005 Joan Hunter

Ben Rosario Show

Coach of Loudon Valley in Virginia. Drew Hunters mom. Her and her husband Marc coach the team. Took over cross country program in 2014 so going into third year. Never had a state title in 50 years of school, won last year and second on girls side. School about 1200, have 120 kids now on team.

We know you as a successful coach and the mother of some successful runners. How did you get started in running?

You mentioned you used to be high intensity, low mileage. When did that change?

You had a lot of success as a masters runner, tell us about your achievements with this training.

You took over the XC program at Loudon Valley in 2014. What lead you to wanting to get into coaching?

How was it taking over with Drew on the team, was he on board with it?

You took over a program and turned it around quickly, what were some of the things you changed when you took over the program?

One of the things we are seeing from doing this podcast, in people taking over programs you are getting a good bump in the number of kids coming out, tell us about your numbers?

120 kids is a lot to deal with, can you tell us how you structure your workouts with that many kids?

Last year your boys won the first ever state title for the school and the girls were second at state. For those wondering if all that success was just because of Drew you opened this year at Great meadows invitational which had 28 teams this year your boys won and to compare that you were a distant third last year. Walk us through what your team did this summer to get ready to defend the title.

What type of mileage did your boys and girls get up to over the summer?

Can you walk us through what a typical week may look like?

Were you happy with your Great American meet results from last week?

When you are #1 in the state, you have your eyes on the Nike Regional meet, how do you structure training for what will hopefully be a long season.

You mentioned critical velocity, can you explain it a little bit as it is the backbone of your training plan?

You mention you are doing them most of the year, what is changing, is it volume or duration? And what does your add on speed look like?

Do you run CV workouts on a track or a course?

So Drew decided to not run at college and turn pro, what is he up to right now?

Talk about how Adidas has handled the decision for him to go pro and how they are supporting him.

Going forward will he remain with Tom Schwartz and maintain the same coach?

You coached Alan Webb at one point and remained friends with him. He has served as a mentor with Drew. Was he an influence at all in making this decision?

When you were working with Alan and Drew, what was the moment you knew they would be really good?

Having 120 kids on the team is a lot. And then you have 9 of your own kids. How do you work on that time balance?

Where do you see Drew’s future, more of 800-1500 or more 15/5k?