Evan Noonan's Unique Training Leads to Championship at Nike Outdoor Nationals

Dana Point, California is a quiet coastal town, a stark contrast to the nearby city of Los Angeles. Lately, though, the ocean waves hitting the shore isn't the only sound coming out of this town. Evan Noonan, a rising high school senior, has been making some noise over the last two years as a star track athlete.

His pursuit of excellence has matched the rising tides of high school athletics and his laser-focused training brought him clear to the top. This year, Noonan emerged as not only the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) champion, but also a Nike Outdoor Nationals champion over 2 miles, all while meticulously monitoring every heartbeat, every stride, and every precious second of sleep.

Product Worn: COROS PACE 3 Retro Pack

Accessory: COROS POD 2

Analysis: COROS Training Hub

The Training Philosophy

Throughout the season, Evan Noonan tracked his training with his COROS PACE 3 and POD 2. The data he recorded revealed valuable insights into his training. The first of which, is how he distributes his effort in the long term.

The chart above shows Noonan's Training Load over the entire season, broken down by pace zone. Training Load is a metric that quantifies how physically demanding a run is. Higher intensities will accumulate Training Load quicker than lower intensities.

In Noonan's case, he places high value on easy running (Zone 2) and high-end speed (Zone 6) during track season. As he puts it, "we're definitely either on the lower end or the higher end."

While Zone 6 accounts for only about 7% of his mileage, it accounts for 35% of his Training Load. When analyzing mileage or time, this may be overlooked, but not with Training Load. The quality of his hard sessions shines through, along with the strong balance between hard work and recovery efforts.

Evan enjoys keeping such a balance, saying "I think it seems to benefit me because I don't ever have feelings of getting burnt out or I don't ever need to cut workouts short because I'm getting over worked."

Evan's Threshold Pace Zones

Key Workouts

Following his championship run at CIF, Noonan entered a critical week of training. The week included a pair of workouts that he noted as some of the most important of the year. During both workouts, he spent most of his time in Pace Zone 6 (Anaerobic Power), thus accumulating high training loads.

Tuesday: 4x800 with 4:00 Rest (Training Load: 230)

The first workout was on Tuesday, and is the longer of the two workouts. It consisted of four 800-meter repeats at roughly 3200m pace. For Noonan, he felt good, splitting a little faster than planned at 2:08, 2:06, 2:06, and 2:05. With a training load value of 230, this was one of his most physically taxing workouts of the season.

Friday: 6x400 with 90s rest (Training Load: 176)

Just three days later, Noonan returned to the track for a Friday session. This one included six 400-meter reps at mile pace or faster, with just 90 seconds rest. After 5 reps of 60, 59, 59, 58 and 58 seconds, he was tired. The last rep was intended to be all-out, emphasizing the team's focus on finishing fast. "That's probably the biggest part of our entire program is just having a kick at the end of your race" he says. After his last rest break, Noonan finished the workout with a 55-second 400m.

The hard, quality work from these sessions provided both physical and mental benefits. "We're never pushing it too crazy." Noonan said, "But, those workouts definitely, I seem to get the most confidence boost out of, because I'm seeing what I can do."

Championship Week

When National Championship Week arrived, Noonan was primed for two races: the Mile at Brooks PR and 2 Mile at Nike Outdoor Nationals.

"I was very excited to fly up to Brooks." Noonan recalled, "I was ready to do something special."

In a sport where you either win or you learn, though, Evan had to learn from the Mile. After feeling good in his warm up, Noonan felt flat during the race. He finished 6th in 4:07 - a respectable time, but not the place he was shooting for.

Looking back on the race, he identified lack of fuel as his biggest mistake. "It was just a really hard race for me because I had kind of ran on empty stomach" he said. Keeping a positive attitude, Noonan took time to identify the problem and make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Armed with new knowledge, and still in the best shape of his life, Evan turned his sights to Nike Outdoor Nationals. After just one recovery day, it was race day once again. Looking for some last-minute wisdom, he called his coach.

"It was one of the best calls I've ever had in my entire life, honestly." Noonan said.

The advice he received wasn't what he was expecting. Rather than offering tactical advice or reinforcement that he could win, Noonan's coach instead focused on how enjoyable their season had been together, and told him to go out, do his best, and have fun.

"It was one of those times where I went into a big race and wasn't nervous about not doing well. I was excited to do well. And so it changed my attitude for the whole rest of the day." Evan said. With that, he went into the race with the perfect mindset.

In a crowded field, Noonan stayed in contention and found it playing right into his hands. He struck with one lap to go - the perfect move based on his training. None could match his final 400 meters, as he clocked 57 seconds in the final lap, crossing the line first in 8:52.41.

Evan Noonan was a National Champion, and just like his coach had instructed him mere hours before, he did his best and had fun. After the season, Evan calls it "One of the best races, maybe not performance wise, but in terms of [what] I've enjoyed, in my entire life."

Evan is a member of COROS NextGen, a program which aims to work with elite high school athletes as they push their boundaries as the next generation of distance runners in the U.S.

Collectively, the program has won over 25 state championship titles in 2024 as athletes across the country gain better insights into their training, and ensure their fitness is where it needs to be at the right time. For any high school athlete chasing their best, go to www.coros.com to learn more on products, training tips, and insights from athletes of all levels.