Then & Now - Coach Dan Cruber & Brett Gotcher - 03/25/02

My runners have asked me why so many kids in the 70's ran such great times
and what was their training like.  I always wondered, how do those kids from
the 70's coach kids nowadays and how do the workouts differ, if at all.  I
caught up with Dan Gruber at the WV Relays and asked him, here's his background
and what he had to say:

Dan Gruber (Aptos HS, class of '73) - he currently coaches at Aptos as well.
HS PR's: 880-1:57.2  Mile-4:15.2  2 mile-9:20.4
His training (which was pretty much the same every week)

> Mon - 5 x 400 @ 75 (70-72 later in season)
> Tue - 8 x 200 @ 35 (32-33 later in season)
> Wed - 3 mile run
> Thu - Track meet
> Fri - Nothing
> Sat - Always raced at Invites or nothing
> Sun - sometimes run 4 miles

So how does a coach from this background coach one of the best distance runners
in the State?  Let's take a look at Brett's PR's and workout schedule:

Brett Gotcher (Aptos HS - class of '02)
HS PR's: 800-1:58.1  1600-4:18  3200-9:05 (he will improve on these this year)

He got a very late start on workouts this season but is already ahead of last 
year's speed and results. He has only been on the track for five weeks, counting 
this week we are beginning. I am very impressed at what he has done so far. He will
be ready in May and June.
    His workouts are track workouts on Monday or Tuesday (depends on the
week). This will be long intervals. Then a second workout with real short
speed work, usually Wednesday. Then his race schedule which skips around
a bit. The vital component is consistency and rest.

So there it is.  I second the last sentence - consistency and rest!

Below is a post from Coach Gruber on the NorCal Message Board after both Gotcher
and Nevitt ran exceptional times at Arcadia. (Hank)

I wish I had a magical formula. The truth is that these kids are simply exceptional. I think that any coach could have gotten these marks from these two runners. Their improvement I believe is tied into two things: 1) their maturation (Brett is very young for his grade); and 2) a four year program (I gradually increase work load throughout the years). When they are freshmen I treat them as such, regardless of their ability. I keep their mileage to around 30 miles a week and increase until they top out at 56 miles a week. This is not great for cross country (many programs will put 100 mile weeks on their athletes) and I am often criticized for not working them hard enough, especially for XC. But they always do well during the track season and they understand that. The single key to the program that I run is rest and recovery. When in doubt, I back off. I do tinker a little bit with their workouts but nothing that most coaches don't do. An interesting side note is that this year we did not begin quality work until Feb. 26. Late by everyone's standards, especially considering track legally started on Feb 1 and both of these kids started from scratch (no base -- Brett a surfing injury and Casey basketball) on Feb 1. Thanks for the flattery and the recognition of these great individual's performances. I was and am very proud to be involved in their running.

     Coach Dan Gruber
     Aptos High School