which distance would be easier

Are your summer and winter training the same?

Describe what you do for each

Summer training so far is like this:

Monday: joint strengthening, long bike

Tuesday: speed/moderate workout, weights+abs

Wednesday: easy long

Thursday: joint strengthening, bike

Friday: speed/hard workout, weights+abs

Saturday: moderate long

Sunday: rest

in this case, speed isn't necessarily speedwork

And I've just winged winter training (all moderate distance runs) for the past two years because of injuries.

We don't have your results from this fall yet so what you are doing this summer doesn't help. It may or may not work.

What did you do in summer training that led to good XC results?

What did you do/not do in winter training that led to your underwhelming track season?

From what you have written so far, it sounds like injuries and not which distance would be easier has limited you.

I think you will do better in outdoor track if you don't specialize and run not only 1600 and 3200 race but also a couple 800 as well.

Post answers to the questions and we will see if we can narrow things down.

Last year's summer training wasn't as structured as it is now, it consisted of weekly hill work, repeat quarters, and distance runs ranging from 5 to 13.1 miles. Did that pretty much the whole 3 months of summer and then my team captain took over the season and we winged it from there. Despite the lack of structure during the summer and the XC season we all dropped our times significantly.

Winter training always seems to be sporadic and it never sets me up for the season very well; I basically try to replicate summer training but I have trouble finishing workouts and doing them at the same intensity that I do during the summer.

I agree with you, injuries have plagued all four seasons for the past two years, none of which I have been able to finish because of injuries. I'm trying to injury-proof myself this summer and all the joint strengthening and running style change seems to be working very well.

Also I don't know if this helps but my long and moderate run pace ranges from 6:20 to 6:45/mi. easy days are at 7:00.

It is hard to be sure since you are doing so many different types of training but it seems like you are training too fast for a 4:50 miler.

Now you say your XC times are much better but since you keep getting injured that also sounds like you are training too hard.

Do you have 400 and or 800m times?

I think my injuries have mainly come from bad shoes and poor form. I used to be a big heel striker and I used Nike Free 7.0s my first year of XC and that I think contributed to my shin splints. Also I've been told that my right leg is a bit longer than my left because of scoliosis which causes a lot of problems with tendons (especially my right posterior-tibial tendon) and what not.

And yes, my XC times seem to see more improvement than my track times. I dropped down to 18:00 flat last year but my season was cut short because of appendicitis. I think I could have gone down into the low 17s.

I never ran an all-out 400m, but my 800m PR is 2:13. Usually hovers around there.

What the hell is joint strengthening...

like eccentric exercises and dynamic stretching

it targets the tendons that usually hurt me the most