Jeremy Sudbury: Middle Distance/Distance Training Insights

with Jeremy Sudbury,
Iowa State University Director of Track & Field/Cross Country;
2024 NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships, Runner-up/Second Place Finish;
2024 USTFCCCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year;
2021 NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships, Runner-up/Second Place Finish;
2021 Big 12 Conference Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year;
Iowa State University Assistant Coach from 2013 to 2021;
has coached a number of decorated runners while at ISU, including: 
Wesley Kiptoo (2021 Indoor 5000m Champion, 2021 NCAA Cross Country Runner-up, USTFCCCA Midwest Region Bill Bergan Award - Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year - both in 2020 and 2021), Edwin Kurgat (2019 NCAA Cross Country Champion, 2019 USTFCCCA Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year, USTFCCCA Bill Bergan Award - Midwest Region XC Runner of the Year - both in 2018 and 2019), Festus Lagat - (5x All-America honors in his career, 3rd place at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships - school record 1:45.05 in the 800m), Edward Kemboi - (2015 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Titles in the 800-meter run, 6x All-American)
Competed at the University of Oklahoma from 2009 to 2012;
graduated as OU's school record holder in the 10,000-meter run; 
2x All-Big 12; 
2010 Big 12 Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year

800m Training

In the first section of the video, Coach Sudbury discusses training for the 800m event. He outlines the importance of distinguishing between the 400/800 runner and the 800/1500 runner. He explains why cross country training can be beneficial for the 800 runner. Sudbury stresses the importance of keeping runners off of the track in the off-season. For example, he suggests finding simple and alternative ways that involve moving and conditioning (like a pick-up basketball game) to train the 400/800 runner. He follows up by giving examples of (and explaining) workouts for the 800m runner.

Coach Sudbury’s investment in the well-being of his athletes is evident throughout the video. He offers the viewer the best advice from one coach to another; watch your athletes perform, know your athletes and just because it says to do something on the schedule does not mean that it has to be done. He stresses this throughout the presentation and it is valuable and (should be) well-heeded advice! 

Distance and Cross Country Training

When it comes to the distance and cross country runner, Coach Sudbury describes how he plans the training for the season. His outline consists of setting (individual and team) goals, studying the calendar and working backwards from the most significant event (the NCAA national championships in his case). He discusses how he plans mileage for these distance athletes. And as in the section on training the 800m runner, Sudbury offers examples of his bread-and-butter workouts. 

It is in this section of the presentation where Coach Sudbury explains how he integrates resistance training into his training plan. He says how he changed his team’s approach to the weight room in 2021 by doing less overall. But he did this by coordinating with his school’s strength and conditioning coach. In this way, he was able to address the concerns he had and what he wanted out of training and optimize the results of that part of his program. 

Coach Sudbury explains how the lifting program coexists with the running program. He happily explains that as a result of this well-thought out approach, his athletes looked “poppier” overall. And Sudbury touches on how he gets the athletes invested in the training process by actively involving them in some of the planning of the sessions.

Athlete Buy-in

Finally, Coach Sudbury explains how he creates “buy-in” for his program. As he says, “You can have a great (workout or program) but without (athlete) buy-in, it’s nothing.” One of the first ways to have athletes buy into what a coach is doing is to have something worth buying into. Coach Sudbury delivers here. His teams have demonstrated considerable success in national major competition (the Drake Relays for example), individually and collectively. But perhaps more importantly, Sudbury devotes thought and time to building the individual athlete on the team which serves to build teams that are able to sustain a high level of competitiveness. His outline of the process he uses is worth the price of the video alone!

This video is an excellent presentation on preparing middle distance, distance and cross country runners. Coach Sudbury’s frequent use of storytelling is outstanding. It engages the viewer and gets his point across. While it is not a cut and paste program, it is an excellent primer for the novice coach and an excellent guide for the veteran coach. 

55 minutes. 2022.