Cross Country (Read 515 times)

I am currently a high school senior running varsity on my cross country team. This summer a pushed up my mileage to ten miles a day but I don't seem to be seeing the results from the work over the summer. My coach told me that this additional mileage would help to bring down my times below twenty minutes, but I am still struggling to get below 21 minutes. I am always nervous before races and am not sure that this may be affecting my times. Also I am known on my team as the practice runner because I alway perform very well in practices but fall behind the runners who don't work as hard in practice. I would really appreciate any advice on how to bring down my time, thanks

I am currently a high school senior running varsity on my cross country team. This summer a pushed up my mileage to ten miles a day but I don't seem to be seeing the results from the work over the summer. My coach told me that this additional mileage would help to bring down my times below twenty minutes, but I am still struggling to get below 21 minutes. I am always nervous before races and am not sure that this may be affecting my times. Also I am known on my team as the practice runner because I alway perform very well in practices but fall behind the runners who don't work as hard in practice. I would really appreciate any advice on how to bring down my time, thanks

I don't know if "Snell" is your real name or if you're referring to Peter Snell.... Of course, if you go visit certain running message board, you see tons of threads tlaking about "Oh, I ran so much during the summer; yet I ran XC like crap..." and then others would chip in and say, "That Lydiard crap is old-fashion and out-dated; you need to run like Bekele, total quality and fast repeats..." A typical diagram. Of course, I'm biased. When we talk about general athletic development, many would talk about a pyramid. The bigger the foundation, the higher you can build the house..." It seems, however, very few actually understand this "foundation" and even fewer practices it. You run a lot, 70 or 80 or 100 or whatever miles per week; and you'll get very strong. You can go out and hammer day in and day out and you actually get even stronger. That's the base. So you run 10-miles a day, day after day, and you get very strong. And you get out and try to run 1500m or 3 miles FAST; and you still run like crap. Many would say, "Well, I worked my butt off this summer and this is what I get?" Next year, they'll throw that idea out the window and work on repeats... A likely story. But here's the thing; without that foundation, you may hit the plateau after 3 weeks. If you have good base, you can continue to race strongly over 3 months and, because your fitness level does not deteriorate as quickly, you would more likely continue to improve. When I was in college, I ran a lot. I ran fairly consistently about 90 miles a week; tops 125. I got very fit; I could easily run somewhere around 17 minutes for 5k, high 34 for 10....and 1:18 for half marathon. Then I met Arthur. And he analyzed what I was doing and told me to "balance your training." He said, "You're trying to eat a cake half cooked. You've never ever completed the whole program..." When asked what's the most important aspect of training; aerobic base, anaerobic development, speed... His answer was always "It's ALL important." Without any of these element, your program is only half good. By balancing my training, I was able to get my 5k time down to 15. In fact, there was a stretch of 3 weeks time when I dropped my 3-mile time trial by 2 minutes just by "balancing my program"! If you step out on a practice field and train against those who had been training on track by doing lots of fast repeats, it's natural that you cannot keep up with them (after however many weeks of 70MPW). You'll have to identify what you have so far developed, what you'll need to develop in order to complete the program, and how best you can achieve that. Usually, the advantage of having run many miles during the summer shows toward the end of the season; not the beginning of the season. But if you get anxious and try to prove yourself unfairly (to yourself), then you will be "straining" instead of training; and that won't benefit you physically as well as mentally. If you want to know more about balancing the program, either google "Lydiard" or visit my website! ;o)

I'm assuming you are a guy here. I'm also a Senior and put in high mileage for the first time this summer. If you can't break 21 off of 60-70 mpw you probably overtrained a long time ago and kept going. I'd advise taking a little bit of time off to get your body to rest and then go really easy in practice. Your times should improve a lot.