Forums >Racing>Question for HS cross country experienced, athletes or coaches
So I have a soon to be freshman XCer daughter and she may be pretty good. She ran a 19:57 5k two weeks ago and at her summer workout yesterday she did 8 miles in 58:03, which I am not sure I could do at that time of day ( 6:00 pm in swfl). Her coach's plan for the next two weeks is to do 8 mile runs M, W, F. I know I could not do three 8 mile runs at that pace in a week without getting injured, but I am not 14 yrs. old. I don't think the coach is asking or urging her to run that fast, I just think she does it because she wants to and feels good doing it. Suffice it to say, my entreaties to slow down and run a little easier are basically ignored. I didn't run at 14 other than team sport conditioning. Do I need to worry that she is running too hard and too far on too little of a base?
My son is a sophmore and ran a 19:16 5k. His coach has him running 7 miles a day Monday thru Thursdaya and an easy 4 on on Friday or Saturday. I don't think the distance is a problem but a 7:16 pace may be a bit fast. His coach wants miles over pace in the off-season.
5k 22:22, Quarter Marathon 52:45, Mini Duathlon 1:00:14
Old , Ugly and slow
How much is she doing on the other days.
How long has she been running,
Is she eating enough and a healthy diet.
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
Why is it sideways?
I think you should have a low-key conversation with the coach, just to see how in tune he or she is with the athletes. An hour of running three days a week does not seem excessive to me. I think that as in all things a little attention and common sense goes a long way. If your daughter seems cheery and fresh and not run down by the training, then I wouldn't waste a second worrying about it.
The same goes for injuries -- her risk of injury has much less to do with training volume and pace than it does with her response to these things.
There's no need to be crazy and aggressive with training a 14 year old, but if your daughter is enjoying it and all is good, then no worries!
It's not so much the mileage but rather did she gradually build up to that distance and weekly volume. A wise coach will be careful with volume and intensity. Yes I wold be concerned if the mileage jump was dramatic.
my son is going into his freshman year too, and I have been impressed with the systematic increase in volume, and the coach asked each kid how much training they had been doing for the month before practice started.
Tiefsa
It depends upon what the coach will put her through when she gets on the CC team. Usually what gets the runners sore and or in danger isn't the amount of miles, it's the intensity of the workouts and races. Most teams will have two hard/fast workouts and then a race each week. If she comes in with a strong base, she should be fine. The best advice would be to make sure during the season that she runs easy on the easy days. As for now, if she's only running three days a week (granted they are 8 mile runs pretty fast) she'll be fine.
Just so you know, when I was coaching, I would have loved to have someone like that come onto my team.
Distinctively Juvenile
Thanks for the responses. To fill in some data, her base is 15-20 miles a week over the past year (frequently with me) about 2-3 miles per day--six out of seven days. Now, because of soccer pretty much her only running is and will be with the XC team.
She does not seem beat up by these runs at all, so I will watch for that. And thanks for the advice about speaking with the coach, I will certainly try and do that soon.
No more marathons
This may go without saying (but this is the interwebz so we can't let that happen) but be cautious with how you approach the coach. You don't want to be questioning his tactics - just making sure you have the same understanding of what he wants your DD to be doing as she does. Sometimes with 14 YOs what they hear isn't always what was said.
Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey
Lordy, I hope there are tapes.
He's a leaker!
Is she doing both sports at the same time.
Chief Unicorn Officer
Has the coach clarified what pace she's supposed to be doing these at? If she was running 20 miles a week, this isn't a huge jump in weekly mileage for her. I think the longer runs would be good for her to build aerobic endurance going into the season, where presumably she's begin speed training and varying the types of workouts/runs that she does. I wouldn't advise her to go all out on every run--just do them at a pretty easy pace, or maybe throw some fartleks in once of the days--but I'd clarify this with the coach. (I'm a college XC assistant coach).
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
Wind is not my friend.
You said her coach has her running 8 miles MWF but what is she doing the other days? (sorry if i missed it somewhere). With her base, doing 3 runs like that would probably be okay but leave her tired and unable to do any other runs without risking injury. I'm not going to worry about the coach's training ideas but I would say that she should probably be doing them closer to 8:30 pace. Longer runs should be relaxed as there is no reason to risk building endurance and speed at the same time and risk injury.
Personally I'd have her run 1 or 2 of the longer runs and then build in some varying mileages the other days so she's running 5 days a week. I'm sure once practice starts, they'll be running 5-6 days a week so would want to make sure she's ready to handle that.
Disclaimer: I'm a HS Girls XC Coach.
"Current" PRs
5K - 18:00 (4/19) | HM - 1:19:28 (4/22)
Next Race: A 5K of some sort (Goal: Sub 17:30)
Tom 1961 and cc, she is doing both sports concurrently. It's a long story but the short version is she is really good at soccer and on a club team that plays now through the fall. Down here, school soccer is a winter sport so she'll play at school in December. She started running with me and racing this year and I realized she is really good at it. She won two consecutive races before the aforementioned 5k where she was second to a 25 yr old former college runner.
I have kept her from running on days she has soccer, so she is running 3 days a week only the last 2-3 weeks. Starting to rethink that and maybe I'll have her do some morning easy runs with me on days she has soccer practice. I would prefer her to run most of these 8 milers at a much slower pace and I think I may suggest to the coach that he suggest it to her because, of course, I'm just dad.
Sounds like XC coach is saying run 20-25 mpw, and you're saying don't double up on run and soccer practice, which is leading to the 3 8-mile runs per week.
If that's the case, I think you and her coach should look at what your daughter is doing at soccer practice, and factor that into her prescribed mileage.
i.e. One summer of college, I was playing lunch time ultimate frisbee 3x a week while prepping for XC, and those 3 hours of running around, making cuts, was easily worth 10 miles of aerobic running (probably more), plus strengthening the stabilizing/support muscles in my lower legs (which left me a bit more beat up). So I just factored that into my mileage level.
Know thyself.
Keep in mind that being on a soccer team involves a whole lot of running, so she's actually getting in more mileage- and unofficial speed work- then you're accounting for.
"...You have to have faith, to know that you can do what you want to do." -Joseph Nzau
what if she's a goalie?