Cross Country - Summer Training (Read 617 times)

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to run every day, but not over-train. Try to slowly build up your miles per week to avoid injury (I'm increasing mileage by 5 every other week). Also, even though it is pretty flat in Florida, run hills every so often to build up leg strength. I don't know how good your XC team is and how good you need to be to get on varsity, but if you want to compete, run at least 40 miles every week. But most of all, have fun with it and you will do fine. And set goals for yourself. Even if you don't reach your set goals, at least you can fall back on knowing you worked as hard as you could and aspired to be the best you can be.

Star... Yes, you really need to think about building a running base and progress slowly. You have a lot of time left in HS to be a very nice runner. Hopefully you progress enough to have success this year but please remember, you will progress each year so stay with it. Below are some general guidelines this summer (they will look a lot different next summer) to build some base. The lower end you should be at within 4-6 weeks. Continue to build miles and keep intensity down. Maybe this week you don't run 6 days per week but after 4-6 weeks your are running almost every day. 2-3 miles per week is a fine goal for a young buck like you to increase each week. I kind of like choosing a stimulus. x miles. Holding it 3-4 weeks and then adding a new stimulus (more miles) and holding that. But, you are new so slowly build. Next year consider this. Keep in mind, you may not get to 40 miles per week this year safely. You will need to add some intensity later on in summer and it is not wise to continue adding miles and intensity at same time. I also recommend you go out and run a 5K race to see your current level of fitness. Also, run a couple 5Ks this summer to have a clue what this distance is like and pacing. Don't race too much this summer because that may take a bit away from your base building. Day 1 2-5 Day 2 4-7 w/ up to 4-5 miles at a faster pace (slow tempo) after a warm up. Right now just do this for 1 mile. It is a faster pace but still semi comfortable (about 1 min per miles slower than current 5K race pace). Every week add 1/2 mile. By 8 weeks you will be running 4-5 miles at this somewhat faster pace. This pace is a key to building your strength at a faster pace while still staying aerobic. Don't force this pace. After this run throw in 4-8 100M quick striders w/ full recovery. 4 now, 8 striders as season approaches. Day 3 2-5 Day 4 2-5 w/ 4-8 X 2 min Fartleks (just a faster pace- not killer w/ 2-3 min recoveries) finish w/ 4-8 X 100M quick striders (as cross country season approaches do the higher end of these a bit faster). First 4-6 weeks just pick up pace for 1 min. Again, not too fast. By 8 weeks you are doing 4-5 X 2 min and progressing to 4 min as season approaches. Day 5 3-6 Day 6 6-9 (long) working up to the last 1-2 miles at faster pace Day 7 2-4 or off For first 4-6 weeks, only on day 2 do a faster finish the last mile or two to just give you a bit more pace to help in transition in 4-6 weeks and also do those striders this day. All other running is a very comfortable pace. Build on day 2,4 and 6 first. the other days just keep at 2-3 miles for a while. Remember, 2 miles is better than no miles on a particular day. Any running at your stage continues to build strength even at slow pace. Listen to your body. If you have to run slower do it. If you absolutely need a day off do it. BUT, make running a habit. You need to slowly build and be smart but you can't be taking multiple days off a week. You will do well. Just get out and run, focus and make it happen. As cross country race season approaches, day 4 is important. Try to be running these Fartlek at a bit slower pace than your current 5K training race pace. Many factors come into play including weather and wind so think about what this effort feels like. Think about what this effort feels like. Also, build these Fartleks or critical velocity reps to 4-6 X 4 min. You will want to do these through out cross country season but your coach unfortunately will probably have you hammering intervals very hard having you peak too early. These critical velocity reps continue to help build strength and keep you strong through out racing season. The regular race really give you plenty of v02 work for someone of your experience. Most training runs are a comfortable pace with pace around 2 min slower than current 5K pace. If you need to go slower to get your days in, that is fine. Continue to read and learn and you will progress more than you can believe over next 4 years. BTW, if the above seems complicated to you, then just run and finish a couple of your runs per week including long run at a faster pace (last 2 miles) and do some striders and see where this gets you year one. Your call. http://www.peakrunningperformance.com/docs/Critical_Velocity.htm http://www.therunzone.com/Base.html

Oh good grief. This is a beginning HS runner. Don't make it complicated. Just go out and run for as much time as you feel comfortable in a week. An hour here, two hours there, it all adds up.

Summer of Malmo. The plan I reference here is for much more advanced runners, but the general principles are simple and might be adaptable to your situation. Purple Haze's advice is the best. Send an email to the XC coach or give him a call. I'm sure he or she will be psyched to have an athlete that is concerned about coming into the season in his best shape. Good luck!