Episode 137: Brad Curtis is the cross country coach of a small school in Arizona. Their boy’s team this year is a top ten school in the state, not bad for a school of only 200 kids with only 12 boys on the team. We talk to Brad about the struggles of being a coach from such a small school and how he has built a strong culture.
1:10 When did you start in running?
2:08 His background in boxing and how far the boxing career went
4:02 How did that lead to being a cross country and track coach?
4:59 How old is the school and how big is it?
4:58 You are competing in a state where some schools have 3-4,000 kids
6:23 Small school makes it tough in what way?
7:52 How many kids are on the high school team?
8:15 When you took over the program from Josh how big was the team at the time?
9:00 When your team is not big and not competitive how do you entice kids to come out and get involved?
10:50 How big is your middle school program?
11:38 Are you losing them because you are a small school without the resources or facilities?
13:29 You have 25 kids and 12 boys, and you are looking at a top 10 school in the state this year. How hard is it to keep kids so you can build this?
16:00 When you have 3500 kids and you have 50 boys on the team it is much easier to develop and find those top driven kids, when you only have 12 you have to get the most out of each one of the kids, what is the secret to keeping them all driven and focused?
18:33 Has the success of Jordan Black helped by getting people working harder or does it discourage people because they cannot keep up with him?
22:21 How did you change the culture in the program?
24:33 How has training changed, what has been your philosophy?
26:40 What does a normal day look like at your practice?
27:40 What does the week look like?
29:38 So how many miles is that a week?
30:35 Small schools can fluctuate, what advice do you have to make the program more consistent?
33:00 Did it help with recruiting?
34:45 If you have only 12 boys, and some are really fast and some are really slow and then in between, that doesnt leave large packs, how do you monitor how much people are running and at what effort?
37:23 Do you find it beneficial for those who do log their miles?
38:35 Do you have a workout you repeat to kind of gauge your level of fitness and progression?
40:03 Are your 1k’s at CV pace?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? – Running with the Buffalo’s
Current trainers you are wearing? – Brooks Ghost
Favorite race? – 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Chocolate Milk
Your favorite workout – 1k repeats
Resources
Brad Curtis on Twitter
North Phoenix Prep on Instagram
