Consistency Is Key: 15 Ways to Unlock Your Potential as a High School Runner

by Jay Johnson

How can high school athletes unlock their potential and become excellent runners? In Consistency Is Key, veteran coach Jay Johnson, drawing from 25 years of experience coaching high school, collegiate, and professional runners, helps young athletes understand how to realize their potential and race fast.

 

Through 15 essential keys to success, Johnson breaks down the fundamentals of running that apply to both cross country and track and field. From building your aerobic engine to strengthening your chassis, from mastering the art of recovery to understanding the importance of sleep and nutrition, each chapter provides practical, actionable guidance for young runners.

 

What makes this book unique? Unlike most running books that get bogged down in exercise physiology, Consistency Is Key offers clear, straightforward advice that high school runners can immediately put into practice. Johnson emphasizes that while there are many paths to success, certain fundamentals must always be in place.

 

The 15 keys

1. Remember That Talent and Excellence Are Not the Same Thing

2. Build Your Attention Span for Hard Work

3. Know That Progress Is Not Linear

4. Understand There Are Dozens of Ways to Train

5. Build Your Aerobic Engine

6. Strengthen Your Chassis

7. Rev the Engine Most Days

8. Run by Feel

9. Do Easy Days Easy and Hard Days Hard

10. Practice Race Pace (or Faster)

11. Know You Could Have Gone Farther or Faster (or Both)

12. Practice Running Fast, Faster, Fastest

13. Remember to Sleep

14. Don't Forget Nutrition

15. Listen to Your Body

 

This second edition includes three valuable bonus chapters covering Mental Skills, Health Science, and Recruiting. Plus, you'll get an inside look at some of the country's most successful programs through team profiles of Nike Cross Nationals powerhouses Niwot High School, Mountain Vista High School, American Fork High School, and Naperville North High School.

 

Whether you're new to competitive running or aiming for the podium, Consistency Is Key provides the framework you need to reach your potential as a high school runner.

210 pages, Paperback

Published December 2, 2024

About the author

Jay Johnson most recent work is a novella, The Soul's Tariff, about the painter Tintoretto and 16th century Venice on the cusp of war with the Ottoman empire to the east.

His novel Gold Diggers, a slipstream urban fantasy set in Las Vegas, follows dwarves and elves living at the fringes of society. It was reviewed favorably by Kirkus Reviews: "...maintain(s) a persistent sense of mystery. Johnson grounds his story by showing the peculiar beings from the perspectives of the humans..." "Johnson, not one to let his narrative lull, boosts his story with riveting subplots involving a conspiracy, a betrayal and a disappearing corpse." "... its creativeness and exuberance are unquestionable."

His first novel History of the Unnameables, based on a novella originally published by Duct Tape Press in the late '90s under the title King of Siam, was one of the first works of fiction to address fears of cyberterrorism. He began the story after talking to a number of friends working in blackworks, mainly conflicted science and math academics, who were aware of the problem but were not being listened to.

Invisible City was orphaned by a major publisher but has found new life in ebooks formats. It adds the murky world of bioethics and the porous nature of the new digital reality to the world of spying.

As a filmmaker (under his given name Jay Wright) he was included at the Mexican National Museum of Art's (MUNAL) Biennial of Poetry and Video in 2002. His work has appeared at Cannes, and at other film festivals where the films have won numerous awards. His films and videos have also played internationally at galleries and exhibitions. He has also been nominated for a Guggenheim.