All Access Wartburg Track & Field Practice: Distance/Middle Distance

with Marcus Newsom,
Wartburg College Head Coach;
2026 American Rivers Conference Coach of the Year;
2021 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Champions;
5x NCAA Women's Outdoor Track & Field National Champions;
3x NCAA Women's Indoor Track & Field National Champion;
21x IIAC/ARC Women's Outdoor Champions;
18x IIAC/ARC Women's Indoor Champions;
13x IIAC/ARC Men's Outdoor Champions;
13x IIAC/ARC Men's Indoor Champions;
6x United States Track Coaches Association DIII Indoor Women's Coach of the Year;
6x USTFCCCA DIII Outdoor Women's Coach of the Year;
6x USTFCCCA DIII Indoor Women's Coach of the Year;
4x USTFCCCA DIII Outdoor Men's Coach of the Year

featuring Steve Johnson,
former Wartburg College Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track & Field Coach
23x Iowa Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year;
2012 USTFCCCA NCAA DIII National Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year;
9x USTFCCCA DIII Central Regional Coach of the Year

The Wartburg Track program has grown into a national power under Coach Newsom's watch. Wartburg has won 14 straight indoor women's conference championship titles and nine men's indoor championships. The women have a string of 17 consecutive outdoor titles. The men have won eight league outdoor titles since 2002. In 2009, his women's teams became only the seventh team in NCAA Division III history to sweep indoor and outdoor national titles in the same season, and earned the inaugural Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year award from the USTFCCCA. The program also won the award in back-to-back-to-back season (2012-14). The 2012 women's team swept the National Championships and set new all-time meet records in team points in both venues.

Under Steve Johnson, the Wartburg Cross Country teams have won 25 Iowa Conference and 12 NCAA Central Region titles. Three times the cross county team has been awarded the USTFCCCA Deb Vercauteren Cross Country and Track and Field Program of the Year honor. The 2012 women's team finished as the National Runner-Up, while the men's team has four top-10 finishes. During his career, Johnson has coached 140 All-Americans, featuring eight different individual national champions. He has coached at least two national champions at each distance event: 800m, 1500m, 5,000m, 10,000m and the distance medley relay and has 12 finishes ranked in the NCAA DIII all-time top 10 List.

Get a unique, 'all access' inside look into the practice routine for the highly successful distance program at Wartburg College.

Many coaches have to deal with athletes of multiple ability levels and both male and female athletes. Coach Steve Johnson, along with coach Marcus Newsom, detail how to set up, perform, and complete a week of practice that uses many energy levels for a heterogeneous group.

You'll see a how to structure a comprehensive distance running schedule that allows you to have a logical progression of workouts that work all the energy systems that a distance runner needs to perform their best. You'll also get ideas about core workouts that athletes can do in a self-accountable way.

The secret to the Wartburg program starts with everyone working together - warm-up together, train together, cool-down together. Coach Johnson explains that his basic philosophy consists of six specific runs during a two week cycle:

• One race
• One designated long run
• One tempo run
• One uphill run
• One long repeat
• One short repeat

This basic philosophy evolves from three key coaching points: distance runners need to run distance to become better, distance runners need a progression to their training, and distance runners need to train to race.

The components of each of these runs are broken down using his athletes to demonstrate the different runs in a video format. Discover the secrets behind how to:

• Run strong
• Run in a pack
• Pick-up the pace on the second half of the race
• Maintain your pace
• Stay relaxed
• Stay under control

This video will help you formulate a productive practice plan and ensure your program can handle the high diversity of multiple talent levels.

94 minutes. 2017.