I run for a D3 school and we had our first race yesterday.
Including yesterday and Regionals (Nov 14th), we have 8 races. A couple of weekends off.
Would it be wise to sit one of these races out to rest up and get a better training session in? What's the ideal number for your average college runner?
2... Just Regionals and Nationals (and only if they are Rupp certified)
5 or 6
I agree. If you could limit yourself to training and then running just 2 or 3 races (on a decent course), you will have your best results. If you run 5 or 6, probably none of them will be of highest quality, and you will be burned out for the last couple. I do admire the way that Rupp was careful as to the races that he entered. By taking care of himself during the earlier part of the season, not running in meaningless races, he was fit,healthy, and ready to race at the National Championships. And he won.
4 max: The max schedule would be 1. a big invite or Pre-Nats 2. A conference meet (I hate them, but they are such a huge PR thing for schools that you usually have to do them) 3) Regionals 4)Nationals
That is 2 8ks and 2 10ks. Plenty for anybody over that time period.
If you're elite, fewer the better. If you're D3 or small college, load up. You only get a small amount of time in your life to compete in the great sport of cross country.
I loved the races in college and we had about six. I always wanted more. My times kept getting better in each race and I never felt burned out. Getting burned out is kind of a big American myth perpetuated by the Bowerman hard/easy obsession. A lot of runners do not get burned out.
Yes, if you're super high level like Rupp, be calculating.
If you're small college, have fun with it and race a lot. When you're in your early 20's, the body recovers pretty quickly. If you're still dead a week after your last race, you're probably not in shape.
However, eight is enough ... sit out one of the races later in the season. Five to seven, sure, what the heck. You have about 11 weekends, with seven racesyou have four weekends off. If your body can't handle four weekends off in three months, something is wrong.
The ideal number is the number that your coach wants you to run.
If you feel tired, sandbag 1-2. Go out extra slow. I did that in a HS xc race @ Brandywine State Park. Leaders went out in 5:05, I went through in 5:27. Ended up 2nd, 3-4 seconds behind the winner.
Not every race should be to the death.
It depends on the individual, the coach, the training, and goals.
There is no average college runner, each situation is unique.
There are plenty of coaches in DI-III that want athletes to run 9-10 meets during the season. This is too many for anybody to do and get in good training. If you cut out that VO2 training and did only threshold running, that would be fine---but that isn't what happens.
Most coaches are fine with athletes peaking for meets like Griak (and then getting slightly worse each week), and then limping into regionals and nationals.
Collegiate men are typically really competitive people. Asking them to "sandbag" races does not typically work.
I will stick with 4 meets for the worst and best teams---unless all other interval training is cut out. What works for the most elite also works for the DIII recreational runners.