Anne, Yeah, I could give you a few ideas. But...... First, I want to see where you are right now. When was your final race? What have you been doing since then? Did you take time off? easy? Let me know what you've been doing with your running since the last race. I need to know where you are with recovery from the season before I will be able to suggest possible plans of action. Bill

Anne, That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for. First of all. Don't stop running. It is a great escape for all of the stress that you are going through. I'm glad to hear that you are using it that way. You have a lot of great opporunities ahead of you, as with the entire education process, sometimes you have to get through the strong currents before you can get to the calm water. In this case, I would suggest that you run in the summer like you did in the past. Start with easy running, Plan on working on a solid base that will help you later in the summer. Most college runners are not motivated enough to run consistantly in the summer. That is why some are more concerned with faster, more specific workouts. In your case, most consistancy is just what you need to keep anchored. Set up a plan to, first, handle basic mileage, then and the summer progresses, you can add in more specific work. I would suggest a basic build-up progression. This is just like starting over. From what you've said, you've been in a "active rest" period since track, so you've had a break. Start tomorrow, Monday. Begin with around 35 miles a week of relatively easy paced distance, and add 5 miles per week. Do this for five weeks. This will take you to 55 miles that week. At this point you will be feeling pretty good. This is where you can choose to go one of two different directions. One, you can continue your mileage build-up, or two, you can change direction, and start adding in harder runs, remaining at a consistant mileage. You can't have both a build-upin mileage and harder work. It's one or the other at this point. Remember that you have the whole cross country season to do the real quality work. You have about 22 weeks from today until your regional championship. Ten weeks for basic building of stamina and endurance sot that you will be able to handle the harder stuff during the season, two weeks of transition into the season (this usually a drop in mileage and refocus period, then five weeks of transition work, (beginning of harder work), and another five weeks of sharping (real speed building). Remember that running is a challenge. It rewards a person who takes the challenge in a lot of different ways. One of the best rewards is the feeling of handling what most people can't. This is a good place to release stress and to set goals. It's a great place to put pent up frustration, and to come away with a feeling of personal satisfaction.