#shenrunners

Rob Cloutier is the head coach at Shenendehowa High School in NY. The Shen girls finished 5th last year in the New York region, one known for producing high caliber programs.

High School Harrier: Coming into the season your program is looking as if they are going to be an NXN contender after a 5th place finish last year in the region. Would you agree the program is shaping up to compete with those top programs? 

Rob Cloutier: This is my 13th season coaching and my 11th XC team - every year, even with the same kids is a different team - so I would answer by saying NY is incredibly tough and deep, even our own league and section (NY has 11ish sections which are used to advance to the state championships) are incredibly competitive. For our girls we have sufficient talent, experience, the Summer work is solid, so being competitive at the top is a reasonable goal - to be competitive come Regionals, yes - but so much has still to be done for that to be reasonable.

HSH: Because of the difficulty in qualifying for state in NY, your team has taken on the challenge of the Federations meets between state and NXR NY. With the meet being cancelled last year, do you think that hurt your team heading into the regional? 

RC: We had actually not planned on competing at Fed’s despite not making states due to a poor race at our sectional - so we were going on a 3 week block without a race. I think in retrospect we ran on par with our expectation.

HSH: The New York region is known for quality at the top that competes well at NXN year in and year out. If your program was 3rd or 4th at NXR NY, what argument would you make to the committee to include your team?

RC: With any regional at large - the resume should speak for itself - however NY has set a precedent for running the gauntlet and historically performing well at NXN. So every at large from NY helps future at large bid potentials.

HSH: How much of a focus for you team is NXN this year? 

RC: We are at the very beginnings of forming the bonds and idea of what this season could become. The reality of NXN becoming a goal will be a result of our group becoming close, the culture forging a sense of expectation founded on accountability and leadership. If we can truly in a very real way embrace the motto "For Each Other" then big things could happen.

HSH: Do you have any big regular season meets your team will be participating in this fall? 

RC: We love McQuaid - well run meet with great teams from around the state and bordering states. Outside of that we are focused on the postseason gauntlet (which starting with our league championship can span 5 races over 6 weeks if it includes NXN). Our other invitationals involve state meet courses of the past and future.

HSH: What is your philosophical approach to coaching that shapes how you run your program? 

RC: Balance, relationships, patience and focusing on XC for 6 months and then the mile (which has allowed success in relays like the 4x8) for the other 6 months. We are truly focused on developing the whole person and having fun and being our very best. So balance is huge. Doing it together is huge - relationships. And understanding that being a distance runner requires patience to be in the long term perspective. Over the years we have had a very high (97-99%) of all of our girls (80+ annually) improve each year in every event. 

HSH: How big is your school and how big is your program?

RC: Big, 10-12th we have 2400 students. I have my biggest team this year of right around 100, typically I have 80ish girls, when I started we had 50-60 1(0 years ago).

HSH: What is a sample week of training for your program during the cross country season?

RC: We usually go off a 8-9 day cycle in order to fit all elements of training in with regularity. The long run is priority #1 and we try to never get away from that. We like to use our open Saturdays for those where we can get to a nice site. Our league duals are on Tuesdays, we have 5 of those and are fairly competitive. So there are 4 types of weeks:

1. No races: Monday Hills/Strength Run, Tuesday/Thursday Distance Run with strides, Wednesday Tempo Workout (we have 3 phases of a progression throughout the season, where the length of the tempo is the focus, then the speed, then finally the rest is reduced), Friday Speed or Cross Training or both, Saturday Long Run

2. Dual only: This would probably mean a Wednesday workout following the race.

3. Dual and Invite: This gets tricky. We would fit the long run in on Wednesday off campus but also combine either the dual race or add threshold type stuff to the long run (Capillary run - got that from American Fork Coach Timo)

4. Invite: Long run is Monday, then we alternate Wednesday with tempo or depending the portion of the season an interval (3k) workout.

*We have incorporated cross training for as much as 1 of our 6 days per week - we always take Sundays off. So rest is a critical component.

HSH: What type of ancillary training does your team do?

RC: The Ancillary work is pretty thorough, but with nearly 100 girls we have to be creative about the setting because we can't really get in the weight room and I don't have enough medballs to be efficient so we utilize bands and a lot of Jay Johnson's SAM work along with routines the girls have designed that incorporate abdominal and glute, pelvic girdle strength. We don't static stretch ever and we don't have hardly any injuries of note at all. All this fits into a 2-2.25 hour practice.

HSH: What do you think is the most important aspect of your training program?

RC: Love. Relationships. Culture. The next step in the team's evolution to its highest potential is teammate accountability. Their ability/willingness to understand the dynamics of honest and positive accountability to an expectation of excellence is the focus. Our motto for several years is #feo (for each other, or ugly in spanish!)

HSH: How much parent involvement do you have?

RC: We have had amazing parents provide homes for team events, help at meets, provide after race food. We are looking to get parents even more invested in understanding the training so that they can assist in the other '22 hours' at home in support of the girl's wholesome lifestyle of sleep, nutrition, etc. I have an info meeting this week where we will discuss some ideas.

HSH: Does your team have captains and if so, how do you determine them?

RC: We have had captains in the past, it's a year to year decision and this year we are counting on our group of senior to lead by example and also head up the out of practice events. In the past we have had the girls apply to be a leader and then the coaching staff approves the final selections.

HSH: What was the most influential book or coach that helped you get to where you've brought your program? 

RC: Bill Aris - FM. I have had conversations with Bill over the years, but recently read 'Amazing Racers' and it solidified the basis for what we are trying to do at a high level and also helped me work as hard as I can possibly work to give the best experience to our girls. Bill Aris set the bar high. While at Shen we do things in some ways drastically different - the competition between our squads more so in track (I love 4x8's) has spurred on some great performances. I hope to bring that same competitiveness to XC ;)

HSH: What is one habit of your athletes that you wish you could change?

RC: I'll give you two - sleep (balancing study habits with the need for 8+ hours of consistent sleep) and the perfectionist/comparative mindset. When we stray from focusing on things we can control we often allow of joy to be stolen - so we try to teach the girls to run for each other but not compare.

HSH: If you could improve one area of your training program what would it be?

RC: Nutrition. Which is a main point of emphasis this year. I am bringing in health professionals, former runners and looking to create a healthy and consistent dialogue for the girls to be able to properly assess their habits and create or alter how they view nutrition for a more wholesome and balanced approach.