pace. I would take two full days off every week. On this off-season regimen, I ran a 4:23 mile (1st place Pepsi/Kodak East Avenue Mile) and a 52:15 10 mile race both in the span of 10 days. Rest is very important for both physical and mental fitness. Many runners subscribe to the "long run" on the weekend. I'm not one of them (assuming you are doing your regular workouts at high intensity).

Yared Nuguse & Conventional Wisdom Alternating Easy Day/Hard Day

I've been meaning to write an article about Yared Nuguse since last summer. My former high school teammate and current XC/Track coach at The Rochester Institute of Technology (Dave Warth/NCAA Div III who ran for Notre Dame on full scholarship [NCAA Div I]) sometimes chats with former Notre Dame runners on Zoom including Yared Nuguse and discussed his favorite workouts which is 3 hard days in a row combined with rest days. I'm not a fan of the old conventional wisdom which is alternating hard/easy day and running at high volumes. I believe you can do 3 hard days in a row of high intensity combined with at least two full rest days each week and be a high level competitor starting in 7th grade. For 4th-6th, 2 hard days in a row is okay with at least 3 full rest days each week. Although racing is the pinnacle of tough running, I don't count that as a hard practice day. Even high school and college runners who are racing need one full rest day each week. We do hard practice days so that by race time, we can drop down and feel more comfortable and push harder over a shorter total distance of running on any given day. We do over-distance in our practices which isn't that hard because the longest XC race we do is 4K with most kids running 2K or 3K.

Favorite 3 Day Workout:
Yared Nuguse. Day 1: 45 min tempo at sub 5 pace with 2 mile warmup and 1 mile cool down. Day 2: 5 x 1K step down with 2 mile warmup and 1 mile cool down. First 1K at 2:32 and then stepping down 2 seconds on each so the last is 2:24. The rest was 3 - 4 min jug/jog. Day 3. 12 mile long (for Yared at that time that was close to the longest he would go in a single day) he ended up running 61:15 for 12 miles. It wasn’t perfectly even as it progressed faster through the run. Day 1 and Day 3 were together with teammates. Day 2 was solo.

Great Lower Back Stretch to Prevent Strains/Pulls/Muscle Spasms/Injury