Jalen J.

I recently completed my coaching debut at Montclair High School, where I coached both the sprints and distance running groups for the track and field program. In this role, I worked with high school athletes to improve their speed, endurance, running mechanics, race strategy, and overall performance while fostering a positive and disciplined training environment.
I have experience coaching at the high school level and primarily work with teenage athletes. I am passionate about helping athletes develop both on and off the track through structured training, encouragement, and accountability.
I have earned a Certificate of Completion in Fundamentals of Coaching, which has provided me with a strong foundation in coaching principles and athlete development.

I competed in collegiate track and field at both West Los Angeles College (California Community College Athletic Association) and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (NCAA Division II). Throughout my collegiate career, I specialized in the 200m, 400m, 800m, and 4×400m relay while contributing as a versatile sprinter and middle-distance runner.

My athletic accomplishments include:

200m personal best: 21.91 seconds (all-time PR).
400m personal best at Cal Poly Pomona: 48.79.
T
TFRRS
800m personal best at Cal Poly Pomona: 1:55.81.
T
TFRRS
800m personal best at West Los Angeles College: 1:55.23, including a 3rd-place finish at the CCCAA Southern California Regional Championships.
T
TFRRS
Ran a 47.7-second split on the 4×400m relay, demonstrating high-level relay performance.
Earned Most Valuable Runner (MVR) honors at West Los Angeles College for my contributions to the track and field program.
Competing at both the California community college and NCAA Division II levels allowed me to develop as both an individual competitor and relay athlete while racing against strong regional and national competition. My experience spans sprint and middle-distance events, highlighting versatility across the 200m, 400m, and 800m disciplines.

A typical training session is structured with purpose and tailored to the athlete's experience level, event, goals, and where they are in their training cycle. I coach both sprinters and distance runners, so every workout is individualized rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.

Sessions begin with a dynamic, sprint-based warm-up designed to prepare the body for high-quality movement. This includes mobility work, activation exercises, sprint mechanics, and running drills such as A-skips, B-skips, straight-leg bounds, high knees, butt kicks, ankling, and acceleration drills to improve coordination, posture, and efficiency.

From there, the main workout is based on the athlete's event and the time of year. During the off-season, the focus is on building a strong foundation through general strength, speed development, aerobic fitness (for distance athletes), technique, and injury prevention. As the track and field season approaches, workouts become more event-specific. Sprinters emphasize acceleration, maximum velocity, speed endurance, block starts, relay exchanges, and race modeling, while distance runners focus on threshold training, interval work, race pace, endurance, and running economy.

Throughout every session, I provide technical feedback on running mechanics, posture, arm action, stride efficiency, pacing, and race strategy. I believe athletes perform their best when they understand not only what they're doing, but why they're doing it. My goal is to help each athlete become faster, more efficient, and more confident while training in a challenging, supportive environment that promotes long-term development.