Off season running volume for HS cross country (Read 1380 times)

My 15 year old daughter has been running for the past year or so, doing both XC and track. Outdoor track is ending soon and I'd like to start her off season training a week after the last meet. Anyone have an idea of what kind of volume we should be working towards by the end of summer? She's currently doing 25-30 miles/week with a bit over half with the track team and the rest done real slowly with me. I was thinking of building her up to 50 miles/wk, which seems reasonable (10% increase/wk would get her to 50 miles/wk about 4 weeks ahead of cross country practices starting up, so we could consolidate the 50 during that last 4 weeks). Sound like a reasonable plan? The summer miles will definitely be base building as she'll do the bulk of her running with me and I'm butt slow (just started running to run with her). Thanks, Kirk

Each program has different elements which are explained and will help explain to your athlete the purpose of each workout and how she should adapt if needed.

let me say... I sure could have used such a book at that age. I almost never ran in the summer, almost never ran on the weekends, ran one season of CC, getting finally half-way in shape late in the season off zero base and getting down to around 17:40. Then the next year I was injured. I obviously had no idea what I was doing or why.

for me I was hurt mostly because my weekly miles looked something like this... 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-35-40-45-50-ouch!

Thanks, they have the Hudson book at the local bookstore. I've reserved a copy.

Using my experience I would say that 50 miles per week is probably safe for most runners given a proper buildup. The main thing is how fast she does them. If she is pushing and turning most of them into tempo runs it is not good. The point in the summer is to build up a base because in the fall there should be more strength and speeed as the racing season begins. Most of it is going to be easy mileage. Early on in high school I just didn't do the base mileage in the summer. When I finally did, I made the mistake late in my career of running with a couple friends that were much better than me so I usually had to hammer to keep up and either got hurt or flat before the season got going. Spend some time on the hills. Working some hill repeats into an afternoon run or just picking the hilly courses - it will help her in the fall. Try to incorporate some fun and variety, its great you're running with her. My dad smoked 2 packs a day, he couldn't keep up with me for more than a block. Find some parks and trails, run around the lake or at the beach, run through all the puddles in the rain. 12 weeks doesn't seem long to us but for a 15 year old its forever. It would be natural for her focus to wander. I would get to early July, hit the first stretch of high 90 degree temperatures, and that would be it for me until the first practice in August. I always thought I had more time to get in shape for the season, and not enough time in the day to get the run in. Be wary of staleness/burnout. Its better to take a day off rather than pushing her and then she ends up hating the sport. Younger people tend to burn out on things faster. If I could do it all over again I would have slowed my pace down by 30-40 seconds per mile and just done the 60-80 miles per week all summer like I should have.

Your plan sounds fine. Keep the miles not so quick. Try to mix in one longer run per week. This really helps build up the stamina. 40 to 50 miles in a week is quite a lot but try to make it so there is still one off day a week. Also, make sure she really wants to do the mileage. Don't make her hate running when she is only going to be a sophomore in high school.

I'm definitely not pushing this (yeah, I realize even the most maniacal parents will say the same... ). If anything I'm trying to keep her from doing too much. She's the driven type and I have to reel her back in (e.g., if she were to get a 'B' on her report card she would be inconsolable). I'm super laid back so I'm not sure how she's ended up this way... As far as going too fast/too often, well, I'm a 5'7" 200 lb powerlifter (I'm scaling back my lifting to barely maintenance to get myself into running shape and plan to allow myself to lose 25-30 lbs) so the runs with me will be, by necessity, low end aerobic for her. I plan to ride a bicycle with her while she does tempo/faster stuff... I raced road bikes in my 20s so this sort of thing is not new to me. I'll head out to the bookstore this evening to pick up the Hudson book... Kirk

I think 50 mpw is a bit excessive for a girl that age. That gives her about eight miles a day, a 10 mile long run, and one off day per week. That's a lot to be doing over the summer. Which track events is she doing? Is it distance? You make it sound like she does less than 20 MPW with the team, which is rather low for a distance runner.