Our second interview comes from Wheeling Jesuit coach Trenton Huntsinger. Thanks Coach Huntsinger for your time and thoughtful responses!

RunWV: How do you view the role of athletics in the educational process?

Huntsinger: Being a college coach I see athletics as an extension of the student. Athletics can be very important, but they can never supersede family, school, or religion (based upon your beliefs). With that in mind I believe that athletics play an integral role in whom and what a person will become. We constantly try to stress the future in our program. It is very hard to have a bright future in our society without a quality education and I also believe that athletics can further that education in an applied setting.

RunWV: Can you give us an overview of your program and training philosophy?

Huntsinger: Our program is something that is a continuous state of evolution. As I stated above I am a firm believer in furthering one’s education and I don’t think that education should ever stop for a person. I am constantly reading and listening to what others have to say about anything that might be of particular interest for me. Every summer I pick a new theme that I would like to further my education in. Three summers ago it was Sports Psychology, last summer it was Human Physiology, and this recent summer it was Sports Nutrition. I am fascinated by science and I constantly want to learn more. That is kind of how our program is set up. We have our foundational beliefs that will never change, but we are constantly in a state of flux. As for our foundational beliefs in terms of distance running I am a firm believer in mileage. I think that distance runners should run! I am very aggressive by nature and with distance runners I have learned to take a much more patient approach to training. Our programs will always be based upon mileage for middle and long distance runners. The one constant thread between the majority of successful distance runners throughout the world is that they run mileage. Some runners definitely ran more than others, but the majority ran what most would consider high mileage. I am a firm believer that good college men need to be able to progress to the point where they can run 80+ miles per week at a good clip by the time that they are seniors and women hopefully to the point where they are 70+ by their senior year. This is not set in stone, but it is very hard to progress aerobically if you are not at least pushing these numbers by the time you are finishing your college career. I once worked with an athlete that the same week he ran 97 miles he ran an 800 under 1:48 and split a 46.7 in a 4 x 400m relay. He was definitely an exceptional athlete, and I would not try to push all athletes to this level but it is important to get your mileage up as high as possibly manageable. I don’t care so much as to what the workout is but how fast are you running the recoveries and how many miles are you getting in. Workouts are very overrated as far as I’m concerned.

RunWV: What are the particular features of your location that are advantageous to distance runners?   Are there any disadvantages, and if so, how do you compensate for them?

Huntsinger: I believe that our area has some definite advantages and disadvantages. We have a lot of hills and great sites to see, but few off road trails and no indoor track. To me I don’t really worry about location as much as other aspects. We have very good weather so I don’t really think that the lack of an indoor facility is as bad for us. As long as I can wear shorts, we can run outside is my philosophy!

RunWV: How would you describe a successful lifestyle for a distance runner or track athlete?

Huntsinger: Healthy! Sleep and social time away from school and training is important. Sometimes college is not always conducive to a healthy lifestyle and I have definitely seen quite a few great athletes fall victim to unhealthy decisions. I certainly haven’t mastered the ability to get students to choose the healthy choices. College students think that they can manage on little sleep and partying and it just isn’t possible with a high level of training. Their bodies just won’t withstand the rigors of the training bouts. Most athletes know what is healthy for them in regards to sleep, alcohol, and nutrition they just think that they can beat the system. Most athletes fail to see how good they could be if they lived a healthy lifestyle.

RunWV: What do you think is the most important training aspect that a high school or collegiate runner should focus on for positive future development?

Huntsinger: To me it is very simple: RUN! I think that us coaches and then the athletes get caught up in the magic of workouts and we really need to get caught up in the not so magical sciences. You cannot overcome a lack of aerobic fitness with anaerobic workouts. Too often we try to train both energy systems at the same time or just completely bypass the aerobic system. The Egyptian architects had it figured out a long time ago. The larger the base, the higher the peak!

RunWV: What kind of training do you recommend to your runners during the summer before heading into the first day of practice?

Huntsinger: The first two weeks should be complete recovery. At that point we begin laying the foundation and building for the next year. I don’t at all care about workouts only slowly and steadily building their mileage up to where they need to be to show improvement. That has been very challenging for me since I have been at Wheeling Jesuit. I have had a hard time finding student-athletes that are willing to put the time and discipline into the summer months. We spend the first four to five weeks of the season basically just running and building mileage, so workouts are not very important over the summer at all in our program.

RunWV: Could you give us an example of your typical early-season training, covering 7-10 days?

Monday: Hill workout or mile repeats

Tuesday: Recovery run with speed drills and strides

Wednesday: Distance run with speed drills and strides.

Thursday: Fartlek or steady state run.

Friday: Recovery run with speed drills and strides.

Saturday: Steady state run.

Sunday: Long run.

It is also important for our athletes to have an active warmup and some form of stretching after runs.

RunWV: Could you give us an example of your typical mid-season training, covering 7-10 days?

Monday: Hill workout or 800 or 1000m repeats. (We stop hard hill workouts about

1 to 1.5 months before the end of cross.

Tuesday: Recovery run with speed drills and strides.

Wednesday: Plyometrics, distance run (typically up tempo) with speed drills and

strides.

Thursday: Mile Repeats or steady state run.

Friday: Recovery run with speed drills and strides.

Saturday: Meet (not always a race, can be a controlled effort).

Sunday: Long run.

The workouts are essentially the same just the intensity and recovery is ratcheted up.

RunWV: Can you identify a couple of key workouts that you have your team do during the season that are your "bread and butter?"

Huntsinger: Hill repeats and mile repeats.

RunWV: How do you approach the taper and peaking phase?

Huntsinger: This is something that is extremely difficult to do with a large team. Typically I try to have the athletes ready to run very well over a two to three week window. It is so hard to be exactly precise with a large group and women and men are also very different. The science has shown that women do not typically respond well to a drop in intensity, whereas men do. We start to taper 10-14 days away from when we really want to run well, as that appears to work best for our set up. With the men we like to drop the volume and intensity and with the women we drop the volume and keep the intensity somewhat high.

RunWV: How has your coaching and training philosophy changed over the years? What is the most important thing you feel you have learned?

Huntsinger: I would say that my philosophy has stayed the same through the years. I have been very fortunate to have spent time with some of the great minds in track and field in our country and they told me at any early age don’t be afraid to change your methods but always maintain your core philosophy. We really try to get kids to start thinking of distance running as one sport and not to always break them up into cross country, indoor, and outdoor track. They are just simply phases and not separate entities. It is very hard to truly achieve your best in one without the other.

RunWV: What do you look for in an athlete when you are recruiting them in high school?

Huntsinger: The desire to be winners! To me winning is not always crossing the line first, but simply being the best that you possibly can be. My favorite athletes are not always our best, but are always the hardest workers and the ones that are doing all that they can. I really don’t care that much about times or accomplishments so much as desire.

RunWV: For someone who is interested in competing in cross country for the first time, what kind of advice would you give them to start off properly?

Huntsinger: Don’t get caught up in placing or workouts. Just really enjoy the process of training and improving.

RunWV: Running in WV seems to be improving in the past couple of years. What do you think WV runners need to do to continue moving forward?

Huntsinger: We are constantly talking about improving based upon ourselves and what we can achieve. I really think that tends to be a problem with some of the athletes from West Virginia. It seems that so many of them get caught up in rivalries and trying to improve based upon others. My father was football player in college and a long time high school coach in Montana. Because of this background I am constantly comparing different sports and different athletes. My observations have been that athletes in track and cross country get caught up too much in trying to beat their opponent that they forget about the big picture. It is not always a race between two athletes as it is a race between two individuals. The state meet or your conference meet, that is definitely different, but during the summer and the majority of the year the athletes should be trying to be the best that they can be. It is not about just being the best in your region, or conference, or state, but it is about being the best period! It seems to that the WVITC and other organizations are getting athletes to understand this a little bit better and the state has some great coaches to do bigger and better things. I really believe that there is a lot of talent in this state it is just a matter of athletes realizing this talent and wanting it to truly come out.