Need a summer w/o plan (Read 474 times)

MullyRunner010, First off, congrats on your excellent PR! That's a very fast time to have run and only be heading into your sophomore year. Second, you may want to post this question under the General Running or Racing forums. The Off the Beaten Path forum is often non-running, and more often non-serious. As far was what to do this summer, I think the most important thing you can do is simply build up your mileage base. For XC, you're ultimately going to want to peak in October when the big races occur, so I don't see a ton of value in doing a bunch of speedwork during the summer. Here's what I suggest: 1) Try to run 5~6 days a week during the summer. Don't go for 7 -- a body needs a break. 2) Increase your mileage, but don't increase by more than 10% a week (i.e if you're at 20mpw, only increase to 22 mpw the next week). 3) Do most of your runs at an easy relaxed pace. 4) Once a week do a tempo run. This consists of a 1~2 mile easy warm-up, 20 minutes at a brisk pace (6:05~6:21/mile for you (I've based this on an 18:00 5k, assuming that you're not in PR shape now) but don't be too obsessed with the pace ), and a 1~2 mile cooldown. 5) A couple times a week, on your non-tempo days, throw in some 100~150m sprints into your runs after you're well warmed up. Don't blast all out, but run fast and controlled. We call these "strides" or "striders" and they're really more of a form drill than anything else. Think fast and relaxed. Good luck. Build up those miles, and you'll be strong and ready to handle the speedwork that your coach will start throwing at you in August!