Photo credit: Josh Terry
Sub-Threshold Training for high school middle distance runners.
As an Integrative Manual Physical Therapist, I help runners overcome injuries and chronic health challenges so they can get back to running and racing and one of the key things I’ve found is that most runners run too hard on their easy days and don’t run optimum speed or paces on their quality days.
This article is for high school middle distance runners in particular, but it can be used by any runner looking to improve performance and stay healthy along the way.
The tl;dr of it is that if a high school runner does a few key things, they can see steady improvement over the season and the years.
I will give links to go further in depth with this.
- The overall key is: how can you run the most mileage at the optimum intensity that is repeatable and safe?
- What is the optimum speed for easy days, and what is their purpose?
- Do you know the purpose of each workout and each component of lifestyle to optimize performance? Nutrition, Sleep, Rest, Attitude?
I wrote a summary of the great book by Marius Bakkan MD, Norwegian Method – Applied here with the link to the book I highly recommend:
https://www.ralphhavens.com/NorwegianMethodApplied
At Let’sRun.com, Robert Johnson has great articles with detailed practical frameworks using this method to help high school runners. Again, highly recommended.
Article 1: How Good Can You Become With Real Training?
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2026/06/summer-of-letsrun-how-good-can-you-become-with-real-training/
Article 2: How To Build Mileage Without Getting Hurt
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2026/06/summer-training-101-how-to-build-mileage-without-getting-hurt/
Article 3: How Much Mileage Is Too Much For A High School Runner?
Article 4: Why Weight Training Is Vastly Overrated For High School Cross Country Runners
Article 5: How Fast Should You Run Your Tempos?
Article 6: Strava Doesn’t Lie: How to Avoid Overtraining During Summer XC Base Building.
One of the key components of this Norwegian Method Applied and the practical how to do this of Letsrun’s Robert Johnson is monitoring muscle tone because if your muscles are relaxed and you feel springy and bouncy then you know you’re not “overcooking” it and you’re ready for the next day’s quality run… and very important you can stay healthy and happy and progress over the season and years.
With my work, Integrative Manual Therapy, a form of high-level physical therapy, I work on runners to optimize posture, run form, and muscle tone. Now the key here is you can’t get enough therapy to allow yourself to overtrain. So all of the above principles are key. That being said, having a way to either get this high-quality hands-on manual therapy each week or do specific self-treatment techniques can further allow your body to absorb the training and stay healthy and fast.
So I put together some self-treatment things you can use each week or even each day to optimize running form and performance. Try them and let me know if you want more guidance, because I can send more individualized sessions to you.
Here are a few of these powerful techniques:
Tongue Exercise to optimize head, neck, and pelvis/hip mobility and posture:
Thumb positional release to optimize shoulder and arm swing
Lung Strain CounterStrain position to release ribcage restrictions and allow a more open chest during running
Shin Splint self-treatment techniques for Achilles, Calf, Shin
Liver Strain CounterStrain to release ribcage restrictions
Right Hip positional release
Left Hip positional release
Run Drills
And one more thing we’ve found extremely helpful. A 100% gluten-, oat-, and peanut-free eating plan reduces inflammation and improves pelvis and hip mobility. Links below
Ok! Try it out; let me know if you need more help or guidance. You can reach me at
Ralph Havens PT IMTC
Beyond Limits Physical Therapy – 1134 -10th Street Bellingham WA 98225 – 360.599.2217 https://www.ralphhavens.com/Blog/
Blog post: The Gluten Connection
Newsletter
https://ralphhavens.com/glutennewsletter
Gluten Free e-book
https://ralphhavens.com/glutenfreebook
Gluten Free Guide ~ how to go gluten free
Gluten Free PDF
https://ralphhavens.com/glutenfreepdf
Beyond Limits Physical Therapy – 1134 -10th Street Bellingham WA 98225 – 360.599.2217
https://www.ralphhavens.com/Blog/
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