Hello all,
Just wondering if anyone out there can help. I am a high school cross country coach at a fairly small high school. I ran cross country back in high school and fairly involved with running on my own for years, but I am confused about how to go about setting up practices for the CC season. I have read lots and lots of things on the net and other places but sometimes it just gets me more confused. We have some decent talent for the girls and I don't want to blow it and fail to get them to reach their potential.
Here is what my top girls have been doing. June-Early August:
Put in the miles. Tried following the "Summer of Malmo" as best they could. Girls topped out around 35-40 miles a week.
Mid August-End of August:
Mon-4-5miles easy + strides
Tues- long intervals (4x1200 + 4x 200m sprints + 3 x1min hills at 8% + 1 x 15 sec hill @ 15%)
Wed - 25min easy+ 5 min rest+ 20 min easy
Thurs - short intervals -- 16x200
Friday - easy 4 miles or pool running
Sat- Temp run- 10warm up, 20 tempo, 20 cooldown.
Sun- long run 6-8 miles depending on ability level
The problem I have now is I can not figure out how to train these girls as I have only 8 weeks or so left and we have Tues and Saturday meets for the next 6 of those weeks. I don't care too much about the Tuesday meets frankly as I want them to really only go all out on one meet a week. What should I focus on during the next 4 weeks? And then the last 8 weeks? Any advice would be helpful. (Sorry for the long post)